Danzun War God

Chapter Eight: A Small Test of Skill

When Han Qi woke up, it was already broad daylight. A loud voice came from downstairs the next day: "Last night, a family died. Their house was blown up. All five or six family members had their hearts and lungs ripped out. The scene was too tragic."

Han Qi suddenly realized what was going on, jumped out of bed, and decided to go and find out.

Han Qi followed the crowd to the edge of the town. Before he even got there, he saw a group of people gathered around, and several people were cleaning up the body of the deceased.

The victim's chest was hollowed out, revealing a large blood pit. His face was contorted, and his eyes were wide open with his pupils constricted, showing extreme fear of poison.

Several gruesome claw marks were visible around the house, seemingly indicating its ferocity and inspiring fear. The onlookers looked worried, fearing they might be the next victim.

After inspecting the scene, Han Qi pondered for a moment and then headed up the mountain. He realized that everything the beast had done was to prevent people from going up the mountain, and the real secret must be on the mountain.

As the crowd watched the stranger ascend the mountain, many expressed their regret. Others were trying to avoid him, yet someone insisted on going up the mountain to his death. It was a pity for someone so young. Many people silently shook their heads as they watched Han Qi's retreating figure.

As Han Qi walked along, he noticed that many large tree branches had been broken off and were hanging on the trees, some even uprooted, and deep scratches could be found on the trunks.

Suddenly, Han Qi noticed a demonic beast appearing directly in front of him. It was a fourth-tier demonic beast, a spotted leopard, with a deep wound on its back that exposed bone. The spotted leopard bared its teeth and roared softly, its eyes wide with anger, but a hint of fear also appeared in its eyes as it slowly retreated.

Han Qi was indeed puzzled by the spotted leopard's behavior. A fourth-tier spotted leopard was equivalent to the mid-stage of the Condensation Realm. Judging from the situation, there must be a more powerful demon beast around it, which was why it was so wary. Perhaps it was the demon beast that attacked the town last night.

Realizing this, Han Qi dared not linger in battle, because what could frighten a fourth-tier spotted leopard was at least a fifth-tier or even higher-tier demon beast. One fifth-tier demon beast was not enough to be afraid of, but if it was a higher-tier or more than one fifth-tier demon beast, Han Qi would be in big trouble.

Therefore, before the spotted leopard could make a move, Han Qi directly unleashed the Blazing Heart-Burning Technique. He instantly struck out with two palms, creating two palm prints condensed from profound energy. This was Han Qi's limit; he could only unleash a maximum of two palm prints at a time. The burning palm prints rushed towards the spotted leopard like two burning meteorites, trailing fiery tails. The spotted leopard was, after all, a fourth-tier demon beast, and its speed was astonishing. Seeing Han Qi strike out with his palm, it immediately leaped forward, dodging Han Qi's first palm print. The palm print landed on the rock behind the spotted leopard, instantly shattering the rock. However, the spotted leopard was struck by the second palm print, instantly becoming a bloody mess and losing all life.

If Han Qi hadn't possessed a Saint-level profound vein, whose punch could be several times more lethal than that of an ordinary meridian practitioner, he wouldn't have been able to kill the fourth-tier demon beast so easily.

Han Qi then picked up an inner core from the spotted leopard's body. The inner core of a fourth-order demon beast can be used as a raw material for many high-level pills, especially in assisting in improving cultivation and neutralizing poisons. However, it is rare, after all, it is a fourth-order demon beast, and not every alchemist can obtain it easily.

Sensing the immense power of the demonic beasts he was about to face, Han Qi did not back down. He saw this as an opportunity to test his own skills and headed straight into the deep mountains, albeit with increased caution.

Han Qi walked up the mountain for about half an hour, passing through tangled branches without anything unusual. Just as Han Qi rounded a huge rock, he was shocked to find two demonic beasts appearing before him, only a few feet apart. Han Qi was stunned; it was too sudden. Both were actually fifth-tier Flame Winged Tigers. Fifth-tier Flame Winged Tigers possessed fire-based supernatural abilities, able to breathe Samadhi True Fire, and were exceptionally agile, hence their name. One was enough to give Han Qi a headache, but these were two! What was even more terrifying was that Han Qi had been spotted by one of the Flame Winged Tigers, leaving him in a dilemma. However, both Flame Winged Tigers were covered in dirt, as if they had just been in a fierce battle.

At this moment, the Flame Winged Tiger suddenly became extremely furious. With a roar, a beam of fire shot out from its mouth, flying fiercely straight towards Han Qi's face. Han Qi had no time to think and unleashed a Blazing Heart Palm Print, which collided with the incoming fireball and vanished without a trace.

At this moment, another fiery winged tiger was also startled and instantly surrounded Han Qi. Han Qi hurriedly activated the Hunyuan Five Elements Technique, and the profound energy in his Saint-level profound veins circulated rapidly. He condensed profound energy in his palms and prepared for battle.

The two fiery winged tigers bared their teeth, growled softly, and spit fire from their eyes, displaying extreme aggression. One of them then leaped forward and pounced on Han Qi, its claws slamming down, unleashing a wave of profound energy. Han Qi immediately clenched his right fist, a massive fist crackling with flames, colliding with the tiger's claw. A surge of profound energy deflected the fiery winged tiger away.

