Fellow Daoist, I gladly accept this heaven-defying opportunity.

Anyone else would have turned and run away long ago, but Xu Mofeng smiled instead, his fighting spirit soaring.

After being in the mountains for so long, I've finally run into someone who can fight.

I'll use this long worm to test my skills and see where my limits are.

The only problem is that it carries the virus, so we have to be careful.

The thought had barely formed in his mind when the giant python opened its mouth and spat out another mouthful of venom.

Xu Mofeng moved with lightning speed, dodging the attack. The venom landed, creating another crater.

The giant python seemed to have become addicted to vomiting, spewing mouthful after mouthful incessantly.

Xu Mofeng dodged left and right with agility, and the ground beneath his feet was soon corroded into pits and craters.

"I'd like to see how much you have in stock; you can't just spit indefinitely, can you?"

Xu Mofeng sneered inwardly, steadily dodging and keeping track of the amount of venom his opponent was consuming.

After spitting out two more breaths, the python finally stopped, its forked tongue flicking out, its gaze towards him now filled with more apprehension.

They've run out of ideas.

"It's my turn."

Xu Mofeng chuckled and stomped his right foot on the ground, causing the hard rock to collapse and create a small crater.

Using the force of the recoil, he sprang up like a cannonball, tapping his toes several times on the protrusions of the mountain wall. His body moved like a nimble ape, and in the blink of an eye, he darted to the cave entrance.

"Get down here!"

He reached out and grabbed the python's drooping tail tightly, his ten fingers like hooks, digging directly into the gaps between the snake's scales.

"hiss!"

The python, in pain, hissed and turned to bite.

Xu Mofeng didn't confront it head-on, but instead used the momentum of its descent to pull it down sharply.

With the force of ten thousand pounds and the momentum of the fall, the giant python's massive body was ripped off the mountainside and crashed to the ground with a loud bang, leaving it dazed and confused.

Seize the opportunity and finish it off. Xu Mofeng grabbed the snake's tail, his arm muscles bulging, and swung the entire python around.

boom! boom! boom!

The giant python's body was like a tattered sack, which he smashed against the mountain wall with both hands.

Rock fragments flew everywhere, dust billowed, and the entire mountainside vibrated with a buzzing sound.

After a short while, the strength in his hand completely dissipated, and Xu Mofeng casually tossed the giant python to the ground.

"call--"

He held his knees and caught his breath, sweat beading on his forehead. This swinging motion was more strenuous than carrying a boulder for ten miles, but it was incredibly exhilarating.

Upon closer inspection, the giant, colorful python was found to be completely dead, its scales shattered and mangled.

"What a pity. The scales of the Nine-Headed Serpent could have fetched a good price, but now they're all smashed. It's a huge loss."

Xu Mofeng clicked his tongue, feeling a little sorry for him.

Qi Refining Realm demonic beasts don't have demonic cores, but snake gallbladders are a valuable commodity.

He cut open the snake's belly, took out a fist-sized, emerald-green snake gall, and swallowed it without any further action.

The warm medicinal power instantly dissolved, flowing through the meridians to every part of the body, causing the muscles and bones to make a series of fine cracking sounds, and the strength increased by hundreds of pounds out of nowhere.

"It's alright, not a complete waste of time. Consider it a chance to replenish my energy."

He looked up at the cave halfway up the mountain, his eyes flashing with anticipation.

The cave is guarded by nine-fold demonic pythons, so the treasures inside can't be too bad, right?

With a light touch of his toes, he leaped and tumbled into the cave entrance in a few quick movements.

The cave was not very large. On the stone platform in the very center grew a spiritual herb that emitted a faint white light, with nine leaves that were lush and green.

Xu Mofeng was initially delighted, but his face immediately fell.

"A thousand-year-old nine-leaf clover? That's all it is?"

Nine-leaf clover is mainly used for detoxification. Even if it is a thousand years old, it will only cost two or three hundred primordial spirit stones at most.

If it were a Spirit-Replenishing Herb from the same year, the price would be more than five times higher.

"No wonder it's only a white-level opportunity; all the credit goes to that python, right?"

Complaining is one thing, but we might as well take advantage of it.

He deftly picked the medicinal herb and carefully placed it into the wooden box he carried with him.

As soon as I put it away, a mechanical notification sounded in my mind.

[Congratulations, host, on successfully converting this opportunity. You have received the following reward: Mid-grade Human Rank Body Tempering Pill x1]

Xu Mofeng's eyes lit up instantly.

Mid-grade Human Rank Body Tempering Pill!

With this pill as a foundation, breaking through to the eighth level of Qi Refining is within reach!

Xu Mofeng thoroughly searched the valley again, even cleaning out the broken spirit stones in the crevices of the giant python's nest, making sure that no benefit was left for the newcomers. Only then did he lightly touch the ground with his toes and disappear into the depths of the forest.

Half a day had passed when voices could be heard outside the valley, hurried footsteps, and an irrepressible excitement.

"Remember this well. The two of you are responsible for keeping that giant python at the ninth level of Qi Refining busy. Just focus on attracting its attention and don't fight it head-on. I'll take the opportunity to sneak into the cave and retrieve that thousand-year-old spiritual herb."

The three of them strode into the valley, led by the brocade-robed martial artist whom Xu Mofeng had met once before at the Beixi Market.

