Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Harvesting the Talents of Demonic Beasts

Chapter 220 Obtaining the Demon Core: An Unexpected Joy

Behind the waterfall, within the curtain of water.

The passageway was quite long and extremely wide, with slippery stone walls covered in dark green moss and emitting a faint fishy smell.

Upon close inspection, irregular marks of claw-like scratches and wind-blade cuts can be seen on the stone wall.

It is likely that it was expanded by [Green-haired Tiger] using various methods.

That's how such a giant tiger was able to pass through normally.

After walking about twenty feet, the view became much more open.

A huge natural cave comes into view.

Countless stalactites hang from the top of the grotto, and droplets of water containing pure water spirit drip from the stone tips, gathering into small puddles among the stalagmites below.

The air was filled with a spiritual energy that was even more concentrated than the outside world, and there was no demonic energy mixed in.

I feel refreshed and relaxed with every breath.

"It's actually a blessed land?"

Lin Changheng's pupils contracted slightly, clearly not expecting such a scene inside.

Clearly, this green-haired tiger is not only incredibly powerful, but also a beast that is extremely adept at choosing its cave dwellings.

This place is rich in spiritual energy and exceptionally secluded, making it an excellent place for cultivation.

Lin Changheng's gaze swept across the area, not lingering too long on the stalactites, puddles, and other features, but quickly locking onto the depths of the grotto.

There, a thick layer of dried spiritual herbs formed a simple beast's nest. Beside the nest, there were five pieces of ore shimmering with different lusters, and materials from demonic beasts whose spiritual light had been deliberately extinguished.

These appear to be toys collected by the Green-haired Tiger.

What is most eye-catching is the two jade-white, furry lumps of flesh right in the center of the beast's nest.

It kept wriggling.

Only the size of a baby's head, they nestled together, rising and falling gently with their soft breaths, their surfaces covered with a layer of soft, still-hardening lanugo.

Seemingly sensing the approaching unfamiliar presence, the two little lumps of flesh simultaneously stopped wriggling and began to tremble slightly.

Immediately afterwards, from the top of the lump of flesh, two small and delicate tiger ears, also covered with soft fur, trembled out, and the tips of the ears twitched unconsciously.

Then, the lump of flesh laboriously turned halfway around, revealing its front:
Two pairs of wet, pale blue eyes, not yet fully open, timidly "looked" over, below which was a pink little nose and a slightly open mouth emitting a very faint "woof".

These are actually two newly born [Demon Tiger Cubs]!
They were clearly only a few months old, too weak to even stand, and could only clumsily support each other, tilting their little heads back and letting out harmless, instinctive whimpers at Lin Changheng.

The monster materials beside the lair, their spiritual light extinguished, now looked more like toys left by the mother tiger for her cubs to chew on and play with.

Lin Changheng stopped abruptly, the burning intensity in his eyes quickly fading, replaced by a complex look of astonishment.

According to his original, prudent thinking, one should nip problems in the bud and eliminate them at the root, even if they are just young monsters.

But when he looked at the two little ones, his thoughts quietly changed.

Because he knew of a special pill called the "Forget-Dust Pill," which could erase a cultivator's recent memories.

However, Lin Changheng, who was proficient in alchemy and had a high level of expertise, knew that this pill was still effective against demonic beasts.

Especially for newly born monsters, all their memories can be erased, turning them into a blank sheet of paper.

And then, they can do whatever they want, even paint and scribble as they please.

"Why don't you just stay?"

Once Lin Changheng had this thought, it was hard to suppress it.

Because he had tasted the sweetness of taming beasts.

He hadn't even used much of his power to kill the mid-stage second-tier [Green-haired Tiger]; with the cooperation of the two spirit beasts and Mo Zhaoli, he easily accomplished the kill.

None of the methods, including supernatural powers, physical cultivation, or talismans, were used.

It's important to understand that the differences between the early, middle, and late stages of the second tier are significant, making it extremely difficult to defeat them in a one-on-one fight.

However, Lin Changheng actually used two cultivators, two spirit beasts, one puppet, and five second-tier powers to achieve this.

Normally, a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator would find it difficult to gain the upper hand against three early-Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the same applies to second-tier demonic beasts. But Lin Changheng had five!
It's no less effective than a human wave tactic, easily crushing the enemy.

Of course, the Foundation Establishment stage and the Qi Refining stage are different levels, so no matter how many come, it's all like cutting melons and vegetables.

……

"It's so fragrant!"

Lin Changheng sighed.

Generally speaking, a cultivator who is skilled in many arts will have one major skill and one or more minor skills.

Lin Changheng originally intended to minor in array formation because this technique has great potential, and its power and effects are outstanding when it is fully formed. However, his talent is lacking, and his progress is quite slow.

It requires a long period of meticulous work.

