Chapter 26 – Golden Clam

Translator: Aran

In the previous two days, Ye Qingyu had already undergone over a hundred battles of various dimensions. He had killed numerous strange wild beasts and demonic beasts causing his body to be littered with injuries. There had been several times where his bones had fractured and he had vomited blood, very close to being dead.

Thankfully, he was mostly recovered due to his nameless breathing technique. Not only could it help him rapidly replenish his energy, it also allowed him to have an extremely shocking rate of recovery from injuries. Otherwise, he would have long died if not for this fact.

Of course, the constant killing and fighting also brought huge benefits for Ye Qingyu.

Before setting out from the academy, Ye Qingyu was at the fourth stage of the ordinary martial stage after training in the [Gliding Eagle stance] that teacher Wen Wan passed onto him. After changing the entire volume of blood in his body and cleansing the impurities present within his blood, he was finally at the blood stage. When cultivated along with his nameless breathing technique, the progress was excellent.

Two days of battle had made Ye Qingyu break past the fourth stage, and into the fifth stage – bone marrow stage.

In less than one month of time, without having any foundations in the martial path, to enter into the fifth stage of the ordinary martial stage could not be described as progressing quickly anymore. The advancement was so fast that it was preposterous.

Thankfully, the monthly testing of first years had not arrived yet, and Ye Qingyu did not show his true level yet. Apart from the burly teacher Wen Wan, no one else knew what stage he had already reached.

Otherwise, it would cause a huge commotion.

And the way to train in the fifth stage of ordinary martial stage, was to change the bone marrow. This was essentially transforming your very essence, making your body go from a Houtian state to a Xiantian state.

Of the [Eight Divine Stances], the [Dragon stance] was the one most suitable for this type of cultivation.

Before coming to the Arctic plains, Wen Wan had already taught Ye Qingyu the [Dragon stance].

After killing the golden dragon python and obtaining the blood of the reptile, it would allow the training speed of Ye Qingyu to go even faster.

“Ssss… Tssss”

The golden dragon python stuck out its tongue, hissing. After being struck by Ye Qingyu, it seemed slightly dazed and did not continue to attack.

But it’s twenty-meter-long body, slowly started to surround him. The blood-like scent in the air that it emitted was poisonous and could cause a normal person to faint or vomit.

It was an extremely formidable prey.

Ye Qingyu was topless, and on his tanned muscles were lines upon lines of scars, looking extremely fearsome.

These scars were all obtained through the battles he engaged in these two days. Some were from scratches and some were from bites. Some scars had not yet fully healed, and reopened during the battle, dripping fresh blood everywhere.

“The golden dragon python is descended from the divine dragon, and has within it a hint of the dragon’s bloodline. It has the opportunity to truly evolve into a dragon in the future, but the golden dragon python in front of me…” Ye Qingyu carefully observed his opponent.

He had already judged that this golden dragon python did not have any possible chance of transforming into a dragon. The dragon bloodline was too thin, and this python’s blood was too impure.

“Even though it is impure, but even a tiny strand of Dragon’s blood can aid me in mastering the [Dragon stance] and allow me to transform my bone marrow entirely… Furthermore, this python is a demonic beast, it must contain an [endowment bone] within its body.”

A determination to battle burned within Ye Qingyu’s eyes.

His entire body was splattered with blood and his aura was already vaguely giving off a killing pressure.

“SssSss…” The golden dragon python was enraged, preparing to attack again.

Ye Qingyu decided not to drag this battle out any longer.

Using the footwork that he learnt from Liu Lei, his movements were like lightning and easily avoided the strike of the python.

The next instant, Ye Qingyu was already tens of meters away. One hand reaching behind his back, he took out the [Inexorable spear] from its black holster.

In both hands, he held the two parts of the spear facing in an opposing direction.

With a snap, the mechanism activated. A three-meter-long spear was formed.

Xiu!

The spear stabbed forward.

A cold tip, fast as lightning.

The golden python was still in midair, and had no way of avoiding the strike. The spear penetrated through the python, seven inches down from its neck. The steel-like scales were pierced like tofu, and the enormous impact sent the thousand-pound body of the python directly flying back.

One strike one kill!

The golden python was nailed to the ground. The large body spasmed for a few seconds then stopped. It was completely dead.

Ye Qingyu pulled his spear from the ground.

His battle power had exponentially multiplied since obtaining a suitable weapon.

Demonic beasts whose classification was under two stars, once Ye Qingyu decided to use the [Inexorable spear], could always nearly be killed in one strike. In front of the terrifying herculean strength of Ye Qingyu, the demonic beasts’ actions were akin to walking to its doom.

Ye Qingyu stabbed the spear into the ground and took out a blue edged dagger, beginning to dissect the corpse.

The dagger was named [Cold Steel], and was gifted by Wen Wan. It seemed like it was once a Spirit weapon, but the rune formation on it had long been destroyed. The material of the dagger was excellent though, and could cut through steel like mud. It was perfect for dissecting demonic beasts.

A jade vial of the purest python blood was extracted from the corpse.

After experiencing two days of dissecting countless corpses, Ye Qingyu’s actions were extremely competent and practiced.

“Golden dragon python’s brain? It’s only about the size of a fist, and can be used to resist poison. It can be counted as a good object…”

“The snake skin also needs to be carefully preserved, it can be exchanged for some academic points… Hm?”

