Chapter 83: Hunting

Pei Zhenxiu wasn’t truly ignoring them; she had her eyes on everyone the whole time.

When she saw Li Zhen dispatch a mid-grade, first-rank leopard with a single sword strike, surprise flickered in her eyes.

For a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining to kill a first-rank mid-grade monster, you could only say they had decent battle prowess. But to casually slay such a flexible, first-rank beast with a master-level sword technique—that’s something else entirely.

“A fourth-level cultivator on the first day, wielding a master-level sword technique and possessing high-grade spiritual roots!” Pei Zhenxiu murmured to herself.

Such talent is typically found only in the elite students of top-tier universities when they’re young.

And what sort of background do these elite students come from? Every one of them has an incredibly powerful patron. Resources for them are never a concern.

“Could it be that his ancestors included some great cultivator?” Pei Zhenxiu wondered aloud.

This wasn’t a casual guess. Among the general populace, finding someone with high-grade spiritual roots is like trying to find a needle in a haystack—nearly impossible. And that’s not even considering those who also possess exceptional talent in the sword art.

To have both types of talent suggests that there must be a formidable presence in their bloodline.

Currently, she was in the demon realm and would need to wait until returning to the immortal realm before she could leverage her connections to investigate Li Zhen’s background.

Li Zhen’s performance further solidified Pei Zhenxiu’s desire to recruit him.

With the leopard’s carcass at his side, Li Zhen had no need to search for more beasts. The blood scent would quickly attract nearby monsters.

Holding a mid-grade longsword, he stood relaxed beside the carcass, his senses fully alert.

After about ten minutes, he suddenly leaped up. As soil flew around him, an earth dragon snapped its jaws shut where he had just been standing.

Though he had left the ground, the sword in his hand swept downwards.

The glint of the mid-grade longsword struck the earth dragon’s head, which had emerged from the ground, being the only target available.

The dragon’s skin quivered from the attack but did not break, merely collapsing momentarily before regaining its shape. Even the spiritual energy contained within the sword dissipated harmlessly as it was absorbed into the dragon’s body.

It didn’t even pierce the skin! Li Zhen marveled inwardly.

A mid-grade longsword, combined with a highly accomplished sword technique, should have been powerful enough to breach the defenses of a cultivator in the intermediate stages of Qi Refining.

Li Zhen somersaulted in mid-air before landing gracefully on the ground. The earth dragon’s attack hadn’t breached his defenses, but it had certainly taken a hit. Enraged, the dragon burrowed back into the earth, erupting toward Li Zhen with relentless fury.

Now, Li Zhen could see the dragon in its entirety. A four-meter-long colossus, its displayed strength was mid-grade first-rank—just a notch above the leopard’s. Steel wielding mastery, he swept his blade with practiced fluidity. The sword gleamed, parrying the earth dragon’s assaults. Yet Li Zhen found himself at an impasse, powerless against the dragon in the short term. Prolonged battle would surely turn against him.

Each strike drained spiritual energy from Li Zhen, while the earth dragon fought purely with physical strength. As long as the dragon had the stamina, it would continue to battle relentlessly. Li Zhen was keenly aware of this. He felt utterly frustrated; if only Pei Zhenxiu weren’t present, he’d have so many more options to dispatch the dragon.

All he needed was to switch to a first-rank high-grade longsword, and he’d be able to shatter the dragon’s defenses. Or he could unleash dragon might—a mere display of such power would surely terrify the beast away, even if it couldn’t break through its defenses outright. After a moment’s hesitation, Li Zhen refrained from these tactics. Instead, he chose another course.

With a deafening crack, a bolt of lightning struck the earth dragon squarely.

The blast struck precisely at the earth dragon’s heart. The skin there was seared black, and lightning spread across its body, causing its frame to convulse involuntarily.

Li Zhen now possessed a hundred points of spiritual energy. Using fifty points to cast Heavenly Thunder Magic had an effect on him, but not enough to hinder his combat.

While the earth dragon lost control of its body from the strike, Li Zhen’s longsword pierced the skin near the dragon’s heart.

This area had already been weakened by the Heavenly Thunder Magic, making it easy for his mid-grade longsword to break through.

The earth dragon’s spasms intensified—one last flare before it stilled forever.

Only then did Li Zhen fully grasp the terror of monster beasts. This location was merely five miles from Tianchang City, theoretically a safe zone.

Yet, the creatures he’d encountered—an order-middle-grade leopard and an order-middle-grade earth dragon—both possessed the ability to conceal themselves.

