Kill!
Kill!
Kill!
Puff... Puff...
At this moment, Beigong Yu had transformed into a ghost, weaving through the dense forest as he ruthlessly harvested the lives of one Battle Slave after another who were hunting him down.
When he ambushed the eighth Battle Slave—who possessed the highest cultivation among the eight, at the peak of the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm—a mysterious surge of energy, thicker than any before, merged into his body, causing the bones within him to begin heating up.
In just a short moment, he felt as though his entire body was about to catch fire.
However, he showed not a shred of panic in the face of this abnormal condition; instead, his face lit up with joy.
For he knew that he was about to breakthrough.
At this moment, as that high temperature, which seemed as if it would ignite him, welled up from deep within his bones, the marrow inside his skeletal structure began to be refined and purified within the bone cavities, much like lard placed in a pot over a fire.
Simultaneously, a mysterious force, unknown to Beigong Yu, drifted out from his sea of consciousness and ultimately spread throughout his entire body...
Driven by the infusion of that mysterious energy and the explosive heat within his bones, the bone marrow shrank rapidly at a visible rate, yet became much tougher and more resilient.
During this process, the impurities within the bone marrow and even the bones themselves were swiftly refined and purged out of his body.
For a time, Beigong Yu felt a tingling numbness wash over his entire being.
This phase did not last long, ending in merely a dozen seconds or so.
"Finally advanced to the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm."
"I am just a tiny, tiny bit closer to my goal."
"Just like before, upgrading to a new realm purges so many impurities from the entire body."
"I should wash up first."
Little did he know that for anyone else in the Body Refining Realm, such a phenomenon would only ever occur if they had consumed precious and rare Marrow Cleansing Pills.
Otherwise, it was simply impossible to undergo a thorough cleansing of the tendons and marrow every time one broke through a realm.
Yet for him, having progressed from the 1st Stage Skin Refining Realm to the 5th Stage Marrow Refining Realm, this had already happened five times.
Each time more thorough than the last.
However, just as Beigong Yu intended to wash away the grime on his body before continuing to hunt down those pursuing him, he had not walked far when he heard a series of footsteps. He grinned, abandoned the idea of washing up, and stood right where he was, waiting for the five remaining Battle Slaves to arrive.
Although he had yet to cultivate spiritual perception at his current stage of the Body Refining Realm, his senses were extremely sharp; he could judge the level of cultivation by the fluctuations of aura radiating from his opponents.
Among these five Battle Slaves, the one with the highest cultivation should be the scar-faced man at the 6th Stage Viscera Refining Realm.
In the Battle Slave Camp, this realm qualified one to serve as a squad leader commanding ten men.
The other four were Battle Slaves at the 3rd or 4th Stage of the Body Refining Realm.
He felt no fear!
Though he had never practiced any formidable offensive techniques, his rich experiences of frantically slaughtering beasts in the Chilian Mountains had allowed him to figure out some simple and effective finishing moves.
His blade was sharp enough to slice through these men's throats without rolling the edge.
"Damn 5269, you ugly little rat, keep hiding! Why aren't you hiding anymore?"
The scar-faced Battle Slave flew into a rage the moment he saw Beigong Yu standing there, covered in blood and completely at ease.
This damned scum had killed eight of his subordinates in a mere three hours or so.
One of them had even been just a hair's breadth away from stepping into the 6th Stage Viscera Refining Realm!
That was his capital for rising to prominence within the Battle Slave Camp.
And now... gone.
The loss was simply too massive, directly severing the foundation of his growth and his hopes of climbing higher.
Right now, the scar-faced Battle Slave wanted nothing more than to tear Beigong Yu apart with his bare hands.
Therefore, the moment he laid eyes on Beigong Yu, he let out a furious roar, brandishing the standard-issue longsword in his hand and thrusting straight toward him.
Watching the lightning-fast thrust of the longsword, Beigong Yu narrowed his eyes. Then, when the enemy was still about three meters away, he violently drove the toes of his boots into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that shot directly into the scar-faced Battle Slave's face.
How could the scar-faced Battle Slave expect such insidious tactics from Beigong Yu? Almost instinctively, he shut his eyes...
And once closed, they would never open again.
For at that very instant, the blood-red saber in Beigong Yu's hand flashed like a crimson bolt of lightning, descending with thunderous momentum.
With a muffled *puff*, the squad leader—the scar-faced Battle Slave—was slain by Beigong Yu.
Beigong Yu understood all too well the importance of seizing the moment.
Thus, while the remaining four Battle Slaves were still trapped in a state of shock and bewilderment, with a flash of his blade and a falling hand, a flash of his blade and a falling hand... he granted them their release.
Wisps of mysterious energy drifted out from the bodies of these Battle Slaves, surging into his own.
After a wave of pleasant warmth, this energy was refined into his core essence, and his cultivation smoothly stepped into the 5th Stage Mid-Phase Marrow Refining Realm.
"Faster than expected."
Beigong Yu muttered to himself as he sensed the surging power within his body.
Perhaps today he would even have a chance to break through to the late phase, or perhaps an even higher realm—who could say for sure?
Next came a segment that Beigong Yu thoroughly enjoyed.
That was—looting corpses.
There was a great deal of truth to the old saying: murder and arson bring golden belts, while building bridges and paving roads leaves no bones behind.
Although these people he had killed were all Battle Slaves, each of them could still contribute a fair amount of gold and silver coins to him, more or less.
Beyond that, the sabers and swords they carried were not bad either.
Especially the longsword in the hands of the scar-faced leader; its grade was higher than the saber he currently used, being an Eighth-Order mortal-grade crimson battle sword.
Though he greatly favored sabers, feeling they carried an unmatched dominance, until he had the financial capacity to purchase a better saber, using this battle sword would do just fine.
After a thorough search, Beigong Yu obtained 338 gold coins, 621 silver coins, and a 3rd-order mortal-grade saber manual titled [Rampant Wind Saber Technique].
Looking at the [Rampant Wind Saber Technique] manual in his hand, a hint of a smile finally surfaced on Beigong Yu's cold face.
After a month's time, he had finally encountered a saber technique.
Though it was not a cultivation mental method and its grade was quite low, it was still very good indeed.
Moreover, sabers were his absolute favorite.
In his view, sabers were peerlessly domineering, fiercely violent, heavy and imposing, characterized by grand, sweeping movements that focused on "hacking," which could also be called "striking weapons."
It felt exceptionally satisfying when hacking down people or fierce beasts—one stroke, one kill.
As for swords, they leaned toward lightness and agility, focusing on "thrusting" and "splitting," making them "piercing weapons."
However, this was no place for cultivation; he needed to find a remote and safe spot to practice first.
For some time now, having lacked any offensive techniques, he had relied entirely on brute force, rushing up to wild beasts and hacking away wildly, which made his speed of slaughtering beasts extremely slow.
Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to blindly charge into packs of beasts far stronger than himself; instead, he would hunt those stray ones or those slightly weaker than him. Then, he would either hack them to death in a frenzy or employ all sorts of vicious, cunning schemes—driving tigers to devour wolves, or deflecting trouble onto others—playing the game with absolute clarity.
As a modern person, his mind was filled with numerous concepts and methods that this world could not possibly comprehend; there was no need to make a fuss over it.
Now, with this [Rampant Wind Saber Technique] manual, his strength should increase by a few fractions.
After swiftly searching all the corpses, he dragged them to a hidden spot, leaving the beasts of the Chilian Mountains to build new graves for these Battle Slaves. As for himself, carrying the [Rampant Wind Saber Technique] manual with a sense of anticipation, he walked with familiar ease toward a secluded stone cave where he often rested.