“The snake meat has within it the essence of spirit energy from Heaven and Earth. It is definitely a nourishing supplement; I must not waste it…”

“The fangs of the golden dragon python, hmph, I guess it has some value…”

“Haha, the poisonous venom of this python can also be exchanged for academic points!”

Ye Qingyu began to grow excited.

The corpse of a two-star demonic beast was filled with treasures. In the [The Encyclopedia of Dangerous Things in the Arctic Plains] it listed all the riches that each demonic beast possessed which Ye Qingyu had long memorized.

In this world, the reason why there were so many crazy people attempting to go into the chaos of the dangerous areas and discover new regions was because countless wealth and riches was born from danger. In a world where everything revolved around the martial way, even the corpses of demonic beasts were a treasure, not to mention the countless treasures of Heaven and Earth that would be found in these dangerous areas.

White Deer Academy, through using this method of exchanging items for academic points, began to prepare the students for the rules of this world.

“Hm? Why is there not an [endowment bone], how is this possible Little [endowment bone], where are you, quickly come out…” Ye Qingyu complained, muttering to himself.

Suddenly—

“Eh? What is this? Such a large… This is… Ah, so this fellow swallowed a clam previously…”

Ye Qingyu was slightly taken aback.

Within the stomach of the golden python, he discovered a bump. After slicing it open, he found it was a golden clam that was already dead. It was about two meters wide, and although the outer shell had already been digested a little by the stomach acid of the python, it was still brilliant looking as if it was a golden sculpture.

So this was why he felt that in the previous battle, the golden dragon python was not as agile as what was described in the Encyclopedia. The python had swallowed the golden clam into its stomach not long ago and hence this had an effect on its agility.

But…

This golden clam also looked slightly strange.

In the [The Encyclopedia of Dangerous Things in the Arctic Plains], there was not any mention of such a clam. It only said that within the river there were over ten thousand species of river lifeforms, and over a hundred species of clams. The majority of clams were either black or yellow, without the book mentioning a clam that was gilded by gold like a rich person.

“Haha, could it be that this clam, is a king among clams?”

Ye Qingyu began laughing loudly.

He was curious and wanted to open the clam shell, to see if there were any night pearls or anything similar. This type of clam, could also be counted as a demonic beast, perhaps it had an [endowment bone] in it?

The clam shell was extremely sturdy. Ye Qingyu’s arm could at least lift ten thousand pounds of weight, but only after exerting all his strength could he manage to pry the shell open.

Suddenly, a jewel-like radiance shined through the crack of the shell.

Ye Qingyu lowered his head to peer through the opening that he had created. He saw three pearls, around the size of a chicken’s egg, rolling around in the inside of the clam’s shell. It shimmered with a peculiar light, and there was an indistinct energy fluctuation that Ye Qingyu could not make heads or tails of.

Ye Qingyu reached in and took all three of the pearls out.

“Eh?” He was taken aback again.

This was due to the fact that the sensation of each of these pearls were different from one another. One was extremely cold, one was slightly hot to the touch and one was warm like jade.

After observing in detail, the hot pearl was tinged with red, while the cold pearl was shaded in black and the warm pearl was translucent like a beauty’s skin.

Ye Qingyu could not determine what the value or uses of these three pearls were, but he could definitely sense it was not ordinary. After fiddling with the pearls for a bit, he stowed it away, deciding to ask someone when he returned to White Deer Academy.

After considering for a bit, he resumed his search for an [endowment bone] within the clam.

An [endowment bone] was the Xiantian bone within a demonic beast’s body. On these bones, there were marks and patterns of Heaven and Earth that were naturally formed. Through these marks and patterns, one could control the Spirit energy within the air and activate different powers and abilities. It was an extremely wondrous item.

It was one of the key differences between a wild beast and a demonic beast.

Due to the existence of [endowment bones], demonic beasts became strong. It was said that the runes and scriptures of the human race were formed from observing the pattern on [endowment bones]. Through generations and generations of development and discovery, these renowned runes then became famed throughout the entire human race.

[Endowment bones] had always been one of the most precious and fundamental materials for the runes that the entire human race utilized.

It was said that there were not two of the same [endowment bone] anywhere in the world. Even if an [endowment bone] was obtained from the same species, it would not be alike. Sometimes, it was possible that a weak demonic beast’s [endowment bone] could give birth to a powerful rune.

And according to legend, apart from its uses in experimentation, [endowment bones] were also an important resource for cultivation. Some truly strong experts, through using different [endowment bones] in a formation, could demonstrate strength comparable to a killing god.

Therefore, the value of an [endowment bone] had never been low.

Perhaps within this golden clam, there was also the existence of a valuable [endowment bone]. Then, he could exchange it for a significant number of academic points… “Hehe,” after thinking about this, Ye Qingyu could not help but giggle with excitement.

But after searching for a while, he discovered that there was nothing like an [endowment bone] within the clam.

He then carefully examined the clam shell, confirming that there were not any patterns or marks on the shell.

“It looks like I was too greedy…”

The golden clam was originally extremely peculiar and definitely not normal. It was hard to determine whether it was even a demonic beast, so as for whether it possessed an [endowment bone] was even more out of the question.

When Ye Qingyu was about to give up, his hand in the shell suddenly touched a hard object.

“Eh? This is…have I finally found it?”

Ye Qingyu was immediately overjoyed, grabbing hold of a corner of the object and dragged it out.

But after seeing it, Ye Qingyu was dumbfounded.