Chapter 9: Battling the Giant Lizard

But just as he was about to leave, Wang Chong's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Not good!" He rolled on the spot.

Those who have lived for years on the edge of life and death possess a special instinct for danger.

"Boom!"

A fierce fluctuation suddenly erupted where Wang Chong had just been standing, and a black shadow actually burst out from underground.

Wang Chong hurriedly retreated several more steps.

Only then did he see clearly that it was a huge lizard, purple-black in color, covered with hard scales; at a glance, it looked difficult to deal with.

"Roar~"

Having failed its first strike, the giant lizard let out an enraged roar, creating a hurricane within dozens of meters around it.

In an instant, sand flew and stones shifted, blinding Wang Chong so he could not open his eyes; he could only raise his hands to shield himself from the wind and dust.

Just as Wang Chong raised his hands to block the sand, the giant lizard shot forward and pounced at him.

Its speed was extremely fast, and the flying sand obscured its form; by the time Wang Chong realized it, the giant lizard was already before him, opening its blood-filled maw to bite straight at his head.

"What a cunning beast!"

Greatly alarmed, Wang Chong summoned his great sword into his hand in an instant.

He could only hold the sword upright, gripping the hilt with one hand and bracing the tip with the other, positioning it before him as a shield.

"Bang!"

The giant lizard's attack slammed into his sword; the tremendous impact sent him flying backward, his feet carving two deep furrows into the ground.

The giant lizard, pressing its advantage mercilessly and giving Wang Chong no chance to catch his breath, immediately swept its long tail toward him.

"Hmph! Do you really think I'm easy to bully? Today I'll use you to test the results of my cultivation these past few days!" Wang Chong shouted loudly, his body shooting out like a bullet as his entire qi mechanism locked onto the giant lizard.

"Mountain-Crushing Strike!"

Wang Chong descended like a heavenly god, his great sword slashing viciously at the giant lizard.

Even though the giant lizard's body was massive, under this single strike it was actually knocked flying, a wound sliced open across its back.

"Roar, roar, roar..."

Writhing in pain, the giant lizard leaped up and down, roaring incessantly.

"Strike while the enemy is sick and take their life! Go ahead and die!"

As the giant lizard leaped into the air, Wang Chong darted beneath it, executing an upward slash that tore a gaping wound across its belly all the way up to its neck.

"Die!"

"Piercing Thrust!"

"Upward Slash!"

The giant lizard's body was lifted high into the air; Wang Chong immediately followed with a Sky Strike, executing a set of basic sword techniques with flawless mastery.

"Aowu~"

The giant lizard let out a cry of unwilling agony, its life force completely extinguished; a black shadow shot forth and entered Wang Chong's body, absorbed by his ghost hand.

"Hahaha... So satisfying! Too satisfying..."

Looking at the giant lizard, which he had hacked until it was barely recognizable, Wang Chong shouted in exhilaration.

"Eh? What is this?" He suddenly noticed a crystal within the giant lizard's corpse; its shape was highly irregular, yet it was translucent and clear.

"What a strange feeling."

When Wang Chong held the crystal in his hand, he could sense the energy contained within it.

"This must be the beast core of a demonic beast. Its shape is so irregular that it must not have fully formed yet; it seems this giant lizard had reached the critical point of completing its first transformation."

Wang Chong had once heard Xixi introduce demonic beasts, knowing that they, like cultivators, possessed different ranks.

Ordinary demonic beasts had strength comparable to ordinary martial artists, but a demonic beast that completed its first transformation reached the Martial Warrior realm; one that completed its second transformation possessed strength rivaling a Martial Master expert, and so on.

"Truly fortunate; if this giant lizard had completed its first transformation, I might not have made it back today," Wang Chong thought, feeling secretly relieved.

When Wang Chong returned to his dwelling carrying the giant lizard, the several goblins were stunned into silence.

Wang Chong paid them no heed; returning to his own small courtyard, he closed the wicker gate and took out the beast core to examine it.

The beast core emitted a faint earth-gray luster and radiated a slightly warm aura.

"The beast core is the essence of a demonic beast; with such abundant energy, what would happen if I ate it?"

In truth, Wang Chong had always believed in the saying that one should eat what one wishes to nourish.

With this thought, he hesitated no longer and directly tossed the beast core into his mouth.

Though the beast core appeared hard, the moment it entered Wang Chong's mouth, it instantly became like flowing magma, carrying a scorching heat that rushed through his four limbs and hundred bones.

"Ah!"

Wang Chong let out a painful scream; he felt as though his body were about to explode, as if a stream of fire were about to pierce straight through him.

"I was careless..."

Wang Chong regretted it.

He crashed heavily to the ground, his consciousness gradually blurring as his body fell beyond his control.

Just then, his ghost hand suddenly began to stir; a dark red line of blood traveled along his arm into his body and began to devour that stream of fire.

The fire stream, as if encountering its natural nemesis, began to flee in all directions; the residual vicious qi of the demonic beast within the beast core was entirely devoured by the ghost hand, leaving the remaining energy purer and even more gentle.

Wang Chong was overjoyed; he had not expected to gain a blessing through disaster, realizing that his ghost hand actually possessed such an effect.

His body quickly regained sensation; he sat cross-legged, circulated his spiritual energy, and completely transformed this foreign energy into his own.

That spiritual energy flowed freely within his body, scouring his meridians and bones, while explosive cracking sounds like popping beans erupted from his person.

"Just a little more! This beast core has actually raised my strength directly to the peak of the Martial Warrior realm!" Feeling the improvement in his power, Wang Chong was beside himself with joy.

The next day, Wang Chong went out hunting again.

He had originally intended to set aside more time for cultivation, but after absorbing the giant lizard's crystal core, his strength had increased so significantly that he needed to adapt to his new capabilities as soon as possible, and combat was the best way to achieve that adaptation.

The moment Wang Chong's figure disappeared into the Thunder Roar Swamp, several goblins began peeking around outside his small courtyard.

"Big Brother, won't he discover us if we do this?" one goblin asked, seeming somewhat guilty.

"Rest assured, he has already gone far. Besides, we are nearly starving to death; where would we find the luxury to worry about such things? Anyone who is afraid can leave right now," Sona said, looking at the other goblins.

"Big Brother, we all listen to you; we do not want to starve to death."

"Do not worry; I will go in shortly to take some while you wait outside. He has so much meat that if we take just a little, he will never notice."

After speaking, Sona climbed over the fence and entered Wang Chong's courtyard.

Wang Chong had set up a rack in the yard, with the giant lizard meat cut into pieces and hung out to dry; this arrangement was meant to deter honorable men, not petty thieves.

Wang Chong, of course, knew nothing of what was happening at that moment, as he was currently hunting in the Thunder Roar Swamp.

Unfortunately, his luck was poor today; no sooner had he entered the Thunder Roar Swamp than he encountered a cat demon.

Although the cat demon was not large in size and its strength was even inferior to that of a giant lizard, it was an agility-type beast; relying on its flexible body, it often deterred beasts far stronger than itself from provoking it.

The cat demon Wang Chong encountered today was no weaker in strength than the giant lizard from yesterday, and its speed was fast; in a place like the Thunder Roar Swamp, where others would be hindered and restricted, the terrain had little effect on the cat demon.

After a fierce battle, Wang Chong not only gained nothing today but also received several deep scratches from the cat demon.