Having stayed on the Beast Mountain for six days, Austin obtained more and more beast cores, useful
organs, and monster skins.
He had gathered the beast cores in his space ring—five beast cores of level two monster beasts, three
beast cores of level one demonic beasts and two level one diabolic beasts. Actually he had killed more
than ten level one monster beasts.
Beside the beast cores, there were also a great deal of dead bodies and useful organs of demonic
beasts, diabolic beasts and monster beasts. The Sun Sect preferred not to waste any part of a kill.
They didn't hunt for sport—on the contrary, they could use every part of anything they killed.
And of all the demonic beasts, diabolic beasts and monster beasts, more than one part was useful. The
fur could be used to make armors. As they were light, soft and tough enough, the armors fashioned
from these materials were not only comfortable and good-looking, but also powerfully defensive. It was
even better than ordinary chain armor.
Weapon refiners could add some sharp paws or horns of diabolic beasts to the weapon they were
making by special means. In this way the power of the weapon could be improved greatly. And any way
you could improve a weapon was highly valuable. A weapon was just a weapon, but one enhanced
with diabolic power would be a sought-after weapon indeed.
And the flesh of the beast was also of great use!
Especially that of demonic beasts and diabolic beasts. They could cultivate themselves innately and
their flesh contained plenty of natural energy, which was great beneficial to humans after humans
cooked and ate it. It wasn't particularly delicious, but then nothing good for you ever was. And Austin
had enough to last him quite a while.
Some beast parts had specific properties. For example, the gall of the golden crown snake could be
used as medicine and an antidote for poisons of all kinds!
The bones of a red fire tiger could be cooked in water. After that the water could be used in a bath to
enhance a warrior's skin, flesh, tendons and bones.
As for herbs, there weren't many, since the Beast Mountain was a location for low level disciples to test
their strength.
Furthermore, there were always some people from the sect patrolling the area. Once they found even
the weakest herbs, they would harvest them for the high level disciples.
After all, the hopes of the sect were pinned on the high level disciples only. The numerous low level
disciples were still disposable. They were just cheap labors, until they proved themselves to be
otherwise.
Of course there was something exceptional here. There would be precious herbs that were overlooked
by the sect and some low level disciples were lucky enough to find them first.
There was an outer disciple who had found an earth spirit herb. After he ate it, his cultivation base
improved greatly and soon he was upgraded to an inner disciple.
But this was really rare.
Austin had been on the periphery of Beast Mountain. Most of the herbs he found were of lower quality
and had only grown for fewer years, such as ground bone grass and little magic flowers, which only
grew for one or two years. These herbs were only worth one vital energy crystal for four or five pieces,
and that's when the market value was good. If there were too many of them, only dozens of them were
worth one vital energy crystal.
Austin usually didn't pick these herbs, but looked for some herbs of better quality.
For example, vital energy wort, sapphire ear grass of six years or above was worth five vital energy
crystals for one piece and Austin would spend some time gathering those.
But all in all, Austin didn't get many herbs this time.
It was reasonable for the low level disciples to focus on picking herbs. Facing those level two beasts,
they were actually in danger and could even die if they were not careful enough.
And it was much safer to pick herbs.
Compared to suffering terrible injuries or even death fighting against the powerful beasts, they
preferred to pick flowers and fruit.
Especially since there were some disciples without a good cultivation base mingling here in the Beast
Mountain. They planned to search for the herbs and avoid mixing it up with the beasts.
They could pick up a lot of herbs, wort, fruits and the like. If they were lucky enough to find some
precious herbs, they would get wealthy quite quickly.
It was the eighth day of Austin's stay on Beast Mountain. When he was passing a swamp in the forest,
he suddenly found that there was a pair of huge eyes in the swamp staring at him deeply and coldly.
It was a level two monster beast! A giant rock lizard!
This was a monster beast famous for its powerful defenses. Most of its body was covered by scales as
hard as granite. Even the strongest attacks would feel like a tickle to it.
There were lower fangs as sharp as saws in its fierce-looking mouth, protruding over its upper lip. Its
tail was also tough and could move swiftly like a whip made of steel. The tail was powerful enough to
demolish a tree.
