Translator: AnubisTL
Having successfully cultivated his soul core, Li Qing didn't rush back to the Great Wilderness Domain. His mana reserves were still ample, so he didn't need to return to replenish them immediately.
Emerging from seclusion, he slowly retracted his divine sense power.
Soon after, the massive Fan Tong arrived, dragging the mangled corpse of an Ironclad Berserk Bear.
"Awooo!"
Upon seeing Li Qing emerge from seclusion, Fan Tong let out a joyful howl.
Li Qing stood atop the mountain, smiling faintly. He didn't tell Fan Tong that he had helped slay the Ironclad Berserk Bear just now.
"Let's go. Now that my soul core is complete, it's time to find a place to gather information about third-tier exotic beasts."
"Consider it early preparation for hunting after core formation."
With a slight surge of vital energy, Li Qing leaped off the desolate mountain peak.
Hearing this, Fan Tong didn't hesitate. He swiftly extracted the crimson crystal from the Ironclad Berserk Bear's corpse and swallowed it whole.
Watching Fan Tong's practiced movements, Li Qing couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.
It was obvious without thinking that Fan Tong had been hunting strange beasts relentlessly during this time. Its skill at extracting crimson crystals now far surpassed Li Qing's own.
As a late second-tier Demon beast, ordinary second-tier crimson crystals had little effect on Fan Tong. Swallowing one or two wouldn't trigger another rapid metamorphosis.
Li Qing wasn't surprised by this.
For Fan Tong, crimson crystals now served only to accumulate Red Moon Secret Power within its body. Perhaps one day, this accumulation would reach a critical mass, triggering a qualitative leap that would propel it to the next breakthrough!
Of course, when that "one day" would come remained uncertain.
The closer Li Qing got to the core formation realm, the more he understood the vast difference between the true essence within a core formation realm cultivator and that of an ordinary foundation establishment realm cultivator.
This made it clear that the crimson crystals found within second-tier strange beasts and those within third-tier exotic beasts were fundamentally different concepts.
"Awoo!"
Once Li Qing settled onto Fan Tong's back, the beast threw its head back and roared triumphantly into the sky. Then, it recklessly charged across the dark, desolate land, carrying Li Qing on its relentless rampage.
These lands were all territories Fan Tong had conquered over the years, and traces of its battles with strange beasts were visible in many places.
At that moment, Fan Tong resembled a child who had just achieved something and was eager to show it off to their father.
Gazing at the desolate, frigid wilderness, Li Qing chuckled softly and asked, "Haven't you encountered any particularly troublesome creatures in recent years? Like third-tier exotic beasts?"
Their minds were nearly connected, and Fan Tong quickly understood Li Qing's meaning.
It shook its head, indicating that it hadn't encountered any third-tier exotic beasts in its territory during these years.
Upon realizing this, Li Qing began stroking his chin, his mind racing with possibilities.
No third-tier exotic beasts?
Could it be that the Autumn Mountain Domain lacks such creatures? But how is that possible?!
In such a vast domain, with the Red Moon's moonlight bathing the land for countless years, the emergence of third-tier exotic beasts shouldn't be rare.
For example, the unimaginably massive willow tree on the wasteland bordering the Black Wind Domain and Autumn Mountain Domain far surpasses any ordinary third-tier exotic beast.
It must be at least a Fourth-Tier existence!
"Not even a single third-tier exotic beast? It seems the Blood Lotus Sect's power is far greater than I imagined."
Li Qing frowned, suspecting the sect had hunted most of the powerful exotic beasts in the Autumn Mountain Domain to extinction.
This didn't surprise him. According to the intelligence he'd gathered, the Blood Lotus Sect was originally an organization formed by cultivators from the World of Eternal Night.
Their sect leader had once been a core formation realm cultivator. After converting to the Red Moon Secret Power, his lifespan had dramatically increased, allowing him to survive to this day.
For such an old monster to hunt third-tier exotic beasts was hardly surprising.
"Hmm, time is still sufficient. I'll explore the domain first to assess the situation. If all else fails, I can return to the Black Wind Domain to hunt third-tier exotic beasts."
With these words, Fan Tong began galloping across the Autumn Mountain Domain, carrying Li Qing on his back.
Li Qing had been here for over three years, while only a year had passed in the Great Wilderness Domain. He still had two years left before his agreement with Wang Chan.
Time was indeed on his side.
Of course, all of this was thanks to the time dilation in the World of Eternal Night. Otherwise, mastering the soul core method alone would have taken about three years, leaving him no time for core formation.
In the following days, Li Qing rode Fan Tong around the Autumn Mountain Domain like a tourist.
Occasionally, they encountered one or two surviving strange beasts, which Li Qing promptly dispatched, claiming their crimson crystals for his own use.
Before he knew it, Li Qing had arrived at Precious Lotus City, the main city of the Blood Lotus Sect.
