Chapter 170: Becoming Sentient (I)

"Roar!"

From deep within the mountains came a thunderous roar of a savage beast. Soon, a massive, pitch-black figure burst out from the trees. A gaping wound marred its back, deep enough to expose the bone beneath. However, very little blood flowed from the wound. The beast's powerful back muscles flexed under its control, easily halting the bleeding.

For it, such an injury was far from serious. The beast remained vigorous and full of energy. Each stride of its 600-kilogram body sent tremors through the ground.

Bang!

It lunged toward the spot where Lin Zheyu had just stood, smashing a massive boulder to dust with a single slap of its paw. Relying on his agile movement technique, Lin Zheyu swiftly dodged aside, not daring to clash head-on with such a monster.

"What stage is this beast at? This is insane!" he exclaimed.

Lin Zheyu ran at full speed, using the terrain for cover to gradually widen the distance. The beast was fast and agile, but its size made it less maneuverable within the forest. Otherwise, Little Black would never have escaped its clutches.

Three minutes later, in a dense grove filled with palm-shaped leaves, Lin Zheyu stopped and gasped for breath. He glared at Little Black and gave its head a firm knock.

"Hiss?"

Little Black looked up at Lin Zheyu in confusion, not understanding what that gesture meant. The little creature's skin was thick and tough; it never feared a hit and didn't think it was being punished.

"Go catch a beast and gather some firewood," said Lin Zheyu, setting Little Black down and giving the order.

At his words, the creature's eyes lit up at once. It understood that sentence perfectly. Whenever Lin Zheyu said anything related to food, the creature would learn incredibly fast.

"Chirp, chirp."

Little Black chirped twice in excitement and dashed off, vanishing from sight.

With my current strength, trying to fight a beast of that stage was pure overestimation of myself,

muttered Lin Zheyu inwardly.

He moved his arms a little, pressing along the muscles until faint cracking sounds echoed. He infused what little blood qi remained, barely a tenth, into his arms to repair the damaged muscles, skin, tendons, and bones.

That battle just now had left him badly hurt. However, the wounds weren't from the beast itself. Strong as it was, Lin Zheyu's ninth-stage Golden Goose Technique still outmatched it. The injury on his arm came purely from his own doing. When he unleashed the ninth strike of the Raging Wind Slash, the surge of ninefold power rebounded against him, injuring his own arm.

The force Lin Zheyu could now unleash in battle far exceeded his realm, but his body simply could not withstand such tremendous power. If the beast he had encountered had been a little weaker, with bones not so hard, he could have cleaved it cleanly in two. In that case, he wouldn't have been injured so badly. But against such a powerful creature, there had been no need for him to unleash the ninefold Raging Wind Slash at all.

"If I don't strengthen my body, the Raging Wind Slash fueled by blood qi burst technique will be useless." Lin Zheyu sighed to himself and could only shake his head helplessly.

He hadn't expected that his first test of the technique would be with such a beast and nearly cost him his life. His combat power was indeed astounding, far beyond that of ordinary warriors at his level, yet his weaknesses were just as clear.

His endurance and defense were poor. When fighting at full power, his blood qi would be depleted in less than six minutes. Defense could be improved through supplementary body-refining techniques, but endurance was another matter entirely.

The human body had a limit to how much blood qi it could contain. Once that limit was reached, no more could be added. Only through repeated qualitative transformations could blood qi be refined into purer, more potent energy.

Lin Zheyu had once wondered whether there might exist a special cultivation technique that could expand this limit. Unfortunately, after many visits to the black market, he had never found such a technique. Perhaps no such technique existed at all. Or maybe Bafang City was simply too small, and he might need to visit a larger city to find it.

I'll come back for that beast after I've learned a body-refining technique. That brute's thick hide makes it perfect for training and cultivating my own momentum,

he thought silently.

Until Lin Zheyu strengthened his body through body-refining, he had no intention of seeking that beast again. That creature's ferocity was utterly terrifying. He couldn't fathom how Little Black had provoked such a monster when its tiny body wasn't even enough to fill the beast's teeth.

Rustle, rustle.

The forest trees swayed, their leaves whispering in the wind. Lin Zheyu sat cross-legged on the ground, swiftly replenishing the blood qi in his body. After more than an hour, his arm had mostly recovered under the nourishment of blood qi. But Little Black was still nowhere to be seen.

