Zitian Umbrella (4)

"This is extortion!" Zhang Wu Ji almost complained. Although the reason for his hesitation is due to his strength yet to reach the weakest Early Inner Qi Realm, but also because he counted the time taken to craft a Beiyang Core.

With an entire day estimated to craft a Beiyang Core, Zhang Wu Ji can only make thirty of them at most, after sacrificing his sleeping time. This means he'll need one hundred days in total, without sleep to save ten Beiyang Points for an hour stay inside the Designer Pagoda.

"My cultivation is too weak... I actually neglected my Physical Qi Cultivation because of my obsession in Designing Qi Cultivation. Without a proper foundation to support my advancement, my path will go nowhere but remain here until I recognize my mistake..."

"I'll cultivate! With the three Inner Rising Pills with me, I am confident to enter the Early Inner Qi Realm in ten days of cultivation!" Zhang Wu Ji turned around and left the Designer Pagoda, unaware of the gaze from an individual.

"Granduncle, he left." an elder reported to this old man sweeping the floor of the Beiyang Library.

"En..." the old man continues to sweep the floor, leaving the room completely silent except the breathing sound made by this elder.

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"Huh..." six days were gone, but Zhang Wu Ji's cultivation is still hanging between the border of regular mortals and Early Inner Qi Realm. It feels that no matter how much he cultivates and how many bottles of Inner Rising Pills he too, they're useless to take him past the border.

"Did our Valiant Heart Sutra inherited from Zhang Family Ancestor inadequate for me to advance? No... That's impossible. All the senior and elders of the family are either Advance or Peak Inner Qi Realm level, its impossible for the sutra to have a problem with it."

"I'll have to solve this mystery to ad..."

"Brother Wu Ji! Brother Wu Ji!" a knock from the door wakes him up from his meditation. Thinking that he should get some fresh air outside of the house, Zhang Wu Ji walked to the door to see what's wrong with them.

"What happened?" Zhang Wu Ji asked. Outside of his shared room stands Cao Jie and Lian Liyin. Both of them is carrying a backpack, meaning that they're going outside of the Academy to do something.

"The others are all under apprenticeship or taking up missions, so we have nobody else to invite except you. Let's hunt some Crimson Hare outside of the academy, we just found out that they got a request mission issued." Lian Liyin speaks, inviting Zhang Wu Ji to join them for a hunt.

"Crimson Hare? I am interested now..." Zhang Wu Ji accepted their invitation. After agreeing to meet outside of the 13th Section of the Beast Prisoning Wall, they left Zhang Wu Ji to prepare himself for a three to four days trip.

As for his reason to agree with their request, is due to the material he can try to collect when hunting for the Crimson Hare. While the mission needed them to deliver ten complete corpses of the Crimson Hare, they did not specify that treasures gathered from the hunt must be handed over.

Crimson Hare's burrows often made in location rich with Earth Element, which means there's an opportunity to collect some Black Iron Mineral! While the material wasn't difficult to find, they were sold for a hefty price within the academy ground. To make sure that he's always prepared with backups for his Designer Armament's repairing, Zhang Wu Ji will not hesitate from collecting more than what he needed.

After preparing some dried rations, Zhang Wu Ji meets Cao Jie and Lian Liyin before they record their attendance with the Guards and cross the Beast Prisoning Wall. They need another half a day of travel to reaches the zone reported with Crimson Hare's activity and left in a hurry.

"Brother Wu Ji, did you not prepare any foods and water for our three days trip?" Lian Liyin tried to answer her curiosity and ask Zhang Wu Ji about his preparation for this mission.

But when Zhang Wu Ji withdraws the Wooden Universal Plate from his pocket, the two realized that they're talking to someone valued by the Beiyang Designer Pagoda, unlike them, those that did not receive an invitation letter to enroll with Beiyang Designer Pagoda.

Still, it was a good thing that they invited Zhang Wu Ji. Carrying ten carcasses as they return will no doubt attract the attention of other Cultivating Beast as they try to complete their mission. With Zhang Wu Ji and his Wooden Universal Plate, finishing this mission can be said to be 25% safer now.

