A faint smile played on Tang Jian's lips as he leaped into the air, gripping the hilt of his sword with both hands. The blade, enveloped in flames, pointed downward as he forcefully plunged it into the demon wolf's head.
There was a dull "thud".
The flaming short sword pierced straight through the demon wolf's skull, pinning it to the ground.
Upon landing, Tang Jian was not satisfied. He tightly grasped the hilt and twisted it back and forth.
The demon wolf's body convulsed violently, its bristling fur gradually flattening down. The glow in its dull yellow eyes faded, and all signs of life vanished.
Tang Jian let out a sigh of relief and was about to withdraw the short sword when a strange sight unfolded.
Tiny pale blue lights flickered across the demon wolf's body, slightly lifting it up. In the empty space a few feet away from its corpse, these lights converged into a faint blue specter of the demon wolf.
"Is that...a demon soul?" Tang Jian's eyebrows furrowed slightly in surprise.
It was not uncommon for demon beasts to possess demon souls, ordinary humans to have life souls, and cultivators to bear spell souls.
However, whether it was a demon beast or a human, once life faded, their souls—demon, life, or spell—would naturally dissipate. It was extremely rare, nay, unprecedented, for a soul to remain cohesive as it did now.
Just as Tang Jian was amazed, the golden flame in his dantian suddenly flickered vigorously, and a fiery, scorching sensation arose in his heart.
The short sword he tightly held glowed with a faint golden light, emanating a strange attractive force.
There was a soft "pop".
The cohesive specter of the demon wolf abruptly dispersed, flowing into the short sword like smoke.
Immediately afterward, Tang Jian felt a burning sensation in his palm. A warm current surged into it, rapidly circulating through his meridians and reaching his dantian.
He quickly sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to introspect.
A blue mist hovered within his dantian, resembling a thin, wandering cloud.
Beneath it, the faint golden flame suddenly flashed, sending out a tendril of flame that instantly ignited the cloud, transforming it into a pale blue flame.
"Ugh..."
A burning pain suddenly shot through Tang Jian's dantian, causing him to let out a muffled groan.
But then, the cloud burned away, turning into strands of pure magical power that instantly filled his dantian.
As a sensation of swelling arose, a soft sound echoed from within his dantian, as if something had suddenly shattered.
"How could this be? This is..."
Tang Jian's eyes snapped open, revealing a look of surprise.
In that instant, his cultivation had restored from the fourth level of the Qi Refining Stage to the fifth.
Amidst his delight, he didn't dare to be careless. After stabilizing his mind slightly, he promptly closed his eyes to meditate, consolidating his realm.
After a while, Tang Jian slowly opened his eyes.
Even after confirming that nothing was amiss with him, he still couldn't quite believe it.
He couldn't fathom why he was able to devour the demon wolf's soul and convert it into magical power.
"Could it be because of this enchanted sword?" Tang Jian pulled the short sword out of the demon wolf's head and examined it closely.
Just moments ago, there had indeed been an anomaly on this sword, and the demon wolf's soul had indeed flowed into his body through it.
However, this sword was forged by him. Apart from being melted and inscribed with symbols using his own unique fire to awaken its spirit, it had no other peculiarities.
"Could it be...because of my unique fire?" Tang Jian suddenly had a vague realization in his heart.
After pondering for a while, the corners of his mouth curved slightly, and he smiled again, saying, "Who cares? It's not a bad thing anyway. I'll just stay in this Xiyou Mountain for a few more days and thoroughly verify it."
Having said that, his gaze shifted to the demon wolf beneath him, and a hint of doubt arose in his heart.
The spines of this demon wolf were clearly several times tougher than those of ordinary ones, and they possessed a noteworthy regenerative ability. This was obviously unusual.
Thinking of this, Tang Jian immediately tightened his grip on the short sword and chopped down at the demon wolf's head again, splitting it into two halves in just a few strokes.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he used the sword to rummage through the demon wolf's head. After searching for a while, he still found nothing.
"I thought it was an aberration that had accidentally condensed a demon core...Forget it. I guess I was just overthinking it," Tang Jian said, sheathing the short sword with a touch of disappointment.
He stood up, intending to return to the stream to retrieve the piece of red copper ore crystal. However, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of the demon wolf's slightly swollen abdomen.
With a bit of reluctance, he crouched down again, stabbed the short sword into the demon wolf's abdomen, and gently sliced it from front to back. A pile of organs immediately spilled out.
The bloody scene made Tang Jian feel a bit nauseous, and he regretted his decision to open the demon wolf's stomach.
Just then, he suddenly noticed that the demon wolf's stomach, buried among the intestines, was swollen to an unusual size, and its surface was irregular and bumpy, clearly hiding something inside.
He held the short sword and gently sliced the stomach open. A dark object reflecting a metallic luster slowly slid out.
"Could it be this thing?" Tang Jian's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
The object was about the size of a dog's head, oddly shaped and jagged. At first glance, it looked like a large black coal ball. But upon closer inspection, one could see that its surface reflected a faint golden light, and beneath the light, there were strands of golden, vein-like patterns.
Suppressing his joy, Tang Jian took out a piece of cloth from his bosom and hastily wrapped the object, pulling it out of the demon wolf's stomach. Then, with a leap, he darted towards the direction of the stream.
Back at the stream, he immediately threw the peculiar black iron into the water and carefully cleaned it.
As the sticky liquid on it was washed away by the flowing water, the strands of golden patterns refracted in the sunlight, casting a bright golden net on the soft sand and mud at the bottom, looking extremely peculiar.
"It's truly Golden-Veined Dark Iron. No wonder the demon wolf's physique had changed. It seems that this Xiyou Mountain has become a blessed place for me. I'll stay here for a while longer..." Tang Jian chuckled and murmured to himself.
Having said that, he leaped into the stream, picked up the black iron again, wrapped it in a long piece of cloth, and tied it to his back.
He followed the stream upstream and only returned to the shore after finding the piece of red copper ore crystal.
Tang Jian looked up at the sky and noticed that it had grown somewhat dim. He then turned and walked towards the depths of the forest to the west.