As the days wore on within the Jade Forest, Hong Zhao repeated the process. He used Qi Explosion, Qi Shot, Eagle Vision and finally his Devouring Qi Claws in order to finish off each snake that happened upon the remains of the last. After the first day, Hong Zhao was able to create three Qi Balls to throw to the ground as bait to the beasts. He could feel the Qi that he condensed into the bolts he fired when activating Qi Shot becoming more dense, able to do more damage.
Where the Qi Shots needed at least three bolts landing in the same place in order to pierce the tough skin of the stone snake. Now as Hong Zhao fired, it only took two shots. Even with that victory, he still needed to rain down Qi Shots on the enemy from every angle in order to confuse the snake long enough for him to dive down and decapitate it.
Hong Zhao had the routine down perfectly. He started feeling as though he were fishing, instead of killing snakes. The biggest difference between the two was fishing wouldn't have him drenched in blood at the end of a catch.
Taking the beast core out of the latest fallen enemy, Hong Zhao carved yet another end of the snake to put into his ring. Seeing the sun go down through the thick trees with his Eagle Vision, he decided to leave his perch and head off to his camp.
He had set up a fire pit a few kilometers away from his hunting ground so as not to attract the attention of his prey, yet it barely helped. Hong Zhao had to surround his small base with the three Qi Balls in the form of a triangle to secure most of his camp. While he roasted a large portion of stone snake, he kept his Eagle Vision on, just in case some fierce beasts thought to become opportunists. He could see them just out of the corner of his eye. They hid behind trees, waiting for him to drop his guard.
There were a few times that a snake or two decided to cross the perimeter. When they tried, Hong Zhao was alerted by the Qi Explosion technique, then activated his Devouring Qi Claws, decapitating the snakes the moment they were noticed.
His claws were of a much higher rank than any of his other techniques. Even though it took two shots to pierce the skin of the stone snakes, it was almost like carving a piece of meat from bone to cut with his claws. They offered some resistance, yet not enough that his momentum wouldn't finish the job.
He slept no more than four hours a night, before choosing a new hunting location further in the forest.
The further he went within the forest, the tougher the skin of the snakes and the harder it was to pierce their skin with Qi Shot. He enjoyed the challenge of the hunt. Though the snakes were still the same rank as him, he noticed that their Qi was much more potent within the beast cores he collected.
As he killed more beasts with his Qi Claws, he also absorbed most of the Qi that remained in their bodies after the beast cores were taken out. He had to spend at least an hour taming the wild Qi within him before it settled into his dantian.
As he moved through the forest, he could feel how each of his abilities were starting to grow stronger. He felt like given a year of this training, if he hadn't reached Eighth Star Student Rank, he would be close.
As the days wore on, he wondered how the Li siblings were faring in their own training. Li Wuhan had his defense ability, which if Hong Zhao remembered, he also shared with his sister. He had his Qi Sword as well as Vortex Thrust, making him more than an opponent for most shadow panthers ranked Sixth Star Student and lower.
Li Wei had her defense ability along with the Qi Fans and Vortex Thrust. Hong Zhao slapped himself when he remembered that he didn't give her a ranged ability. The Qi Fans were the only student ranked ability that would allow for flight. If she had a ranged ability, she wouldn't even have to worry about tight quarters fighting. The fans were also razor sharp and easily used to kill an opponent if used properly.
Hong Zhao felt he didn't need to worry too much about the two siblings. For the two weeks that they spent out in the forest, both siblings seemed to fare well with their training. But if things went badly, he hoped that Lan would be able to interfere, or at least let him know where they were so he wouldn't have to check the whole forest for them.