Beast Glades

Bai Hu couldn't conceal his joy and laughed out loud for an entire minute. He then made a hand sign and the Unrefined Gold Clay gathered in his palm. It floated in the air for a moment before dropping down into Bai Hu's arms.

"Ugh!"

Bang!

He fell face first to the ground. A torso sized clump of Unrefined Gold Clay now rested in his arms, making him grit his teeth.

Despite his pain, Bai Hu only grew more ecstatic. His physical strength alone reached over 1000 pounds, meaning this Unrefined Gold Clay had an extremely high purity and was more than 1000 pounds.

One had to know that normal cultivators had weak bodies due to the fact that they focus on refining the qi inside them. Body cultivators on the other hand focus on their physical body and are much tougher and stronger in close combat.

Bai Hu cultivates techniques that focus on the refinement of his qi and not his body, though the Basic Qi Nourishment Method allows him to have a much stronger body than normal.

After storing it in his most well hidden spatial pouch, Bai Hu now realized that he probably has more wealth than his entire sect. Who'd expect a sect in the desolate lands to have more wealth than a Deity Spirit Cultivator?

Clack!

The sound of a stone hitting stone drew Bai Hu's attention in the now silent cavern.

Boom!

Bai Hu moved his spear in a certain direction. A wave of qi shot out and struck the side of the cavern, hitting the section of the stone wall where he'd heard the sound.

"Who's there!?"

The dust settled to reveal... nothing. That section of the wall had been entirely destroyed to reveal a tunnel leading to god knows where.

Drawing closer, he found some small pieces of ice on the ground and realized that this was one of the spots the Triple Eyed Demon had hit with its attacks. It seems that its desperate attack had revealed a secret passageway that even the veiled woman failed to find.

"Oh well, it's not my problem"

Bai Hu started walking towards the exit.

And then back to the tunnel.

And back to the exit.

And back...

…

"I can't stand this anymore!"

The thought of potential treasure was much too alluring, especially after he'd obtained something that even Deity Spirit cultivators would go to war for.

He steeled himself and looked back at the tunnel entrance.

With a flurry of hand signs, the Goldshine Cloak, Windsteel Armor, and a purple outer barrier all formed over his body. Lastly, the Spirit Trapping Bell with a dozen talismans plastered on its surface completely covered Bai Hu.

In this state, even someone in their early to mid Foundation Establishment might not detect Bai Hu, much less destroy the many layers of defensive barriers around him.

With all this protection, Bai Hu finally felt safe enough to explore beyond the cavern. After walking several meters, Bai Hu was forced to direct qi into his eyes due to it becoming pitch black.

To his surprise, he was only able to see 3 meters in front of him at most. Inspecting the walls, Bai Hu found that the rocks were speckled with pieces of black ore. The ore seemed to absorb light and Bai Hu identified it to be a large amount of Lightless Black Iron.

The iron was common in the outside world, thus, he ignored it and forged on.

…

..

.

After several hours of walking, Bai Hu finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. Growing evermore cautious, he slowly made his way over. The tunnel widened and brightened dramatically, turning into an underground forest filled with a beastly aura.

"How has this not been found?"

Based on the condensed aura contained in the forest, at least a thousand beasts must live here, and the size of the forest was around half the size of the outer region. It was unthinkable that such an area had escaped the detection of everyone as there was zero mention of this in the jade slips.

"Roar!"

Bai Hu immediately crouched behind a rock and peeked at his surroundings.

"Roar!"

A 10 meter long crocodile with dozens of long spikes irregularly placed along its back swung its massive tail at a green furred ape wielding a thick stone staff.

"High level second stage beasts! And both of them are Sky Tier!"

The Spiny Crocodile and the Green Stone Ape are both near-extinct beasts in the outside world. Now, both were alive and fighting right in front of Bai Hu who managed to identify them thanks to his master's extensive torture/training.

"Hehehe, my luck is simply too good. I knew coming here was the right choice!"

Now all he had to do was wait till both beasts were heavily injured before swooping in for the kill. He had used a Beast Detection Talisman and found that no other beasts were in a hundred mile radius besides one other, and he had a guess as to what beast it was.

Swish!

The Spiny Crocodile angled its back at the ape and several spikes shot out at an incredible speed. The Green Stone Ape roared in fury and spun its staff repeatedly.

The spikes were deflected and the ape quickly picked up a nearby boulder and threw it at the crocodile with its tremendous strength!

Boom!

"Roar!"

Not being very mobile, the Spiny Crocodile was struck squarely on its head. Thrashing in pain, it suddenly curled up into a ball with its spikes glinting menacingly.

The ape charged and the ball rolled into it, with several spikes piercing the ape's chest.

Puchi!

"Howl!"

The Green Stone Ape kicked the ball that was the Spiny Crocodile away and swung its staff down with tremendous force.

Bang!

A dent appeared on the croc's tough scales, causing the Spiny Crocodile to unfurl and squirm in pain. It opened its jaws and clamped down on the left leg of the ape.

Rip!

"Howl"

"Roar!"

Bang!

A green leg was ripped from the Green Stone Ape's body while another green shadow appeared, striking the Spiny Crocodile's back.

A second Green Stone Ape had appeared, just as Bai Hu had predicted. While a Spiny Crocodile didn't need to mate with the opposite sex in order to reproduce, the Green Stone Ape is well known to travel in pairs of male and female.

Fwoom!

A fireball shot out of the crocodile's mouth, hitting the newly arrived Green Stone Ape. It yelped as its fur was burned by the flames.

Crack!

The Spiny Crocodile whipped out its tail, slamming it into the chest of the Green Stone Ape who had lost a leg. While it faced the other direction, the spikes on its back shot out to pierce the new ape.

The crippled ape roared and waved its staff. Brown earthen qi gathered around it before being thrown like a spear.

Puchi!

"Roar!"

The crocodile was pierced through the side and shot spikes and fireballs fervently. One spike even made it dangerously close to Bai Hu, hitting the ground just a few meters away from his hiding place.

Thump!

All 3 beasts fell down in exhaustion and overexertion. The injuries they suffered would take decades to mend without the help of natural treasures.

Whoosh!

"Dancing Crane, Charging Bull!"

3 mighty bull projections appeared seemingly out of thin air. Their pupils dilated and tried to dodge, but their injuries were too severe.

BOOM!

Shish!

Bai Hu landed lightly on the ground as a severed ape head landed anticlimactically near his foot. He'd attacked all 3 beasts at once, though the other Green Stone Ape was not as injured and thus he had to cut off its head to kill it.

He let a trace of excitement appear on his face. These were the complete corpses of 3 Sky Tier Beasts with their souls and perhaps a core as well! Their value combined might not even lose out to a Demon Tier beast of the same level.

With a wave of his sleeve, 3 bottles, 3 blank talismans, and a sinisterly sharp dagger appeared out of thin air.

With a few hand seals, the blood essence was sealed in the bottles, the souls were sealed into the talismans, and the dagger flew seemingly at its own accord to separate the skin, flesh, bones, and other useful parts of the beasts.

Bai Hu rejoiced as a core was uncovered in one of the apes and the crocodile as well.

Storing the parts, Bai Hu burned the remaining bits and pieces to eliminate the scent before concealing himself again. After such a big haul, he naturally wouldn't leave now. There was more than a month left before the space closes and that is more than enough time to scout out this entire area.

Who knows, perhaps Bai Hu might tell the elders of the area after he'd gotten everything valuable. The contributions he'd obtain from that would definitely be immense.