Behind him, another Flame Winged Tiger spewed out a burst of Samadhi True Fire. The attack power of a fifth-tier demon beast was far superior to that of a fourth-tier demon beast. As the fireball was launched, the Flame Winged Tiger pounced forward with the force of a mountain collapse. Han Qi only heard the whooshing sound behind him and didn't even have time to turn his head. He struck out with his Burning Heart Palm and at the same time, his figure flashed out of the circle. He then condensed his Xuan Qi and threw a punch. The two palm prints neutralized the Flame Winged Tiger's Samadhi True Fire, and the punch collided head-on with the charging Flame Winged Tiger. Han Qi and the Flame Winged Tiger were sent flying backward at the same time.

The Flame Winged Tiger crashed heavily to the ground, lying prone with blood dripping from its nostrils. Han Qi staggered a few steps before managing to regain his balance. He gathered his profound energy and unleashed the power of his Saint-level meridians, holding his own against the Flame Winged Tiger. This showed that the Flame Winged Tiger was indeed quite terrifying. At this moment, the other Flame Winged Tiger immediately protected the injured one lying on the ground, letting out a howling roar, its eyes wide with anger as it cautiously watched Han Qi.

Han Qi had no intention of making a move at this moment, because he knew that the combat power of the fifth-tier demon beasts was far greater than that. However, these two Flame Winged Tigers seemed to be somewhat wary and had not fully exerted their combat power. He had not gained much advantage from his attack just now, and his entire arm was throbbing with pain from the shock.

Seeing that Han Qi was not making a move, the Flame Winged Tiger on the ground slowly got up and limped towards the deep mountains.

Only then did Han realize that there was a small cave behind it, and the grass and trees in front of the cave were broken and scattered on the ground as if they had been crushed by a rolling stone.

"This is probably the cave of the Flame Winged Tiger. That powerful monster should be inside right now," Han Qi thought to himself as he looked at the cave entrance.

Just then, a dark figure darted out from the cave. To Han Qi's surprise, the figure turned out to be a young man, dressed in rags with disheveled hair, but with incredibly sharp eyes that inspired fear. The man glanced at Han Qi and then flew away into the air.

"Being able to fly through the air, this person must be at least at the Cave Profound Realm level," Han Qi muttered to himself.

He secretly resolved to accelerate his cultivation progress. He had been stuck at the Breaking Core Realm for some time, focused solely on building a solid foundation. Now, after battling these demonic beasts, he realized that his cultivation level was indeed limiting his abilities. However, aside from the Blazing Heart-Burning Technique, there weren't many suitable cultivation methods for him at this stage. After all, in his previous life, he had relied on pills to quickly advance his cultivation, without practicing any Breaking Core Realm techniques. Furthermore, his focus on pill refining had resulted in his martial arts cultivation being far inferior to his alchemy cultivation.

Han Qi entered the cave. Besides the countless claw marks on the stone walls and the shadow of a monster inside, Han Qi wondered to himself, "Where is the monster? Has it already been subdued by that boy?"

Since the broken tree branches outside the cave stopped at the entrance, and considering this, he decided not to venture any deeper into the mountain. He planned to turn back; if he encountered those two Flame Winged Tigers again, it would be troublesome. Although he might not necessarily lose, defeating them would still require considerable effort. Finding the Fire Spirit Orb to improve his combat strength was the most important thing.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual inside the cave, Han Qi prepared to leave.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, a quick glance back revealed two cracks, each about a finger's width, at the bottom and top of the right-hand cave wall. The color of the cracked rock face was slightly different from the other sides.

"Could there be a hidden world behind the stone wall?" Han Qi muttered to himself.

He then walked to the stone wall, condensed his profound energy in his right arm, and thrust his palm against the wall. With a loud boom, the stone wall did not shatter as Han Qi had imagined; instead, the crack widened slightly, and a sliver of light shone through.

"It seems there really is nothing behind it, but I wonder what big thing might be behind this stone wall," Han Qi thought to himself. His hands didn't stop; he unleashed several palm strikes in succession until the tenth strike caused the stone wall to collapse.

After a deafening roar, a bright light appeared before Han Qi inside the cave, twice the size of the cave outside. In the very center of the cave was a small rock, upon which sat a luminous pearl, emitting a dazzling light that was particularly eye-catching. Looking further into the cave through the light of the luminous pearl, Han Qi discovered a figure sitting cross-legged on a rock at the deepest part of the cave.

Han Qi slowly walked into the room and then saw that the person on the stone bed had long since passed away. His clothes had weathered away and were scattered on the ground. Now only a skeleton remained. What was strange was that the bones in the chest, where the heart was located, had turned black. The color became lighter towards the edges, and the color of the entire chest bones had changed. Only the bones in the heart area were the darkest.

"This person must have died from a deadly poison attacking their heart. I wonder who they were in life and why they chose to die here?" Han Qi thought to himself as he looked at the skeleton.

"Hehe, you lad, you've finally arrived. I've been waiting for you for so long!" Suddenly, Han Qi heard an old man's voice. The voice was extremely deep and powerful, and judging from the voice, it was clear that the old man was a person with a very high level of cultivation.

Han Qi was startled and hurriedly turned around to look, but there was no one behind him and he found nothing.