Faced with the leopard's sudden lunging strike, Liu Chen's reaction was instantaneous. Without a moment's hesitation, he withdrew the Golden Snake Gu from his system inventory, a Rank 4 treasure he had not yet found a use for until now.
"Swallow me!" Liu Chen commanded.
As the words left his lips, a majestic golden python materialized. Its massive frame and shimmering, brilliant scales exuded an aura of raw power. Before the leopard's claws could reach him, the python unhinged its jaws and swallowed Liu Chen whole, coiling its body into a defensive snake disk around his location.
Clang!
A sharp metallic clatter rang out as the Wind Leopard's claws struck the golden scales. The impact was powerful, but it failed to leave even a scratch on the Rank 4 mount type Gu. Enraged by the sudden disappearance of its prey, the leopard frantically unleashed a rain of wind blades that pelted the python's body like a hailstorm.
Inside the Golden Snake Gu's abdomen, Liu Chen was enveloped in total darkness. He took a deep breath and held it, feeling the vibrations of the external assault. At the same time, he sent a cold mental command to the Thousand-Li Earthwolf Spider: "Kill it!"
The massive spider galloped forward like a black flash, closing the distance in a heartbeat.
"Time to see my system combo!" Liu Chen thought, a smirk playing on his face that no one could see from within the snake's belly.
In a move he had discovered while researching his system's mechanics, Liu Chen took advantage of a unique exploit: he could place the Golden Snake Gu, even while it contained a living object like himself directly back into the system inventory.
To the Wind Leopard, it appeared as if the giant snake and its prey had simply vanished from existence. This sudden disappearance caused the beast to pause in confusion. In a high stakes battle between experts, even a momentary lapse is fatal.
In that instant of hesitation, the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider struck. Moving like a ghost, it reached the leopard and reared up, its drill like feelers flashing with a cold light as they aimed straight for the beast's throat.
The Wind Leopard felt the lethal threat and trembled. In a desperate attempt to survive, it activated its Rank 3 Wind Shield Gu, surrounding itself with a powerful whirlwind that acted like a wall of iron.
However, the difference between a Rank 3 defense and a Rank 5 attacker was an insurmountable chasm.
Click!
With a crisp sound, the wind shield shattered instantly under the spider's crushing force. The drill like appendages pierced the leopard's body without hindrance, and blood splattered across the snow like a dark red fountain. The Wind Leopard let out a shrill, agonizing wail that echoed through the surrounding forest as its body was nailed firmly to the ground.
The beast did not die immediately. Enduring the severe pain, it continued to fire desperate wind blades at the spider. At the critical moment, another of the leopard's Gu was triggered, transforming its body into a stream of wind. It flew outward at an astonishing speed of fifteen meters, attempting to flee into the mountains.
But the injuries were too grave. The leopard stumbled after only a few steps and collapsed into the snow, its lifeblood staining a large area a deep, morbid red. The Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider crawled over and dragged the carcass back to the village, its Rank 5 aura suppressing the wild Gu remaining on the beast so they couldn't escape.
Three minutes passed, the maximum time Liu Chen could hold his breath. He quickly withdrew the Golden Snake Gu from the inventory and commanded it to spit him out.
Liu Chen emerged, his body still wrapped in the protective film of the White Jade Gu. In his hand, he clutched a Primeval Stone, which he had been using to sustain his essence during the ordeal. Seeing the leopard's lifeless body, the tension finally left his heart.
"Damn beast!" Liu Chen spat. He walked to the corpse and kicked it with all his strength, venting the frustration of the near death encounter.
He couldn't understand his sudden streak of bad luck. After failing two key refinements, he had been randomly attacked by a rare beast in a supposedly safe village. All of this felt like more than just a coincidence.
"Is this Heaven's Will?" Liu Chen looked up at the clear, unyielding sky and muttered to himself. "Because I stole the opportunities from the Fang Yuan, is Heaven's Will targeting me? Should I even go to Bai Gu Mountain?"
The sky offered no answers. Pushing the existential dread aside, Liu Chen focused on the benefits.
"This corpse is a treasure; it must not be wasted." He commanded the Golden Snake Gu to swallow the leopard's body whole for storage. Before doing so, he performed a final inspection of the beast.
To his surprise, he discovered that the Wind Leopard was infested with three wild Rank 3 Gu! For a Rank 2 beginner, obtaining three Rank 3 Gu at once was an astronomical fortune.
