Late that night.

The skies above Bloodthistle Yao Mountain were still red as blood.

Su Yi strode through the air, then chopped down with his hand. 

Splurt!

A hundred-foot-tall giant white ape’s head went flying through the air.

Blood poured down like a waterfall, while the beast’s massive corpse fell with a bang, scattering dust.

And Su Yi? He landed stably on the ground. The Dao Astral Force circulating around him gradually receded.

A Paktong Demon Ape.

This was a tier-nine spirit beast on part with a fifth-level Grandmaster. Its skin was like copper and its bones were like iron. It was enormously powerful, and It possessed innate control over wind, making it an absolute hegemon amongst spirit beasts.

Yet now, in just under three breaths of time, this domineering tier-nine spirit beast lost its head to a casual swing of Su Yi’s sword.

No, that wasn’t right.

Before those last crucial three breaths of time, Su Yi avoided using killing attacks. Instead, he maintained a fierce stalemate against the Paktong Demon Ape that lasted about ten minutes.

One man, and one ape. They clashed, fist against fist, both of them ferocious as could be. Neither of them backed down. It seemed they wanted to see who had done a better job tempering their flesh. 

In the end, Su Yi came out a bit ahead, and his momentum suppressed the Paktong Demon Ape. 

It was only afterward that he went ahead and slew the ape.

Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong stood not far away. They glanced at each other, but their gazes were calm; they’d long since adjusted to this sort of thing.

Ten hours had passed since they’d parted ways with Luyang Academy’s Wang Chundu. 

During that time, they’d run into five tier-eight spirit beasts and three tier-nine spirit beasts.

Whenever this happened, Su Yi was thrilled, and he rushed right towards them, slaying one beast strong enough to terrify the vast majority of Grandmasters to the brink of despair after another.

Every time, he kept the beast locked in battle for a while. It was only after his opponent attempted to flee that he’d deal with the killing blow.

According to Su Yi, opponents worthy of sparring with were far too rare. Even if they only barely made the cut, he had to cherish each and every opportunity…..

At first, Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong were astonished.

But now, they could no longer work up too much surprise.

They could tell that Su Yi saw these tier-eight and nine spirit beasts as whetstones. 

Every time he encountered one, it seemed his greatest fear was beating his opponent to death too quickly; it was obvious that he treasured them…

They really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. However, if they really thought about it, this method was enough to fill just about any of the world’s Grandmasters with terror.

After all, using tier-nine spirit beasts to temper your fighting skills was shocking and unheard of. Throughout the Great Zhou, how many Grandmasters were capable of such a thing?

Yet now, even tier-nine spirit beasts were only fit to serve as Su Yi’s sparring companions…

The implications of this were downright terrifying.

Not far away, Su Yi clutched Guiding Mysteries and dissected the Paktong Demon Ape’s massive corpse with practiced ease, like a skilled butcher cutting up an ox carcass.

Before long, he held a fist-sized, crimson yao core in his hand.

“Not bad. It’s on par with a tier-four spiritual medicine.” A satisfied grin appeared on Su Yi’s lips. 

Then, he turned to Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong. “You two can get to it. Remember to save the two canine teeth for me, but you can keep all the other spiritual materials.”

With that, he walked up to a nearby boulder and sat cross-legged atop it. He flicked his fingertips, creating a small opening on the crimson yao core.

He then put it in his mouth and sucked on it. A current of scalding blood essence surged down his throat, then dispersed throughout his body.

Su Yi then circulated his energy. Thunderous booms emerged from within him, as if he were a furnace boiling over. Vast, pure true essence coursed through him like a surging river. 

Before long, the space around Su Yi’s cross-legged figure filled with Dao Astral Force as radiant as the light of the rising sun.

It flowed like the tide, with the distinctive and miraculous charm of the Grand Dao.

When Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong saw this, they walked right up to the Paktong Demon Ape’s corpse and got to work gathering spiritual materials.

The bodies of the world’s spirit beasts were full of treasure, from their scales, claws, tendons, bones, fangs, and flesh…  

Some could be used to make medicine, while others could be made into weapons.

At tiers seven and above, spirit beasts yielded increasingly precious materials. 

Take the Paktong Demon Ape. In the eyes of Martial Dao Grandmasters, its entire body was like a treasure vault.

Its pelt could be made into spiritual armor, while its tendons, bones, and fangs could be made into weapons. Its flesh contained pure, refined energy on par with tier-three spiritual medicine….

Even its eyes and innards all had their uses.

If an intact corpse like this were sold in a mundane marketplace, the nation’s Grandmasters would all scramble to claim it. 

Before long, Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong had thoroughly picked the corpse clean. Of course, they didn’t forget to set aside the fangs for Su Yi. 

“Palace Master Ning, Young Lord Su has given us each a share of the spoils for each of the five tier-eight spirit beasts and three tier-nine spirit beasts he’s killed. How…. How am I supposed to repay him?” Shen Jiusong smiled bitterly. He felt unworthy of such generosity. 

“An ordinary man would never have the chance to owe him a favor, you know.” Ning Sihua smiled. “Take your time and pay him back slowly. Weren’t you hoping to step into the Origin Dao? This is a rare and precious opportunity.” 

“Opportunity?” Shen Jiusong was briefly stunned, but he quickly understood what she was getting at. He nodded repeatedly. “Many thanks for your guidance, Palace Master Ning. I understand!”

Owing Su Yi a favor was indeed an opportunity; he could use this as a reason to approach Su Yi. If this continued over an extended period of time, he’d have no need to fear failing to board the “grand vessel” that was Su Yi!