"Crimson Hare marks their territory with the hair they shed. Each time during the Spring and Autumn season will be their expanding period, so, the Crimson Hares we're going to hunt will be much more aggressive than usual." Lian Liyin explains what she knows about the Crimson Hare, and led the team further into the forest.

"ROAR!" the team of three stumbles across a Thundering Beast, where it attacks without considering too much. While the Crimson Hare and Thundering Beast is both Early Inner Qi Realm level, one Thundering Beast can compete with at least five Crimson Hares without losing too much in sheer numbers.

But in exchange for the strength, a Thundering Beast can only breed once a year, while a Crimson Hare can propagate at each season. Unless frequently issuing mission like the one they took, it will be difficult to control their numbers when the situation becomes worst.

"Brother Wu Ji, confident?" Cao Jie asked as his Designer Armament covers all his vital parts except his head.

"Yes." Zhang Wu Ji replied. With his call, all of them complete their Designer Armament's activation and ready for battle! As he was a long weapon user, Zhang Wu Ji charges with his repaired Zitian Umbrella. As long it was opened, Zhang Wu Ji is confident with his first attack!

"OINK!" the Thundering Beast howled and prepared its hooves before charging. Carrying all the intention to ram against the round shield before it, the Thundering Beast charged! The pair of horns aimed right in the middle, but as it moves, the human suddenly slips away like a leaf blown away from the wind.

"OINK?" the Thundering Beast questioned its own beast mind at how it misses the round shield, but Cao Jie and Lian Liyin wasn't going to let it think. Two swords cut through the thick leather from its side and gave the Cultivating Beast some dangerous wounds.

"OINK OINK!" although the wound is sufficient to start the bleeding, this doesn't mean their attack is a success. The layer of fat block the two cuts and slow down the bleeding process, but this also means that hectic activity is now not possible!

"Xiu... Xiu... Xiu..." the Thundering Beast took a deep breath, sucking in as much air as it could.

"Separates! This Thundering Beast is not a younger beast, but an adult!" Zhang Wu Ji shouts and pushes the two aside, but his effort left him with no other choice but to bear the brunt of the attack!

"Ooo... INK!" a stream of air fired like a pressurized blowgun, destroying a third of Zhang Wu Ji's Zitian Umbrella. Luckily, the design of this Zitian Umbrella sways the wind flow outwards, leaving Zhang Wu Ji unhurt from that attack that could kill.

"You pig!" Cao Jie rushes forward with his weapon changed into two javelins. He throws the one in his right before holding the last remaining with both hands. With an impressive force, Cao Jie stabbed the Thundering Beast with two javelins.

Unfortunately, the one he tossed only leave the Thundering Beast with a light wound. But before the weapon was pushed out from the muscle mass, a Flat-surface baton struck the other end of the weaponry! The power nailed this weapon into the Thundering Beast and left it with a painful howl.

"Both of you, get away!" Zhang Wu Ji closed his Zitian Umbrella before he removes the limbs. Left with the body of the umbrella, Zhang Wu Ji slotted the weapon with his Extending Spear Backpack and fired. This turn Zhang Wu Ji's Designer Armament into a portable ballista!

"ZUP!" the spear stabs straight into the skull. But due to the left of this spear, it did not come out from the back of the Thundering Beast. Although it took three of them to kill a mere Early Inner Qi Realm monster, they're proud to say,

"We killed a damn Thundering Beast!"

Zhang Wu Ji took the rest he's entitled, while Cao Jie and Lian Liyin process the Thundering Beast's corpse. They can only say that hunting a Thundering Beast is more profitable than crafting the Beiyang Cores because this corpse alone worth more than 100 Eternal Flame Coins, nothing less.

But nothing beats the surprise happening to his body, as the Natural Qi surrounding him started to overflow his body!

"Brother Wu Ji, we're rich... rich?" Cao Jie turned and talk, but he was stopped in the middle because what was happening to Zhang Wu Ji. The changes also noticed by Lian Liyin, as she opened her eyes wide staring at Zhang Wu Ji.

"It's like my second sister... He's breaking through!" Lian Liyin jaw dropped.