He couldn’t help but infer that any monster capable of reaching this area to attack cultivators likely had some form of stealth ability. These were hunters born of the wild, predators in their essence.

Li Zhen sat down again and waited for some time, but no more monsters appeared.

He checked the time; it was about time to regroup.

He took a rope and tied it around the leopard and earth dragon’s corpses, then dragged them back towards the group.

On the other side, Pei Zhenxiu had just intervened to save Fang Congzhi. She sensed Li Zhen’s use of the Lightning Technique.

What caught her attention most was not that Li Zhen had used a paper talisman, but that he had cast the spell himself.

The Lightning Technique was highly specialized, unlike the basic five elements techniques which could be performed by simply increasing spiritual energy consumption, regardless of one’s innate spiritual formation.

To perform the Lightning Technique, the caster must inherently possess a Thunder Spirit Root, which is one of the unique spiritual formations.

With a Thunder Spirit Root, Li Zhen alone was worth cultivating.

His ability to use the Lightning Technique in battle indicated a very high level of mastery over it.

Dragging two monster corpses, Li Zhen returned last. The others had already gathered and were waiting.

He noticed that Fang Congzhi’s clothes were torn, and a lingering terror remained on her face. Shi Xuan seemed better off; upon seeing Li Zhen, an awkward expression appeared on his face, as he had returned empty-handed.

Only Wang Rushi had a rabbit at her feet. It seemed she’d had some luck, encountering a weak monster.

Li Zhen observed the three seniors, and they looked back, particularly at the two monster corpses he was dragging.

“You killed all these?” Fang Congzhi asked, unsure if he believed his eyes.

“Yes, I guess I had some luck!” Li Zhen replied with a grin.

Hearing Li Zhen’s words, they fell silent, momentarily at a loss for words.

What Li Zhen called luck was, to them, a disaster.

Normally, in a fight between low-level monsters and cultivators of equal cultivation realms, the monsters would come out on top.

This was because the combat techniques of low-level cultivators posed little threat to monsters of the same cultivation level. Conversely, low-level monsters could easily tear through the defenses of cultivators at their level. In terms of strength, defense, and speed, low-level monsters held an absolute advantage.

“Perfect timing. Now Mr. Zuo can teach them how to handle prey!” Pei Zhenxiu remarked mildly.

Mr. Zuo nodded, ignoring Wang Rushi’s prey, the pitiful low-grade tier-1 demonic rabbit. Its value paled in comparison to Li Zhen’s catch.

“In the future, when hunting monsters, you must always carry a dissecting knife to efficiently process your prey.”

Quickly field dressing game and preserving the most valuable parts is an essential skill. Here, except for Li Zhen, you’ve all studied this knowledge already. I’ll teach Li Zhen, while the rest of you observe!” Mr. Zuo explained, pulling out a dissecting knife.

He handed the dissecting knife to Li Zhen. The knife was a low-grade, first-tier magical tool.

The blade of the dissecting knife was incredibly thin, with runes inscribed to enhance its sharpness. This made the knife extremely keen but also stripped it of any other special properties.

The dissecting knife was unsuitable for combat due to its fragility and susceptibility to damage.

“Make your first cut here. Your position for this slice is good; the leopard remains mostly intact!” Mr. Zuo demonstrated, using the leopard as an example.

Under Mr. Zuo’s guidance, Li Zhen used the dissection knife to cut through the leopard’s fur, peeling off the entire pelt. Then, he instructed Li Zhen to extract the leopard’s sharpest teeth.

“The best materials from a leopard are these teeth and the meat on its back. Make two cuts here to remove the meat from its spine. As for the rest of the flesh, it’s not practical to carry, so just discard it!” Mr. Zuo said.

In no time, the leopard was fully processed and casually tossed aside.

“I really can’t fathom how you breached the Earth Dragon’s defenses!” Mr. Zuo looked at the dragon and shook his head, saying, “The Earth Dragon is a earth-type monster, and its skin is infused with earth spiritual energy, making its defense unsurpassed among its peers. You must channel extra spiritual energy into your dissection knife; otherwise, you won’t be able to penetrate its hide!”

He had noticed the marks of lightning strikes on the Earth Dragon’s body, but since Pei Zhenxiu, standing nearby, said nothing, he prudently kept silent as well.

Assuming Li Zhen had employed lightning-type talismans, Mr. Zuo meticulously guided him in the following instructions, all with the aim of minimizing Li Zhen’s losses.