"Slash!"
In a mountain col among the Chilian Mountains, eight thousand miles away from the Great Desolation Immortal Sect in the Great Wilderness Domain, a cold, low cry rang out from the lips of a youth with a head of silver hair and tattered blood-red robes.
The blood-red battle saber in the youth's hand was like a streak of crimson Qi. Seizing the absolute best angle, it slashed across the neck of the final cyan wolf, which was the size of a calf, sending a massive wolf head rolling far away.
Fresh blood instantly dyed the ground crimson.
wisps of invisible, faint energy drifted from the corpses, silently swallowed into the body of the blood-red-robed youth.
A very distinct flush immediately swept across the youth's face.
At the same time, a faint light flickered across the collar around the youth's neck.
The number on it changed from 25 to 28.
Wiping out a cyan wolf den of twenty-one beasts at the third and fourth levels had only yielded him 3 points of Demon-Subduing Contribution Value!
Such was the treatment of a battle slave!
Not only were the Demon-Subduing Contribution Value and other gains—such as medicinal herbs, beast skins, and beast bones—reduced to a mere tenth of what others received, but even purchasing cultivation techniques and the like was forbidden unless one's Contribution Value was completely sufficient; otherwise, they had no qualification to buy them at all.
Yet the slight improvement in his cultivation realm caused the flame of hope in his heart to burn brighter and brighter.
Soon!
At most, after slaying twenty-plus more third- and fourth-stage Body Refining Realm beasts, he would be able to break through to the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm.
Of course, wanting to cast off the humble slave status of the Golden Core Realm still required crossing three major realms in between: Spirit Vein Realm, Spirit Gathering, and Foundation Establishment.
According to Beigong Yu's understanding, in this immortal cultivation world, the realms from lowest to highest could be divided into: Body Refining, Spirit Vein, Spirit Gathering, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul Stage.
Body Refining was further divided into the 1st Stage Skin Refining, 2nd Stage Flesh Refining, 3rd Stage Tendon Refining, 4th Stage Bone Refining, 5th Stage Marrow Refining, 6th Stage Viscera Refining, 7th Stage Blood Refining, 8th Stage Soul Refining, and 9th-Order Consummation.
As for the Spirit Vein Realm and above... as an inconspicuous member of the tens of thousands in the Great Desolation Immortal Sect's Battle Slave Camp, he was not yet qualified to know the mysteries of realms above the Spirit Vein Realm.
He still had a long way to go, and the burden was heavy.
...
After skillfully slinging the blood-red battle saber—its blade somewhat rolled—onto his back, Beigong Yu pulled a sharp black dagger from his lower leg. With familiar ease, he quickly and accurately harvested all the usable fur from the wolf demon, stuffed it into a beast-skin backpack at his side, and prepared to return to Black Mountain Town.
In the evening, Black Mountain Town.
A tall, robust youth with a bulging beast-skin backpack, a head of silver hair, and tattered blood-red robes stepped into the last wisps of the setting sun, appearing on the horizon of Black Mountain Town.
Many cultivators and battle slaves who had been chatting and idling about saw this unique sight of Black Mountain Town and their eyes lit up in unison.
"Is that... that fellow from Battle Slave Camp No. 9, slave number 5269? Holy shit, he actually came back in one piece."
"Such terrifying killing intent. It looks like this fellow really wiped out that small wolf demon den in the mountain col."
"As expected of 5269. Impressive, he didn't die from that."
"What's the use of being impressive? Without any cultivation talent, everything is useless."
"The pack on his back is bulging; it must be packed with good things..."
A fierce-looking man with a knife scar across his face, a thick and fleshy build, and a collar identical to the others around his neck looked at the blood-red-robed youth with a sinister expression.
As soon as those words were uttered, the people who had been discussing animatedly just moments before fell silent.
The gazes they directed toward the silver-haired, blood-robed youth flashed with strange expressions.
That beast-skin backpack was bulging; it should contain quite a few good things...
The silver-haired, blood-red-robed youth turned a deaf ear to the pointing and buzzing of the numerous battle slaves.
Scenes like this had happened at least a dozen times in the month since he transmigrated into this Great Wilderness Domain and became a battle slave of the Great Desolation Immortal Sect.
Because of this, he had contributed more than a dozen new graves to this world.
As for the transmigration, it was a long story.
He even felt there was a conspiracy behind it.
That was because his transmigration was somewhat bizarre and peculiar.
He still remembered that in his past life, by a chance encounter, he met an old Daoist who muttered gibberish all day long, and then he was muddle-headedly coaxed into grave-robbing—cough, archaeological excavation—of an ancient tomb that had existed for who knew how long.
Then, during the excavation, he accidentally missed his footing and tumbled right into an ancient coffin...
When he woke up, he had already possessed this body.
As for who the original owner of this body was, he only knew his name was Beigong Yu, coming from an unrivaled proud family of the Beigong Immortal Clan. Having suffered who knew what, he had fallen out of a spatial rift just outside Black Mountain Town.
