Chapter Seventeen: The Ranks of Ferocious Beasts

That night, Yi Tian held a piece of elemental stone in his hand, circulating the supreme cultivation method, the Blazing Fire Art. Waves of immense elemental energy surged into his body, coursing through his meridians. With each circuit of his technique, the energy was refined by his acupoints into pure Blazing Fire True Qi, which gathered in his dantian.

The Blazing Fire True Qi resembled a great fireball, condensing at the center of his dantian, burning fiercely and radiating boundless light. As he continued to circulate his cultivation, the Blazing Fire True Qi gradually increased, slowly tearing apart the constriction within his dantian, growing bit by bit, while the pressure within the dantian space intensified as well.

Once this pressure reached its peak, he would attain the pinnacle of the second stage, and at that point, he could attempt a breakthrough to the third stage, allowing his dantian to undergo a second transformation.

The Blazing Fire True Qi poured in relentlessly, causing changes within the dantian. This cultivation speed was even faster than his midday training; he was devouring and refining vast amounts of elemental energy with abandon.

Meanwhile, a significant portion of the Blazing Fire True Qi that entered his dantian also permeated every inch of his flesh, bones, organs, skin, and even hair, filling his entire body with warmth and slowly transforming and strengthening his physique.

Another portion was absorbed by the Star Clay avatar on his wrist.

The Star Clay avatar seemed like a bottomless pit, absorbing any amount of elemental energy without end.

Yi Tian valued this avatar greatly, always allocating part of his True Qi to nurture it.

With the elemental stone, he could maintain a rapid cultivation pace at all times. The Blazing Fire Art was no longer restricted to daytime; previously, at night, his cultivation speed would drop to a crawl, but now it continued unabated.

Thus, after optimizing the Blazing Fire Art to its limit, although its constant tempering of the body was slow, the combination of method and resource allowed his cultivation speed to surpass those using mid-grade human-tier techniques, coming just short of those practicing high-grade human-tier arts.

Now, with the elemental stone, his cultivation speed was by no means inferior to those with high-grade human-tier techniques.

After returning to the Yi Tribe, Yi Tian devoted himself entirely to cultivation.

Yi Feng, Yi Shan, and Yi Li, after acquiring their six elemental stones, also threw themselves wholeheartedly into training.

Even the fathers of Yi Feng and the others had become more diligent lately.

Five days later, as Yi Tian was cultivating as usual, the elemental stone in his hand suddenly made a cracking sound and then silently crumbled into a small pile of powder.

Yi Tian was somewhat surprised.

A single lower-grade elemental stone lasted him only five days, and since he hadn’t used the stone during the sun’s peak when fire energy was strongest, it actually lasted just over four days before being consumed entirely.

Still, his progress was significant—his cultivation had already reached the mid-second stage.

In the days that followed, Yi Tian’s cultivation surged rapidly.

By the time all thirteen of his elemental stones were exhausted, nearly two months had passed.

He had broken through to the third stage, and not just early third stage, but mid-third stage.

Such advancement satisfied Yi Tian. At the nine-stage level of martial practice, disciples of major powers, armed with abundant resources and powerful techniques, could break through three or four stages in a year without difficulty, so his speed wasn’t extraordinary by comparison.

However, as one advanced, the True Qi required for each breakthrough multiplied, and the time needed for each step grew longer, with resource consumption soaring exponentially.

During these two months, Yi Tian also practiced swordsmanship in his spare time.

He focused solely on the basic sword forms.

Mastery of foundational sword techniques could yield terrifyingly potent attacks.

Moreover, the Divine Arrow Art was his top training priority.

For every warrior in the Yi Tribe, the Divine Arrow Art was the most formidable combat skill, and daily diligent practice was essential.

Anyone who mastered the Divine Arrow Art could slay enemies of higher ranks, sometimes even two or three stages above their own. This reputation made the Yi Tribe feared throughout the surrounding regions.

“With the deductions made by my avatar, I’ll soon fully grasp the mysteries of the Surging Wave Secret Technique. However, my Blazing Fire True Qi is still insufficient. I can only perfectly perform the eighth wave once. Even though I have understood the ninth wave, due to lacking enough True Qi, I cannot unleash its full power—perhaps not even a tenth of its true might. As for the tenth wave, it’s simply out of reach; the problem lies in the strength and amount of my True Qi.”

So Yi Tian pondered.

If the tribe’s warriors knew he had comprehended the essence of the ninth wave of the Surging Wave Secret Technique in just a few months, they would be utterly shocked and incredulous.

Most warriors in the tribe, even after mastering the ninth wave, had spent years or even more than a decade gradually grasping its secrets, which allowed them to kill enemies one or two stages above.

“Yi Tian, I’ve broken through!”

One day, Yi Feng came to Yi Tian’s house, his face alight with excitement.

“What stage did you reach?” Yi Tian asked curiously.

Recently, Yi Feng and the others had all been engrossed in their training, so they’d barely interacted.

“I’m now a mid-first stage warrior,” Yi Feng announced, eager to boast.

“Not bad. How many elemental stones did you use?” Yi Tian had anticipated his progress and wasn’t surprised; he was more interested in how many stones Yi Feng had consumed.

“I’ve used two stones during this period. The rest I gave to my father. With those, he’ll likely break through to the fourth stage soon,” Yi Feng replied enthusiastically.

Not only had he become a first-stage warrior, but his father was about to become a fourth-stage warrior—this would greatly enhance their status in the tribe, ranking them among the top three hundred warriors.

Within the Yi Tribe, nearly half the warriors were at the third stage. Breaking through to the fourth and becoming a mid-level martial artist was no easy feat; it required a long period of tempering True Qi.

Shortly after Yi Feng finished his closed-door training, Yi Shan and Yi Li also emerged, having made breakthroughs of their own.

Yi Shan had reached mid-first stage, while Yi Li had astonishingly advanced to late human-tier.

“Without elemental stones, cultivation speed is truly unbearable,” Yi Feng was the first to lament. With stones, his progress felt like flight—he constantly yearned for the days of training with elemental stones.

Yi Tian, Yi Shan, and Yi Li all echoed the sentiment.

No wonder elemental stones were so coveted, to the point where warriors fought and killed over them.

Alas, despite their worth, elemental stones were consumed far too quickly.

“If only we could hunt fierce beasts. Some materials from those creatures are incredibly valuable and can be sold for elemental stones,” Yi Li mused, still longing for more stones.

With enough stones, his cultivation could skyrocket—breaking through to the sixth or even seventh stage before eighteen might be possible.

Yi Shan interjected, “The depths of the Crouching Dragon Mountains are too dangerous. Even a single fierce beast could wipe us all out. Only warriors at the fifth or sixth stage can hope to hunt the weakest of them.”

Yi Tian was intrigued by this.

Fierce beasts were powerful creatures that could absorb the world’s elemental energy to enhance their bloodlines. The stronger the bloodline, the faster they could draw in energy, making them formidable even among equals.

According to ancient texts, beast bloodlines are divided into mortal, royal, imperial, sovereign, and the most powerful, divine.

Fierce beasts are ranked by strength as low, medium, high, and super.

Once slain, their blood essence would condense into a beast core, brimming with immense energy and highly valuable—a basic low-grade mortal beast core could fetch four or five elemental stones.

However, the beasts were terrifyingly strong. Deep within the Crouching Dragon Mountains, even hunting parties from the tribe dared not venture far. They would only target solitary beasts or those straying to the outskirts, and even then, success relied heavily on luck.