Chapter Seventeen: Outside Qing Shan Town

  The next morning, Xu Hua and Luo Cheng set off early, leaving the small town of Qing Shan Zhen without many people knowing. This was Xu Hua's first time truly leaving Qing Shan Zhen, he had no idea how wonderful the outside world was before, but now he is experiencing it...

  Qingshan Town is just a small place in the entire Shan Guo, with only 20,000 to 30,000 people. In the eyes of the public, the strongest are just the heads of the three major families. However, in the entire Shan Guo, there are countless martial kings. Qingshan Town is not worth mentioning, and it's just a poor and barren land in the eyes of those who truly hold power.

  The entire Shan Guo has nine cities: Luocheng, Qingcheng, Galuo City, Dima City, Dongyue City, Shuihua City, Fentian City, Gaomai City, and Lincang City. Qingshan Town is just a small town under Luocheng. The entire Luocheng has over 2 million people, with countless martial artists, numerous families standing out, and various sects flourishing. There are also many powerful Martial Emperors. Only there can martial artists show their true value, where the strong rise to the top and the weak fall to the bottom.

  Luocheng is just a relatively backward city in the single country, but its territory is equally vast, stretching for thousands of miles. However, because it is close to the Taihang Mountains, there are not a few lone warriors coming and going. The Taihang Mountains not only hide crises, but also opportunities. There, you may encounter thousand-year-old spiritual medicine, hundred-year-old demon beasts. As long as you are strong enough, lucky enough, this place will be your paradise, where you can quickly improve your martial arts skills.

  Half a day later, Xu Hua and Luo Cheng had gone far away from Qing Shan Town. At this moment, they were resting in a desolate forest, which was actually absorbing the essence of plants and trees.

  This area is adjacent to the Taihang Mountains, with dense forests and lush vegetation everywhere. Two hours after leaving Qing Shan Town, they deviated from the route to Luocheng and headed towards a remote wilderness, unknown how far in, where no obvious path can be seen anymore.

  "Enough, young master!" Luo Cheng gritted his teeth and said in the midst of the mountain forest.

  Xu Hua immediately withdrew his hands from Luo Cheng's back, and suddenly Luo Cheng felt much better. He immediately went to the side and wildly punched the air, venting the pain brought by the nourishment of a large amount of life energy to his body.

  After transmitting his life force to Luo Cheng, Xu Hua fully activated the "Devouring Life Technique". Suddenly, the withering speed of the surrounding plants accelerated, and yellow leaves fell, petals dropped, and flowers wilted. Only in this vast expanse was left desolation and death.

  Gurgle, gurgle

  A large amount of life energy flowed within Xuhua's body, some nourishing his physical form, making Xuhua's physique stronger. Some condensed into a new Life Crystal. After Xuhua condensed the first Life Crystal, the second one was much easier to form, as if it formed automatically. As long as enough life energy entered his body, a crystal about the size of a sesame seed would automatically form inside him.

  Although this infinite life energy was only condensed into crystals in Xuhua's body and had not been truly absorbed by his physical body, he still felt extremely comfortable, making him unable to help himself.

  Alone in the mountains and forests, wherever he went was accompanied by withered yellow leaves. At this moment, he seemed like a death god who had suddenly arrived in a new world, beginning to reap these weak lives, building his domain of death.

  Those withered leaves on the ground are all telling their own sorrows and pleas, but the ants are guilty of no crime, yet no one is willing to listen, it's too tiny, even if someone really sympathizes, they can't hear that extremely faint voice.

  When the sun sets in the west, Xu Hua finally stopped operating the "Devouring Life Technique". The area within a hundred or so feet was drained of its life force by Xu Hua. Under the nourishment of this large amount of life force, the second Life Crystal in Xu Hua's body slowly took shape, already about two to three sesame seeds in size. In just a few days, the second Life Crystal would be fully formed.

  "Sir, I think I can now rival the warriors of the Martial Arts era." Seeing that Xu Hua had stopped, Luo Cheng immediately stopped practicing his "Shattered Stone Fist" and ran to Xu Hua's side.

  Xu Hua's eyes shone with delight as he looked at Luo Cheng, saying: "Not bad, at least you have some self-defense skills now. In less than two months, it will be the Luocheng public exam. If we subtract the time it takes to get to Luocheng from here, we still have almost a month left. Within this month, you must focus on practicing the 'Shi Shi Quan' fist technique. Luocheng is not like Qing Shan Town, where there are countless strong practitioners. If you really encounter danger, I may not have the chance to lend you a hand."

  "Don't worry, in just over a decade I'll be able to rival the warriors of the Martial Artist period. Within this month, I will definitely become a strong practitioner comparable to a Martial Master. Even in Luocheng, not everyone can bully a Martial Master..."

