After a moment of silence, Yi Han abruptly broke the tense standoff, a smile appearing on his face as he cupped his fist in greeting and said:
“Brother Wang, it's still just a guess whether this demonic beast is the material needed for the mission.
You and I have both suffered considerable physical exhaustion and injuries from this battle.
If someone with malicious intentions happens to pass by at this moment, or if we encounter other demonic beasts, I fear we might truly die here.
In my opinion, why don't we first browse through this booklet to see if this beast is needed for the mission and how to obtain its essence blood? What do you think?”
Wang Chong nodded slightly, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth as he replied, “Brother Yi’s words are exactly what I had in mind.”
Yi Han's smile remained unchanged as he reached into his bosom, took out the booklet, his movements casual, while his eyes remained cautiously fixed on Wang Chong.
Wang Chong also took out his booklet, his hand gripping the knife handle as he began to flip through the pages.
This 'Resource Compendium' had a hundred pages, detailing first to second-order demonic beasts and spiritual herbs, complete with simple illustrations.
Yi Han flipped through the pages quickly, but after a long time, he still hadn't found any record of the Flame-Armored Bear, and couldn't help but frown inwardly:
“Could it be that we're facing off so intensely, only for this bear to not even qualify as a first-order demonic beast?”
Suppressing his doubts, Yi Han sped up his search.
“Purple Scale Python?” After flipping through more than sixty pages, Yi Han still hadn't found any trace of the Flame-Armored Bear, but instead saw the Purple Scale Python he had just fought, his gaze pausing involuntarily.
After reading a bit, Yi Han was slightly shocked: “A first-order demonic beast, low-grade?”
With this surprise, he flipped a few more pages and finally found the record of the Flame-Armored Bear.
At this sight, Yi Han was dumbfounded, exclaiming inwardly, “A first-order demonic beast, the lowest grade!”
“In other words, two low-grade beasts almost cost Wang Chong and me our lives?”
Yi Han's heart was filled with bitterness, ultimately because his own strength was too weak.
With a slight sigh, Yi Han raised his eyes to look at Wang Chong, only to see the other party also looking over with a strange expression.
Yi Han acted as if he didn't notice, and directly flipped the booklet from back to front, searching for the method to extract the demonic beast's essence blood.
Sure enough, the booklet contained a small spell that could be used to extract the essence blood of demonic beasts.
It also noted that small jade bottles or demonic beast hides could be used as containers for the essence blood.
“I don't have a small jade bottle, so it seems I can only cut off the bear's skin to wrap it.” Yi Han frowned slightly, thinking to himself.
After a slight hesitation, Yi Han memorized the hundred-odd words of the essence blood extraction technique and began to repeatedly ponder and integrate them in his mind.
This spell wasn't difficult; as long as one entered the Qi Refining stage and wasn't foolish, they could quickly go from novice to expert.
Yi Han put away the booklet, a faint smile appearing on his face:
“Brother Wang, I didn't expect two low-grade first-order demonic beasts to be so powerful.
But this Flame-Armored Bear does meet the mission requirements; I wonder what your plan is?”
Wang Chong hid the booklet in his bosom, saying with a smile that didn't reach his eyes:
“Brother Yi, there's only one portion of this essence blood material; I presume you're unwilling to give it up.
I have a suggestion that will ensure neither of us suffers a loss.”
“Oh?” Yi Han sneered inwardly, but on his face, he wore an expression of pleasant surprise, “I wonder what brilliant idea you have? Time is pressing, so I hope you won't hide anything.”
A trace of cunning flashed across the corner of Wang Chong's eyes, but his face was still smiling as he said:
“Naturally, this essence blood material isn't enough for both of us to share.
How about this: the Flame-Armored Bear is just the lowest-grade demonic beast, so its essence blood probably isn't very high-quality.
Let's leave this essence blood with me for now, and we'll continue to cooperate. Next time we kill a demonic beast, Brother Yi gets to choose first; I won't say a word.”
“Hehe, Brother Wang, you have a good plan; even Elder Qingmu would be amazed.” Yi Han couldn't help but sneer.
“Since it was your idea, Brother Wang, it would be more appropriate for me to bear the responsibility of safekeeping the essence blood.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yi Han's cold gaze met Wang Chong's again, and the air seemed to fill with gunpowder once more.
