While I was chanting a curse, the system said I was Xiao Yan?

When the first rays of sunlight shone through the window onto Tianyan's face the next day, he suddenly opened his eyes.

The water in the bucket had become crystal clear, and even the medicinal scent had faded to almost nothing.

All the medicinal effects were completely absorbed by his body.

He stepped out of the barrel, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he felt the wind beneath his feet, and his whole body was filled with an unprecedented lightness and explosiveness.

It was as if a ferocious beast had taken up residence within him, lying in wait to be unleashed.

He subconsciously sensed it, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

The original vortex of cursed energy, which was only the size of a fingernail, has now grown several times larger and is operating steadily within the body!

Each rotation generates a stream of magical power several times stronger than before.

Tianyan clenched his right fist, and with a thought, black iron-colored bone armor instantly covered the surface of his fist.

Its color was deeper than before, with a faint, dark metallic luster, and it gleamed with a cold, hard light in the morning light.

He threw a punch at the air.

The force of the punch exploded, producing a muffled blast that made the windowpanes vibrate.

He could sense that he was only a thin veil away from returning to the level of a second-level mage.

Tianyan looked at the liquid in the wooden tub, which had become crystal clear, indicating that the medicinal properties had been completely absorbed.

Feeling the abundant yet still insufficient magical power within his body, he shook his head helplessly.

"Just a little bit more..." he muttered to himself.

If he could get another drop of this Foundation Building Elixir, he was absolutely confident that he could break through the bottleneck and directly enter the ranks of Level Two Spellcasters.

Just then, the system interface popped up again.

[Side Quest Triggered: The Foundation Establishment Elixir has powerful effects, but the Old Master Yao said that if you want to continue cultivating at this rapid pace, you need to find a Tier 1 magical beast core!]

Find the magical beast and hand over a Tier 1 magical beast core.

[Quest Reward: Foundation Establishment Elixir x1]

[Note: This task can be submitted repeatedly.]

Tianyan was initially delighted, but then his lips twitched slightly.

"Brother Tongzi, are you switching channels again?"

"This is the realm of sorcery, teeming with man-eating cursed spirits. Where are you going to find me any 'monsters'? There isn't a single monster in this place!"

But then he thought again that although the system often "malfunctioned," the rewards it gave out were genuinely good stuff.

For example, the previous Qi Gathering Powder and the current Foundation Building Elixir have incredibly powerful effects.

Since the system said it wanted monster cores, then in its eyes, the curse spirits of this world of sorcery are probably what are called "monsters".

"Do cursed spirits generate crystal cores?"

Tianyan stroked his chin thoughtfully. In his previous understanding, cursed spirits would dissipate after being exorcised, leaving almost no physical form.

Never mind, let's find the cursed spirit first!

So, where can you find a large number of cursed spirits that you can farm at will?

Then he thought of a place.

Behind the Zen temple, there is a cellar that the clansmen call "Beast Cage".

That was a place specifically used by Zen monasteries to imprison cursed spirits.

The clan would periodically capture low-level cursed spirits and throw them in as "instruments of torture" to punish clan members who made mistakes.

Throwing someone in there and locking them up for a while will leave them severely injured, if not dead.

Of course, a strong person might only have a faint scar on the corner of their mouth!

Most of those cursed spirits are below level three, with a few occasionally reaching level two.

With Tianyan's current strength, going inside is almost like going to an amusement park!

Without hesitation, Tianyan donned a long black robe and, under the moonlight, headed straight for the forbidden area behind the family's mountain.

"Let's do it!"

Tianyan put on a clean coat and pushed open the door.

The Zen temple was still quiet in the early morning, with only a few servants sweeping the courtyard. Tianyan avoided the main road and hurried along the bamboo path behind the mountain.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the bamboo forest gradually thinned out, replaced by a patch of gray-brown barren rocks. Not a blade of grass grew on the ground, and a faint stench of decay permeated the air.

"arrive."

Tianyan stopped and looked at the stone building that was half-buried in the ground in front of him.

The entrance to the beast cage was a heavy iron door, the door panel covered with densely packed sealing runes, rusty and looking dilapidated, but Tianyan knew that these runes were reinforced by a specialist every three months.

There was no one guarding the entrance.

Zen monasteries have always been like this; such places do not require guards.

Because no one ever wants to go in on their own initiative!

Tianyan walked to the iron gate and reached out to grasp the door knocker.

The iron ring was icy cold, and the runes on it, sensing his touch, glowed with a faint, eerie blue light.

"open."

With a twist of his wrist, the iron gate creaked open slowly.

Behind the door was a stone staircase leading downwards, and darkness surged up from the depths like a gaping maw.

The putrid smell grew stronger, mixed with dampness, rust, and a certain indescribable sweet and pungent odor.

Tianyan stood at the doorway and glanced down into the dark passageway.

Then he stepped inside.

The iron gate slowly closed behind him, and in the instant the last ray of morning light was cut off, Tianyan heard rustling sounds coming from the darkness.

That was the sound of something moving.

more than one.

a lot of.

"Alright." Tianyan stretched his neck, and his joints made a crisp cracking sound.

As he walked down the steps, he took off his coat and casually draped it over a protrusion on the wall.

"Let me see where the first unlucky one is."

In the darkness, one pair, two pairs, three pairs... countless scarlet eyes lit up.

The power of the curse surged within his body, and a faint, blackish-iron light began to seep from between Tianyan's finger bones.

At the end of the stone steps lies a spacious underground space.

The moment Tianyan's foot touched the ground, a dark shadow suddenly pounced out from the darkness!

He didn't even blink.

He raised his left hand, spread his fingers, and a burst of bone spurs instantly erupted from his palm, like an inverted umbrella, piercing through the entire dark shadow.

"grumble!"

A piercing scream exploded in the enclosed space.

Only then did Tianyan get a clear look at the attacker: a level three cursed spirit, resembling a skinned monkey.

It was soaking wet, on all fours, with several twisted human hands growing from its back.

It was pinned to a bone spur and was struggling to break free.

Level 3.

Tianyan casually commented, then clenched his right fist and slammed it into the head of the cursed spirit.

The black iron fist fell, and the cursed spirit's head exploded like a watermelon.

The instant its body began to dissipate, Tianyan's left hand had already reached into the collapsing ball of cursed power.

"Where is it? I don't even know if it exists..."

His fingers spun rapidly through the remnants of cursed energy, sensing the flow of every strand of power. The core should be located in...

found it!

Tianyan's fingers touched a hard, warm object. He immediately enveloped it with his magic power and pulled his hand away abruptly.

He opened his palms.

A thumb-sized, irregularly shaped crystal lay quietly in the palm of my hand, gleaming with a murky grayish-white light!