Long Tao already anticipated that today was not going to be peaceful. The Wolf King Bared its white fangs, growling in anger as it glared at him. The wolves that managed to escape the slaughter seems to have alerted the wolf king about his existence.
Initially, the wolf King would not go out of his den. He would wait for his followers and pack members to bring up the hunted food. The wolf king would devour most of the part.
It only gets moving in case of big hunts conducted, or another opponent of 2nd level appeared in the vicinity challenging its authority.
It was still resting in its place when suddenly a group of minor wolves' came running. It could see that the majority of the group sent out was nowhere to be found.
It enraged the king. Somebody dared to kill its pack members. It immediately set out to the location of the fight with the pack members. He decided to kill the one who hunted them.
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As he reached the spot, he could see the faint traces of battle which occurred here.
Blood was everywhere. It was enraged, and following the smell, it started tracing the path of Long Tao, ultimately reaching outside the cave he resided in.
A thick smell of blood was smeared in the atmosphere, and as he broke through the stone wall blocking the entrance, he could see a silhouette of a human standing in front of him.
The figure was smeared in blood, and he could see numerous wolf corpses lying beside the spot. These were the members of his pack that didn't return from the previous hunt.
Anger and madness started consuming within him. A mere human who had no fluctuation of Qi around dared to kill his subordinates. It was genuinely courting death in his eyes.
Seeing the wolf King staring at him, Long Tao began to sweat profusely. The situation has created a death grudge between him and the Wolf King.
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Long Tao focused all his mind on the situation. Standing in front of him is the most powerful enemy he had faced until now.
He straightened his back, assume the normal battle posture of his, and was concentrating on the movements of the wolf king.
The wolf king dashed towards him at full speed. It was far above in strength and abilities compared to the wolves he had killed previously.
The previous wolves were not even a bit comparable to the figure in front of him. It was already near Long Tao in a blink of an eye and raised its paw as it ruthlessly slammed Long Tao, towards the wall of the cave.
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Long Tao's body was sent flying around. It was the first time Long Tao had experienced an attack of this might, which wounded his body in a single strike.
As the dust settled, even the wolf king had a look of surprise in his eyes as he saw Long Tao standing up with just a minor injury.
It didn't expect Long Tao would be able to ward off the attack from earlier. It clearly showed the might of Long Tao's strength. He stood up, and a brawl began again, as he advances with his full force towards it.
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The scene continued as the wolf King continuously strike Long Tao, and Long Tao would return, trying to land an attack on the wolf king.
Many bruises can be seen on the body of his, but he continued to attack without stopping. He was now getting accustomed to the enemy's power.
It was astonished now. He hadn't expected that this small creature would be able to fend off so many attacks of it.
It was indeed a miracle. Long Tao, continuously advanced, and finally as his speed got accustomed, he managed to get near to the face of the wolf king, he clenched his fist, and with all his might, he shot a fist towards the wolf king's face.
The attack landed, and it was a heavy blow. The strength of its opponent now enthralled the wolf king, and it was able to hurt him. He started taking Long Tao seriously now.
It started utilizing all its strength towards fighting Long Tao. The physical fight between the two continued in the cave.
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It was already morning now; two figures were constantly clashing with each other as the cave reverberated with the sound of the clash. A loud boom occurred, and these two silhouettes backed off from each other. Long Tao 's whole body was now marked with colossal claw marks and scars.
Wounds were all over his bodies as blood was dripping out of them. On the opposite side, even the figure of the wolf king was extremely vigilant as it started towards Long Tao.
The character which he thought he could easily crush by its paw, had managed to hurt it. It no longer delayed, as it opened its mouth, and slowly a small ball of energy started forming in between its jaws. Long Tao glanced with a vigilant expression.
It was what one could call coagulation of Qi within its body which can be projected out to attack its opponent. As the ball of energy proceeded towards its target, Long Tao hurriedly dodged to the side.
It didn't give Long Tao a chance to rest. It again barged towards him with full force and tried landed his claw attacks. Long Tao reciprocated equivalently. Within the middle of the fight, the wolf king had again started gathering qi within its mouth.
Long Tao was long awaiting this opportunity, and as the wolf king slowed down to gather, Long Tao attacked towards the eye of the wolf king, directly piercing it as blood rushed out.
As Long Tao rushed backward, a painful howl could be heard from the mouth of the wolf king. Long Tao didn't give the wolf king any time to recuperate, as he again attacked aiming for the other eye. The battle continued further and further.
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It was nightfall of the second day of the fight between the wolf king and the human. Inside the cave, a massive corpse of the wolf could be seen with both of its eyes pierced and its heart ruptured.
A small human figure was currently lying beside the body, breathing heavily, not being able to even move to the slightest.
Finally, after a long, arduous battle between the two Long Tao had managed to kill off the wolf king and gain victory.
He had no strength remaining after the fight as he had a satisfied smile on his face.
Not only has this fight tempered Long Tao a lot, but now he doesn't have to bother about the cultivation resources for the Blood Tempering art to be completed for the foundation level.
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The current fight gave him an idea as to how powerful the beings who can utilize qi can be. His aim was now to lay the foundation correctly and step into the Qi child realm before long. Only then could he freely hunt for the beasts of the wolf king's level.
After resting for some time, he got up and decide to fist practice his 12 forges of death to the next level before completing the equivalent level of the Blood Tempering Art.
Long Tao first attempted to cultivate the Heavenly pestle formula because his soul advancement had given him the feeling of being a little lacking. Once again, he appeared before the grinder as the 4th grind started and his soul was crushed.
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3 months later:
Long Tao was sitting inside the cave mansion of his practicing the 12 forges art. Loud sounds of bone crackling could be heard along with the roar of pain from the mouth of Long Tao.
Long Tao continued to bear with the pain he felt. Although he thought that he was now accustomed to the pain, he was surprised and sent into a state of extreme agony every time he tries a new set of forge cycle.
It just can be attributed to the fact that Long Tao's body was growing more and more brutal day by day, and breaking it was tougher with each passing day.
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Long Tao breathed a massive gust of air as he opened up his eyes and stretched his body. Finally, he has wholly cultivated the 12 Forges of Death to its highest stage and completed the 12th stage of re-forge.
As he felt his body being filled with an unimaginable amount of power, Long Tao could now think that if he fought the wolf king for the second time, he could quickly kill him.
Maybe, after completing the foundation art of the Blood Tempering, a new set of memories to step into the Qi child realm starts occurring. Soon he completed the ten stages of Blood Tempering Art/ The devouring art of heavenly Glutton, and the runes in his blood were also shining as a change of his bloodline started occurring.
It was a qualitative change, and the blood inside him was being converted to something more powerful. It would benefit the cultivation while also boosting his speed.
But as Long Tao waited for the new set of memory to occur, he still didn't get any response.
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As Long Tao started contemplating why this was happening, he remembered there was still an art he was practicing that didn't reach the highest extent, The heavenly pestle art. Long Tao sighed in helplessness as he took a short break before, sitting back in his position and started cultivating from the 7th grind and decided to end the seclusion only after he completes the ninth grinding.