Gao Wu: I became a saint through daily settlements

Aside from the Monkey King's slightly larger Star Beast Inner Core, some adult Demon-Devouring Monkeys also contain Star Beast Inner Cores of slightly lower quality.

"Star Beast Inner Core!" Wang Teng pulled a perfectly round bead from a monkey carcass, his face beaming with delight.

"I never expected that the demon-devouring monkey I killed would have a star beast's inner core inside it..."

Wang Teng examined the star beast's inner core, unable to contain his excitement.

"The boss is brilliant!"

"We actually obtained a treasure like a Star Beast's inner core in the hidden realm of the South Seas!"

……

On the other side, Lin Yue had already collected seven or eight star beast inner cores in his hands.

Lin Yue looked down at the inner core in his palm, his fingertips gently stroking its smooth surface, and murmured to himself:

"Although the drop rate is a bit low, the quantity is plentiful."

Of the fifty adult Demon-Devouring Monkeys, only about ten Star Beast Inner Cores were ultimately obtained.

"A 20% probability is still acceptable." Lin Yue put the eight star beast inner cores into his pocket. Adding the three he had taken from the Miao Zhou warrior, Lin Yue now has a total of 10 first-tier star beast inner cores and one second-tier star beast inner core.

These 11 Star Beast Inner Cores are more than enough for Lin Yue to break through to the Martial Master realm.

"Holy crap, this is outrageously extravagant!" Wang Teng exclaimed, looking at Lin Yue on the other side.

"If I'm not mistaken, he has at least 10 Star Beast Inner Cores..." Wang Teng rubbed his eyes, then thought for a moment.

"After all, he killed most of these Demon-Eating Monkeys."

Those who are capable will receive more!

In the blink of an eye, night quietly fell, and the eerie red moon slowly rose into the sky once again, enveloping the entire Nanyang Secret Realm in a dark red halo.

Compared to the first night, the red moon now appeared several sizes larger, its edges blurred, emitting a faint yet eerie red glow.

"It seems quite a few people have already reached the inner three levels." Lin Yue observed the surrounding environment and found that most of the medicinal herbs showed signs of having been picked.

The Nanyang Secret Realm at night is different from that during the day; not only is the visibility low, but the danger also increases significantly.

In addition, he had just expended a lot of energy and vitality by killing the monkey troop, and now he felt sore all over.

So he found a flat, open rock, sat down cross-legged, and planned to rest for a while and recover his strength.

Lin Yue closed his eyes, quickly considering his current situation.

Most star beasts have a strong sense of territory. The fact that such a large group of demon-devouring monkeys can appear in this area, and that there is even a monkey king in charge, indicates that this is definitely the core territory of the demon-devouring monkeys.

Based on the usual boundaries of Star Beast territories, this core area needs to be expanded by at least seven or eight times to reach the entire territory of the Devouring Demon Monkeys.

Moreover, the Devouring Demon Monkeys have an extremely strong sense of sociality and will never allow other star beasts to exist within their territory.

"Currently, all the Demon-Devouring Monkeys have been wiped out."

"So this area is relatively safe for the time being."

Seeing this, Wang Teng wisely took out the star beast's inner core.

"The deeper you go into the secret realm, the more dangerous it becomes."

"If we don't absorb this inner core now to enhance our strength, when will we ever get another chance!" Wang Teng said resolutely, instructing his two underlings to protect him as he absorbed the inner core.

"You two stay here and guard me. No matter what happens, don't disturb me. If there's any danger, wake me up immediately."

……

Lin Yue closed his eyes slightly and brought up the Record of Martial Arts Treasures.

"Currently possesses 28 innate martial bones."

"Please select the tempering area."

Lin Yue did not immediately choose to temper his bones, because tempering his martial bones consumed a great deal of his qi and blood. He had just tempered three vertebrae, which consumed 40% of his qi and blood. If it weren't for the Star Beast Inner Core as a replenishment, Lin Yue would probably have been drained dry.

He has just experienced a major battle, and his vital energy is already somewhat depleted. He must replenish his vital energy before he can focus on tempering his martial bones.

Lin Yue took out the slightly larger inner core.

The inner core was light purple in color, larger than a first-order inner core, and its surface was surrounded by a faint energy halo.

The inner core was warm to the touch, and an energy aura far purer and more violent than that of a first-tier inner core surged into his body through his fingertips.

[Second-Tier Devouring Monkey Inner Core: Contains pure star beast energy, which can quickly replenish blood and qi and enhance martial arts cultivation]

Without the slightest hesitation, he swallowed the inner core instantly.

