Chapter 101: Consuming the Dragon Whiskers to Achieve Minor Accomplishment in the Core Formation Stage
In the next moment, spiritual energy burst forth within the residence, accompanied by a sudden flash of light.
Then came the dull thud of a body hitting the ground.
The immense commotion left the nearby itinerant cultivators momentarily stunned, and they turned their gaze towards the source.
A few breaths later, a streak of light shot out from the residence, swiftly leaving the town.
This streak of light immediately caught the attention of every cultivator in the town.
Everyone realized that it was a Core Formation stage cultivator!
However, there was only one Core Formation stage cultivator from the Flying Frost Sect stationed in the town.
He wanted to give chase, but he was far too slow and could only watch helplessly as the figure rapidly disappeared into the horizon.
A dozen breaths later.
The streak of light descended outside a small fishing village dozens of miles away.
Shen Mo gently set down two women.
The strongest among the Poison Dragon group was a cultivator nicknamed Poison Dragon, but he was only at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
With Shen Mo now at the entry level of the Core Formation stage, he could obliterate those people with a mere flick of his fingers.
In less than ten breaths, everyone was wiped out completely.
The two women were immensely grateful to him, pleading with Shen Mo to take them back to their original village.
Since it was within his capabilities, Shen Mo obliged.
However, this was all he could do for them.
Cultivators far surpassed ordinary people, and the latter had no power to resist anything a cultivator wished to do.
Not only that, but powerful cultivators could also dominate and exploit weaker cultivators as they pleased.
The only thing Shen Mo could do was to keep getting stronger until he was more powerful than anyone else, enough to control his own destiny.
After transforming into a streak of light and leaving, the two mortal women knelt and bowed to his departing figure, crying uncontrollably.
...
Thornwood Town.
The itinerant cultivators quickly gathered outside the residence once occupied by Poison Dragon.
There, they found the ground littered with corpses.
The Foundation Establishment peak cultivator nicknamed "Poison Dragon" had died a death more miserable than a dog's.
His limbs were crushed, his head was blown apart, and red and white matter splattered everywhere.
Some were shocked, some terrified.
Some rejoiced in his demise.
Some clenched their fists in gratitude to the unknown Core Formation stage cultivator who had acted righteously.
"The elder is here, make way, make way."
A commotion erupted in the crowd as they parted to make a path.
An elderly, white-haired elder appeared, carefully inspecting the scene.
This person was the elder sent by the Flying Frost Sect to guard 荆棘森镇 (Jingji Sen Town).
"It must have been a Core Formation stage cultivator. Otherwise, Poison Dragon wouldn't have had no chance to fight back."
"Judging by the concentration of spiritual power and the speed of flight, it's at least a mid-Core Formation stage cultivator."
The elderly elder marveled.
"A mid-Core Formation stage cultivator? Poison Dragon actually offended such a person."
"Heh, Poison Dragon deserved to die. With him gone, his territory is ours."
"He had it coming. Everyone knew he secretly tortured many mortal women to death. His men were even worse, eating human flesh."
The itinerant cultivators buzzed with discussion, many showing expressions of disdain.
The elderly elder waved his hand, "Let's pretend this never happened. You can divide Poison Dragon's territory among yourselves."
After the elder left, the itinerant cultivators looked at each other before suddenly rushing forward, frantically seizing Poison Dragon and his men's corpses, desperately trying to get their storage rings.
Chaos ensued once again.
...
Outside Thornwood town, atop an unremarkable stone mountain.
Shen Mo sat cross-legged, examining three white, flesh-like strips before him.
The strips were about the thickness of a finger and three feet long.
These were the Dragon Whiskers Shen Mo had found in Poison Dragon's storage ring.
Only dragons over a hundred years old could grow a single Dragon Whisker.
The outer skin of Dragon Whiskers was extremely tough, requiring Core Formation stage cultivation to break through.
As for Dragon Beasts, they were demonic beasts with dragon bloodlines.
Poison Dragon must have accidentally acquired these three Dragon Whiskers, not knowing what they were and unable to break their skin, so he threw them into a corner of his storage ring to gather dust.
Shen Mo channeled his spiritual power, enveloping one Dragon Whisker.
Scorching fire spiritual power surged out, quickly wrapping around the Dragon Whisker.
A few breaths later, the tough outer skin of the Dragon Whisker gradually softened.