This was a really tough monster beast. It was much more difficult to be defeated than other demonic
beasts and diabolic beasts of the same level, especially for its Achillean defense.
Since Austin came for practical combats and fighting skills to enhance his strength, he, of course,
would not hide himself from the giant rock lizard. His sword was taken out of the space ring and
whipped out at once. He pointed it at the giant rock lizard.
The lizard had thought about swallowing the youngster as a nice lunch, seeing this fleshy being
invading his home. But now he saw him making aggressive actions, and he quickly became furious.
Soon Austin and the giant rock lizard started fighting. The huge body of the lizard shook the whole
forest and kicked up dust, highlighted by the sunbeams breaking through the trees.
With the Wind-commanding Skills, Austin moved left and right swiftly, like a ghost in face of the lizard's
tempestuous attack.
Austin fought against this beast for four hours. Having the Wind-commanding Skill, Austin could easily
avoid being hurt by it.
But Austin could not hurt the lizard, either. He used his Cloud Swordsmanship to try and cut the dense
scales on its back now and then.
But it didn't seem to do much to the monster. And when he struck, it made a loud sound, as if he were
striking tough rocks. What was more amazing was that every hit produced a shower of sparks.
Austin was surprised at the extremely powerful defense. He felt he could do nothing to fight against
such an opponent, as if he was a rat dragging a huge egg—the egg was just in front of him but the rat
did not know how to eat it.
Austin knew the creature's weak spot was under its body. It was the softest part of the thing, its lower
abdomen.
But the giant rock lizard was lying on the ground on its abdomen. There was no way to get to it, no way
to fit his sword under there. It knew where its weakest areas were, and took steps to protect them.
Four hours later, both Austin and the lizard were exhausted.
Austin retreated into the forest, a fair distance away from where they fought. After he recovered, Austin
went to find the giant rock lizard and fought against it again. With his extremely sharp spiritual sense,
Austin could find it easily.
This went on for five or six times. They'd fight, get exhausted, rest and fight again. It was a rare
opportunity to have such a powerful opponent to fight against. Of course, Austin would not let it go
easily. After all, the giant rock lizard could not hurt Austin.
During this battle, Austin's Cloud Swordsmanship was greatly improved after Austin used it time and
again.
Although he was only at the fourth level of the Energy Gathering Realm, Austin could tell the
swordsmanship was not much weaker than when he practiced at the ninth level before his coma.
Except that the vital energy of the sword was not as strong as it was previously. But he had a better
understanding of swordsmanship, including the speed and the angles of using the sword than he had
before.
Austin thought it might be because of his powerful spiritual sense, which was certainly a great help to
learn martial art skills.
In the end, the giant rock lizard was fed up with fighting against Austin. The more it fought, the more it
was frightened.
It had not so much as even touched the clothes of the young man after fighting against him for such a
long time, not to mention to hurt him. He just wasn't fast enough to touch this blur of blade and speed.
But it had been cut by the youngster thousands of times.
Although its foe was too weak to hurt it badly, it cost the giant rock lizard a lot of strength and energy to
fight with the young man. If the fight continued, he could very likely tire and die. Realizing that, the
lizard turned its tail and ran, trying to escape the young disciple.
Austin laughed happily, and of course he did not want to let the lizard go so easily. He smiled broadly
and gave chase.
They still fought against each other while the lizard was trying to escape. His deadly tail swept to and
fro, missing Austin but splintering the huge trees on either side of them. Austin just dodged the attacks
easily, but there was one close call where the tail smashed into a tree where he had previously been
standing.
The fight was massive and dust rose to obscure their fight. Bunches of birds were still flapping,
scattering in all directions, and some weak beasts did their best to escape. The world shook from their
battle, just like in an earthquake.
Soon, the forest drew the attention of all the disciples and other beasts.
All of them started thinking, 'Wow! What an amazing guy, fighting against a beast like that!'
In the end, the giant rock lizard ran to a lake and dashed into it without hesitation. The lake was
disrupted when the lizard hit it. But soon enough the ripples faded, and there was no trace of the
monster. The fight ended with the lizard getting away. The lake was placid once more.
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