Devour

Revisiting the Yaoguang Temple, the area was dark and quiet, and there were no spiders or other monsters. Xiaobai was much stronger than before, but he still didn't dare to enter the palace, and stayed in the woods outside the temple to rest.

Cheng Bai slowly pushed open the palace door and strode into the hall.

The scenery changed as if in a different world. The once luxurious palace was filled with strangeness and gloom, lacking life and luster, but more death and gloom. Walking here, it felt like something was pressing on my chest, making it difficult to breathe, and I felt panic for no reason.

The many corpses deep in the palace had undergone significant changes. Not only had they dried up into mummies, but they had also grown white hair all over their bodies, and the air was filled with the smell of decay and mildew.

Cheng Bai shook off his unhappiness, came to the altar, calmed himself, took out the Crescent Moon Sword and placed it on the altar.

The light bloomed, the treasure disappeared, and the expected huge ball of light emerged, unfolding three new runes, floating over. The mystical techniques within were fascinating, calling for the attention of men who thirsted for power.

Cheng Bai analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of each and made a careful choice.

"Electric Chain" condenses lightning energy to shoot at the target, causing lightning damage. After hitting, the power weakens and jumps to attack nearby creatures. The attack effect is like a heavenly punishment, with a long range and amazing mass killing power.

"Spirit Shield" consumes telekinesis to create a shield all over the body, greatly improving defense and providing superior survivability.

"Illusion" creates false phantoms that move around at will. The stronger they are, the greater their number will be. They are used to confuse opponents and can create a variety of flexible tactics.

After repeated consideration, Cheng Bai decided to master the secret art of spiritual shield.

Invisibility is just an escape, only spiritual shield can withstand the pressure. When facing a powerful enemy of life and death, often only by surviving can you win.

The cost of defense in battle is often higher than that of attack. The Spirit Shield solves this problem well. It does not consume one's own skills, but uses spiritual consciousness to resist attacks, making good use of sources of power other than true energy, greatly improving the ability to save lives.

After a few attempts, Cheng Bai was able to use the spiritual shield with ease. The specific effect still required practice, so he hurriedly left the depressing Yaoguang Temple and rode Xiaobai towards the east.

The temple altar returned to tranquility, yet it was not peaceful.

The body of the White Jade Flag Master in front of the altar staggered to his feet, and the corpses of many believers began to stir. Now the undead can move freely during the day.

Cheng Bai came to the Changshe River and met the familiar old black turtle, who transported them across the river for the last time.

Before leaving, the old black tortoise said, "Little friend Cheng Bai, Xuan Bo is leaving. The Discipline Plateau is becoming increasingly unstable, and there is no peace at night. Many monsters are also migrating far to the north."

Cheng Bai said goodbye to it. With his current strength, he no longer needed the old black turtle's help in transporting him. He could cross the river in one step. He just wanted to experience the friendship they once had.

He collected the whistle fruits he encountered on the way and came to the Hunter's Guild in Kaiyang City at night, where Cheng Bai learned new information.

Monster crystal cores can indeed be sold to customers outside the guild, and some rare crystal cores may have a better price, but when the Hunter Guild purchases the crystal cores, it also calculates the hunter's points and benefits. The higher the hunter's status and privileges, the higher they are.

In most cases, the best channel is still to give the crystal cores to the guild for recycling, which is the fastest and safest. End-customer transactions are not something hunters should consider, and the guild must make a profit in order to survive.

"Besides the Stone Corridor, is there another rocky bend through the Strange Rock Mountain?" Cheng Bai was thinking about the future clues obtained from Tongling Meiguo.

"Yes, the monsters in the Rock Bend are much stronger and more difficult to deal with than those in the Stone Corridor. The journey is also long, so few people are willing to go there. In history, incomplete ancient relics have been discovered, but they are probably gone now."

The governor informed the exact location.

Cheng Bai was secretly delighted and handed the monster crystal core to the guild counter for purchase.

The cashier in charge of purchasing gave the price of this batch of crystal cores: "4608 taels of gold."

The hunters around held their breath, looked at each other with burning eyes, and were busy whispering to each other. When they rushed out to try to become his apprentice, Cheng Bai had already drifted away.

At night, Cheng Bai stayed at the inn in Kaiyang City. During the day, he came to Kaiyang Temple to inquire about Yun Juan's whereabouts. When he learned that the temple master was out traveling, Cheng Bai felt a little lost for some reason.

Riding Xiaobai, he went back and forth as fast as the wind, passed through the Ghost Face Basin to collect some Cha Nu fruits, entered the Strange Rock Mountain, and found the Rock Bend.

This road passes halfway up the mountain and is obviously much more rugged and winding for nearly a hundred miles. It also leads to the One-Eyed Jungle, but it is much farther than the Stone Corridor, and the monsters that appear are also obviously stronger.

The green stone men that Cheng Bai once regarded as powerful enemies often appeared, mixed with some jade stone men whose bodies were as white as jade. Cheng Bai easily chopped down several of them and took away the crystal cores.

For the hunters who are becoming more and more experienced now, it is a trivial matter to finish it with a single strike. The strongest and smoothest part of the green stone man is suspected to be jadeite, and the jade man is suspected to be mutton-fat jade. It is not difficult to take it out, and it is another harvest.

Cheng Bai looked up at the sky, looking carefree all the way, muttering: "If monsters were so easy to kill and money was so easy to make, I would be free and easy. It's a pity that I can't eat them."

Xiaobai sniffed again and again, raised his head and howled.

Cheng Bai looked up at the place that attracted it. There was a cliff between the clouds above the rocky bend, which could be seen as a foothold. If one's eyesight was not good enough, one would not notice it. Even if he came here to look for it, he would have missed it easily without Xiao Bai's reminder.

