Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.

In the cultivation room, Zhou Xun sat in a wooden tub filled with spirit liquid brewed from various precious materials.

The bottom of the wooden tub was covered with sand-like materials, including fine sand ground from frost crystals.

As the Hundred Veins Body Refining Technique circulated, the spirit liquid in the tub gradually faded, and the essence of the sand at the bottom was continuously absorbed by Zhou Xun, whose body emitted a faint glow.

After an unknown amount of time, suddenly, a violent aura erupted from his body.

"The Fourth Layer, accomplished!"

Zhou Xun opened his eyes, seeing a faint radiance flowing across his skin.

He took out a piece of iron essence and pressed it gently, leaving a fingerprint.

Then, he tapped the storage bag and brought out the Golden Cicada Mother-Child Blade.

After activating it, he stabbed it at his arm!

"Ding—"

A crisp metallic collision sound was heard, and Zhou Xun's arm remained unscathed.

"Indeed, quite powerful!" Zhou Xun smiled lightly.

This premium middle-grade spiritual artifact couldn't even cause a scratch on Zhou Xun's flesh.

Such physical strength is on par with a middle-stage Foundation Establishment demon beast!

With just physical strength alone, he could contend with Tier Two demon beasts, although he hadn't awakened any divine techniques like the demon beasts.

Like his Profound Armor Armadillo, which could use quicksand, earth escape, and other spells.

However, combined with his entire arsenal of magical artifacts and talismans, it was naturally not something those demon beasts could compare to.

Stepping out of the cultivation room, Zhou Xun reminisced about his experiences over the past two years.

Now, at thirty-six years old, his spirit root sensitivity had increased to thirty-eight points, just one point shy of the peak of a middle-grade spirit root.

Perhaps the improvement in aptitude accelerated his cultivation speed, and the Nourishing Essence Technique had already surpassed halfway through the ninth layer.

Zhou Xun estimated that he might reach the peak of Qi Refining in another three years.

In addition, Zhou Xun's path of talismans officially reached Tier Two Low-Grade three months ago.

Recently, he had been purchasing large quantities of Tier Two talisman paper and talisman ink to refine Tier Two talismans.

Firstly, to enhance his proficiency in talisman refinement,

and secondly, to prepare in advance for the journey to Hundred Savage Mountain.

The power of Tier Two Low-Grade talismans is equivalent to a strike from an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and is extremely useful for dealing with Tier Two demon beasts.

"Now that I've broken through to the Fourth Layer of body refinement, it's time to head to Hundred Savage Mountain to hunt for demon pills!"

...

Hundred Savage Mountain is located northwest of White Cloud Immortal City, about twenty thousand miles apart, a proximity that is one of the reasons loose cultivators gather at White Cloud Immortal City.

On this day, a green escape light arrived outside Hundred Savage Mountain, it was Zhou Xun, here to hunt for demon pills.

This time out, Zhou Xun brought along all his belongings, including the Thousand-Answering Insect and the Profound Armor Armadillo.

The Thousand-Answering Insect has excellent sensing capabilities and can warn Zhou Xun in this beast-ridden Hundred Savage Mountain, while also helping him search for spirit medicines.

The Profound Armor Armadillo has grown rapidly, with spiritual energy fluctuations now similar to that of an Eighth-Layer Qi Refining cultivator, plus its mutated bloodline, its strength is not inferior to an average Tier One Top-Grade demon beast, providing considerable assistance to Zhou Xun.

Looking at the endless mountain range in the distance, Zhou Xun recalled information about Hundred Savage Mountain:

Hundred Savage Mountain spans dozens of countries and is vast in scope, with the branch within Xui Country being just a part of the entire range.

Numerous demon beasts reside in Hundred Savage Mountain, with their levels increasing the deeper one goes, and it's said that Tier Three Great Demons also wander there.

These are entities equivalent to True Pill cultivators, capable of speech and with intelligence on par with humans.

Five hundred miles from Hundred Savage Mountain, Zhou Xun descended from the escape light.

