Essential Qi Advancement

Although the small animals in the dense forest were not as big as the domestic pigs, they faced much more danger in the forest.

Due to sufficient activity, they were also richer in Qi and blood compared to the pigs.

Ou Yangming strode to the dense forest's border. Instead of going deeper into the forest, he only stayed along the border so as to not get lost. However, just as he was going to leave, he suddenly stopped.

After a moment of hesitation, Ou Yangming took a deep breath and began cultivating a blade technique instead of leaving the dense forest.

He would never do that if he was deep in the forest or being watched by a powerful enemy, but since he was in a low-risk area with no sign of other people, he could practice with ease. Besides, Ou Yangming could notice any danger in advance with his helmet that had a Vision +1 attribute.

"Pow…"

Following a slash from the saber, saber wind pierced the air such that there was an explosive shock.

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. He suddenly realized that his Qi and blood was consumed at an outrageous rate.

When he practiced the blade technique in his courtyard at the military camp, his Qi and blood were also consumed by a huge margin, but it seemed insignificant as compared to the current consumption.

He made a rough estimation that the current Qi and blood consumption was four times higher than usual.

This was in comparison with a blade technique cultivation. The martial-art squat was not worth mentioning at all.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming clearly felt his Dantian Light growing stronger as a substantial amount of Qi and blood were consumed, which meant that there was a huge improvement in his essential Qi.

In actual fact, it had not been long since he began practicing martial arts and only entered Force Grade Class Two not long ago. There should be a limit no matter how hard he trained, yet he felt like he was about to break through again soon.

Ou Yangming began figuring it out and quickly realized that he was feeling that way because of his equipment set.

11 points of Power and 4 points of Agility made him go through an enormous change as though he was born again.

Nonetheless, a lot more Qi and blood had to be consumed to unleash the real might of those changes, and the more the Qi and blood consumed, the better it was for his essential Qi cultivation. This was simply a cultivation shortcut.

Other than Ou Yangming, nobody could cultivate like that regardless of the cost.

This was unless they had a weapon with a strange attribute like Devouring, as well as a top-notch equipment set that was way above their cultivation base.

Upon realizing this, Ou Yangming was overjoyed.

He began cultivating a fist art next, and the might of his punches could not be mentioned in the same breath as before due to the increase of his power and agility.

Needless to say, the mightier his fist art, the higher the Qi and blood consumption, but the faster his essential Qi advanced.

Honestly, cultivating recklessly was a huge burden for his body. Not only would it be tough for his body to withstand the process, but his meridians and dantian would also be damaged.

Despite that, once Ou Yangming lifted his military saber to begin hunting again, those drawbacks were no longer a problem anymore.

The most fearsome feature of the Devouring attribute was not its ability to transform blood and flesh into his Qi and blood.

Before the transformation was done, the energy from the blood and flesh would first restore Ou Yangming's body. As such, no matter how many hidden problems there were before, his body would recover completely as a result of the vitality.

Only when his body returned to its best state, the blood and flesh would be transformed into his Qi and blood.

With that, Ou Yangming stayed at the dense forest's border for three days.

During that time, he kept cultivating the blade technique and the fist art and hunted for small animals whenever his Qi and blood were lost.

He was able to spot quarries in advance through his excellent vision, and owing to the extra power and agility that he possessed, most of them could not escape once they were locked on.

When Ou Yangming cultivated, Qi and blood were consumed. He then hunted to restore his body and to replenish Qi and blood.

He was immersed in the near-perfect cycle so much so that he forgot about sleep. In spite of not resting for three days, he did not expect to be in high spirits and full of energy.

Ou Yangming had used the Devouring attribute's energy to the maximum.

He bent his knees and swayed slowly in an extremely odd frequency. If one were to watch him at that moment, one would have an illusion of a horse galloping as fast as lightning.

The martial-art squat was the unique method that Ou Yangming used to replace sleep. Moreover, the effect was very beneficial for him.