"There is something up there." Cheng Bai was secretly happy, as the clue obtained by Tongling Meiguo came true.

With Chengbai's strength, he could go up and down the cliffs freely. But if he left Xiaobai at the rock bend and encountered a few green stone men, he would still have a hard time dealing with them. So he simply picked up Xiaobai and used his hands and feet to climb up.

Cheng Bai estimated that his giant white wolf weighed about 700 kilograms: "Xiaobai has gained a lot of weight recently. He is also growing taller after eating so much."

There is a cave more than a hundred meters above the bend cliff. The entrance of the cave is a narrow platform that only allows a few people to stand.

Cheng Bai put Xiao Bai down at the entrance of the cave and looked up at the peak.

If you fall off a cliff from the top of a mountain and successfully fall onto a platform without bouncing up and rolling down, the probability of that happening is less than one in ten thousand.

He stretched out his hand, flicked his fingers, and flames emerged with a crackling sound, illuminating the cave. Now that he had mastered the secret art of thunder and fire, he could use it as a free fire starter when he had nothing to do.

The cave is dry, with a unique smell of rocks, mysterious and quiet. The cave is not empty, but has all the furniture and lighting for daily life, which clearly shows that people once lived there. Unfortunately, everything is old and worn out, with only a large black stone bed in the middle that has not left any traces of erosion by time.

Cheng Bai looked at the stone bed in the firelight. It was crystal-clear and smooth, and particularly extraordinary. He walked forward to brush off the dust, lowered his head to take a closer look, and secretly rejoiced in his heart: "It is made of Zhenwu Rock."

Zhenwu rock is a very rare gemstone that has the effect of nourishing essence and qi, and large pieces are even more rare. It is very beneficial for warriors to sit cross-legged on it and practice internal energy.

There are many characters and patterns engraved on the bed, and many human-shaped movements are smooth and flowing, and the smashing and killing are mysterious and infinite, which is indeed a superior martial arts. Translated by Tongyan Secret Art, it is called the Six Paths of Bliss Fist, with a total of 9981 moves, which is profound, majestic, and invincible.

Cheng Bai was focused and understood it carefully. The pictures and texts were so well matched that he understood it at a glance.

This set of martial arts emphasizes the coordination of the whole body and the development of potential, such as left and right fighting, traction and explosion, multiple forces, positive and negative complementation, etc. It is unpredictable and echoes the Six Paths Supreme Skill, and seems to have some connection with it.

Try practicing the boxing technique several times. When practicing it, your mind and hands will be in harmony, and you will get twice the result with half the effort. You will feel that your true energy flows naturally without obstruction, and your whole body is full of energy and spirit. The true energy between your palms and fingers is condensed into a force, and your strength can be freely controlled and released. Gradually you will get into the best state, and your whole body will feel as if your muscles and marrow have been cleansed, and you will feel comfortable and enjoyable as if you are floating in the air.

In daily bloody battles with monsters, Cheng Bai's martial arts were mainly practical killing. The Six Paths of Supremacy he had accumulated was extremely powerful, but he had too little guidance from a master and could only use less than 50% of his strength. Now that he had learned the Six Paths of Bliss, his whole body's potential was like his arms, and every move he made had the power of overwhelming mountains and seas, overwhelming and invincible.

Cheng Bai's practice went more and more smoothly, so he simply stayed in the cave to practice martial arts.

My strength has improved rapidly recently, and my realm has risen too fast. Now that I have some free time, I can absorb everything I have learned, digest and consolidate it, which will be of great benefit to me in the future.

The treasure bag contains enough meat, spiritual fruits, and wine to sustain for ten days.

In addition to the Zhenwu stone bed, there is also a large black gold ingot left in the cave, and the other ancient relics are of mediocre value.

There were books in the desk cabinet, but unfortunately they had already turned to ashes, leaving only a few jade slips with inscriptions. It was learned that the owner of this place was originally named Shi Qi, the first master of the Yuheng Holy Temple, who had lived in seclusion here in ancient times and had long since passed away.

The front half of the cave is arranged as a living room, while the back half retains the original cave passage. Going down the path, the exit at the end is very hidden, and further down is a dark and bottomless crater.

It turns out that Strange Rock Mountain is a very special dormant volcano. It is rich in geological elements, forming many metal and gem minerals around it. It has not erupted for who knows how long.

The structure around the cave is special, it is actually a side volcanic cone formed by a volcanic branch.

Someone, with amazing power, inserted stone pillars on the inner wall of the crater every ten meters, circling down from the top of the mountain, allowing future warriors to step and jump on those thick stone pillars, go down the stairs and merge into the main crater, leading to the bottom of the volcano and directly to the secret realm of the Fire Lake, easily and conveniently.

Cheng Bai explored along the footsteps of his predecessors. Bright red flames appeared in the deep darkness. After going down more than a thousand meters, the temperature became higher and higher.

The last time I entered the Fire Lake Secret Realm, I only wandered around the outer shore and couldn't withstand the heat wave for long. This entrance is facing the center of the Fire Lake. The fire spirit is rich and the lake is even hot enough to melt gold and iron, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

There are many lava stone men and ruby ​​men in the fire lake. Cheng Bai's strength is growing, and the threat he poses is getting smaller and smaller.

Just when he was about to go deeper into the secret realm, a majestic column of fire gushed out from the depths of the magma lake. The lava boiled, the temperature soared several times, and the scorching heat wave hit him in the face, forcing Cheng Bai to retreat to the outskirts of the crater.

From afar, a tall, blurry human-shaped flame slowly emerged from the lake and then slowly sank.