  "Ah, it's getting late today, let's rest here! You go catch some wild beasts and roast them for dinner!" Although they had been traveling all day, Xu Hua didn't feel tired at all. After instructing Luo Cheng, he gathered some dry branches around him to build a fire pit, then led the horses to a nearby grassland and tied them to trees with ropes to prevent them from escaping. Once everything was ready, Xu Hua sat in front of the fire pit to cultivate the "Na Qi Jue" technique, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

  A warrior absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to nourish his body. Although its effect is not as strong as the direct nourishment of life essence on the physical body, life essence is not easily obtained. Only Xu Hua, who coincidentally acquired the "Devouring Life Technique", can afford to use life essence to nourish his physical body. Spiritual energy plays a huge role for warriors and has become indispensable for them. Currently, Xu Hua's true energy cultivation is only at the early stage of being a warrior. To improve his true energy cultivation, he must constantly practice martial arts, absorb spiritual energy, and there are also some elixirs that can quickly enhance a warrior's internal true energy. However, these things are not something Xu Hua can use. Even in the Xu family, only high-ranking members have access to such items, like the "Reverted Qi Powder", which contains a large amount of spiritual energy, greatly shortening the time it takes for warriors to absorb spiritual energy.

  Before the sky was completely dark, Luo Cheng returned, holding a dead wild animal in his hand. After apologizing to Xu Hua, he began to dissect it with his knife... Luo Cheng was busy for half an hour...

  At this time, the fragrance of roasted meat wafted from the fire pit. Xuhua had stopped his cultivation and he and Luocheng each held a skewer, savoring the food with their mouths full of oil, shining golden yellow in the firelight, extremely tempting.

  "It's really good, I didn't know eating it this way would have such a different flavor. It seems that this journey will be full of variety and flavor." Xu Hua licked his lips in praise.

  Lu Cheng was busy for a long time. At this moment, he was eating the fragrant roasted meat, and his eyebrows were raised: "As long as the young master likes it, that's all."

  This lush forest has never been short of visitors, perhaps the aroma of barbecue wafted to distant places, attracting some uninvited guests.

  "Hiss...hiss"

  Two horses that were originally eating wild grass on the side suddenly made a restless neigh, attracting the attention of Xu Hua and Luo Cheng.

  "Something is coming." Luo Cheng's whole body tensed up, looking somewhat tense. Xu Hua looked into the dark distance ahead and secretly activated the "Life Devouring Technique". Suddenly, he could feel three strong life auras around him: one was Luo Cheng's, and the other two were those of the two horses. Within thirty feet of his surroundings, there were no other powerful life auras.

  "Whoa......whoa"

  Calm down and listen carefully to the surroundings, and immediately heard the sound of rustling in the grass. A pair of eyes stared quietly at the front, as if they could see objects in the dark night. Xu Hua suddenly caught a stronger life breath beside him, but it was smaller than that of the two horses, almost unnoticed by Xu Hua.

  At this time, he felt that the creature was hiding motionless on a tree trunk twenty-five zhang in front of him. Perhaps it was because the two were surrounded by desolate land and there was nowhere to hide, so it didn't dare to make any sudden movements!

  In just a few breaths' time, Xu Hua caught two more life auras in the flat area to his right front. These two life auras were stronger than before and they were slowly closing in.

  Finally, Luo Cheng discovered a pair of deep and mysterious pupils in the darkness. In an instant, he stared at them intently, his tense body containing immense power, as if ready to attack at any moment.

  "Your Highness..."

  "It's just a few beasts, no big deal. They're probably attracted by the smell of roasted meat." Unlike Luo Cheng, Xu Hua wasn't worried at all. He was secretly using the "Life-Draining Technique" to quietly drain the life force from these three unexpected guests.

  "Plop..."

  In the oppressive atmosphere, the owners of those two deep and mysterious eyes finally launched a fierce attack, pouncing on Xu Hu and Luo Cheng, at the same time Luo Cheng also took action.

  "Boom..."

  The creature hiding on the other side also made its move at this moment, with a speed that was almost unbelievable, and it would be in front of Xu Hua in the blink of an eye. Xu Hua, who had been paying attention to it all along, finally took action too.

  "Crack..."

  Xu Hua's speed was much faster than Luo Cheng's, and the sinister creature hiding in the corner, although fast, was still not in Xu Hua's eyes until he killed it with one breath. Only then did Xu Hua see its true form, a python that was almost a demon beast, over three feet long.

  "Plop... plop"

  The sound of falling on the ground rang out at the same time, and it was no more than two or three breaths. Luo Cheng and Xu Hua simultaneously eliminated the potential threat.

  Looking at the two cheetahs and a python lying in the pool of blood, Luo Cheng said with some lingering fear: "It seems that this place is not as safe as I imagined."

  Xu Hua picked up the python that was over a zhang long, measured it and seemed to be looking for something, saying: "It's just some wild beasts, but it seems like we've got an extra meal. I read in a book before that the gallbladder of this kind of snake is quite good, not only can it improve eyesight, but also has some effect on cultivation."

  "Hmm..."

  Xu Hua pinched out a snake gall from the seven-inch place of the snake, which was two times smaller than a chicken egg. He took a look and handed it to Luo Cheng: "This thing is for you, it should have some effect on you."

  Lu Cheng hesitated slightly, and Xu Hua naturally understood the meaning conveyed by his eyes. He chuckled and said, "This is just a ordinary snake's gallbladder, do you think it would be of any use to me?"

  Upon hearing this, Luo Cheng took the snake gall and swallowed it in one gulp. He sat cross-legged on the ground and began to circulate the "Na Qi Jue" (Internal Energy Absorption Technique).

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