There was a sudden agitation in his dantian as his Qi and blood began boiling. His dantian seemed to have turned into a bottomless pit and was drawing every bit of Qi and blood from his body in a forceful manner.

Despite that, Ou Yangming did not move at all when he did the martial-art squat. He channeled his essential Qi to let his Qi and blood into his dantian without any problem.

Plenty of Qi and blood transformed into essential Qi that lingered around the shining center. Consequently, the light became brighter, and it flickered as if a wonderful change was about to happen.

"Boom…"

Ou Yangming seemed to have heard a thunderous voice in his head and straightened his back instantly.

Dantian Qi gushed out to every part of his body. Subsequently, Ou Yangming exhaled impure air deeply, which gave him an indescribable rejuvenation.

He sensed that his Dantian Light became more intense.

After a brief moment, he was surprised, elated, and in disbelief.

Class Three.

Force Grade Class Three.

Yes. When he was so fully focused on the cultivation that he forgot about everything else, he unknowingly entered a higher class.

He only realized his strength improvement after sensing the endless essential Qi in his dantian, which was different from before.

It was not his equipment set's attributes that caused the improvement, but his own power.

Ou Yangming calmed down after realizing the sudden surprise. His face changed a little as he thought about an extremely serious problem at that moment.

He had left the military camp for three days.

In addition, Ou Yangming did not mention it to anyone else before he left, and did not ask for permission.

When he twitched his nose, he smelled an extremely strong sweat smell.

Whether he was cultivating a blade technique or a fist art, he would sweat due to the exercise, and the smell was definitely sour since he wore his armor for three days. It was no wonder the small animals became more alert. Although Ou Yangming was able to spot them in advance, as soon as he approached them, they would escape even if he did not make a sound.

'So this was the real reason.'

Ou Yangming shook his head and laughed bitterly. Following that, he held his military saber and moved around to hunt for more small animals.

The small animals might be very wary, but due to Ou Yangming's speed, they still became his Qi and blood one after another.

This time, he did not spend much time replenishing his Qi and blood. In fact, it was much faster than the first time. The reason being he could make judgments to intercept in advance as he slowly grasped the animals' habits, and more importantly, he adapted to his extra attributes better.

While the time used was shorter, Ou Yangming could feel that his Qi and blood were richer.

As his martial arts cultivation base increased, he could store more Qi and blood. There was a huge difference between Force Grade Class Three and Class Two.

However, Ou Yangming did not know that the difference would become more obvious the higher his cultivation base was. Thus, the feeling that he felt at that moment would mean nothing in the future.

After replenishing his Qi and blood, he activated his Military Fire to absorb the Devouring attribute in his military saber.

The attribute was his biggest trump card, by which it must be kept a secret no matter what.

Ou Yangming removed his armor and helmet after a moment of hesitation. He instantly felt strong discomfort, but amidst the discomfort, he was also very disappointed.

Even though he felt uncomfortable when he previously wore the pieces of equipment, the increase in his power and agility gave him confidence.

Just as he had adapted to the power of his equipment set, he was suddenly free from it.

It was easy for the frugal to become extravagant, but it was very difficult to reverse the process.

He finally understood what it meant.

When one who possessed mighty power suddenly returned to being an ordinary person, the disappointment was certainly a heavy blow.

Fortunately, Ou Yangming knew that he could regain the powerful state as long as he wanted to, or he would not be able to overcome the sadness easily.

Once he curbed his thoughts and was ready to leave, he was slightly moved.

Ou Yangming used his Military Fire to draw the Unique Attributes from his helmet, armor, and military saber. Of course, he left the ones in his arm guards and greaves untouched.

This was because he needed them to return to the military camp or he would not know how to travel 15 kilometers without extra power and agility.

Ou Yangming packed everything in his bag apart from the arm guards and the greaves, then left the dense forest that he stayed in for three days.