Peak Soul Gathering

Yulong had to go back outside and salvage the Beast Core, thus gaining more to complete his quest. Before entering the cave, however, Yulong decided to check his status and inventory.

[Player Ao Bing's Attribute screen!]

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<Ao Bing>

<Ninth Level True Martial>

<Soul Devouring Physique>

<Strength: 3,000>

<Mental Strength: 10,000>

<Soul Strength: 10,000>

<Soul: 10,000>

<Endurance: 400>

<Wisdom: ???>

<Qi: 5,900>

<Cultivation: 51,030>

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Yulong then checked his inventory and his skills.

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1 Earth Eating Demon Core - Tainted

2 Earth Eating Demon Cores

20 Spirit Stones

1 Silver Anguish

1 Frost Sword

1 Red Jade Slip to [Heaven's Table]

1 You Want To Learn How To Cook - Manual

1 The Broad Cooking Technique - Manual

1 Basic Fist Technique - Manual

1 Basic Cultivation Technique - Manual

Yin counter: 12,609

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Skills:

<<Qi Touch>>

<<Cosmic Gaze>>

<<Brutalizing Rage>>

<<Qi Manifestation>>

<<Almighty Charge>>

<<Constant Sword Slash>>

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"Hmm..." Yulong frowned, looking at the skills. Some he had gotten at the tower, such as <<Cosmic Gaze>> or <<Brutalizing Rage>> but most were pretty basic skills he had learned. 

The reason Yulong was waiting was because he sensed strong Qi fluctuations ahead of him, deeper within the cave. 

Well, in either case, there wasn't much he could do. Yulong summoned his Silver Anguish and entered the cave.

Suddenly, a foreboding presence permeated the air. Yulong narrowed his eyes as he stood face to face with another demon.

[Earth Eating Demon - Spirit Mark]

[Ninth Level Soul Gathering] 

Unlike the others, this demon was dark red in color, its fat belly covering in scales. 

It wasn't actually eye to eye with Yulong, but rather on a throne wrought from stone, which looked as if it had naturally grew from the ground. Against the stone lay a simple, unadorned sword- which actually seemed to be rusted. However, the terrifying power it emitted was no joke.

Is this...?  Yulong's eyes widened as he activated his <<Cosmic Gaze>>. Suddenly, he could see energy signatures, he could see the Dao. The sword emitted no Dao, but it did emit energy, though it was no Qi.

Miasma... Yulong looked at the demon. Its eyes were closed, and it didn't seem to realize Yulong was here. Rather, it seemed to be trying to glean insights from the sword, which shouldn't be in the First World.

Yulong clenched his sword. He could ambush it. But he would have o go all out from the start.

Yulong's blade glowed a brilliant golden, and he stretched his sword intent to the limit of his sword. The glowing energy was extremely condensed, and seem to cut apart the very air. 

Yulong leaped forward, releasing a furious strike of his sword while simultaneously activating <<Qi Touch>> to stop the demon from moving. 

The demon immediately sensed Yulong's QI, and opened its eyes furiously. How would someone dare enter its domain, when it was just shy of having formed a core?

It took a few seconds for it to overpower Yulong's weak skill, but a few seconds was all Yulong needed to strike.

Despite its fat frame, the demon used some sort of movement skill to dart a few meters away. Yulong's attack, however had left a large wound stretching from its shoulder to its waist.  At full height, it was a whopping 4 meters, but Yulong wasn't worried.

Yulong waisted no time in dashing towards the demon with <<Almighty Charge>>, but the demon immediately released a roar that shook the whole cave and sent ripples in the air.

It seemed to be some sort of mental attack, as Yulong found his skill canceled and some foreign thing trying to burrow into his mind. But with his soul strength, it was easy to bat it away.

Due to the delay, however, Yulong had to immediately move his head out of the way, avoiding a hand with extreme piercing power which left a thin line of red across his cheek.

Yulong retaliated in kind with a wide swing of his sword. It wasn't impowered by Sword Intent but still had considerable force behind it. Instead of cutting through the demon, it did nothing to its scaled, but did send it flying a few more meters away to give Yulong breathing room.

Yulong sighed, refocusing his sword intent.

The demon snarled as it slammed into the throne, easily causing it to crumble. It still landed on its feet regardless, and gripped the hilt of the unassuming sword.

The sword immediately released a shocking amount of killing intent, even causing the gravity to feel like it multiplied. Black veins started to appear on the demons arm from the sword, but it didn't care as it swung the sword in a wide arc.

The arc created a white, crescent blade filled with foreign energy. The blade rocketed towards Yulong.

The strike contained the force of a mountain. Yulong frowned- this was the power of the blade? It was wide enough to cut the whole cave in half.

Yulong knew he couldn't block this, so instead he ducked and dashed forward, narrowly missing the strike over head.

<<Almighty Charge!>>

He crossed the distance between them in that instant, while the crescent moon slammed into the cave with a huge shockwave. It very literally cut the cave in half. Hairline crack formed from the main blade. The whole cave started to shake.

The roof's going to cave in! 

Yulong roared and summoned his Sword Intent. He slammed into the disoriented demon with his shoulder, sending them both flying out the cave just as it started to fall.

  Yulong found himself in the air along with the demon. Without wasting time, he swung and used <<Constant Sword Slash>> before the demon had a chance to right itself.

Yulong managed to cut through the demon, and landed on the stone ground. The demon, much to the way of the first one, had its limbs dismembered and scars all over its body. 

However, its head was lobbed off, and thus the glowing mark on its forearm stopped glowing.

All of its body parts fell to the ground with a thud, and Yulong released a sigh.

<You killed an Earth Eating Demon!>

<Obtained 500 Qi!>

<Obtained 20x Ying!>

<An 500 additional Qi has been awarded due to the presence of a Spirit Mark!> 

Yulong harvested the core a second later. He however looked at the sword with trepidation, as it had tried to fuse with the demon.

<Lost Soul>

<Soul - Middle>

<A blade containing the souls of everything it slaughters.>

Yulong's eyes widened. Such a thing in the First World? Unheard of. However, Yulong did not immediately put the sword in his inventory. After staring at it for a couple of seconds, he did, but he made sure not to grab the hilt, as the sword could have hidden dangers.

However, a boom sounded from further up the mountain. Yulong shook his head and started running.