owlsbooks Chapter 69 Remains
Chapter 69 Remains
Find an opportunity when Xue Zhen is alone, or at least not surrounded by outer disciples.
……
Half an hour later.
The monster materials have all been harvested.
A large piece of the jade-black scales was peeled off, and Xue Zhen pocketed the water python's demon core.
Fangs, venom sacs, snake bones... most of the valuable materials were divided up by the outer disciples and stuffed into their storage bags.
All that remained by the pool was a large mass of mangled, bloody remains, emanating a strong, pungent stench.
Yao Ye glanced back from the tiger's back, waved, and signaled the group to continue.
No one wanted to look at that pile of flesh and blood any longer. It might disappear from the Ten Directions Mountains soon, but for now, it could only be abandoned in this red-stained pool.
Chen Bai walked at the very back of the group.
As he passed the pool, he deliberately lagged behind a few steps. Taking advantage of the moment when everyone ahead was focused on their journey and no one was paying attention, he quietly squatted down and placed his palm on the mangled, bloody remains.
It felt cold and slippery to the touch, with blood soaking into his fingertips.
Chen Bai's face remained expressionless; he simply closed his eyes slightly, and within his sea of consciousness, the Guiyuan Creation Cauldron trembled slightly.
An invisible suction force suddenly appeared in his palm, but this time he controlled it with extreme care.
If the entire remains were completely cleaned up, the commotion would be too great and would inevitably attract the attention of others.
Anyone would be suspicious if a plump, fleshy monster's remains suddenly withered and turned to ashes.
Therefore, he did not let the small cauldron refine all the dregs into primordial essence, but only extracted the most essential part of the remains, leaving the surface in its original flesh and blood state.
From the outside, the mass of flesh and blood was still flesh and blood, only it lacked some luster. If you didn't compare it carefully, you couldn't tell the difference at all.
"Buzz..."
The small cauldron trembled gently in his sea of consciousness for a moment, then slowly returned to silence.
Several orbs of light, each with a different color, appeared inside the cauldron.
Chen Bai's eyes lit up.
This time, the harvest was much richer than he had imagined.
[Recovery: 1 fragment of a mid-stage Nascent Soul-like monster, the Ink-Scaled Water Anaconda]
[Extract: Tier 1 Mid-grade spiritual materials "Ink Boa Venom Scale *8", "Ink Boa Essence *1"]
This black-scaled water python was, after all, a demonic beast at the mid-stage of the embryonic breathing realm. Even though most of its materials had been harvested, there were still many valuable items on its body.
Without making a sound, Chen Bai stood up and quickened his pace to catch up with the group.
Their attention, however, was focused on the few orbs of light extracted from the small cauldron.
Eight palm-sized, dark-colored scales appeared within a hazy white light.
After being refined by the small cauldron, each piece of armor is smooth, intact, thin, and flexible.
It is an excellent material for making close-fitting soft nails.
The most precious thing is the spirit of the black-scaled water python. Since it had just died, its soul had not yet dissipated, and it retained most of its strength from its previous life.
"If handled properly, we can gain another powerful beast spirit, which is at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm."
Chen Bai's heart stirred slightly, but he put the matter aside for the time being, because the gains this time were far from complete.
Mixed among the remains of this monstrous beast were several corpses that had not yet been fully digested.
It was those few rogue cultivators that it had just swallowed.
While retrieving the remains of the water python, Xiao Ding also retrieved these other corpses.
Several milky-white orbs of light floated out of the cauldron and hovered above Chen Bai's sea of consciousness.
[Collection: Corpse of a cultivator in the early stage of the embryonic breathing realm*1]
[Extract: "Lower-level Taoist Technique - Dawn Feather Fixation Method" *1]
This Taoist technique uses the feathers of four kinds of demonic beasts and birds as a medium. After being refined, it can condense several Dream Feathers that are specifically designed to destroy soul-type beings.
Its quality is similar to the Crimson Flame Spirit Guiding Technique he had previously purchased; both belong to the lower-level Daoist arts, but it excels in its targeted nature.
It might be only moderately effective against other spirits and monsters with physical forms, but it can be useful against things like corpse demons.
[Collection: Corpse of a cultivator in the early stage of the embryonic breathing realm*1]
[Extract: "Inferior Taoist Technique - Mud Trapping Technique" *1]
A technique of earth element that traps enemies, capable of turning the ground into a swamp within a radius of several feet, thus restricting the enemy's movement speed.
Chen Bai's heart stirred slightly. He had a Grass Binding Spell that could trap enemies, but the Grass Binding Spell was weak against fire magic and had a low hit rate against fast-moving targets.
This Mud Sinking Technique can perfectly compensate for the shortcomings of the Grass Knot Spell.
First, use the Mud Sinking Technique to slow down the opponent, then use the Grass Binding Spell to precisely bind them. After a combo, most opponents in the early stages of the Fetal Breathing Realm will find it difficult to break free.
[Collection: Corpse of a cultivator in the early stage of the embryonic breathing realm*1]
[Extracted: "Embryonic Breathing Techniques - Initial Stabilization of Kundalini Qi Guiding Method" *1]
This is a very basic embryonic breathing exercise. The method is incomplete, with only the first half of the formula for circulating the energy through the body and a few meridian diagrams.
It's likely that this rogue cultivator acquired it from somewhere, so its quality is rather low. If he were to actually start cultivating with it, he would undoubtedly face countless risks of qi deviation...
However, this fragment contains a passage about the technique of "guiding qi through three barriers".
However, it is slightly different from his method—this method uses the blood and qi of demonic beasts to counteract the flow of qi in the Du meridian, forcibly widening the meridians with external pressure. Although it is more dangerous than the orthodox method, it is more efficient.
Chen Bai found this technique quite novel and had a vague understanding of it.
In addition, there were some fragmented insights, all of which were unsystematic and rudimentary methods, of lower quality than the few inferior Taoist arts he had learned in the Dharma practice field.
But having more skills is never a bad thing; having more skills means having more ways to make a living.
In the perilous Shifang Mountains, you can never have too many ways to save your life.
After Chen Bai finished checking these items, the light in his sea of consciousness gradually subsided and returned to silence.
Wu Liang, who was a few steps ahead of him, was studying his crumpled map with his head down, completely unaware of what was happening behind him; Duan Heisi was even further ahead, still talking quietly with Miao Wuniang.
With his footsteps landing on the damp mountain path again, Chen Bai raised his head and looked through the layers of branches and leaves at the distant mountain ridgeline that was faintly visible in the clouds.
It was getting late.
The setting sun was mostly obscured by the towering peaks, leaving only a dark twilight in the valley.
Night falls earlier and deeper in the Shifang Mountains than in the outside world.
When the last ray of sunlight was swallowed up by the layers of branches and leaves, the entire team stopped in front of a rocky slope.
Yao Ye rode on the tiger's back, looked up at the sky, then looked around, and finally fixed his gaze on a rock wall halfway up the mountain.
There was a dark cave entrance that was partially hidden by several clumps of withered vines, making it difficult to spot without careful observation.
"We'll camp in that cave tonight." He pointed, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Several outer disciples responded and stepped forward to scout ahead.
They fiddled around at the cave entrance for a while, making sure there were no monsters lurking inside. They then quickly cleared away the rocks and animal droppings before inviting everyone inside.