When Xiao Linger returned, Xiao Feng was sitting cross-legged, recovering his Dou Qi.
Just now, he had used Water-attribute Dou Qi to nourish his body, consuming too much of it; now he urgently needed to replenish it.
Xiao Linger sat quietly to the side, her expression wooden as she waited silently.
It was only after Xiao Feng opened his eyes that she walked over.
"You should have some medicine for external application," Xiao Linger said calmly.
"I do." Xiao Feng nodded.
"Take it out, I'll help you apply it," Xiao Linger continued.
Xiao Feng did not refuse. He took out the gauze, ointment, and other items prepared by Xiao Xun Er, then removed his clothes.
Xiao Linger's gaze was somewhat vacant, yet her movements were incredibly gentle. She treated every wound on Xiao Feng's upper body perfectly, then carefully bandaged them.
After finishing all this, Xiao Feng looked at Xiao Linger, waiting.
Before long, Xiao Linger spoke.
She knelt before Xiao Feng. "I am willing to do anything for you, just please, stop killing them."
"Give me a reason," Xiao Feng's tone was calm.
Xiao Linger lowered her gaze, her voice haunting. "Once, there was a couple who came to the Magical Beast Mountain Range for their newborn child. They were searching for a legendary herb just to cure the child's strange illness. After many hardships, the herb was found. The couple impatiently began brewing the medicine, but failed to notice that the cooking smoke had attracted mercenaries and Demonic Beasts. When the infant in swaddling clothes drank the decoction, the slaughter began.
The mercenaries coveted the Monster Cores on the couple, and the Demonic Beasts instinctively loathed humans. In the chaotic battle, the husband was quickly killed. In her despair, the wife handed the child to a Demonic Beast and followed her husband into death.
The child who drank the medicine somehow understood the language of beasts and grew up drinking the milk of a hundred animals. Later, she yearned for the human world and tried to escape her life of accompanying Demonic Beasts."
At this point, tears rolled down Xiao Linger's face, and her voice became choked with emotion. "She met a group of mercenaries and trusted their plan. So, that night, her adoptive mother died. Her Monster Core was gouged out, her fur was stripped, her flesh and blood were shared and eaten, and the girl was praised by the mercenaries. No one knew that her adoptive mother's last words were: Live well, you must live on!"
At this point, Xiao Linger laughed again. "Later, she saw the beauty of human life, as well as its bottomless ugliness! Selfishness, greed, betrayal... Heh, what a truly 'great' race. They coveted her beauty, but after she ruined her face, they avoided her like snakes and scorpions. They fantasized about wealth falling from the sky, so when they heard of the blood sun fruit, they pestered her again..."
Xiao Linger cried and laughed, her emotions fluctuating wildly. It took a long time for her to calm down. She stared at Xiao Feng and asked, "She has become a Demonic Beast again. Now, someone is slaughtering her uncles and aunts. Tell me, what else can she do?"
Xiao Feng frowned. "Since you put it that way, I seem to have forgotten about the blood sun fruit."
Xiao Linger gave a self-deprecating smile and stood up. "Not a single human is any good!"
Xiao Feng looked at the Monster Core she held in her hand. "Sorry. If you had told me this earlier, perhaps I wouldn't have struck to kill."
"No need for apologies." The weak posture Xiao Linger had just displayed vanished, replaced by a face full of coldness. "I have already etched it into my heart. One day, I will kill you to avenge them!"
Xiao Feng raised an eyebrow. Where did this silly woman, who didn't even have Dou Qi, get such confidence?
"Oh." Xiao Feng didn't care about her words. "So, you can communicate with all Demonic Beasts?"
Xiao Linger hummed coldly and didn't speak.
Xiao Feng frowned. "If you don't speak, you don't get food."
"Some are not possible."
"For example?"
"Aren't you annoying!" Xiao Linger seemed to have reached her limit. "Quickly, give me something to eat!"
"For example?" Xiao Feng asked while weighing the bread in his hand.
"Mosquitoes!" Xiao Linger snatched it away. After taking a bite, she revealed a faint smile and added in a calmer tone, "And fleas, bugs, and things like that."
Xiao Feng felt he was boring himself. He cleared his throat, took out another piece of bread, and began to eat it himself.
Night fell quickly.
That night, the two of them went to sleep separately.