Shen Mo peeled off the skin like peeling a banana, revealing the blood-red flesh inside.
The flesh didn't have the foul smell of ordinary pork or fish.
Instead, it smelled fresh and fragrant like plants.
A gentle poke made it bounce like jelly.
Shen Mo opened his mouth and swallowed a Dragon Whisker whole.
As he digested the Dragon Whisker, Shen Mo applied the same method to peel off the skins of the remaining two Dragon Whiskers, consuming all the flesh strips within.
Moments later, Shen Mo felt a gradual warmth spreading through his lower abdomen.
It was as if a small sun was continuously radiating warmth.
When he looked inward to examine his dantian, he found his Inferno Golden Core spinning rapidly, growing visibly larger.
One day, two days.
The time required to digest the three Dragon Whiskers was longer than Shen Mo had anticipated.
By the evening of the third day, he finally finished digesting all three Dragon Whiskers.
At that moment, his Inferno Golden Core reached a certain limit.
It suddenly expanded by a large margin!
Buzz!
Shen Mo's aura burst forth at that moment.
Everything within a radius of dozens of feet was pushed away.
Giant trees were uprooted and collapsed instantly.
Rocks were blown away immediately.
Dust was dispersed far and wide.
The area around Shen Mo became spotless.
He suddenly opened his eyes, feeling the increasingly robust Inferno Golden Core, and revealed a hint of joy.
"Minor accomplishment in the Core Formation stage!"
"Faster than I imagined."
Shen Mo smiled slightly, feeling an itch to test his newfound strength.
He immediately headed into a nearby deep mountain, looking for Tier 4 demonic beasts to practice on.
However, as usual, he took a look at his life's fortune panel.
[Recent Fortune: Today, you break through to minor accomplishment in the Core Formation stage, feeling an itch to fight, you enter a deep mountain to find demonic beasts and easily slay a Tier 4 accomplished demonic beast, obtaining its demon crystal. After some searching, you find a tiger's den and discover a storage ring with a bottle of Essence Boosting Pills inside.]
Shen Mo's eyes lit up.
Sure enough, he was destined for good fortune!
Before long, he found his unfortunate target.
It was a white tiger that had reached the Tier 4 accomplished stage.
Its body was over four zhang long.
On Earth, it would be a giant beast over ten meters long!
At that moment, the white tiger was descending the mountain in search of food.
Man and tiger faced each other.
The white tiger immediately pounced.
Its iron claws were sharp, aiming straight for Shen Mo's face.
Its steel teeth were pointed, targeting his throat.
The foul breath from its gaping mouth was dizzying.
Shen Mo did not use any martial techniques, nor did he draw his Thunder Sword.
Instead, he decisively used his Inferno Golden Core.
He opened his mouth, and the Inferno Golden Core shot out suddenly.
Like a scorching fireball, it hurtled directly at the white tiger.
The white tiger's huge eyes shrank instantly, sensing the extreme threat, and instinctively raised its front paws to block.
Boom!
The Inferno Golden Core shattered its forearm directly.
The white tiger let out a miserable howl but became even more ferocious, lunging at the golden core.
It had realized the opponent's strength.
If it didn't give its all, it would surely die.
It wasn't its first time facing a Core Formation stage cultivator; on the contrary, it had killed several before.
It knew that the golden core was one of the strongest methods of a Core Formation stage cultivator, but also a weakness.
If it could heavily damage the golden core, the opponent would be severely injured as well.
"Don't be in such a hurry. The strongest attack of the Inferno Golden Core hasn't been unleashed yet."
Shen Mo smiled faintly, his palm suddenly opening.
In mid-air, the spinning golden core abruptly exploded into forty-five fragments.
Like a meteor shower of fire, they rained down on the white tiger.
Each fragment caused incredible damage.
The white tiger's fur was burned to a charred mess.
Its robust body was riddled with holes.
The roaring gradually weakened.
Finally, all the fragments abruptly merged again, passing through the white tiger's body once more, causing secondary damage.
Only then did the white tiger collapse with a thud.
Shen Mo cut open its body and indeed found a palm-sized demon crystal.
Then, he searched the vicinity and found a cave surrounded by bones.
Among the bones was a storage ring with dozens of high-grade spirit stones inside.
Most importantly, there was a bottle of Essence Boosting Pills to accelerate the growth of his golden core!
"Fortune acquired, time to head back."
Shen Mo looked satisfied.
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