𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯.
𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴, 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴 '𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘲𝘪' 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴.
𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴.
--Idan the Mountain on the origin of body cultivation.
Loud impacts could be heard throughout a certain section of forest. A massive lion immersed in flame was dancing around a hill-like bear. Every strike from the Tyrant Bear caused waves of power to ripple through the air.
Its physical body could only be described as terrifying!
In contrast to the oppressive bear the lion was nimbly evading. It made swift attacks before retreating, repeating the process to slowly wear down the bear.
Unfortunately for the Blazing Lion the Rock-Like hide on the Tyrant Bear made sure its injuries were only superficial. The lion knew this couldn't go on for long, if this continued it would grow tired, and the bear may be able to strike it.
A direct hit from the bear would be devastating, and it would be as good as dead if things developed in such a direction.
A large amount of blood qi gathered at the back of the lion's throat; the surrounding air vibrated with heat, not even a second later a thick beam of heat tore towards the Tyrant Bear.
Feeling the pressure from this attack the bear responded in kind. The blood qi in the bears body was like an ocean, a thick tsunami of sturdy qi bursting forth and crashing into the beam. That was not the end however!
The bear slapped towards the lion, the blood qi in its body forming an illusory paw that mirrored its own. The Blazing Lion was directly smashed into the ground, but its beam pierced through the bears tsunami of qi. Despite having weakened the attack caused the bear to roar in pain, its chest had been severely burned and the white of bone could be seen.
It was not enough however! Even with the beam continuing through the qi tsunami the rest of the attack still went on to finish off the lion that had been previously swatted into the ground mercilessly by the bear.
Cains mouth hung open at this moment! 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴? 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.
It was only now that he realized how dangerous his situation was. If he provoked a beast such as this, he wouldn't even have the opportunity to regret before he was killed. He would have to be more careful from now on.
Only after watching the Tyrant Bear drag the Blazing Lion's carcass elsewhere did Cain dare move from his place of hiding.
Something like those beasts would be great to refine, but that was only wishful thinking. Cain would have to settle on a lesser creature to be his foundation.
Thinking back to the creatures that were at this basin Cain tried to think of one that caught his fancy. The Silver Wolves were ruled out, they were among the most common beasts in this forest, but those tigers didn't seem half bad.
Another factor was that these creatures seemed to be of the lightning affinity, and just hearing the name 'Thunder Palace' Cain could guess that their cultivation arts centered around the Dao of Lightning.
Using one of these creatures, or even a different lightning affinity beast, would cause his future path in the sect to be smoother. Thus, Cain set out in the direction those tigers had fled.
Cain tracked the beasts until nightfall, it was too dangerous to continue following them while it was dark. He was far from his cave, and didn't want to give up on the tigers just yet, so he found a hollow tree nearby to rest in.
Cain didn't forget to set up a few simple traps around himself before he slept.
The next day Cain immediately set off towards the Volt Tigers. They seemed to be quite fast! A few hours were consumed before Cain found where the tigers seemed to be inhabiting.
In front of him was an area devoid of trees, lazing around this plain were at least a dozen Volt Tigers. Not to mention the Winged Volt Tiger that could be seen in front of a hillside cave situated at the center of this area.
That Winged Tiger should be at least on the level of the Blazing Lion and Tyrant Bear that Cain had seen previously.
With such a beast guarding the area Cain could only wait for one of the beasts to wander off on its own. Before then though, preparations had to be made! Cain would die if he took on one of these tigers alone, so a plan had to be made in order to slay one. He looked around the vicinity of the plain for anything that could be of use and eventually found a suitable location.
In front of Cain was an area full of thick vines, with twisted roots crisscrossing the ground. Such an area would greatly limit mobility for a large creature, he would use his small body to his advantage. But this was not enough, Cain began to dig pitfalls and placed sharpened sticks at the bottom. He carefully memorized each of these pitfalls before camouflaging them thoroughly.
𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺! Cain returned to the clearing, patiently awaiting his chance. Luckily, he did not have to wait long. One of the younger looking Volt Tigers was headed in his direction, definitely not expecting his approaching ambush.
When the Volt Tiger was far enough from its streak Cain took action! His bow that had long been drawn fired an arrow that planted firmly in the tiger's foreleg, then he began sprinting with all his might towards the area he prepared previously. When the young tiger saw the prey that had been arrogant enough to actually injure it, it became enraged!
A crackle was heard before the tiger began chasing Cain, sparks of lightning flashing around its body.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵. The Volt Tiger was rapidly approaching, even with the arrow lodged in its leg. Luckily the destination wasn't far. The vines were rapidly approaching in Cains vision, he was going to make it!
At least that's what he thought before the Volt Tiger let out a savage roar. The roar was like thunder in Cains ears, and he was unable to prevent himself from being stunned. The Volt Tiger caught up to him immediately, delivering a vicious smack to his back.
Cain couldn't help but let out a scream as he was sent flying, claw marks raking his back. Fortunately, the blow knocked him all into the prepared area. As he struggled to stand, Cain watched the tiger slowly walking towards him with what seemed to be a hint of mockery in its eyes. But when Cain saw where the tiger was headed, he sneered in his heart.
The Volt Tigers startled yelp was heard before it plunged into one of his pitfalls. Cain didn't let go of this opportunity, directly firing a few arrows into the pit before retreating. In the next moment a miserable looking tiger climbed its way out of the shallow pit, a sinister glint its eyes.
Cain shot another arrow at the beast as it glared at him, unsurprisingly, they missed. The tiger had evaded the arrows with ease before charging toward Cain. It was determined to get revenge! Cain had prepared for this moment. He started to weave around the thick vines, although they were not strong enough to stop the tiger, they delayed its movements significantly. With its accumulated injuries the tiger slowly got more and more sluggish, and Cain had begun taking a few slashes at the beast with his short swords.
It was not long before Cain finished the beast with a clean slash to the throat. 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺! 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴. Cain could feel himself weakening as his injury had been bleeding throughout the whole battle. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘦!
He harvested the Volt Tiger Core and set off. He used his torn clothing to temporarily stop the bleeding while he traveled. It was already evening when he finished off the Volt Tiger, so he had no choice but to travel through the night.
It seemed fate was on his side as he reached his safe haven unharmed.
𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. Cain looked at the wound on his back. This was relatively simple; he went back into the wild and found a few common medicinal herbs Old Luo had mentioned before.
Directly applying these to his wounds wouldn't be very effective, but it should be enough.
After settling down an excited expression appeared on Cains's face, he was finally going to cultivate! Grabbing the beast core in front of him Cain recalled the refining method in the Myriad Beast Refinement Manual.
𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘪 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘪 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦....
After a while the violent blood qi within the core gradually calmed down, this was the sign the the refinement was complete. Without hesitation Cain swallowed the core whole!
𝘚𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘵! It felt like Cain's body was on fire, even his bones and internal organs. He could feel the process as the blood qi tempered and purified his body. Cain struggled to control the wild blood qi, eventually regaining his clarity and assisting in circulating it throughout his body.
Some time passed and a slight rumble was heard within Cains body before a film of black filth was expunged from inside of him.
Cain had broken through to the Foundational Spirit Realm Initial Stage!