Five days later, Zhao Yu embraced Su Bingyun as they sat by the window, watching the vast expanse of snow when a serious expression flickered in his eyes.
A first-order superior demon beast snow leopard, its body covered in white fur and reaching an impressive length of nine meters, moved towards the wooden hut where Zhao Yu was, with an elegant, beautifully poised gait.
"Stay away!!"
Zhao Yu's face changed slightly as he stared intently at the snow leopard, silently thinking to himself.
A first-order superior demon beast snow leopard was remarkably powerful in the snow, typically requiring the cooperation of five cultivators at the later stages of Qi refining to hunt it without casualties. Even a cultivator at the Great Circle of Qi Refining would be reluctant to confront it in the snow.
The snow leopard approached the hut with graceful steps. Upon reaching the front of the hut, a mocking glint passed through its eyes as it fiercely slapped the wooden door with its paw, which was coated with a faint spiritual light.
This type of first-order superior demon beast snow leopard appeared only in snowy fields and possessed an extraordinary sense of smell, easily detecting human scent from ten miles away. It had long set its sights on the three plump humans inside the hut.
Bang!
The crude wooden door was smashed to pieces by the snow leopard's slap, sending splinters flying in all directions.
In that instant, Zhao Yu activated the fortieth level of Vajra Dragon Elephant Art, tensed his muscles, and unleashed the Flying Dagger Technique. With a flick of his hand, the mid-grade magical instrument flying harpoon, glowing faintly, shot directly towards the snow leopard's head.
The snow leopard felt a chilling sense of mortal danger and a mysterious spiritual pattern appeared on its forehead. With a mere thought, a thick Ice Shield constructed of ice blocks materialized instantaneously.
Clang!
The flying harpoon struck the Ice Shield, shattering it instantly, and pierced the snow leopard's eye, blinding it and causing blood to gush forth as it howled in agony.
Li Xianjiao immediately activated a first-order superior Rocket Talisman, and a crimson rocket appeared in an instant, flying towards the snow leopard.
A faint white spiritual light shone on the snow leopard's body, forming a ring of white ice around it that served as an Ice Shield.
The crimson rocket exploded upon impact with the Ice Shield, releasing a massive cloud of white smoke, melting the shield and dissipating its force.
Zhao Yu performed an expert-level Phantom Step, lightly touching the ground and appearing in front of the snow leopard like a phantom, stabbing at the snow leopard's other eye with his sword.
The agile snow leopard twisted its body, and Zhao Yu's sword cut a bloody gash across its face. At the same time, its tail struck fiercely, shattering the pale yellow protective shield formed by a Golden Light Talisman around Zhao Yu.
The pale yellow shield withstood the snow leopard's tail for an instant. In that fleeting moment, Zhao Yu used the Phantom Step to dodge the leopard's tail and, once again employing the Flying Dagger Technique, hurled the superior magical instrument Azure Wave Sword, enshrouded in a faint spiritual light, which penetrated the snow leopard's skull straight through.
With a scream of pain, the snow leopard went into a frenzy. Opening its mouth, it shot a sharp ice cone towards Su Bingyun, who was to the side.
Su Bingyun, still suffering from severe injuries and unable to move, could only watch helplessly as the ice cone shot toward her.
Just as the ice cone was about to hit Su Bingyun, Zhao Yu stepped in front of her, crushing another Golden Light Talisman in his hand, and a layer of pale gold protective shield emerged promptly.
The sharp Ice Cone blasted against the pale golden shield, shattering it instantly.
Zhao Yu once again brought out the superior magical instrument grade white bell, and a faint white shield appeared, directly guarding in front of him.
As the Ice Cone struck the white shield, Zhao Yu felt his mana being crazily extracted by the white bell, drying up in an instant.
The moment the Ice Cone collapsed, the white bell also fell to the ground.
With the Phantom Step Technique, Zhao Yu took a step forward, leaving a faint afterimage and appeared in front of the Snow Leopard, wielding the Heavy Earth Sword fiercely down upon the Snow Leopard's head.
Bang!
The head of the Snow Leopard was cleaved open, falling heavily to the ground, with red and white splashing everywhere.
"My mana is exhausted! With my current strength, manipulating a superior magical instrument is still somewhat strenuous, and the consumption of mana is too great!"
Zhao Yu sighed deeply, feeling a slight headache.
The superior magical instrument grade white bell is an object that only cultivators in the later stages of Qi Refining could control with ease; mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators like Zhao Yu could not sustain its usage for long periods.
"With my current strength, by exerting all means possible, I might be able to hunt a First-Order Superior Demon Beast. However, if I encounter two, escape is the only option; a battle would only lead to certain death," he analyzed his combat capabilities while giving the Snow Leopard a glance, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a hint of a smile: "This Snow Leopard will provide me with food for a good while!"
This Snow Leopard weighed about four thousand jin, with a yield rate of sixty percent, granting Zhao Yu two thousand four hundred jin of First-Order Superior Demon Beast Meat. If he managed to sell all of it, considering the price of one Spirit Stone for every five jin of demon beast meat, Zhao Yu could make four hundred and eighty Spirit Stones.
In addition, various materials such as the Snow Leopard's fur, essence blood, eyeballs, bones, innards, and its whip-like tail could fetch over a hundred Spirit Stones collectively.
Almost six hundred Spirit Stones could be earned from hunting a large First-Order Superior Demon Beast like this Snow Leopard, which is why the market at Little Black Mountain was so prosperous and why there were so many monster hunters.
Of course, this was the selling price at meat shops and materials shops. If monster hunters sold a First-Order Superior Demon Beast directly to these shops, they could only get about three hundred Spirit Stones. If a small team of four or five people were to split it, then hunting a First-Order Superior Demon Beast would only net them around sixty to seventy Spirit Stones each.
Most monster hunters opt to hunt in small teams because it is safer. Lone wolf hunters often die tragically in the Canglong Mountain range for various reasons.
After dealing with the Snow Leopard, for the following days, the three of them fed on the Snow Leopard's demon beast meat. After consuming the meat, Zhao Yu had another option to enhance his Spirit Root's affinity with ice. After briefly considering, he chose to improve his Spirit Root's ice talent.
A month later, with the nourishment from Spirit Rice, Demon Beast Meat, and Spiritual Medicine, Su Bingyun finally recovered enough to use mana and opened her storage bag to take out better healing medicines.
As soon as Su Bingyun recovered her ability to use mana, she no longer snuggled with Zhao Yu for warmth, and her recovery rate also increased swiftly.
Another half a month passed, and Su Bingyun had fully recovered.