Hundred Savage Mountain houses not only beasts but also flying creatures.

Unless one is extremely confident in their cultivation, flying carelessly within the range of Hundred Savage Mountain

would certainly attract the attention of those flying demon beasts, and it would be easy to fall fatally if careless.

A few hours later, Zhou Xun officially stepped into the territory of Hundred Savage Mountain, with a large white worm a few inches long hidden in his collar.

Soon after entering, he discovered a Half-Entry Tier Snow Python Rabbit.

With a casual wave, the Golden Cicada Mother-Child Blade transformed into a golden light flying out, returning the next moment with a one-foot-sized rabbit.

"Today I feast!" Zhou Xun laughed heartily.

Since leaving Red Leaf Square, Zhou Xun hadn't tasted Snow Python Rabbit meat.

It wasn't that there were none in White Cloud Immortal City, but rather he had no inclination for it.

Now, seeing it upon entering the mountain, his appetite was stirred.

So he stopped to take a break.

In no time, Zhou Xun had prepared everything.

A three-foot-long branch skewered through the Snow Python Rabbit from bottom to top, then out the mouth.

Zhou Xun took big bites of rabbit meat, enjoying it immensely.

After resting, Zhou Xun continued on, traveling less than thirty miles before encountering a Tier One Low-Grade demon beast, which Zhou Xun ignored and passed by.

With his current Ninth-Layer Qi Refining cultivation, he could pass hidden and unnoticed by such a Tier One Low-Grade demon beast.

Five hundred miles into the mountains, Zhou Xun became more cautious, as this area had quite a few Tier One Middle-Grade demon beasts appearing.

Especially after the beast uprising in Hundred Savage Mountain over a decade ago, many high-tier beasts spread outward.

Even five hundred miles in, Tier Two demon beasts occasionally appear.

Zhou Xun had read records of Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators falling within such a range.

To be safe, Zhou Xun released the Profound Armor Armadillo from its spirit beast bag.

Suddenly, the Thousand-Answering Insect in his collar sent a signal.

"A Tier One Top-Grade Fish Scale Grass!"

Following the Thousand-Answering Insect's direction, Zhou Xun found a herb resembling fish scales exposed.

Without hesitation, Zhou Xun picked it and stored it in his storage bag.

Along the way, the Thousand-Answering Insect discovered many spirit medicines, but Zhou Xun ignored those below Tier One Middle-Grade.

...

Several days later, Zhou Xun found a fruit shaped like a dragon heart under a massive stone.

"Dragon Heart Fruit!"

One of the three major auxiliary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

In just a few short days, Zhou Xun had found herbs worth over a thousand spirit stones in value.

"Perhaps, I could be an herbalist here, and earn more than refining my own pills!"

But this is just a thought, as such efficiency exceeding tenfold the ordinary cultivator's could easily raise suspicion—any fool would know you had a stroke of luck.

However, this also gave Zhou Xun a reminder,

should he be unable to purchase enough high-tier spiritual medicines to enhance his spiritual root in the future, bringing along the Thousand-Answering Insect to hunt in Hundred Savage Mountain might be a viable option.

Besides, the Thousand-Answering Insect is still in its juvenile phase, and once it matures, its sensing ability is bound to improve.

...

Several more days later, in an uninhabited valley three thousand miles into Hundred Savage Mountain.

There was an eruption of startling spiritual power, accompanied by the roars of beasts.

About a quarter of an hour later, the beast roars gradually faded, and the astonishing spiritual power disappeared, as if it had never been there.

This was Zhou Xun hunting demon beasts.

After picking the Dragon Heart Fruit, Zhou Xun had soon spotted a Tier Two Low-Grade White Moon Demon Wolf.

After several days of pursuit, he finally found an opportunity to kill it in one strike.

Looking at the wolf's corpse not far away, Zhou Xun smiled lightly, taking out a high-grade spiritual artifact, preparing to dissect the corpse and extract the demon pill.

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