The little creature had gone off hunting somewhere and was taking an awfully long time. If it were after an ordinary beast, with its speed and agility, the hunt should have been effortless. But it was a picky eater, likely chasing after some powerful beast it deemed tastier.

Lin Zheyu opened his eyes from meditation, picked up the waterskin[1] beside him, and took a sip of medicinal broth. It was a concentrated Blood-Nourishing Bone-Fortifying Decoction he had prepared before setting out, containing the essence of three full sets of herbs.

Once the medicinal broth entered his stomach, warmth spread through his body. He closed his eyes again, channeling his blood qi with full focus to absorb the medicine's potency.

About an hour later, Little Black returned. It was standing upright, biting a beast's neck, its front claws bracing the weight while its short legs scurried along; it looked rather comical. When it reached Lin Zheyu, it dropped the beast's carcass before him. Then it leapt onto the body, pointed at it with its claws, and waved proudly, as if demanding praise.

"Excellent!"

Lin Zheyu patted Little Black's head and praised it warmly. So the little one really had gone to hunt a powerful beast. The creature's strength in life had at least been that of the Blood Qi Realm. A long horn jutted from its head, and its body was covered in gray fur and bulging muscle. It was like a massive boar with a single great horn.

"Go fetch some firewood," said Lin Zheyu.

At once, Little Black darted obediently into the woods, returning repeatedly with bundles of dry twigs and branches. It even mimicked Lin Zheyu's way of building a fire, stacking the wood into a pile. But its clumsy little paws made quite a mess, and the pile it built was worse than none at all.

By the time Little Black dragged back a proper heap of wood, Lin Zheyu had finished skinning and cleaning the beast. The meat was ready for roasting.

Crackle.

The campfire crackled softly in the night. A man and a small creature sat before the fire, each holding a stick skewering a chunk of beast meat over the flames.

Little Black's round eyes kept glancing at Lin Zheyu. Whenever he turned his meat over, it quickly did the same. Its small paws lacked his dexterity, so it had to awkwardly use both claws at once.

When Lin Zheyu sprinkled chili powder over his meat, Little Black tried to imitate him, reaching for the seasoning. But not only did it fail to grab the chili powder, it even dropped its roasted meat straight into the fire.

"Hiss—hss, chirp, chirp—hiss!"

Little Black's eyes widened in frustration as it glared at the burning meat in the flames. Refusing to give up, it grabbed another branch, tore off a large piece of meat, and resumed roasting. This time it did quite well, turning the meat from time to time so it cooked evenly without charring.

As the meat sizzled and dripped with oil, Little Black grinned from ear to ear. But when it saw Lin Zheyu sprinkle seasoning again, it blinked and chirped in annoyance. In the end, it flicked its tail at him and chirped insistently.

Seeing its eager expression, Lin Zheyu relented and sprinkled salt, spices, and chili powder over its portion as well. The more time he spent with it, the more he realized how intelligent Little Black truly was.

"This little thing won't actually cultivate into a sentient being someday, will it?" he murmured with a smile.

Watching Little Black happily roast its meat just like him, Lin Zheyu couldn't help but think so to himself. After all, by his reasoning, this world truly held immortals, gods, yaos, and demons; the living corpses and the demonic statues he had seen in Lion Valley were proof enough.

When I head for the Central Plains, I'll bring this little one along. Even if it never gains sentience, it'll still make an excellent hunting partner

.

After finishing the roast meat, his blood qi had recovered considerably—about one and a half tenths of his peak level. As long as he didn't recklessly use the blood qi burst technique and conserved his strength, he could still hunt a good number of beasts.

"Little Black, once you've eaten, it's time to work. Don't just lie around rubbing your belly and napping all day."

Lin Zheyu sighed helplessly and nudged the sprawled-out Little Black with his foot. The little creature didn't seem to know the meaning of cultivation as it ate, then slept, every single day.

"Come on, let's hunt some beasts."

He waved his hand and motioned for it to lead the way to their next target. But if Little Black picked another oversized monster again, Lin Zheyu swore he'd turn and run immediately. He was already only 60% of a true man in strength; now, with less than 20% of his blood qi left, he'd last even shorter.

1. A waterskin is a container, traditionally made of an animal's skin like a goat or sheep, used to hold water. ☜