At that moment, he was assigning tasks to his two companions with great enthusiasm, looking like he had everything under control and was confident of victory.

"Be careful, everyone. If that giant python spits out a mouthful of venom, it will cause half of your skin to rot. Don't let yourself be caught off guard."

"Once we get that spiritual herb, we'll go back to the market and sell it. Each of us will get at least several hundred spirit stones! If we're lucky, we can easily scrape together over a thousand!"

As the brocade-robed warrior spoke, his eyes shone brightly, and his mouth stretched almost to his ears in a wide grin.

The two companions beside him also had beaming faces, nodding their heads like they were pounding garlic, as if a large sum of spiritual stones had already been stuffed into their pockets.

"Don't worry, young master, there won't be any problems!"

The three men strode into the valley with great pride. The warrior in the brocade robe had just suppressed his smile and was about to shout "Make your move" when he suddenly stared at the mess in the valley and froze on the spot.

"What...what's going on?"

The three of them rushed to the center of the valley and immediately spotted the giant python's corpse on the ground. They reached out and touched it; the blood was still warm, and it had been dead for at most half a day.

The warrior in the brocade robe felt a jolt in his heart. He scrambled up the rock wall, found the cave he remembered, and plunged inside.

Less than half a minute later, he emerged, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, glaring at his two companions, and snarling through gritted teeth, "Damn it! That thousand-year-old spiritual herb has been uprooted!"

The thought of the easy prey slipping away filled the brocade-robed warrior with a surge of anger that rose to the top of his head, causing him to stomp his feet in fury.

"Just one step away! Just one step away! Someone beat me to it! I'm so angry!"

That was a great opportunity worth nearly a thousand spirit stones; to let it slip away like that would break anyone's heart.

"That person can't have gone far! Let's give chase! Maybe we can even get the spirit herb back!"

The warrior in brocade robes gritted his teeth, his face full of resentment, looking like a wild dog whose food had been stolen.

But one of his companions turned pale and pointed at the python's flattened skull, trembling as he said, "Young Master... why don't we just let it go? Look at this python, its skull has been smashed flat. To do that, one's cultivation level must be at least the tenth level of Qi Refining..."

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over his head. The brocade-robed warrior instantly calmed down, a chill running down his spine.

Yup!

A ruthless person who can single-handedly kill a giant python at the ninth level of Qi Refining, dealing with three people at the eighth level of Qi Refining would be as easy as crushing three ants.

He was actually thinking of chasing after them and stealing their things?

It would be a miracle if they didn't turn around and rob the three of them clean.

Thinking of this, the brocade-robed warrior's anger instantly dissipated, replaced by a sense of relief.

Thank goodness, they arrived just a fraction of a second too late.

If they had run into them, it wouldn't be the giant python lying on the ground, frozen solid, but rather the three brothers.

"Then... let's go."

The warrior in the brocade robe swallowed hard, exchanged glances with his two companions, and saw the lingering fear in each other's eyes. The three of them quickened their pace and slunk out of the valley, afraid that if they were a step too slow, the ruthless man would turn around and see them.

Deep in the dense forest on the other side, the roars of tigers rose and fell, shaking the leaves to the ground.

But something about the roar was off; the more you listened, the more it sounded like the wailing of someone being beaten, and towards the end it even had a trembling tone of begging for mercy.

"die."

A cold shout suddenly rang out, followed by a muffled thud, and the forest instantly fell silent again.

Xu Mofeng casually wiped the bloodstains splattered on his face, slowly walked to the huge black tiger corpse, and began to skillfully dispose of the body.

This black tiger is a genuine Qi Refining Ninth Level demon beast, with sharp claws and teeth, and can be considered a local overlord in this mountain forest.

But under Xu Mofeng's hands, he didn't even last the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before he was brutally beaten to death.

With a swift stroke of his blade, scalding tiger blood gushed out.

Xu Mofeng didn't care about etiquette at all, and went straight up to drink it in big gulps. The hot, pungent blood entered his stomach and instantly turned into a warm current that flowed to his limbs and bones.

He then split open the tiger's spine, reached out and grabbed it, forcefully pulling out the entire spine. He then sucked out the marrow from the bone, eating it cleanly and efficiently.

Drinking tiger blood raw and eating tiger marrow raw is extremely domineering.

After eating and drinking his fill, Xu Mofeng didn't rest for a moment. He immediately got into position and began to refine the medicinal power using the "Tiger Subduing Body Tempering Technique".

Half an hour later, he finished his practice and stood up. A series of cracking sounds came from the bones all over his body, and his aura increased again.

"good."

Xu Mofeng felt the surging, immense power within his body and nodded in satisfaction.

With a Body Tempering Pill and the medicinal power of these tiger-like demonic beasts, he not only steadily broke through to the eighth level of Qi Refining, but also made a big leap forward in the "Tiger Subduing Body Tempering Technique," now possessing the power of four tigers.

The combined strength of the four tigers is a staggering 20,000 jin (approximately 10,000 kg).

Even when combined with only the most basic Human-level Dragon Subduing Palm, a single strike can still have the power to shatter mountains and split rocks.

Just like that black tiger at the ninth level of Qi Refining, it couldn't even withstand a few punches from him. In no time, its internal organs were ruptured, and it was beyond dead.

With his current combat strength, he would be a sure winner if he faced a Qi Refining Level 10 opponent head-on.