“Alright.” Yi Han was unwilling to delay any longer; his tone softened a bit as he suggested:
“I think we should try to split this essence blood, half for each of us.
After cooperating to kill demonic beasts, we'll divide everything equally again.
We're in a dangerous situation, so let's not argue over such trivial matters.”
“Very well.” Wang Chong nodded in agreement, his expression returning to calm.
Without hesitation, Yi Han warily watched Wang Chong as they cut a piece of hide from the Flame-Armored Bear's corpse.
Then, relying on the little bit of magic power remaining in his dantian, he tried to cast the small spell.
After several attempts, he finally extracted a small, finger-sized drop of red blood from the bear's head, emitting a faint glow.
Yi Han sensed a pure energy from this blood bead, and he clicked his tongue inwardly.
He held his breath and cautiously tried to divide it.
After a moment, Yi Han successfully divided half of the essence blood, wrapped it in the bear hide, and carefully put it away.
Yi Han also cut off a large piece of meat from the bear, saying:
“Brother Wang, let's find a safe place, recover our strength first, and then discuss hunting demonic beasts.”
As he spoke, he put the beast meat to his mouth and took a big bite, chewing with a grimace, and swallowing with a contorted face.
After this battle, Yi Han was exhausted, and the hunger he hadn't felt in nearly a month engulfed him like a surging tide.
Wang Chong was insidious and ruthless, and cooperating with him was undoubtedly like seeking a tiger's skin. Yi Han had to recover his strength as soon as possible.
Wang Chong also cut off some meat and swallowed it, then nodded in agreement.
Yi Han didn't waste any words, maintaining a guarded distance from him as they cautiously left the valley, sneaking through the forest on tiptoe.
As they moved, Yi Han continued to eat the demonic beast meat.
Unexpectedly, after a few bites of the beast meat, a warm current quickly spread throughout his limbs, and his strength rapidly recovered.
In an instant, he remembered the beast meat that Senior Brother Gu had given him and Xiao Linzi when he captured them, which had the same magical effect, and he suddenly understood.
Yi Han couldn't help but feel resentment in his heart:
“They really are treating us like slaves, making us work for those yellow-robed disciples! If I ever become strong enough, I will tear these people into pieces!”
However, Yi Han was well aware that his current strength was weak and he was in a dangerous situation, so he was just complaining in his heart.
They continued to move forward, replenishing their water at a water source, and finally found a fairly spacious cave.
As soon as they entered the cave, Yi Han didn't waste any words, maintaining a distance of three zhang from Wang Chong, quickly sitting cross-legged and focusing his mind to circulate the Qi Refining Technique to recover his magic power.
Yi Han knew that in this situation, the slightest slackness could lead to his death at the other party's hands.
At the moment he closed his eyes, Yi Han caught a glimpse of Wang Chong also beginning to breathe in and out.
Soon after, Yi Han's heart was in turmoil.
He was horrified to discover that his meridians and dantian had actually shrunk to be slightly weaker than normal.
What exactly was going on?!
In shock and doubt, Yi Han quickly examined himself internally.
“Hmm?” Just then, he keenly sensed Wang Chong's divine sense probing over like a thread.
Yi Han's heart tightened, not daring to expose his current abnormality, and immediately restrained his mind, pretending to be as before, quietly focusing on his cultivation.
At the same time, he also quietly released his divine sense to probe whether Wang Chong had any unusual behavior.
He saw that the other party's expression was calm, and the aura around him was stable, without the slightest abnormality.
Yi Han speculated inwardly whether Wang Chong's condition was the same as his own, but he couldn't judge for the moment.
But he knew in his heart that even if he had many doubts in his mind, he must not ask the other party even half a question.
He had originally thought that the problem with the meridians was only due to the fading of the medicinal effect of that pill.
The current situation made him even more puzzled.
But he was very sure that he had not made any mistakes when practicing the cultivation technique.
“I'll ask Chu Yao'er about this later; now is not the time to dwell on it. I must seize the time to recover my magic power, otherwise it would be bad if Wang Chong recovers first.”
Yi Han suppressed the doubts in his heart and devoted himself to cultivation without distraction.