Xiao Linger, inside her sleeping bag, looked at the light coming from the tent not far away, muttered something, and closed her eyes.
The next morning, Xiao Linger was slapped awake by a roll of paper.
"What are you doing!" she shouted at Xiao Feng as she sat up.
Over these past two days of interaction, she had figured out Xiao Feng's temperament; when he could be irritable, he wasn't ambiguous at all.
"A method for cultivating Dou Qi. Read it if you want, or throw it away if you don't," Xiao Feng said nonchalantly.
After hearing this, Xiao Linger's ears almost perked up. She carefully put away the Cultivation Technique.
Then, she looked at Xiao Feng with a strange gaze and said seriously, "When I am able to defeat you, I will kill you."
Xiao Feng didn't care. There were so many people on the Dou Qi Continent, but how many could be a match for Hun Tiandi? With Hun Tiandi as his target, would he care about this kind of threat?
The two went back to pick the blood sun fruit and then settled down in the valley.
Xiao Feng's injuries weren't severe, but he had lost too much blood. He appeared very listless and planned to rest quietly for a few days.
"Besides being able to understand the speech of Demonic Beasts, what else can you do?" Xiao Feng asked.
Xiao Linger glared at him. Those words made her sound like she was useless.
"Then let me rephrase the question." Realizing his words were somewhat ambiguous, Xiao Feng reorganized his language. "If I don't strike to kill, can I make the Demonic Beasts defeated by my hand obey my orders?"
"Impossible." Xiao Linger looked at Xiao Feng sideways.
"Why? Don't Demonic Beasts respect the strong?"
"Can you make a mosquito not bite you?" Xiao Linger looked down on Xiao Feng immensely.
Legend has it that even the Amethyst Winged Lion King suffers from fleas!
Xiao Feng ignored Xiao Linger's contemptuous gaze and understood her meaning.
If one day a gorilla beats you down and howls at you, at most you would shrink into a corner shivering, rather than standing up straight and shouting: As you command!
"If I have your help, can you control those Demonic Beasts?" Xiao Feng asked again.
These past few days, his mind had become active. In the early stages, the Demonic Beasts in the Magical Beast Mountain Range were a considerable asset; he naturally began to scheme for them.
"I control those Demonic Beasts?" Xiao Linger was somewhat surprised. She looked Xiao Feng up and down, then asked, "Did you injure your head when you were fighting for your life against the Lightning Leopard?"
Xiao Feng narrowed his eyes. He could sense the fluctuations of Dou Qi on Xiao Linger. In that case, she couldn't be considered a weak woman anymore.
Casually breaking off a tree branch, Xiao Feng weighed it in his hand while asking, "Do you think that because you've cultivated a bit of Dou Qi, you can act arrogantly in front of me?"
Xiao Linger's eyes widened. "This Lady wasn't afraid of you even when I hadn't cultivated Dou Qi!"
Snap!
The branch landed on Xiao Linger's back, sounding very crisp.
"If you can Cultivate, then Cultivate properly for me! Don't be some salted fish!" Xiao Feng was quite indignant. With such good talent, having wasted over a decade, shouldn't she be making up for it now?
"You!" Xiao Linger was driven mad with anger. "This Lady will Cultivate if I want to, and I won't if I don't. It's none of your business!"
"You still dare to talk back?" Xiao Feng's hand didn't stop, whipping her a dozen times until Xiao Linger curled into a ball and through gritted teeth agreed to Cultivate before he stopped.
Looking at the obediently cultivating Xiao Linger, Xiao Feng nodded and smiled, then sat a bit further away to begin consuming the remaining blood sun fruits.
This item replenished Qi and blood, and was also of great benefit to the Meridians and acupoints. Although refining it into a Medicinal Pill would have a better effect, since the conditions weren't there, he didn't force the issue.
No longer suppressing his cultivation, Xiao Feng's progress was astonishing. In terms of Dou Qi density, he could now completely reach the level of a one-star Dou Master.
"Dou Qi is not the foundation; this thing that is inexhaustible in the world is not rare at all. A tough Physical Body, Meridians, and acupoints are the true foundation."
Xiao Feng murmured softly, constantly refining the concept in his mind.
Up until now, Xiao Feng had not formally practiced any specific Cultivation Technique. But from another perspective, he had always been practicing one: the Primordial Unity Qi Gong!