In contrast, beast taming is slower to take effect, but it only requires money and the provision of pills.

On the contrary, it doesn't require much effort.

With the financial resources provided by his alchemy practice, raising three spirit beasts wouldn't be a problem.

The array, on the other hand, is gradually refined and will eventually take effect and play its role.

Furthermore, Lin Changheng's lifespan far exceeds that of his peers, and he also possesses the [Divine Gift of Divided Mind] and the ability to multitask, provided by the tenth level of the Origin Treasure Seed, allowing him to attempt to explore three different skills.

……

Having made up his mind, Lin Changheng moved directly toward the two tiger cubs.

The next moment, his attention was drawn to a half-plant of precious medicine placed close to the dried spiritual herbs in the beast's nest.

It was a blue crescent-shaped lotus, but more than half of the crescent-shaped lotus was still remaining.

The petals were covered with dense chewing marks.

"This is the Blue Lotus Flower brought by the Green-haired Tiger..."

Lin Changheng raised his hand and inhaled the object. After examining it carefully, he was delighted: "It wasn't completely swallowed! It seems that the two tiger cubs had limited appetites or digestive abilities, so they left it for me!"

Then, following the precious medicine downwards, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Surprisingly, it had no roots, and there were signs of it being torn apart at the bottom.

It was clearly violently pulled out by a monster.

"It's a pity..."

Because roots are useless to monsters, unless the soil is loose and they can be pulled out easily, it is basically impossible to dig them up carefully with roots attached.

With a flick of his wrist, Lin Changheng placed the incomplete precious herb into a long wooden box and sealed it. He also collected the five pieces of ore that shimmered with different lusters.

Then he began to search the cave carefully, releasing his divine sense to see if there was anything he had missed.

"There should be no more."

After Lin Changheng finished searching and made sure nothing was missed, he stepped forward, picked up one of the tiger cubs in each hand, and held it in his arms.

Then, he channeled his magic and subconsciously overturned the haystack in front of him, because he suddenly remembered that he hadn't thoroughly investigated what lay beneath.

The hay flew through the air, and Lin Changheng swept his divine sense over it before turning around.

"Hey...this is..."

Then his body froze, and he suddenly stopped.

The magic swept out, clearing away all the debris, and then the gaze swept downwards again.

There is a small hole dug out by a sharp claw below.

There seems to be something inside.

Previously, because the dried spiritual herbs were piled on top, there were occasional flashes of residual spiritual light that distorted his divine sense's probing, which is why he hadn't noticed it.

"Luckily, I was careful enough to keep things in mind."

Lin Changheng put the tiger cub into his spirit beast pouch, then immediately squatted down and reached inside, where he found two demon cores.

Blue and green patterns crisscrossed its surface. It was clearly a demon core of both water and wind elements!
"The demon core of the Green-haired Tiger?"

Lin Changheng immediately guessed, and this was the only answer. Otherwise, where would the [Green-haired Tiger] find water and wind elemental monsters to hunt and kill, and put their cores here?

And why so solemnly?

After all, there was no trace of any other demon cores in the [Green-haired Tiger]'s lair, including the demon core of the savage bull demon beast that Lin Changheng had personally witnessed being carried into the cave last time.

It's highly likely that it was completely devoured by the Green-haired Tiger.

The absence of wreckage or remains is further evidence.

Having obtained the two demon cores, Lin Changheng used his perfected [Spirit Observation Technique] to examine them closely.

One of them was found to be of second-tier aura, and the other was of early first-tier aura, clearly indicating they were young beasts.

It was precisely because this cave was a blessed place with abundant water and spiritual energy that these two demon cores, which looked to have been stored for a long time, did not lose their spiritual power or rot and deteriorate.

"Could it be that the tigress Zhao Li encountered last time was pregnant, and gave birth to this cub, but it died halfway through the process?"

"Then, is the other one from another cub that grew up with her, or from the mother tiger's deceased mate or relative?"

Lin Changheng pondered for a moment, then turned and left.

This cave is nice, but it's useless to him. Besides, that late-stage second-tier blue-haired tiger will be back soon, so staying here would be tantamount to courting death.

"call!"

Lin Changheng spread his body and flew out quickly.

……

"Brother Lin."

At this moment, Mo Zhaoli, who had finished dealing with the [Green-haired Tiger] demon corpse outside and separated its skin, flesh, bones, blood, and demon core, saw Lin Changheng come out and couldn't help but call out with a smile.

"How is it going?" Before she could finish speaking, Lin Changheng smiled and said, "It's all taken care of. We'll talk about it later. It's best to leave as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, the [Deep Lake Spirit Clam] and [Black Armor Earth Turtle] outside approached and crawled into Lin Changheng's spirit beast bag. Then, Lin Changheng made a series of finger pinches, and the array collapsed. One array flag after another flew out from the ground, along with the array plate, and like swimming fish, they all crawled into the storage bag.

