Currently, the techniques he possessed—the auxiliary spirit plant techniques like the Spirit Rain Technique and Ear-Gathering Technique—had all been cultivated to the highest realm.
Due to its incompleteness, the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique had only been cultivated to the Eighth Layer. The same was true for the Turtle Breath Technique; having reached the Fifth Layer, it could advance no further.
As for his only offensive method, it was solely the Fire Snake Technique he had just displayed.
Yet that had also been cultivated to the great perfection realm.
Therefore, if Ye Hao wanted to add other offensive means to his repertoire, he could only learn other techniques.
“What is that scent? It’s so fragrant.”
Just as Ye Hao was preparing to leave, he suddenly caught a whiff of an exotic fragrance that made him instantly freeze in his tracks. Following the scent forward, he soon entered a mountain valley.
This fragrance was several times richer than that of the Wood Spirit Fruit he had eaten before. At a glance, it was clearly a ranked treasure, and having come across it, there was naturally no way he would pass it up.
He immediately followed it, and before long, spotted the source of the fragrance upon a cliff face in the valley.
“It’s actually Dew Condensation Grass.”
“And it’s already borne fruit.”
Ye Hao’s eyes lit up.
The Dew Condensation Grass was a diminutive plant, no taller than two palms.
Its stem was a translucent verdant green, clinging tightly between the crevices of the rock face. Its root system, like fine silver whiskers, gripped the rock fissures tenaciously, with almost no soil visible.
The leaves were long and narrow, their edges bearing faint silver-white patterns.
At its tip grew a fruit merely the size of a thumb.
Presently, it was already ripe, crystal clear and exuding a delicate fragrance.
Evidently, the source of that earlier aroma was this very ripe fruit.
Ye Hao’s luck was exceptionally good to happen upon this fruit right as it ripened.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to discover the Dew Condensation Grass rooted within the cliff.
“Seems I can give it a try.”
Looking at the Dew Condensation Fruit on the cliff, Ye Hao prepared to use the Ear-Gathering Technique.
A faint silver-white glow condensed at his fingertips as his spiritual energy transformed into countless slender spirit threads that spread outward, gently coiling around the fruit’s stem.
With a slight tug of the spirit threads, the fruit was severed in an instant and tumbled downward. Ye Hao leaped quickly, catching the Dew Condensation Fruit from below.
After maturing, Dew Condensation Grass bore a single Dew Condensation Fruit only once every five years.
And that was solely through absorbing the essence of heaven and earth.
Its grade was far higher than the Wood Spirit Fruit Ye Hao had eaten previously, reaching First-Tier high-grade—an exceptionally rare natural treasure.
Consuming it could equate to more than half a month of painstaking cultivation for a Qi Refinement cultivator.
Ye Hao hurriedly stored it into his system space to prevent its spiritual energy from leaking and its medicinal potency from dissipating.
Just as Ye Hao prepared to leave, a figure suddenly appeared and blocked his path.
“Halt! Hand over the natural treasure you just stashed away!”
Zhou Ru’s brows furrowed tightly. With a swish, he drew the sword at his waist, pointing it firmly at Ye Hao before him.
He, too, had caught a whiff of an unusual fragrance earlier, but upon arriving here, it had abruptly vanished.
And Ye Hao was the only person present.
Evidently, the natural treasure must have been collected by the youth in front of him.
“Why should I? I found it first.”
Ye Hao briefly gauged the other’s aura. The man had reached Fourth-Layer Qi Refinement, yet Ye Hao did not fear him in the slightest; after all, having mastered the Fire Snake Technique to the great perfection realm, he could easily slay the person before him.
He was merely furious; he had clearly discovered it first.
Yet the man before him demanded he hand it over with such righteous indignation.
“Hmph, in that case, I’ll take it myself.”
Zhou Ru snorted coldly. The longsword in his hand quivered violently like a venomous viper, lunging viciously toward Ye Hao’s chest; he had clearly been moved to kill.
That exotic fragrance from earlier was enough to prove that the natural treasure’s grade was not low.
If he could obtain it, it would be enough to allow his realm to break through to Fifth-Layer Qi Refinement.
He was still young; one step ahead meant staying ahead every step of the way. Perhaps he could use this to become an outer disciple even sooner.
Besides, the boy was merely a Second-Layer Qi Refinement handyman—it wasn’t as if he had never killed such a handyman disciple before.
Consequently, he had no psychological burden whatsoever.
“To think you would harbor murderous intent over a single natural treasure.”
Ye Hao’s brow furrowed sharply, and he retreated frantically.
He had not expected that merely because he refused to produce the natural treasure, the man before him would seek to murder him for it.
The longsword in Zhou Ru’s hand darted in and out relentlessly, sealing off all of Ye Hao’s retreat paths.
Upon hearing Ye Hao’s words, Zhou Ru’s face grew even more disdainful. “Treasures belong to the capable.”
“Right now, you can only blame your own weakness.”
Ye Hao’s expression turned cold. “In other words, if I kill you, it’s also because your strength is too weak?”
Ye Hao recalled that this was not the Earth of his previous life, but an otherworldly realm; murdering others to seize their treasures was by no means an uncommon occurrence.
It was merely that he had remained within the Baiyun Sect previously, where infighting was prohibited.
He had never witnessed such sordid affairs.
Now that he had left the Baiyun Sect and arrived at this deserted, remote spot in the back mountain, someone had discovered he had obtained an extraordinary treasure.
Naturally, ill intentions had sprouted in another’s mind.
Since that was the case, he would hold back no longer.
In the next second, Ye Hao took a large step backward.
“Go!”
Ye Hao thrust his right palm forward forcefully.
Tongues of flame spewed forth from his palm.
The flames twisted ceaselessly, then rapidly lengthened into a fiery serpent roughly a zhang long.
Lifelike, it seemed just like a living creature.
It lunged violently toward Zhou Ru not far away.
“Ah, a great perfection technique!”
“How is this possible?!”
Seeing this terrifying fire snake, a look of dread appeared on Zhou Ru’s face.
He scrambled to dodge.
Just as he thought he had evaded it, the lifelike fire snake reversed its course directly.
It pounced straight toward his chest.
And then detonated violently.
Flesh and blood splattered in all directions, dyeing the surrounding trees crimson.
“Sure enough, a great perfection Fire Snake Technique is simply a dimensional strike against a cultivator who’s only at Fourth-Layer Qi Refinement.”
Looking at his proud handiwork on the ground, Ye Hao could not help but feel a bit disgusted.
Fortunately, he had dodged quickly just now; otherwise, he would have been tainted by this foul gore.
Yet regarding killing someone, Ye Hao did not seem to feel overly affected.
He felt merely a slight nausea, but quickly returned to normal.
Ye Hao could tell that Zhou Ru before him, like himself, was merely a handyman disciple.
Although the other’s cultivation was higher than his own, his grasp of techniques was rudimentary at best.
Even that basic sword technique from earlier had probably only reached the minor accomplishment realm; it could not possibly withstand his Fire Snake Technique, which had already attained the great perfection realm.
In truth, this was quite normal; after all, for handyman disciples wishing to break through realms and advance to outer disciples, the vast majority of their time would be spent on cultivation.
Few would focus on techniques.
After all, the spirit roots of handyman disciples were poor, and only by dedicating more time to cultivating could they break through.
Only after becoming outer disciples would they have more time to study techniques, at which point their combat prowess would multiply.
Rate on N.U.