Staring at the city's dilapidated and desolate walls, Li Qing pondered whether to enter and, if so, how.
"Never mind, bringing you along would attract too much attention. I'll have to ask you to bear with this for a while."
With that, Li Qing stored Fan Tong in his spirit beast pouch. Then, he leaped into the air, soaring through the sky like a great roc, unnoticed by anyone below, and smoothly entered the main city.
"The strange beasts in the Autumn Mountain Domain are getting scarcer. I spent over half a month outside last time and didn't even see a single second-tier beast."
"Sigh, if things keep going like this, what are we going to do in the future?"
"Are we going to have to hunt beasts in the Black Wind Domain? This life is getting unbearable."
As soon as Li Qing entered the city, his keen divine sense picked up the complaints of hunters who relied on hunting strange beasts for a living.
Of course, these hunters were no ordinary folk. Their bodies had undergone mutations, making them nearly comparable to cultivators in the mid qi refining realm.
In fact, most of the city's inhabitants had experienced some degree of mutation. Compared to them, Li Qing's seemingly normal fleshly body stood out as remarkably rare.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Li Qing decided to suppress his aura and conceal his presence, intending to first understand the city's specific situation before acting.
Thus, Li Qing's movements became shrouded in secrecy.
With his current cultivation level, achieving this was no difficult task.
A sweeping surge of his powerful divine sense allowed him to evade detection by most people.
"When I first came to the Black Wind Domain, I encountered a few ignorant hunters who also lived by hunting strange beasts."
"But judging by their words, they weren't just hunting for crimson crystals. Even the beasts' bodies seemed to have value. It can't just be for food, right?"
With these thoughts in mind, Li Qing resolved to first clarify these questions.
First, who were these hunters selling the strange beasts they hunted outside the city? The Blood Lotus Sect?
Second, why did the Blood Lotus Sect need so many strange beasts?
Carrying these questions, Li Qing found a secluded spot in the city to conceal himself. He then fully extended his divine sense, unleashing it outward.
Boom!
A vast wave of divine sense power surged forth, sweeping across the surrounding area. Centered on him, the movements within a wide radius were imprinted into his mind.
Having cultivated a soul core, such extensive use of divine sense power was no longer a challenge.
With his eyes tightly closed, Li Qing began processing the information gathered by his divine sense.
After a long while, Li Qing frowned slightly.
"There isn't even a proper market here. It seems these hunters are indeed offering their catches to the Blood Lotus Sect."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to soul-search someone."
To ensure absolute certainty, Li Qing ultimately decided to use soul-searching.
He casually slipped into the residence of a strange being. With a subtle release of divine sense power, he rendered the creature unconscious before it could even react.
This was a pig-man, the lowest of the low among the mutants that were commonplace in Precious Lotus City.
"I used to think soul-searching techniques were so difficult," Li Qing mused. "But now that my divine sense is stronger, I've mastered them instinctively."
With that, he extended his divine sense, forcibly breaching the pig-man's Sea of Consciousness and initiating a soul search.
In an instant, a tidal wave of memories surged forth. Fortunately, Li Qing's divine soul was robust enough to withstand the overwhelming influx of information.
He calmly began to sift through the pig-man's entire life.
It turned out that the Blood Lotus Sect's control over mutants had reached a sophisticated level. Even with physical mutations, they no longer needed to rely on blood to maintain mental stability.
Within the city, every newborn was immediately classified into a rigid hierarchy. The Blood Lotus Sect could intervene in the mutation process of infants, artificially controlling what kind of mutant they would become.
In other words, the pig-man Li Qing had just knocked unconscious could, if he had offspring, completely control their future mutations. His descendants wouldn't necessarily be pig-men; they could become any type of mutant.
"Truly a cunning scheme," Li Qing mused. "Using this to control the entire population of Precious Lotus City?"
He could easily imagine that in the future, these mutated humans would constantly offer tribute to the Blood Lotus Sect to ensure their descendants inherited superior mutations.
This explained why Li Qing hadn't seen a single vital energy martial artist in the city.
It wasn't that the martial alliance hadn't tried to promote the vital energy martial dao; rather, the Blood Lotus Sect had forbidden the people of Autumn Mountain Domain from pursuing this path.
Li Qing had no intention of interfering further. He simply wanted to learn more about the Blood Lotus Sect, hoping to find some opportunity for profit.
After all, whether it was the third-tier crimson crystal or the sect's former immortal dao heritage, both held considerable value for him.
With that, Li Qing began selectively extracting memories from the pig-man's Sea of Consciousness.
He soon uncovered a crucial piece of information:
The Blood Lotus Sect was indeed aggressively acquiring the bodies of strange beasts! But no one knew why.
All the city's residents understood was that collecting enough strange beasts would either grant their descendants powerful bloodline mutations or provide them with the means to evolve into higher-tier mutated humans themselves.
"Something's odd about this," Li Qing murmured.
(End of the Chapter)
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