Chapter 117

In the following days, Qin Shuo began sweeping through Heishui City, gathering exotic beast meat in large quantities.

However, Heishui City is remote, and aside from the City Lord's Mansion and a few martial arts halls, there is little demand for exotic beast meat, so supplies are scarce.

Moreover, the thousand-catty moose Qin Shuo previously brought back only added up to about three thousand catties at most.

The main contributors were the Sky Wolf Gang and the City Lord's Mansion.

Although these two forces mainly rely on elixirs to enhance their strength, they have many members and store considerable amounts of exotic beast meat.

Next, the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall had just purchased several hundred catties of exotic beast meat from the prefectural city to help disciples break through in Inner Strength and for daily qi and blood replenishment, all of which they gave to Qin Shuo.

Since that night of slaughtering wolves, Qin Shuo's status in the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall has risen like a boat with rising water.

His words now carry more weight than Wei Yuan's.

As soon as it was heard that he needed exotic beast meat, several senior and junior brothers went out to purchase it throughout the city.

Wei Yuan even put on a stern face, visiting every martial arts hall in the city one by one; those unwilling to sell got their halls kicked.

Previously, he hesitated to act, mainly because his qi and blood were declining, allowing him only a few strikes.

Once his cultivation realm declined, the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall's position in Heishui City would be threatened.

But times have changed.

With Qin Shuo as the stabilizing force, even if Wei Laotou's qi and blood are now depleted and he has fallen to an ordinary man, no one dares to harm a single hair of the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall.

Nonsense!

He is the kind of existence who can, with just his fleshly fists, smash to pieces the great demons of myth and legend.

Provoke him?

That would be like an old longevity star eating pizza—purely seeking death.

In fact, the other two martial arts halls, upon hearing the news, had already sent exotic beast meat to the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall before Wei Yuan even arrived.

The only hall Wei Yuan truly confronted with threats was the Mang Mountain Fist Hall.

The Mang Mountain Fist Hall now truly faces the setting sun in the west.

Master Yan Song's whereabouts are unknown; the sole practitioner of Inner Strength Great Perfection remains bedridden, leaving only two Inner Strength Great Success instructors to hold the fort.

Wei Yuan's arrival directly frightened the two instructors into losing control of their bladders on the spot.

How arrogant they were when they once came to kick the hall, now they feel that much fear upon seeing Wei Yuan arrive.

However, Wei Yuan did not make things too difficult for them; after buying the exotic beast meat at market price, he left.

With the Liuhe Martial Arts Hall's current might, even if Yan Song returns, he cannot change much.

A disciple who has mastered divine abilities, even if he must leave Heishui City in a few days, his influence will persist until he completely dies.

After scouring Heishui City clean, they are still far short of the ten thousand catties of exotic beast meat needed.

Ultimately, Qin Shuo set his sights on Xue Chengkong's Wind Thunder Falcon, whose strength rivals the Tongmai Peak.

Originally, he thought that if he could gather ten thousand catties of exotic beast meat, this spirit beast would be kept for himself to stew and eat, but now it seems impossible.

Spirit beast meat is far more precious than exotic beast meat, so Qin Shuo initially had no intention of feeding it to the Taotie Cauldron—it would be too wasteful.

If priced by market value, a top-grade exotic beast is worth ten times an ordinary exotic beast.

Then a spirit beast is worth ten times a top-grade exotic beast.

Such precious flesh and blood treasure—how could it be fed to the Taotie Cauldron, this iron lump that only takes in and never gives out?

But now, he truly has no other choice!

As Qin Shuo placed his hand on the Wind Thunder Falcon's corpse, his sea of consciousness heard the Taotie Cauldron emit a pleasing tremor.

The golden-eyed Taotie, as vivid as a wall painting, came alive again, emitting suction from its mouth.

In the next second, suction surged simultaneously in Qin Shuo's palm, and strands of scarlet qi and blood were plundered from within the Wind Thunder Falcon's body, swallowed by the Taotie on the cauldron's belly.

Not long after, the Wind Thunder Falcon, whose feathers were originally bright and fresh, still vibrant even after several days dead, emitting a fragrant treasure-medicine aroma, was completely drained of all essence and qi; a breeze blew, and it turned into sky-filling ashes, scattering and drifting away.

"What a fine companion! The saying 'crush bones and scatter ashes' must refer to you......"

