Tentacles as thick as a man's arm flew out of a plant with a gaping mouth in all directions. Not far from it, a boy of about fourteen could be seen blocking each tentacle's attack with his sword moves.
But he could only block them; he couldn't get close enough to kill the plant due to the continuous onslaught of tentacles.
'This isn't working. I need to try something else.'
Li Yun retreated a safe distance and hid behind a tree to catch his breath.
'This Poison Eater is only at the 2nd level of Qi Training, but its tentacles are making it difficult for me to kill it.'
Li Yun assessed the situation and contemplated a plan to kill the plant while staying alert for any sneak attacks.
He understood the Poison Eater's weakness well. He just needed to cut the main stem in half, and it would die. But with its tentacles attacking from all sides whenever he tried to get closer, he couldn't close the distance.
And thus, the current situation.
'At this moment, a movement technique would do the trick, but I guess I'll just have to keep trying.'
Li Yun decided to face the challenge head-on.
'It seems I can only use the 5th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword.'
After deciding on his course of action, Li Yun stepped out from behind the tree and revealed himself to the plant. Seeing him, the tentacles whirled towards him like gusts of wind.
He moved slowly toward the plant as its tentacles closed in on him.
Rumble!—
But with a single swing of his sword, all the tentacles were sliced into pieces before they could touch him.
"What?"
Li Yun exclaimed in astonishment when he saw that it took only one strike to cut the tentacles into pieces.
"Am I really this strong?"
He wondered, but before he could give that thought much time to ponder, another wave of tentacles surged towards him.
'Let's try the 6th layer directly, then.'
Thinking that the 5th layer could easily cut through the tentacles, he figured the 6th layer should finish off the troublesome plant.
He took a stance, held his sword at a 45-degree angle, and swung with all his strength.
RUMBLE!—
A thunderous roar, accompanied by a dragon's cry, echoed through the forest.
At that moment, with Li Yun at the center, a wave of destruction rippled outward in all directions, destroying everything in its path, including the Poison Eater. It was cut into countless pieces, which scattered all around the area along with the surrounding bushes.
Li Yun watched the scene in pure astonishment. He was shocked, speechless, and beyond disbelief at the destruction his attack had caused.
"This power..."
He couldn't believe the 6th form of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword was this powerful. It one-shotted a 2nd level Qi Training beast like an ant.
It was then he recalled his cultivation technique—Primordial Essence Chaos Codex.
'Could this be because of the cultivation technique I'm practicing?'
He thought about it and noted something strange about his cultivation technique.
'It doesn't have a grade.'
He had never heard of a cultivation technique without a grade.
'Did I hit the jackpot or what?'
He clearly remembered his mother teaching him the basics of martial arts, where she mentioned the grades of various things in this world.
According to her, anything in this world could be categorized into four levels depending on various factors: human rank, profound rank, earth rank, and heaven rank. Each of these ranks was further divided into low, middle, high, and top grades.
But his cultivation technique didn't fit into any of these categories. In fact, when he received the memories of the cultivation technique, there wasn't even a mention of any rank or anything of the sort.
'Is the Primordial Essence Chaos Codex a cultivation technique beyond heaven rank?'
Li Yun was shocked by his own thought and shook his head wryly. He believed such a thing would be impossible.
'Then I can only assume my cultivation technique belongs to earth rank or maybe even heaven rank, given the strength I possess.'
He understood that if his cultivation technique was indeed as strong as he thought, then combined with the 6th layer of the Thunderclap Dragon Sword, it was very possible to have such strength even at the 1st layer of Qi Training.
Moreover, the Thunderclap Dragon Sword was also a unique and powerful martial technique, so his strength didn't just come out of nowhere.
But then another thought crossed Li Yun's mind at that moment, and his expression turned to one of pure shock.
He recalled how most of his Qi became sealed inside his body right after he broke through to the 1st level of the Qi Training Realm, leaving him with only around 10% of the original amount.
'If my Qi wasn't sealed, then what level would my strength have reached?'
He couldn't imagine the strength he would have had at that time.
'It seems this cultivation technique of mine is very mysterious. I'll have to keep my mouth shut about this.'
He took of note of that and walked toward the remains of the plant beast and looked for its lower half. After a while, he found it and took out its core. He also dug out a purple goo-like substance with his sword and put it inside a jade bottle.
Li Yun's eyes shone when he looked at the jade bottle filled with purple goo.
'One of the three main ingredients acquired, two more to go.'
After killing the first beast in this world—the fierce tiger—he began looking for things that would aid him in his quest to get the most points in the combat assessment.
With the alchemical knowledge bestowed by his mother, it wasn't difficult for him to identify locations that could harbor precious herbs and elixirs. The habitat of the Poison Eater was one such place he was familiar with.
Therefore, he intentionally entered the region of the Poison Eater plant and hence the encounter with it.
This plant had something he needed to accomplish his goal, and now that he had acquired it, it was time to look for the other main ingredients, along with some beasts to kill.