This was the method of moving Qi he had created in his previous life, encompassing every meridian in the body, all for the sake of absorbing Qi to the maximum extent.
In this life, the Meridians throughout his body were not yet fully opened, but the speed of his Dou Qi circulation was already slightly faster than a Profound Rank Cultivation Technique.
"When it reappears in the world, will it be able to compare to a Heaven Rank Cultivation Technique?"
Xiao Feng looked forward to that day. In this place with abundant Dou Qi, he believed he would recreate his legend!
With his right palm held flat, a sword shadow emerged from his palm, about the length of a hand. The sword blade pointed straight to the high heavens, rotating slowly.
With a thought, it split into five, divided into the five colors of gold, green, blue, red, and brown.
With a slight sigh, the five small swords each dissipated.
"Still too weak."
Xiao Feng looked up at the sky, lamenting that Huo Huo was indeed the protagonist of this plane. The power of merging Heavenly Flames was definitely boosted by a protagonist aura; it was just ridiculous.
Shaking these dejected thoughts out of his mind, Xiao Feng formed a series of hand seals and silently closed his eyes.
After a while.
"Hey! Isn't it time to eat?" Xiao Linger shouted from a distance.
Xiao Feng opened his eyes, looked up at the sun, and threw a piece of bread to Xiao Linger. "There's not much bread left, eat sparingly."
After saying that, he took out a meat pancake and began to eat.
Xiao Linger stared intently at the meat in Xiao Feng's hand, her hand clutching the bread tightening uncontrollably.
Ten minutes later.
After eating, the two walked out of the valley.
Over the next month, a bloodbath was stirred up in the vicinity.
Those flying in the sky, running on the ground, or swimming in the river were all targeted by Xiao Feng. Even those hidden in the mud were dug out. He said nothing upon meeting them, giving them a beating first.
When everything settled, all Demonic Beasts of rank two and below within a fifty-mile radius had submitted to Xiao Linger's feet.
Those unwilling to submit had basically moved away. As for the portion that refused to move, they had already been cleaned and stored away by Xiao Linger.
"Further ahead is the territory of the Green Wood Wolves. Most of them are rank two, and their leader is even a rank three Demonic Beast." Xiao Linger stopped.
The location of the Green Wood Wolves was a watershed in this part of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. On one side was the periphery, and on the other was the central region. Demonic Beasts strong enough could step into the central region from here, while those with insufficient strength would become food.
"Good, I'll handle the leader." Xiao Feng nodded.
Behind the two was a large group of rank two Demonic Beasts, several dozen of them, enough to sweep through any small town on the periphery.
The two of them and the group of beasts entered the Green Wood Wolves' territory. Before long, wolf howls rose one after another.
"They're coming," Xiao Linger warned.
Before Xiao Feng could respond, a two-meter-tall giant wolf had already broken through the thorns and walked in front of the two.
"Growl..." The giant wolf growled low.
Xiao Linger frowned. "It says we have violated the rules. If we don't retreat now, we will be punished."
"The strong are respected; there are no other rules in the Magical Beast Mountain Range." Xiao Feng responded calmly. The so-called rules were likely just regulations set by some even more powerful Demonic Beast.
Xiao Linger repeated Xiao Feng's words.
The giant wolf's gaze toward the two changed. With a long howl, the wolves hidden in the surroundings instantly pounced out.
Xiao Feng stepped forward and threw a fierce punch at the giant wolf. He didn't use Dou Qi, using only physical strength, yet it was almost as fast as a Dou Technique.
The giant wolf's gaze was solemn. It opened its mouth and roared, sound waves rolling out, shaking the soul and disturbing the mind.
The wolf pack began to howl together, falling like a storm on the area, disturbing the minds of many Demonic Beasts like small boats in a sea. Some even began to attack their companions.
Not only that, but on the previously empty ground, vines suddenly grew out, dancing like snakes and coiling toward everyone.
The howling of the wolf pack was incessant. More and more Demonic Beasts fell into a frenzy, and the vines grew even faster.
Xiao Feng frowned, realizing he must end the battle quickly.
With a point of his finger, a sword shadow condensed to the extreme manifested from his fingertip. In an instant, it pierced into the lead wolf's skull, detonating the Monster Core inside!
Boom!
A rain of blood fell. The wolf pack, which had been howling at the sky, seemed to have their necks grabbed simultaneously, instantly falling silent.