"This blood cannot be wasted!"
Liu Chen stared at the snow stained a deep, morbid crimson by the Wind Leopard's death. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated, urging a Sword Embryo Gu out from his aperture. The silver blade appeared in his palm, looking like a crudely shaped, semi finished weapon.
The blade of this embryo was a visceral blood red color, densely covered in patterns resembling throbbing veins, as if the sword itself possessed a predatory life. Liu Chen carefully inserted the blade into the pool of leopard blood. Amazingly, the remaining blood was drawn toward the sword by a mysterious force, flowing along the steel until the pool was sucked dry.
"I wonder if there are any survivors in this village?" Liu Chen muttered.
He put away the sword embryo and sat back on the broad back of the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider, riding it toward the settlement that had been ravaged by the leopard's storm. The village was a human purgatory. The stench of death hung heavy in the air, and broken bodies were scattered across the ruins. Liu Chen suppressed his inner discomfort, forcing himself to maintain the cold detachment of a Gu Master.
He walked to the remains of the elderly Gu Master he had spoken to earlier. Searching the body, he found ten Primeval Stones, a small but useful gain. Then, he used the sword embryo to drain the blood from the corpse.
Along the way, the sword embryo greedily drank from every body he encountered, not sparing a single drop. By the time he was finished, the blade was entirely covered in glowing blood red lines and emitted a faint, pulsing red light. It had finally met the standard for rank promotion.
Liu Chen couldn't help but sigh. Although the methods of the Blood Path were violent and gruesome, the efficiency was undeniable. The blood of one small village had enabled his sword embryo to advance with terrifying speed. If he were to truly abandon his principles and slaughter mortals on a large scale, he realized this weapon would reach Rank 5 in no time.
However, Liu Chen was not so insane. While he desired absolute power, he still maintained his own bottom line.
Carrying the glowing sword embryo, he returned to the site where the Wind Leopard had first appeared. The originally flat ground now looked like a massive meteorite crater. At the center of the pit, the ground had collapsed, revealing a deep, dark cave entrance.
"That's..." Liu Chen stood at the edge of the crater, his curiosity piqued.
Suddenly, a surprising scene occurred, within that dark pit, an purple Treasure Box materialized, emitting a rich, alluring purple light! Without hesitation, Liu Chen jumped into the hole, landing lightly like a flying swallow. He quickly reached out, grasped the chest, and secured it in his inventory.
After securing the loot, he began to scan his surroundings. The cave was an unexpected surprise, it was clearly artificial. The walls were reinforced with plant rhizomes that acted as structural supports while adding a touch of vital greenery to the subterranean space. Even more striking were the bioluminescent plants clinging to the rocks, acting like natural lanterns and reflecting light in a unique way.
Liu Chen realized that if the Wind Leopard hadn't happened to break open the entrance, he might have passed by this hidden sanctuary and missed the treasures within forever.
He decided to use his Rank 4 Treasure Light Gu to investigate. The investigative Gu was attracted to something in the depths and flew forward like a golden bolt of lightning, vanishing into the darkness. Liu Chen followed the trail carefully.
At the end of the passage, he found a pile of white bones and a single Ground Cage Grass Gu growing beside them. Liu Chen's heart skipped a beat; this was a very precious Rank 3 storage type Gu. It solved his immediate need for a way to store multiple Gu worms outside his aperture.
The Treasure Light Gu circled the grass excitedly. Liu Chen realized that Ground Cage Grass was the advanced form of the Earth Treasury Flower Gu. He immediately used the crushing aura of the Rank 5 Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider to suppress and refine it.
Upon opening the grass's storage, he obtained ten wild Gu worms. His shock was beyond words when he identified a Rank 5 Gu,the Three Watches Gu! This was a legendary time path treasure. Once activated, the Gu Master's personal time flow would increase threefold, effectively tripling their cultivation speed.
Among the remaining nine Gu were various wind path types: Wind Blade Gu, Cyclone Gu, and the most precious, the Flowing Wind Gu, which allowed the user to transform into a gust of wind to avoid attacks.
Liu Chen was ecstatic. The appearance of the Three Watches Gu was a qualitative leap for his future. With this, even if he lost his Liquor Worm, he could still maintain a terrifying cultivation speed that would allow him to fight monsters like the Wind Leopard head on.