Qin Shuo clicked his tongue, marveling at how cleanly the Taotie Cauldron consumed—no trace of blood left behind.

"I wonder if it can absorb human blood? If so, it would be an excellent means to destroy corpses and erase traces!" Qin Shuo secretly thought.

Hum!

As the Wind Thunder Falcon turned to ashes, the black great cauldron suddenly flashed with a ripple of red light.

At the same time, a line of text appeared in Qin Shuo's vision:

【Second-stage refinement mode activated!】

【After activation, refinement can be performed via qi and blood energy storage!】

【Note: Different ingredients consume different energy; the higher the ingredient grade, the greater the qi and blood energy consumption!】

【When qi and blood energy is insufficient, refinement cannot proceed; recharging is required before use!】

【Current energy storage is sufficient; refinement can proceed!】

"Finally activated!" Qin Shuo, eager to try.

Having consumed so much exotic beast meat and even sacrificed a Demon King Inner Core, he wanted to see what mysteries this second-stage refinement mode held.

If it fails to satisfy him, the Taotie Cauldron's evolution will forever stall at the second stage—better not evolve at all!

He took out the Jingtie Daji from the room, and a prompt instantly appeared in his vision:

【Ingredient detected: Jingtie Daji!】

【Refine?】

"Yes."

Qin Shuo gripped the great bow, his heart without the slightest hesitation.

Hum~

Almost the instant his thought turned, his consciousness was pulled into the Taotie Cauldron.

Immediately after, light and shadow shifted, his consciousness seemed to be shuttling through a bizarre passage, the world spinning, and when he came to, he was already standing on a vast, imposing plaza.

This is a training ground, covering an extremely vast area.

The ground beneath his feet was entirely paved with blue stone slabs, one fitting neatly against the next, clean and refreshing; some were practicing sword and saber drills, others were training their strength by lifting stone locks.

Qin Shuo glanced at the stone tablet at the edge of the plaza, which stood as tall as three stories, with three large characters inscribed in iron hooks and silver strokes:

Wind Thunder Valley

"So this is the mountain gate of Wind Thunder Valley!" Qin Shuo thought.

He had already refined ingredients before, naturally knowing that these scenes were memory fragments left by the owners of the spiritual imprints within the ingredients.

"Arrows, unlike fists, feet, or weapons, rely on the extension of the limbs; to grasp their divine intent is as difficult as ascending to heaven!"

Especially our Wind Thunder Archery—one must comprehend the mysteries of wind and thunder to enter the hall; otherwise, no matter how precise your archery or how strong your strength to draw a ten-shih bow, you cannot enter the gate.

On the high platform of the plaza stood a tall, imposing man eight chi in height, holding a Jingtie Daji bow, who spoke in a deep voice to the disciples below practicing archery:

To enter the gate, you must first let your heart enter the arrow, feeling the wind between heaven and earth...

Omm~

As he spoke, the imposing man flipped his palm, and the Jingtie Daji bow was instantly drawn to full circle...

"From the moment you draw the bowstring, you must focus entirely, to feel the flow of the surrounding air, to feel the wind, merging your vital energy with the arrow in your hand, then merging with the surrounding wind as one, like this..."

As the imposing man's words fell, the black arrow shaft suddenly surged with fine wind patterns, like autumn winds entwining, swirling around the arrow shaft.

"Truly a supreme secret art, indeed there is a way!"

Qin Shuo imitated, following the imposing man in drawing the bow, infusing his vital energy into the arrow as instructed, stirring the surrounding air.

The next moment, the arrow in his hand likewise stirred up a breeze, with leaves drifting down, the arrow spinning around without falling.

"Wind Thunder Archery consists of four arrow intents: Blade of the Gale, Fury of Thunder, Storm Thunder Dragon, Wind-Thunder Kill!"

"When you have comprehended all four arrow intents, you may then have the chance to touch the highest mystery of our Wind Thunder Archery: the Wind-Thunder Four Symbols Arrow!"

Listening to the imposing man's explanation, Qin Shuo unknowingly immersed himself, not knowing how long had passed, when suddenly a prompt appeared before his eyes:

【Ingredient: Jingtie Daji!】

【Refinement Progress: Refined!】

【Refinement Effect: Blade of the Gale (Perfected), Fury of Thunder (Minor Accomplishment), Storm Thunder Dragon (Not Entered), Wind-Thunder Kill (Not Entered)】

【Current energy insufficient, please replenish blood and qi in time!】