“Heh, my luck’s not bad! A six-hundred-year-old Mystical Spirit Grass! The high-grade True Essence Pills made from this will be top quality, and I’ll get more of them too.”
Ling Xiao’s face lit up with excitement.
This single Mystical Spirit Grass could produce ten batches of pills, with sixty pills per batch!
That’s six hundred high-grade True Essence Pills—enough to last him a while.
The grass was some distance away, beyond the range of his “True Essence Sphere,” so he cautiously scanned the surroundings, wary of an ambush by a ferocious beast.
According to texts, Mystical Spirit Grass over a hundred years old was always guarded by powerful demonic or ferocious beasts. The absence of any beast traces was abnormal.
As Ling Xiao drew closer to the grass, his caution intensified.
Suddenly!
He leaped backward, retreating over ten meters.
*Boom!*
A one-meter-wide pit formed where he’d stood, filled with searing magma.
He inwardly gasped. Good thing he reacted quickly, or rushing to pick the grass would’ve gotten him attacked.
Calming himself, he looked up at the mountain behind the grass.
Yes, a mountain.
But the stone mountain was moving like a giant beast. That’s why he hadn’t noticed it earlier.
It was a “Magma Behemoth.”
A level-six ferocious beast!
Though only low-tier level-six, its combat power far surpassed the twenty-two Wind-Tail Wolves.
Resembling a massive turtle with sharp edges, its shell looked like a volcano.
Standing about fifteen meters tall, it moved like a walking mountain.
The earlier magma attack was restrained, meant to drive Ling Xiao away. If it went all out, the entire basin would likely turn into a lava pool.
Its massive eyes gleamed with menace and brutal killing intent.
Magma dripped from its gaping maw.
Ling Xiao frowned.
He knew the behemoth held no real intent to kill him, only tolerating him because of the Mystical Spirit Grass.
Leave?
Ling Xiao shook his head.
Having come this far, how could he just walk away?
He needed the Mystical Spirit Grass. If the behemoth left peacefully, he wouldn’t strike lethally. But if it insisted on fighting for the six-hundred-year grass, a battle was inevitable.
This fight wouldn’t be easy. He’d just reached early Mortal Realm fifth stage, while the low-tier level-six Magma Behemoth was stronger than an early Mortal Realm sixth-stage martial artist, nearing mid-sixth-stage power.
But difficult didn’t mean impossible.
Once Ling Xiao decided something, he rarely changed his mind unless it was truly hopeless.
Clearly, he had a chance to fight this behemoth!
*Roar~~*
The Magma Behemoth let out a furious bellow, its scalding breath turning the nearby vegetation to charred ash.
Its blood-red eyes locked onto Ling Xiao, this tiny intruder daring to enter the basin and covet the six-hundred-year Mystical Spirit Grass.
It had already warned him, yet he showed no sign of leaving, infuriating it.
*Roar~~*
Not only did Ling Xiao not retreat, he roared back—a sound less human, more like a dragon’s fury!
A terrifying dragon aura surged, enveloping the behemoth.
Ling Xiao didn’t want to fight.
At least not now, or the six-hundred-year grass might be destroyed, and that would pain him.
*Thud, thud, thud!*
The behemoth felt fear, stumbling back three or four steps, the ground quaking.
But moments later, its eyes lost clarity, turning a solid crimson.
*Roar~~*
Enraged, it felt humiliated by being scared off by a puny creature.
It decided to kill this speck, even if it meant razing the valley.
Ling Xiao frowned.
As expected, a ferocious beast was just that—unafraid in its madness. A fight was unavoidable!
“You brought this on yourself. Don’t blame me if you die!”
Ling Xiao stopped holding back. The Ice Dragon Sword appeared in his hand.
His technique, still at the fourth layer, wasn’t enough against this monster.
Survival of the fittest!
Either you die, or I do!
This was the jungle’s law.
Unless Ling Xiao fled, abandoning the grass to the behemoth.
He wasn’t willing, and neither was it. Combat was the only solution.
“Release!”
Ling Xiao removed the Refining Array Stone!
Instantly, his aura skyrocketed, the long-suppressed power unleashing in a savage rush.
Exhilarating!
This feeling made him fearless, even against a peak level-six beast.
*Roar~~*
The behemoth’s dignity was challenged again, its fury erupting. It opened its maw, a massive magma fireball forming.
The terrifying heat spiked the valley’s temperature.
“Not good!”
Ling Xiao noticed many unharvested Mystical Spirit Grasses wilting.
The six-hundred-year grass was tougher, but he couldn’t let the behemoth wreak havoc.
“Cloud Dragon Divine Walk · Golden Light Dragon Wings!”
In that moment, a pair of glossy black wings sprouted from his back, extending about two meters.
The Golden Light Dragon Wings’ length was adjustable, a result of his training.
They could span dozens of meters or vanish entirely, but for flight, the wings’ total length couldn’t be less than one meter.
In the basin, large wings would be cumbersome. Two meters was compact yet sufficient for flight, an ideal choice.
*Whoosh!*
As the wings appeared, Ling Xiao’s body blurred into a shadow, charging the behemoth. His Ice Dragon Sword began gathering chilling frost qi.
The valley’s rising heat started to cool.
But his goal wasn’t just that.
Feinting east to strike west was a common tactic, but it remained effective.