The moment the inner elixir entered his abdomen, a violent wave of heat swept over his entire body.

It felt as if a raging fire had ignited in his chest, scorching his internal organs, limbs, and even causing a stinging sensation in his meridians.

Lin Yue's face instantly turned bright red, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his muscles trembled slightly.

"A second-tier star beast inner core, so domineering!" he muttered through gritted teeth.

When Lin Yue absorbed the inner core of a first-tier star beast, he only felt his body getting hot and his blood and qi filling up.

Now, the feeling this second-tier star beast inner core gives him is like it's going berserk, trying to break out of his body.

"Now is the time!" Lin Yue's face was flushed, and wisps of blood-red steam rose from his body.

"Tempering Martial Bones!"

A floating skeleton appeared before Lin Yue's eyes, and the five vertebrae that had been tempered earlier were now emitting a faint glow.

Lin Yue's gaze fell on the cervical spine of the skeleton, and he thought to himself:

"I only need the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae to complete the tempering of my entire spine to level one!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Yue chose to temper his fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae.

[Currently strengthening the fifth cervical vertebra, consuming Qi and blood...]

A line of small text appeared on the virtual panel.

At the same time, the second-tier star beast inner core in Lin Yue's body began to decompose rapidly, and the violent energy was continuously extracted and flowed into the bones of the fifth cervical vertebra along the meridians.

……

[Fifth cervical vertebra training complete!]

……

[Currently training the sixth cervical vertebra]

……

[Sixth cervical vertebra training complete!]

With a system notification sound, the tempering of these two cervical vertebrae was completed.

[Benefits: Improves body fluidity and enhances spinal weight-bearing capacity]

[Life energy level has been increased from 15.1 to 15.2!]

The spine, as the most important and strongest bone in the human body, also receives tremendous improvement from tempering!

Simply refining these two vertebrae to the first level gave Lin Yue an additional 0.1 life energy level increase.

It is important to know that every 0.1 increase in life energy level results in a qualitative leap in strength, especially in the Martial Artist realm, where increasing life energy level often requires a lot of time and resources.

"There are still 26 innate martial bones left..."

"With the domineering blood and energy of this second-tier star beast's inner core, it can temper at least 10 more martial bones!" Lin Yue felt the surging blood and energy within his body and made a rough estimate.

Lin Yue's goal was clear: first, to complete the tempering of all the bones in his torso and lay a solid foundation, and then to temper the bones in his limbs, so that his body's strength could be improved in a balanced way.

"There are 24 ribs in the human skeleton."

"Refine!" Lin Yue thought to himself and began to refine his ribs.

On the other side, Wang Teng had just finished absorbing the first-tier star beast inner core, and his face was already flushed red.

"No wonder my cheap old man never let me touch the inner core of the star beast."

"He said he'd at least wait until I reached the Martial Master realm before figuring out this thing. Now it seems Old Deng really fooled me!" Wang Teng gritted his teeth, thinking to himself.

This first-tier star beast inner core was almost exceeding the limits of Wang Teng's body.

"Where is this?" Wang Teng asked, looking at Lin Yue who was standing calmly to the side.

All that could be heard was the cracking of Lin Yue's bones.

"Ancient martial arts!" The term instantly popped into Wang Teng's mind.

Wang Teng had seen ancient martial artists in the Xuantian Martial Hall before, but he had never seen anyone who started bone tempering at the martial artist level!

"Logically speaking, martial artists who practice ancient martial arts should still be at the skin tempering stage in the martial artist realm!"

"What a monstrous cultivation method Lin Yue is using!"

"No wonder even the Miao warriors were no match for him."

When Lin Yue fought against the Miao martial artists, Wang Teng found it strange. His two underlings were sleeping like dead pigs after being hit by the Qi-Stealing Palm, while Lin Yue was completely unharmed.

Wang Teng only had a superficial understanding of ancient martial arts, but he knew the core differences between the two.

Wang Teng had previously considered practicing ancient martial arts, but Wang Daoming forbade it, saying that his family couldn't afford such a huge expenditure.

Training an ancient martial artist of the same level requires roughly five times more resources than training a modern martial artist.

Furthermore, the transmission of ancient martial arts has long been lost in the tide of time. Therefore, modern society is basically full of martial artists who practice modern cultivation methods.

Of those skilled in ancient martial arts, only one in a thousand remains.

"No wonder his fist technique felt so peculiar back on StarCraft..." Wang Teng thought back carefully.

"No wonder StarCraft.net used an A-level contract to recruit him..."

