Chapter 400: and translation of title

A few days passed.

Yan Buji's palm burned with earth-origin fire, roasting a piece of bright red meat.

The meat gave off waves of fresh fragrance, a unique aroma from the prairie, a primordial scent of the vast, lofty heavens and earth.

There were no fancy cooking methods; only the most primitive flavor remained.

The Little Chicken stood on Yan Buji's shoulder, drooling.

Yan Buji looked at the roasted meat, shoved a mouthful into his mouth and chewed, gritting his teeth: "I should have brought some salt."

It wasn't that it tasted bad; Yan Buji had a heavy palate, he liked strong spicy flavors.

But cultivators like them, once they reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, can live on qi alone and need not even take Grain-Avoiding Pills.

Most cultivators retain the habit of eating, first to add some fun to their dull cultivation life; second, to avoid becoming too detached from the mundane world while cultivating.

Just as the cultivation world is also a huge makeshift troupe, the difference from the mundane world lies in that those with ability and strength can truly ignore rules and regulations. Yet most cultivators remain members of that makeshift troupe, unwilling as they may be, they must still obey the rules.

Thus cultivators are not much different from ordinary people in this regard; moreover, some cultivators are adept at calculation, and those skilled in cooking have even begun researching how to use spirit-infused food to replace elixirs.

"I too have been influenced by you." Yan Buji looked at the Little Chicken and poured out a mouthful of spirit-yoke jade liquid from the gourd.

The Little Chicken chirped a few times and drank it all.

This demon-refining gourd.... When I have time I should also upgrade it.

At Yan Buji's level, a First-Tier Accumulation Device is of little use to him; moreover, the demon-refining gourd, as a functional auxiliary Accumulation Device, is actually not suited to his combat style.

If he were truly caught in a fierce battle, he wouldn't have the chance to swallow pills, let alone take a sip of spirit-yoke jade liquid.

Moreover, the demon-refining gourd only has the single effect of refining demons into spirit-yoke jade liquid to restore mana; now that Yan Buji is an Alchemist, to a certain extent he does not need such a device.

So Yan Buji thought of simply converting the demon-refining gourd into a liquor gourd; he still prefers drinking alcohol.

He walked for a while.

Yan Buji looked around, his brows furrowing.

Chirp!

I know.

Here they come!

Whoosh!

A bone spur slammed into the ground; Yan Buji stepped back half a pace, looking at the bone spur before him with some surprise.

This is.....

A weird-looking creature, similar to a winged hedgehog, perched on a tree branch, glaring fiercely at Yan Buji.

Demon king?!

The demon beasts in this forest sea are terrifyingly strong.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Yan Buji flipped and dodged; the Little Chicken's head on his shoulder rotated three hundred sixty degrees, remaining still, chirping.

I understand.

Yan Buji discovered that no matter how he moved the Little Chicken, its chicken head did not change with the body's motion; correspondingly, the Little Chicken's field of view was far broader than his.

Its earlier chirping was to help Yan Buji report positions.

Whoosh whoosh!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

There is more than one of those hedgehog demon kings in the forest!

Yan Buji immediately went all out; with his combat power, breaking these demon beasts' defenses is not difficult, but it all relies on a single strike of the True Flow Fist to win.

After Yan Buji had been weaving and dodging in the forest for a long time, he vanished in an instant!

Instant Shadow Step!

Bang!

One hedgehog demon king obviously didn't notice Yan Buji's movement; horrified, it looked at Yan Buji arriving before it in an instant and curled itself up, exposing a back full of spikes.

Too bad it's useless!

With a punch, the mighty surge of True Essence shattered the spikes, and along with it this demon king was annihilated in the flood!

Seeing this, the other hedgehog demon kings were frightened and hurriedly fled.

After Yan Buji landed, he did not pursue further; he merely looked at the corpse of the demon king he had killed and saw that a bone spur on it remained intact, whereupon he curiously took it in hand.

This short spur is about 1.3 meters long, roughly the length of an ordinary sword.

However, as a spike or spear pole it is rather short, hence it is called a short spur.

It could actually be used as a throwing weapon.

Yan Buji's palm ignited; after a slight refinement to dispel demonic qi, he tested the flow of True Essence and mana, finding that True Essence flowed extremely well, whereas mana flow was extremely poor.

But as a disposable weapon, the sharpness and toughness of this short spur are hard to imagine; it should be comparable to some Fivefold Transformation ores.

For him, this demon beast material is also quite handy.

"Not bad." Yan Buji smiled and praised the Little Chicken.

"Chirp chirp chirp!!" The Little Chicken spread its wings, squinting its eyes in excited call.

Yan Buji nodded; the Little Chicken has shown extremely high intelligence since birth, especially after eating that Frost Centipede, its intelligence has increased markedly.

Look for a chance to check its origin?

Yan Buji believes the Little Chicken is a rare beast of the Youming Jie because it was unsealed from a piece of mutant source stone in the anomalous zone of the Nan Ting Mountain Region.

And the Nan Ting Mountain Region had once been invaded by the Youming Jie, hence this inference.

"No matter how we go on, this isn't working; we'd better find a way to leave." Yan Buji pondered a moment, planning to run away.

This forest sea secret realm is quite dangerous; although opportunities are also many, the problem is that an irrepressible wildness keeps calling to him, even if he is far from that towering giant tree, it remains so.

He didn't know what would happen upon approaching, but the dangers he'd seen in this outer region convinced Yan Buji that the peril near those towering giant trees was likely no less, and possibly even greater—he might even encounter a Demon Emperor.

That is a terrifying existence of the Nascent Soul stage, completely beyond the level of their Golden Core cultivators.

Yan Buji claimed he'd dare to clash even with late‑ or peak‑stage Golden Core cultivators, but against a Nascent Soul… he truly couldn't win.

It's a gap in power level, not something that spells, schemes, or other external objects can make up.

Just then, Yan Buji whipped his head around: "Who?!"

"..... Fellow Daoist Yan?"

"Hu Xue'er? Fellow Daoist Hu, what are you doing here?" Yan Buji stared at Hu Xue'er, astonished.

At that moment Hu Xue'er was covered in wounds, with pus and blood trickling from her arm; Yan Buji hurried over and fed her a Detox Pill.

It wasn't that Yan Buji was kind-hearted; he simply needed someone to help him with tasks.

At least it was a life‑saving favor; even if this fox person wanted to strike a dark hand, she'd hesitate a moment, and if she were truly an upright cultivator, that would be even better.

Moreover, Yan Buji knew little about the Forest Sea Secret Realm; perhaps the other party knew something.

Hu Xue'er took the Detox Pill, grabbed Yan Buji's sleeve, eyes wide with fear, and said: "Fellow Daoist Yan, hurry—we must get out of here at once!!"

Yan Buji frowned: "Fellow Daoist Hu, don't rush—first detoxify, I'll stand guard for you."

Looks like there really is a problem.