The pursuit continues, I’m asking for Monthly Tickets—hoping by this time tomorrow, we can hit eight hundred votes. …… “Limb regeneration capability?” Ye Chen frowned. “Judging by the posture and form, it’s almost identical to the true dark creatures in the relic secret realm.

If this place is the secret realm, then this monster before us must be a fire-elemental dark creature.” Whoosh At that moment, the fire monster let out a low growl and charged forward, opening its maw to unleash a pillar of magma. Sparks flew, and the sheer temperature caused the air itself to vaporize. Ye Chen’s expression remained calm.

He retreated slightly, just as he was about to counterattack, when a sudden thought struck him. He channeled the qi energy within his body through his palm and infused it into the blood-red battle saber. The saber immediately emitted a faint glow, humming as if it had become somewhat agitated.

This blood-red saber was a weapon forged by the Green-Talisman people. It contained internal qi-vein circuitry, allowing the infused qi force to spread throughout the blade along the traced paths, significantly increasing its power. Ordinary metal swords and blades, due to their tightly compressed internal structure, could not accommodate the infusion of qi; forcing it in would cause the weapon to shatter.

Seeing that his qi energy could be channeled into the blood-red saber, Ye Chen’s eyes lit up. He shifted his body sideways and swung his blade in a diagonal slash. At the moment of impact, the thin layer of qi clinging to the blade transformed into a streak of blade light that shot out.

Chissk The blade light condensed from qi energy sliced into the fire monster’s chest, tearing open a gaping wound. Just as the fire monster was preparing to heal the injury, the dark qi energy acted like the gaping maw of a demon, furiously devouring the magma covering the creature. Devouring Talent.

Among the myriad talents, this one possessed the most terrifying destructive power. Anything whose concentration was lower than Ye Chen’s qi energy could be crushed into dust, transforming into the most primal form of energy. “Roar…” The fire monster let out a low roar, ignoring the wound on its body, and lunged at Ye Chen.

Its eyes were scarlet, burning with fire. Ye Chen was in no panic. He executed the Sky-Soaring Movement technique, his steps shifting unpredictably.

With a flicker of movement, he appeared at the monster’s flank and swung the saber infused with qi, aiming for its head. The fire monster twisted its body but could not evade the blow. Seeing it was about to be struck, it suddenly roared, its eyes blazing with intense red light.

The magma across its body churned violently, and its form swelled slightly—it was preparing to self-detonate. Ye Chen was slightly alarmed, knitting his brows. He quickly retreated several steps.

This fire monster had reached at least the Second Tier; a self-detonation would possess terrifying destructive power, comparable to the full-force strike of a Third Tier monster. Just then— “Roar!” The fire monster suddenly let out an enraged bellow, violently pounding its chest. The red light in its eyes flickered erratically, dimming and brightening.

A moment later, it let out a mournful cry and collapsed onto the ground, melting away like pus, further superheating the scorched earth beneath it. Ye Chen paused for a moment, then quickly walked over. He reached out a hand, and a surge of qi energy floated up from the molten mass, flowing into his body through his palm.

Ye Chen immediately felt that the qi energy within him had actually increased slightly. “Others consume qi energy when killing monsters and need to consume Qi Essence Pills to replenish it. Not only did I not consume any, but I actually increased mine?” Ye Chen was momentarily stunned, then a flash of realization crossed his mind, and he understood.

“It must be that the qi energy pulverized the concentrated magma inside the fire monster, transforming the fire-attributed qi force within the magma into the most primal Life Qi, which was then devoured by my qi energy. That’s why I didn’t lose any, and in fact, gained power.” Dark creatures were divided into seven elements, each distinct. If Ye Chen possessed the Metal Talent, he would be unable to absorb the fire-attributed Life Qi from this fire monster; opposing elements would lead to an explosion and death if absorption were forced.

However, the Devouring Attribute allowed him to shatter the monster’s fire element, reducing it to primal Life Qi which he could easily absorb and refine. Ye Chen walked over and saw that the fire monster had dissolved into a pool of magma, flowing down into the fissures of the scorched earth. Two objects were left at the spot: a fire-red, rhomboid stone the size of a fist, and a red bead.

Ye Chen made a grasping motion with his palm, and the two items flew towards him. He blocked them with his saber, letting them fall onto the blade. He tentatively touched the fire-red stone; it was scalding hot.

“This bead is the energy bead found in the head of every dark creature; consuming it can increase qi energy. Is this stone perhaps the fire monster’s heart?” Ye Chen gazed at the fire-red stone. In his previous life, he had seen a similar stone at the Global Virtual United Base City auction.

It was said to be the heart of a dark creature; if one infused qi energy to activate the energy within, it would detonate. Every dark creature, when facing a powerful enemy, would detonate the heart within its body to inflict heavy damage on the opponent, while simultaneously destroying the energy bead in its head to ensure that those who hunted it gained nothing, rendering their efforts in vain—a truly vexing prospect. However, just as this fire monster was about to self-destruct, the Devouring Qi had enveloped its heart.

