The Southern Catacombs (2)

Kai walked cautiously while using [Qi Detection] to look for any possible dangers that could be lurking in the cave.

He went a few meters into the tunnel but didn't encounter a single beast. The tunnel gradually became darker as Kai moved deeper went until he could barely see the ceiling.

"This can't be right, Lei Hai said these tunnels are full of beasts, so why haven't I encountered anything this whole time?". Kai became even more cautious and got ready to use [Hare Leaps Over Moon] to escape at any moment.

While Kai was in thought, he reached a point where the tunnel split into two corridors. Kai pulled out a piece of hard paper and made a few scribbles on it. He decided to make a map so he wouldn't get lost.

He chose the tunnel on the left and kept moving. He had decided against using a torch since he could see 10 meters ahead of him even in the dark, so he wasn't concerned about ambushes, at least not from the front.

*Grrrrr!*

Kai heard the subtle rumbling sound similar to rocks rubbing against each other. He stopped in his tracks and paid attention to the sounds as he inspected his surroundings. It was low but was slowly getting louder.

Kai got ready to run as he used [Qi Detection]

[Grade 1] [Rock-Wyrm] Qi 76]

[Grade 1] [Rock-Wyrm] Qi 82]

[Grade 1] [Rock-Wyrm] Qi 71]

Three strange-looking worm creatures entered Kai's line of sight. They were around the thickness of an average adult's waist and the longest of them was one meter in length.

Their heads were double the size of their bodies and they had no eyes that Kai could see. They were also covered in rock-like scales which made them seem very sturdy.

"You must be the ones I came here looking for!", Kai was excited. He quickly threw off his backpack and prepared for battle.

The [Rock-Wyrm]s speed was not slow as they slithered towards Kai. They opened their cylindrical maws.

Kai had decided to save his money for a decent weapon ever since his dagger broke, so he had the resolve to use his body to fight for now. He looked over to his remaining Qi to make sure that he had enough, then enhanced his whole body with Qi.

Kai threw a fist at the closest worm , hitting it square on its large head. It spasmed for a while and the scales on its head cracked. Kai had only used a normal full body enhancement to gauge the worm's defense and was pleased with the result.

"Looks like I won't have to waste Qi on these guys. A few super-enhanced punches to the head should be enough".

The worm was only dazed for a moment before it angrily retaliated. The other two worms had also reached Kai and launched themselves towards him with surprising dexterity.

Kai was able to dodge one, but the other crashed directly into his chest and tried to take a bite out of his neck. Kai caught it inches away from his neck and pulled it off his body using its tail.

With his hands on the [Rock-Wyrm]'s tail, Kai swung it at the first [Rock-Wyrm] that was about to attack again using all his might. The two collided with a heavy boom and both their scales cracked.

Kai wouldn't give them a chance. He quickly repositioned himself to face the third worm and used the one in his hands to swing at the new onr again. This time, the worm in his hands had its skull shatter, oozing insect juices everywhere.

==[Rock-Wyrm] defeated. [5 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==

Kai didn't stop. He threw the limp corpse in his hands aside and picked up the newly dazed [Rock-Wyrm] off the ground with its tail.

Using the same tactic, Kai bashed the brains of the first worm, shattering both their already cracked skulls.

==[Rock-Wyrm] defeated. [5 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==

==[Rock-Wyrm] defeated. [5 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==

Kai threw all three in a pile then took a breather.

"Phew, as expected they had surprise attacks. Looks like these guys are slightly tougher than slime vines because of their hard scales, but I can still handle this much".

Kai was confident after this first fight. They caught him off guard with their surprising ability to launch themselves at him, but now that he knew that, he would be able to counter it better.

He walked over to the corpses and made sure to skin them thoroughly. He wanted to learn if they had any obvious weaknesses which he found.

Their scales were sturdy but there was a soft spot behind their skulls. If he aimed at this position, Kai was sure that he could kill them in one strike. The only issue was that the position was in an awkward spot, so he would have to catch them off guard to aim at it.

He used his hands to dig through their organs and removed what he assumed to be the gallbladders. These beasts were more insect-like so they mostly had a strange gel-like ichor inside their bodies.

Kai used his flask to wash off the excess ichor and ate the gallbladder. He checked his progress bar to make sure that the organ indeed contained Life Essence.

=[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 16/200

"Good, I was at 15 Life Essence before so eating these things will work. I also got 15 Qi from the fight where I only needed to spend 3 Qi. If I can find 200 of these guys, I'm guaranteed to level up my body cultivation!"

Kai was about to eat the rest of the gall bladder when he heard the ominous sound of rocks grinding against each other again. He looked back at the tunnel with a smile and waited for his prey to come to him.

This sound was a lot louder than before so Kai assumed there would be a few more of them. Soon the sounds grew louder and Kai was finally able to see them. However, his smile was instantly replaced with horror when he saw the tunnel was filled to the brim with [Rock-Wyrm]. There were so many of them that they had to pile on top of each other just to be able to fit in the tunnel.

"There must be over 100 of them!..." Kai said as his face paled. He was confident in fighting a few small groups but 100 was a different story.