When he realized this, Shen Jiusong’s heart filled with excitement.

This expedition to Bloodthistle Yao Mountain had taught him what it meant to be a true cultivator. 

By comparison, mundane status and authority seemed paltry. In the face of the truly powerful, such things were unquestionably ridiculous. 

All of this filled Shen Jiusong with the irrepressible desire to charge over the threshold of the Origin Dao.

After Ning Sihua “gave him pointers”, he realized that if he won Su Yi’s approval, it’d be no different from obtaining an immortal’s guidance!

An hour passed before Su Yi awoke from his meditation, then stood up. “Let’s go.”

With that, he turned and walked into the distance. 

Although it had been less than a day since they’d entered Bloodthistle Yao Mountain, overcoming one bout of intense combat after another had vastly increased the rate at which he converted his true essence into Dao Astral Force. He was growing by leaps and bounds. 

Currently, roughly forty percent of his true essence had become Dao Astral Force!

In other words, if he finished refining the remaining sixty percent, he’d reach the pinnacle of the late-stage Qi Accumulation Realm, the Astral Manifestation Realm.  

Then, all of his true essence would be Dao Astral Force, making his foundations in the Martial Dao so firm that he’d inevitably be far stronger than his past self had been at the same cultivation!

Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong followed him, and they proceeded ahead.

However, on this part of the journey, the two of them had nothing to do. 

This was because the further they ventured into the mountain, the fewer spirit beasts tier seven and under they saw. Whenever they ran into something tier seven or higher, Su Yi beat them to the punch. 

Shen Jiusong was increasingly certain of something. Was Bloodthistle Yao Mountain dangerous?

Yes, it was extremely dangerous!

But so long as you were with the right person, traveling in a perilous place like this was as easy as walking on flat ground! Under Su Yi’s leadership, they flattened every obstacle in their path.

Another four hours passed.

During this stretch of the road, Su Yi only encountered two tier-eight spirit beasts.  

And the deeper into the wilderness they ventured, the more chaotic the ambient energy.

The blood-colored smog overhead was dense, like blood-colored ink flecked and tainted with fierce winds formed of baleful energy. It howled through the mountain pass, making them feel stifled and irritable.

“Hm?” Su Yi suddenly paused mid-step.

At almost exactly the same time, a round of whispering reverberated throughout heaven and earth, like ghosts secretly chatting amongst themselves or the bewitching notes of the underworld. 

As soon as they heard this strange, familiar sound, Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong cast aside all other thoughts and shored up their souls’ defenses. 

Even so, Ning Sihua furrowed her brow, and her youthful face contorted with discomfort. Her soul was too sensitive; the impact of this strange power dealt her an enormous blow.

Shen Jiusong’s face twitched in agony, and his forehead broke out in cold sweats. 

Only Su Yi remained calm and composed, as if he didn’t even notice it.

He had the Sword of the Nine Hells to protect his mental sea, and he cultivated the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra, a peerless soul technique. Thus, he wasn’t affected in the least. 

He could even use the power of his soul to examine the whispering and discern quite a few secrets.

This should come from the formation placed underground, beneath Bloodthistle Yao Mountain. It has the power to capture souls, defend itself, transform baleful energy, and destroy the spirit, among other uses…

Based on the power of its fluctuations, it should take less than half a day for us to arrive within range of the formation proper.

Interesting! Someone’s actually taking advantage of the formation’s power.

A strange light suddenly flashed in Su Yi’s eyes.

At the same time, he heard the faint sound of fierce combat emanating from afar.

It was too far away to hear clearly, but Su Yi reacted as if he’d discovered something rather interesting. “Can you two still hold out?”

Both of his companions nodded. 

“Then let’s go over and watch the excitement.” With that, Su Yi led the way ahead.

The excitement? Ning Sihua and Shen Jiusong were confused, but they nevertheless endured the discomfort in their souls and followed Su Yi.

About ten minutes later.

A vast gorge, like an enormous bowl, came into view. 

The entire gorge was covered in roiling, surging mists of baleful energy.

A group of grotesque living corpses had two people thoroughly surrounded.

The walking dead included both men and women. Some were old, while others were young. There were over a dozen of them, and for the most part, they looked no different from ordinary people. 

However, their skin was ghastly white and transparent, and their expressions were wooden. Furthermore, black, malevolent yin qi lingered around their bodies. 

The most surprising part was that every single living corpse was as strong as a Grandmaster!

Furthermore, the living corpses had no fear of weapons. They didn’t know what life and death were. This made them incomparably dangerous. 

“Those are the Deathbringer’s Gate’s ‘Hundred-Refined Corpses.’ They’re similar to corpse puppets, but their manufacturing method is incomparably brutal. First, you grow venomous insects inside the body of a Grandmaster to invade and occupy their flesh,” said Ning Sihua. 

Her pupils constricted, and she whispered, “After that, you use a secret art to bind and seal the Grandmaster’s soul. The corpse then requires numerous rounds of a ghastly and insidious refinement process. Only then can you produce a single such spiritual corpse.” 

Shen Jiusong’s expression darkened as well. “I’ve heard about this too. They say that a hundred years ago, the reason the Deathbringer’s Gate became the Great Zhou’s top heretical faction was due to them controlling numerous Hundred-Refined Corpses.

“Each such corpse is on par with a Grandmaster, and furthermore, their bodies contain potent poison. It’d be no exaggeration to call them human-shaped weapons!”