Thinking of this, Wang Teng suddenly felt enlightened.

Two quarters of an hour later, Lin Yue had tempered all 12 of his ribs to the first rank, and the second-rank star beast inner core had been completely absorbed.

"Phew." Lin Yue let out a long breath.

Lin Yue stretched his body, and his bones made a series of crisp "crackling" sounds. The feeling of being full of power made him feel extremely comfortable.

[All 12 ribs have been tempered]

"This second-tier star beast's inner core lasts much longer than I imagined..."

According to previous calculations, the inner core would lose its effectiveness after tempering a maximum of 10 more martial bones.

Lin Yue was somewhat surprised to find that he had already refined 12 of them and still had a slight surplus of inner cores.

Clearing his mind of distractions, a line of small characters slowly appeared before Lin Yue's eyes.

[Effect: Slightly increases trunk defense, enhances chest cavity pressure resistance, and increases blood and qi storage capacity]

"Increase defense..." Lin Yue murmured as he looked at the words.

In martial arts duels, while offensive power is important, defensive power is equally crucial.

If your defense is weak, no matter how high your attack power is, you're just a glass cannon.

Therefore, high-level martial artists, while practicing swordsmanship or fist techniques, will also focus on improving their physical defense.

Only by mastering both offense and defense can one gain a foothold in the brutal competition of martial arts!

[Life energy level has been increased from 15.1 to 15.3!]

"Another 0.2 increase..."

"Although the improvement brought by tempering the ribs is far less obvious than that brought by tempering the spine."

"But it's enough."

"Moreover, the further you go, the harder it is to increase your life energy level."

Lin Yue was very satisfied. Although the 0.2 increase in life energy level didn't seem like much, in terms of efficiency alone, this 0.2 was ridiculously high.

Lin Yue felt great about the fact that he could increase his life energy level by 0.2 in less than an hour.

"Refining these 14 martial bones in a short period of time is already the limit of my current body," Lin Yue thought to himself, feeling the remaining blood and energy in his body.

If he were at home or in the Martial Hall, Lin Yue might choose to push his limits, but now that he's in the secret realm, stability is the priority.

"If we force it to continue, there's a risk of an accident."

Lin Yue put away the panel of the Martial Arts Treasures Record and ate some Star Beast meat to restore his physical strength and energy.

Wang Teng on the other side was the same. This first-tier star beast inner core also brought him a significant boost, increasing his life energy level by a full 0.2.

As night deepened, it became inconvenient for the group to continue their journey.

Outside the secret territory.

"The students of Tianjing are still excellent; they actually killed so many star beasts."

Some people roughly estimated that the Tianjing team killed about a hundred low-level star beasts.

The team from Tianjing Province consisted of over two hundred people, which averaged out to each person killing 0.5 star beasts.

This data is extremely alarming, because most of those present were high school students.

Those high school students who can slay star beasts are all extremely outstanding individuals from their respective regions.

"It's likely that Xu Cheng alone killed more than 40 star beasts..."

"This strength is truly monstrous."

"As expected of the strongest high school student below the martial arts master level in the capital."

Tianjing has no shortage of high school students who have reached the level of martial arts masters.

"Tianjing is known for its high-quality students."

"That's right, plus the education level in Tianjing is excellent."

"Therefore, Tianjing's strength has always been far ahead of the rest of the country."

"Sigh, I'm so envious. I want my child to settle down in Tianjing and receive the best martial arts education in the future," someone sighed.

On the other side, the footage from drone number 27 in area B.

"What the hell is this?" someone exclaimed.

"An entire star beast population wiped out?"

The scene was filled with the corpses of the Demon-Eating Monkeys, dozens of them, and the stench of blood seemed to be able to be smelled even through the screen. Clearly, an entire Star Beast population had been completely wiped out.

"Whose masterpiece is this?" someone asked.

"No, it couldn't have been done by one person alone. It would take at least a team of 10 people to carry out such a large-scale massacre!" someone analyzed.

"Even if there are a hundred or so monkeys, it would be exhausting to chop them down, wouldn't it?"

"There are so many Demon-Eating Monkeys, even I would have a hard time handling them."

"It's such a pity that we didn't record the scene; otherwise, we could have had a real treat," someone said regretfully.

Scenes of massacring star beast populations are usually only seen on the front lines of a battlefield.

Within the secret realm.

After absorbing the entire inner core of the star beast, Wang Teng and his two underlings fell into a deep sleep.

At this moment, a semi-transparent panel slowly appeared in front of Lin Yue's eyes.

Daily Settlement

……