Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

Xiao Nian sat quietly in the cave for ten whole days.

The concentration of spiritual energy here is almost comparable to that of the mortal spirit star.

Seeing the abundance of spiritual energy, Xiao Nian diligently cultivated.

A single sitting session typically lasts at least eight hours.

When Xiao Nian opened her eyes amidst the colorful light, the spiritual energy in her dantian had already undergone two transformations.

When he reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, the warm, liquid spiritual energy was compressed into fine, hair-like threads that flowed through his meridians like water. For the first time in this aged body, he sensed the existence of divine consciousness.

He could see the patterns on the surface of each stalactite more clearly than with the naked eye.

On the tenth night, he broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining. His spiritual platform opened, and his sea of ​​consciousness began to form.

His divine sense spread outwards like ripples, ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang.

He could perceive every corner of the entire cave, even clearly catching the sound of water seeping from the cracks in the rocks above his head.

At the sixth level of Qi Refining, one can perform Five Elements spells without chanting incantations; a mere thought is all it takes.

At the other end of the cave, Jiang Wangshu sat cross-legged on a rock by the underground river.

Every time I saw Xiao Nian, he was either meditating or meditating.

He initially wanted to chat with Xiao Nian for a while, but seeing that Xiao Nian ignored him, he lost interest.

The next day, Jiang Wangshu also calmed his restless mind and began to sit cross-legged to feel the spiritual energy.

It's been eight days already.

Jiang Wangshu's breathing became extremely slow and long, but the air around her was slowly swirling; it wasn't true qi, but spiritual qi!

Xiao Nian scanned it with his divine sense and nodded in satisfaction.

With the Qi being drawn into his body, Jiang Wangshu's core of true Qi in his dantian was undergoing a qualitative change. His Qi, blood, and consciousness were beginning to merge, and the embryonic core was beginning to take shape.

With just one Foundation Establishment Pill, one can directly enter the Foundation Establishment stage.

A long, drawn-out neighing of a horse came from the spring.

Xiao Nian's divine sense probed out of the cave's fissure, and Hei Yun was standing in that valley. His jet-black body seemed to have grown even larger, and the sound of wind and thunder could be faintly heard as his four hooves pounded the ground, while his mane fluttered in the wind.

In the past few days, whenever Xiao Nian had free time, he would refine some pills for magical beasts to eat, using materials he had collected along the way.

Hei Yun kept consuming pills and absorbing the spiritual energy here.

Its aura was a whole level stronger than it had been ten days ago; it was just a thin veil away from breaking through the threshold of a level three demon beast.

Everything is moving in a positive direction.

On the morning of the tenth day, Xiao Nian was putting a newly refined batch of Qi Gathering Pills into his storage bag when his divine sense suddenly trembled slightly.

He stopped what he was doing and looked in the direction of the cave entrance.

Someone is coming.

Three miles away, the edge of my divine sense detected a clear presence. At least three life forms were moving along the valley toward this place with steady steps, clearly heading towards the cave.

"Jiang Wangshu," Xiao Nian said.

Jiang Wangshu opened her eyes, and the glint in them was much sharper than it had been ten days ago.

Someone has arrived; there are still people here.

Three peak-level martial generals who have reached the Meridian Opening stage! All three of them are.

The two squeezed out of the crevice in the cave one after the other.

Black Cloud stood in the middle of the valley, its ears perked up, its front hooves gently pawing the ground.

Three figures emerged from the bushes at the entrance of the valley.

There were three men, all burly and wearing rough animal skin jackets, their bare chests revealing their strong muscles.

The man at the front was bald, with a fierce glint in his eyes, and his shoulders and back were slightly hunched as he walked.

Behind him on his left was a short, stocky man with hands that reached past his knees and knuckles as thick as iron pincers;

On the right was a tall, thin figure with a withered face and sunken eyes.

The three people stopped at the entrance of the valley, facing Xiao Nian and his group at a distance of thirty feet.

The bald man looked Xiao Nian and Jiang Wangshu up and down, then twitched his lips, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"Have you been here the past few days?"

"So what if it is? So what if it isn't?" Jiang Wangshu gripped the hilt of his sword. As a True Qi Martial King, he had no fear of any Meridian Opening Martial General.

He could sense the vital energy of the three people opposite him; it was as thick as a river, and they were at least in the late stage of the Qi Refining Martial General realm.

In Jiangbei Province, masters of this caliber are all well-known, and yet three of them have appeared at once.

"This place has always been connected to our Ya'an tribe. Did you get our permission to come here?"

"Haha, this place is naturally formed; do you think it will answer if you call out to it?"

"Stop talking nonsense. I said it's ours, so it's ours. Let's see who has the stronger fist."

Without wasting words, the bald man took action.

He roared and his body grew larger, his shoulders became almost a foot wider, his back muscles bulged, his skin turned grayish-brown, his face became distorted, and his jaw protruded forward.

His entire mouth revealed a row of large canine teeth.

He landed on his palms, creating two shallow craters in the ground.

The short, stocky man suddenly spread his arms wide and let out a low growl.

His body morphed rapidly with a roar, his muscles swelled, his bones stretched, and a layer of gray-black markings appeared on his skin. Sharp claws sprang from the tips of his ten fingers, and in just two breaths, he transformed from a human into a half-human, half-leopard monster, hunched over and prone on the ground, his speed increasing dramatically.

The tall, thin man did not shout.

He simply slid off the ground, his body as supple as a vertebrate, the whites of his eyes turned pale yellow, his pupils narrowed to slits, and his breath carried a sour, rotten smell.

The three of them simultaneously transformed into beasts, and led by the bald man, they charged forward in a triangular formation.

Jiang Wangshu drew his sword.

His true qi blade was wrapped in a faint silver-white light, a product of the initial fusion of true qi and spiritual power after he drew qi into his body, making it much sharper than before.

He was the first to encounter the bald giant bear.

The bear's paw collided head-on with the longsword, producing a loud clang like metal striking metal. Jiang Wangshu was forced back three steps by the brute force, his feet carving two deep furrows in the gravel.

The bald man continued his attack, his bear paws striking down in rapid succession, each strike carrying enough force to shatter a rock.

The stocky leopard slashed in from the side, moving so fast that it left only a gray-black afterimage, its claws aimed straight for Jiang Wangshu's lower back.

Jiang Wangshu unleashed a burst of true energy beneath his feet, shifting three feet to the side. The claw blade grazed the fabric of his waist, cutting a gash but failing to injure his flesh.

Jiang Wangshu suddenly felt immense pressure. He was a True Qi Martial King, but the two people in front of him, after transforming into beasts, seemed to have already reached the Martial King level.

"Wang Shu, don't underestimate them. They cultivate the Beast Transformation Technique. They train themselves like demonic beasts, nurturing their beastly nature within their meridians. When it erupts, they can transform into a half-human, half-beast form, doubling their speed and strength."

"But the price is that each transformation into a beast erodes their sanity, and after many times, they won't be able to distinguish between being human and beast. So, you don't need to rush to deal with them; given enough time, they will break down on their own." Xiao Nian, riding on the black cloud, commented on the group.

"You old bastard, why are you so talkative? You think you're the only one with a mouth?" The skinny snake-man saw that Xiao Nian had directly pointed out their weakness. He scurried around to Xiao Nian and Hei Yun's back, opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of clear mucus at Hei Yun's hind leg.

With a leap, Hei Yun flew thirty meters away to avoid the thick phlegm.

"Holy crap, a level three monster?"

The viscous liquid fell to the ground, and white smoke immediately rose from the bluestone surface, hissing and corroding a small pit.