Under the force of consumption, the violent energy within was quelled, and the connection between the fire-red stone and the magma body was severed—it was tantamount to surgically removing its heart. Consequently, this fire monster was terminated before it even had a chance to self-detonate. Ye Chen squeezed his palm, enveloping the fire-red bead with his qi energy.

Dark qi shot out from his fingertips, wrapping around the bead. A moment later, with a pop, the bead shattered into crystalline light and vanished. The fire qi contained within was crushed into non-attributed, primal Life Qi, which he easily absorbed, pushing the qi energy in his body to soar to greater heights, bringing him closer to the Second Tier.

Ye Chen glanced at the fire-red stone, his eyes flashing. He stored it in his Rune Space, handing it over to the old Green-Talisman man for safekeeping. If this thing detonated, even he would have to retreat three steps.

It could be useful in future monster hunts. Ye Chen did not notice that after absorbing the energy from the bead, a tiny red dot had appeared in the pupil of his left eye. “Roar!” At that moment, another monster, entirely engulfed in flames and bearing a similar appearance to the previous one, crawled out of a magma pool not far away.

It roared once and charged over, opening its mouth to spew a stream of magma. Ye Chen narrowly dodged it. Seeing this monster, he was not alarmed but delighted.

He charged forward, raising his battle saber, channeling qi energy into it until the blade hummed loudly. He swung, and a streak of dark blade light shot out from the tip. Through the saber’s concentration, the sharpness of this qi blade light was identical to the weapon itself.

It easily pierced the Second Tier fire monster, severing its hindquarters. Before the limbs could regenerate, Ye Chen’s eyes narrowed, and he moved with the swiftness of a cheetah. The saber in his hand chopped diagonally, and qi energy streamed from the blade tip into the fire monster’s body, rapidly enveloping its heart region.

“Hmm?” Ye Chen’s brow suddenly furrowed. A stream of fire qi erupted from within the fire monster, like a volcanic explosion, colliding towards him. Since this creature had no internal meridians, there was no concern about excessive force destroying its internal structure; as long as the heart remained intact, the limbs could continuously regenerate.

“Condense,” Ye Chen’s eyes turned cold. The dark qi suddenly coalesced into a blade light, thin as a cicada’s wing, stabbing straight forward. Chissk The surging torrent of fire qi was split down the middle like a long piece of cloth.

The blade light pierced through unimpeded, reaching the vicinity of the heart, where it instantly disintegrated, transforming into countless strands of qi that formed a black mist, enveloping the fire-red rhomboid stone. “Roar!” The fire monster roared, the red light in its eyes gradually dimming. Its body crashed down, turning into a tide of molten fire that swept outward.

Ye Chen darted back several yards. Only after the magma flowed into the fissures of the scorched earth did he walk forward. With a casual gesture, a surge of dark qi floated up from the ground and flowed into his body, making him even stronger than before.

Ye Chen reached out and collected the energy bead and the fire-red stone from the ground. He stored the stone in the Rune Space, and devoured and refined the bead, bringing the internal qi force to a saturated state. “I’ve hit the bottleneck.” Ye Chen’s eyes brightened.

Seeing no more fire monsters emerging from the surroundings, he opened the Rune Space and slipped inside, shrinking his opening down to the size of a fist. “Boss?” Little Black raised his head suspiciously. Ye Chen said nothing.

He found a spot and sat down cross-legged, then took a deep breath, guiding the qi energy within him to flow into the Qi Sea located in his lower abdomen. Here, the main qi vortex spun rapidly like a whirlpool, drawing in the incoming qi energy, compressing it once, and then releasing it. The qi energy circulated within his body, compressed repeatedly by the main vortex, constantly being refined until it became denser.

This was an exceedingly time-consuming task, but Ye Chen was in no hurry, slowly tempering his core. Three days later. “Buzz.” Ye Chen felt a ringing in his mind.

The muscles throughout his body twitched, his skin trembled subtly, and his pores contracted erratically. A wisp of white vapor slowly rose from the top of his head. “Hoo.” Ye Chen opened his eyes.

He exhaled lightly; his gaze was bright and clear. He clenched his fist slightly—the qi energy within him was far more refined. If his previous qi energy was like wood, his current qi energy was like steel, its power increased severalfold.

“The qi energy has reached the Second Tier of the Qi Force Practitioner realm!” A smile touched Ye Chen’s lips. This breakthrough in qi energy triggered a physical transformation, raising him to Level 150, vastly increasing his combat power. The global standard for measuring levels was primarily based on combat power.

Cultivating the inner qi force, and cultivating the outer blood. The combination of the two, plus martial arts skill, determined the final comprehensive combat index. For example, a person whose combat skill reached the Scarlet Rank Warrior level could exert 10 units of combat power on their own.

Upon reaching Level 100 (the power of 1,000 men), this person could then exert 10,000 units of combat power. Conversely, someone whose combat skill was only at an ordinary level, capable of exerting 5 units of combat power single-handedly, would need to reach Level 200 to exert 10,000 units of combat power. It was similar to how a Tai Chi Grandmaster with only 100 pounds of strength could fight a strongman with 200 pounds of strength to a draw.