Later, he was brought back to Black Mountain Town by a battle slave who was subsequently eaten by a Demon Beast. Because he lacked an identity token to prove who he was, coupled with his complete lack of cultivation talent, he had no choice but to be reduced to a member of the Great Desolation Immortal Sect's Battle Slave Camp.
However, he could roughly guess that the owner of this body was definitely not simple.
After all, who could fall out of a spatial rift?
Ever since then, he had constantly anticipated some heaven-defying golden finger like a Plundering System, a Creation System, a Face-Slapping System, or a Ten-Thousand-Fold Return System.
As it turned out, not a single one appeared.
Instead, during a mission a month ago, when he desperately slew a most ordinary first-level beast—comparable to a 1st Stage Skin Refining Realm red-eyed rabbit—and absorbed a wisp of faint energy, he finally caught a glimpse of hope.
Perhaps what he had obtained was some sort of Devouring System?
All he needed to do was kill enemies to acquire energy?
Holding this hypothesis, Beigong Yu headed to the fringe areas of the Chilian Mountains to slay beasts and verify this theory.
The result matched his speculation: after slaying beasts, he truly could obtain the energy contained within their corpses.
His golden finger had arrived.
He simply didn't know what kind of golden finger it was.
But that did not affect his slaughter of beasts to acquire energy.
Thus, over the course of a single month, he went on a frantic killing spree of low-level beasts, raising his cultivation from the 1st Stage Skin Refining Realm to his current state, where he was merely half a step away from stepping into the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm.
Yet this speed was still too slow.
It wasn't as though there weren't other transmigrators who became invincible across the world within a month.
Yet him...
If he were to voice these thoughts to those so-called geniuses who worked themselves to the bone and took several months to advance just one or two stages, who knew if they would beat him to death on the spot.
...
The only material exchange building of the Great Desolation Immortal Sect in Black Mountain Town.
Beigong Yu arrived at one of the counters.
A dozing little fatty caught sight of the silver-haired, blood-robed youth, especially noticing the collar around the youth's neck that symbolized a lowly slave. A trace of disgust and aversion flashed in the depths of his eyes, and he didn't even twitch his eyelids. A lowly slave not even qualified to possess a surname wasn't worthy of catching the eye of an outer sect disciple like him.
"How much are these worth?"
The material exchange building not only sold necessary supplies, but also purchased them.
The silver-haired, blood-red-robed youth opened his beast-skin backpack, dumped out all the beast skins, teeth, medicinal herbs, and other items he had gathered over the past two days, and asked indifferently.
The little fatty glanced at them and then said, "3 gold coins."
The youth looked coldly at the little fatty and said faintly, "I know the complaint procedure."
"You..."
The little fatty's expression shifted.
Immediately afterward, the little fatty shot the youth a cold look, pulled 9 gold coins from the storage pouch at his waist, and casually tossed them onto the ground right in front of the youth. He said coldly, "Damned lowly slave, take this money and get lost!"
The silver-haired, blood-red-robed youth Beigong Yu did not pick them up, nor did he fly into a rage.
He merely cast an indifferent glance at the other party, turned and walked over to the weapon rack. He picked up a hundred-jin blood-red battle saber marked at a price of 20 gold coins—the exact same style and color as the one on his back, but reaching the 5th Mortal Grade in tier. He then picked up a bottle each of 5th and 6th Mortal Grade body-tempering spirit liquids, totaling 50 gold coins, and walked to the counter. Pulling 41 gold coins from his pocket, he casually tossed them onto the countertop before turning to leave.
As for the gold coins on the ground, whether they were picked up or not was entirely up to them.
A portion of these gold coins had been plundered from enemies he killed, while another portion had been accumulated over ten days of risking his life in the Chilian Mountains to slay beasts and sell beast skins.
Now, for the sake of a 5th Mortal Grade blood-red battle saber, he had been almost completely drained.
Ordinarily, a mere 5th Mortal Grade blood-red battle saber and two bottles of body-tempering spirit liquid together would not even cost 10 gold coins at most.
Yet simply because he was a battle slave, he had paid an extra 40 gold coins.
Damn it!
In this damned world, without strength, one is oppressed and exploited at every turn.
...
Damn it!
Watching the departing blood-red-robed youth, and then looking at the gold coins still spinning on the counter, the little fatty was almost fit to burst with rage.
Yet a mere lowly slave dared to humiliate him like this; he was simply tired of living!
Just you wait!
Daring to toy with this young master, this young master will send you straight to the Western Paradise right now.
Without hesitation, he produced a white paper crane, scribbled and drew upon it, and then struck a hand incantation. The paper crane instantly came to life, plunging into space and vanishing without a trace.
Naturally, Beigong Yu knew nothing of this.
With his newly purchased blood-red battle saber and two bottles of body-tempering spirit liquids strapped to his back, he casually grabbed a bite to eat at the Black Mountain Restaurant, rested for a while, and then returned to the quarters specifically designated for the Battle Slave Camp.
"Hoping to break through to the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm..."
Beigong Yu muttered to himself, looking at the two bottles of body-tempering spirit liquid in his hand.
Little did he know that danger had already quietly descended.