Suddenly, Zhu Zhuqing felt a wave of spirit power surge beside her. She turned with joy. "Sister, you broke through!"
"Mm, thirty-eighth level. After all the battles in the arena these days, my spirit power condensed a lot. This training lasted longer than I realized, and just now I shattered my limit!"
Zhu Zhuyun was delighted as well.
Her cultivation speed was already the fastest among her peers in the clan.
Now she had advanced another level.
A gleam flashed in her eyes. Dai Weisi was a year older than her and at level thirty-nine.
At this rate, she would surpass him soon.
As Zhu Zhuyun broke through, a surge of powerful spirit energy coursed through her body, and the pearl seized the chance to absorb part of it.
This left the energy inside that pearl greater than the other three.
But the pearl's mysteries did not end there.
The four pearls rotated lightly, as if breaking through the limits of space.
Their energies once again balanced themselves.
The pearl within Zhu Zhuyun's body even transferred a portion of its energy into the other three pearls.
Dugu Feng was stunned.
When he had only two pearls, their growth had always been simultaneous, advancing together.
At that time, the two pearls were close by, often residing within his body.
Now there were four, separated by some distance—
And yet they still managed it.
"Treasure, ah, treasure!"
Dugu Feng's eyes shone brightly in the night.
This was true treasure!
Evolve, hurry and evolve—I want more pearls!
Shouting in his heart, Dugu Feng began his journey northward to train.
Northward he went.
He crossed the densely populated Lima Plains, with cities everywhere and fertile farmland stretching wide.
The farther north he traveled, the more the land shifted into hills, where human presence grew scarce.
Until he crossed a mountain.
Suddenly the weather turned cold. Lush towering trees gave way to short, stunted growth.
"Three days and not a single person seen!" Dugu Feng sighed. He had entered a no-man's land.
"Young master, your true trial begins now," Old Scorpion said at his side.
Dugu Feng looked at the grassland terrain, where only the occasional low tree stood, birds and beasts chirping and calling.
"This place is dangerous. Young master, you'd best stay in martial spirit possession. From here on, I'll protect you from the shadows. Unless your life is at risk, I won't act."
Old Scorpion gave a twisted grin, then vanished in a flash.
Dugu Feng felt uneasy. Dangerous?
Was the danger from people or from spirit beasts?
He trusted Old Scorpion wouldn't speak nonsense.
Immediately, Dugu Feng entered martial spirit possession, carefully scanning his surroundings.
Snakes?Rabbits!
Wolves!The grassland's creatures all fell into his perception.
And spirit beasts, too.
So the danger came from spirit beasts.
Dugu Feng moved forward slowly, hunting these animals and sealing them into his soul tool.
Until nightfall approached, he hadn't yet encountered danger.
The calmer it seemed, the closer danger surely lurked.
He grew all the more vigilant.
"Caw!"
A sharp cry overhead made Dugu Feng look up, just in time to see a huge bird dive down.
His eyes widened.
"A Serpent-Eating Vulture! So that's the danger Old Scorpion spoke of!"
He was dumbfounded. Out here on the plains, there was nowhere to hide. The vulture's eyes were sharp enough to rival his own, honed from years of eating snake gallbladders. Even a snake kilometers away on the ground couldn't escape its sight.
The Serpent-Eating Vulture was a large carnivorous beast of the plains, extremely aggressive, infamous for devouring serpent kings!
Of course, it ate humans too...
This one's wingspan was over three meters, a spirit beast of about three thousand years.
And as a nemesis of serpents, it favored snake flesh above all—did it see him as a snake?!?
Damn thing, you dare try to eat me?
He already saw its iconic long legs.
He recalled that spirit masters mocked this beast as "all legs below the neck."
Brown-scaled armor sheathed those long legs, protecting them like natural armor.
As fierce winds swept over him, Dugu Feng's skin bristled, body taut.
In that hairbreadth moment, his Jade Phosphor Twelve Strikes shot out.
The target—its eyes!
It was almost instinct, his counterattack.
Practicing Jade Phosphor Twelve Strikes countless times each day had made them faster than even some ssoul ring techniques!
The Jade Phosphor Snake's venom could fire in one-sixth the blink of an eye.
But this vulture, predator of serpents, was even faster.
Its three-meter wings barely twitched, yet its whole body accelerated again.
It perfectly dodged his first volley.
But Dugu Feng's attack would never end at one strike.
Another twelve bolts fired, his body retreating to widen the gap again.
Finally, the vulture landed on the ground.
"Caw!"
It screeched, entering a display of deadly grace.
Amid Dugu Feng's barrage, its long legs gleamed with razor talons, each step a blur.
Its body moved like flowing water, evading every strike, rapidly closing in on him.
"No wonder it's the nemesis of snakes—what serpent could escape those stomps and rending claws?"
Dugu Feng cursed under his breath.
Then, both his little fingers unleashed two bolts of soul force.
These strange blasts collided midair just before reaching the vulture.
Boom`!!! they erupted in its path!
From the burst of Jade Phosphor Violet Poison, two jade-green shadows darted out, biting at its wings.
Dugu Feng had helpers.
The Nine-Segment Jade Snakes were tiny, but lightning-fast, bodies hard as steel, blades unable to cut them. They had grown into beasts over two thousand years old.
Hidden within the poisonous haze, they sank their fangs deep into the vulture's wings.
Dugu Feng rejoiced, his first soul ring flashing. He spat a billowing violet mist.
It engulfed dozens of meters in an instant.
The timing was perfect. Just as the vulture had halted, wary of the poison cloud from the earlier clash, the mist covered it completely.
Used to fighting venomous snakes, it sensed the deadly danger of this haze.
It tried to leap away.
But the Jade Snakes' fangs dug in, halting its escape.
The violet poison swallowed it whole.
If even now it could flee, Dugu Feng might as well find a brick wall and bash his head.
Under the dual assault of Jade Snake venom and Jade Phosphor Violet Poison, the vulture toppled with a crash, unconscious.
Dugu Feng hurried to suppress the venom within it. This was good meat—he couldn't waste it.
He approached slowly.
Its three-meter wings sprawled across the earth, eyes lifeless though not yet dead.
No doubt, it had never imagined it would die to its natural prey.
"Heh heh, tonight we'll feast on roasted vulture wings!"
With a wave, the Nine-Segment Jade snake's slithered from its feathers back to his wrists.
Their crimson eyes gleamed proudly, showing off their contribution.
Dugu Feng replayed the fight. The turning point was when his little fingers' blasts collided, forming a small pocket of violet poison.
He'd used that trick against Hei Tian too.
Each of the twelve strikes coursed through different meridian routes, yielding distinct qualities.
The little finger's blasts were erratic, hard to predict.
While the thumb and middle finger were forceful and direct, like shattering stone.
Dugu Feng felt enlightened.
His Jade Phosphor Twelve Strikes technique had to evolve further.
It was critical to combat power!
He tested a few variations, and the results were markedly different.
Hidden nearby, Old Scorpion was dumbstruck. He had thought this three-thousand-year beast would challenge Dugu Feng.
But it was dispatched so easily.
And from his duels in Soto City to this battle, it was clear—Dugu Feng had already mastered the second stage of Jade Phosphor Violet Poison.
Two-finger strikes, sharp as blades—that was only the foundation.
Mastering the unique qualities of each finger strike, and applying them flexibly to reach perfection—that was the path to true combat power.
The young master had already grasped it.
So talented, Old Scorpion sighed. He had no chance to act at all. He was feeling helpless!