"go!"

Lin Changheng gave a shout, then rode off without pausing.

"it is good."

Mo Zhaoli didn't ask any more questions and followed behind.

"Rumble..."

The moisture was no longer trapped by the formation and diffused outwards, bringing with it a strong smell of blood.

……

Three days later.

The waterfall remains unchanged, hanging upside down with swirling water vapor.

Rustling.

Suddenly, a whooshing sound rang out, accompanied by the sound of wind rustling through the trees.

Before long, two rather disheveled people emerged from the woods.

“Xuan’er, the water elemental energy here is rich and I can vaguely sense its purity. It can be used to heal my injuries by using water magic. Please open a cave for me behind the waterfall so that I can hide there temporarily.”

Among them, the older cultivator, who was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, had a pale, unusually ruddy complexion, clearly indicating that he was injured. He spoke to another, much younger, early-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“Uncle, there are many messy footprints here, which means that many monsters may have been passing by.”

The young Foundation Establishment cultivator surveyed the surroundings, frowned, and then looked at his uncle with concern.

"Hehe, the most dangerous place is the safest place... They should just be here to drink water. With the water vapor washing them away and the formation set up to conceal them, there's no chance of anything going wrong."

The older Foundation Establishment cultivator chuckled and confidently advised, "Although you have reached Foundation Establishment, you are still too young and inexperienced. You still have much to learn."

"Yes."

The young Foundation Establishment cultivator nodded in agreement, then flew directly into the waterfall, manipulated his magical artifact to dig a hole, and was surprised to find that it was empty.

They immediately reported back, and the two entered together, where they discovered the blessed land. After a careful inspection, they found it to be unclaimed and decided to stay there temporarily.

At noon the next day.

The blue-haired male tiger, which was over three zhang long and at the late stage of the second rank, reappeared outside the waterfall.

It held a newly dead, colorful bird-shaped monster in its mouth.

As soon as it got close, its nose twitched slightly, sensing various residual chaotic demonic beast auras, and even the aura of human cultivators.

He immediately sensed something was wrong, his lantern-like tiger eyes flashing with ferocity and a hint of worry.

He transformed into a streak of azure light and charged in fiercely!
"Roar!"

"what!"

"Beast!"

The tiger's roar and angry shout rang out at the same time, followed by the sounds of fierce fighting and the booming collisions!
A moment later, the violent roaring and howling stopped abruptly.

After a brief silence, a huge, ferocious blue shadow slowly emerged.

It was that blue-haired male tiger!

It was covered in blood, with several shallow sword wounds and charred spell marks on its body, clearly indicating that it had been in a battle, but it had not suffered any real damage.

Moreover, this tiger was even more imposing, with its fangs bared and blood-tinged saliva dripping from its scarlet tongue. Its eyes burned with savagery and the madness of carnage.

It suddenly swung its head and slammed the two mangled, almost torn-in-two human cultivator corpses it was carrying in its mouth onto the rocks by the pool!

The corpse's chest was pierced by a claw, its face frozen in extreme terror and disbelief, the shattered storage bag at its waist lying scattered to the side, its spirit completely extinguished.

Although he killed to vent his anger, the cub was nowhere to be seen. The male tiger with green fur remained furious, roaring deafeningly at the sky. The sound waves crashed against the waterfall, his murderous intent surging and lingering for a long time.

……

And the other end.

Lin Changheng and Mo Zhaoli were unaware that someone had taken the blame for them and suffered the wrath of the Green-haired Tiger.

They had already rushed towards the edge of the wilderness without stopping, and once they reached the outer perimeter, they directly took off in their magic boats and roared away.

After crossing the border between the wilderness and the Song territory, the two men visibly relaxed.

It was already dark, so they found an abandoned cave in the nearby wilderness, landed to rest, and divided the spoils.

Lin Changheng carefully set up the formation before taking out all the things he had harvested from the Green Tiger's lair in front of Mo Zhaoli.

It includes two jade-white, fluffy "fleshy balls".

"Are these two demon tiger cubs?"

Mo Zhaoli's beautiful eyes brightened slightly, her attention completely drawn to the scene.

"good."

Lin Changheng nodded with a smile.

"But their fur isn't blue?"

Mo Zhaoli raised a question.

"Perhaps it's a case of 'a tiger undergoing eighteen changes as it grows up'? Will it gradually change color as it grows?"

Lin Changheng was not a professional beast tamer and did not have much knowledge about monsters. The monster encyclopedia he had previously obtained did not contain any relevant details.

So he guessed.

"That's possible."

Mo Zhaoli smiled gently, nodded slightly, and didn't delve into the matter.

(End of this chapter)