Chapter 33: Growth, Nevermore Forest, Martial Advancement, and Rewards

Chapter 33: Growth, Nevermore Forest, Martial Advancement, and Rewards

Xue Tie provided her his own cultivation method but modified it a bit with the accumulated knowledge he had gotten from his time in Spirit Hall. It naturally seemed to have been a successful change as Yue didn't explode or suffer any injuries though he will need to consult an expert later to see if this can be made better or if there are any potential threats in the new arrangement.

Yue arrives at level 10 quite quickly as she had innate level 9 which is quite impressive as it indicates her high talent. Xue Tie begins theorizing on what spirit beast to get for her as very few monsters that aren't evil/yin attributed actually have powers related to death or undeath. But the known monsters are all beasts far out of his league at 80 thousand years old or higher. Xue Tie can only shake his head and realize that he may have to go to Nevermore Forest. A special marshland like forest. Its not very well known forest as it's smaller than the Sunset Forest but had been used as an ancient burial ground before it was developed into a man made forestand is now home to a powerful yin force that attracts both evil Cultivators to have their base there as well as many evil beasts who simply thrive there. It's not a discussed location because the more well known it becomes, the more evil spirit masters will gather there which is not good for a spirit hall as Slaughter city is a handful enough for them.

Xue Tie spends a day making food and other things for Yu yue to be calm and well fed as he tells her he is going to get her a beast for her first spirit ring. He exits the hidden cave from another exit that leads outside of Slaughter City, then with spirit armor on and wings spread. He heads off. It takes him a few hours to arrive there. He quickly avoids detection of Spirit Hall patrols and heads inside.

The forest has a dark cold fog spread out which makes visibility low but Xue Tie doesnt seem to be affected by this much as his armor somehow clears his view. He treks around through the swamp-like land for a bit before encountering his first beast, an 600 year old Shadow Fist Kangaroo. A beast that uses shadows for maneuvering and attacks. Which is how it stays level with the ground instead of sinking into the Swamp. A factor that surely contributes to it's living conditions here.

It's instincts yell at it to run once Xue Tie is within sight. Trusting those instincts, It begins running away but its speed is too slow. Xue Tie summons his trident and with a flap of his wings. Closes the distance. Smacks it on the neck. Knocking it out.

He grabs the beast and is about to fly off when his trident shakes and seemingly changes its points to face a certain direction on its own. Xue Tie, who is mystified by this, begins walking in that direction. He enters the inner sanctum of the forest when he is attacked by a spike from the ground. He jumps to avoid it but it smacks against the edge of his armor, sending him flying a few feet. What he comes to face is a 20k year old Flaying Blood Scorpion. Xue Tie's trident shakes as he looks at it. He can only assume that his trident wants its first spirit ring now which he doesnt mind as he planned something similar but couldn't find the right beast. Since one so kindly showed up. He would grace it with his power.

"Tres"

He calls out after having tossed the kangaroo to a nearby ditch where he sensed no threat. He activates his 4th spirit ring and establishes a ring on the scorpion. It screeches and spits out acid from its mouth and stinger.

Xue Tie narrowly avoids both these with only a few feathers getting singed (slightly burnt, not singing). Yet he could not dodge the pincers that grabbed a hold of him and gave him an avid bath. Xue Tie releases a pulse of energy to repel the acid and with his first spirit skill. Blows up the pincers. Not so much the pincer is gone but badly burnt is a possibility. This allows him to escape the hold

He continues to evade the many attacks while establishing the trace onto the scorpion. It naturally feels the threat as the rings create a simple guide on the scorpion's weak points but also an internal threat to it's own blood which gets worse as the trace increases.

"Duo"

Xue Tie suddenly is pinned under the beast's stinger. He is slammed in the ground and pushed 10 feet deep from the marshland-like forest that is Nevermore. Xue Tie can only keep blowing up with his first spirit skill. Eventually the bleed proc activates and the scorpion yells in pain but it's still standing and only rage remains after a moment.

"Unos"

Xue Tie tests out his abilities and sends his 2nd spirit skill into the sky and it flows towards the scorpion who tries to avoid it but fails as it continues following him for the full 5 seconds. It flails as it gets burnt, sending acid everywhere but Xue Tie has no time to waste on the beast so he simply finishes it off with the ole reliable.

"Nihil" He thrusts into the air and the 150% boost to his technique, the scorpion explodes and Xue Tie is healed from being rammed earlier by the stinger. After the first usage the scorpion finally understands the threat and releases its Innate ability, the Blood Banshee's cry.

A loud yell rings out, originating from the scorpion. Xue Tie is blasted away with his ears bleeding from the yell as it held a spiritual property as well. His own blood is now riled up and giving the impression it wasn't to explode out like he just did to the scorpion.

"Fuck", Xue Tie curses while naturally realizing the reason for his tridents 'desire'. Xue Tie pushes himself off the ground once more and focuses just like when he was back in his old life. Attempting to fight Mohg while under leveled.

This allows him to achieve the very thing he had been hoping for since he started his training. An epiphany of his spear.

"Return to me, oh blood", Xue Tie stabs out with all his energy. The crystallization of 11 years of training has been released as a massive BANG is heard while the scorpion seems to completely lose its own blood as it rapidly seeps out like a river from the collision point with the scorpion's pincer.

With half of the scorpion's blood outright drained into a nearby crevice to become a pool of blood. This weakens the scorpion so suddenly that it falls over on its belly. Even its stinger has drooped down powerlessly due to it's assisted anemia. Xue Tie quickly transitions and releases a Nihil.

Xue Tie finishes off the beast in a flurry of blood and corrupts its ring, bringing it up from 20k to 24k years old and he absorbs it with no mental tribulation.. Gaining his 6th ring but it's the first for his 2nd martial spirit. He also collects something he didn't expect,a left leg spirit bone at 20k years old from the scorpion. He examines it a bit as the bone is wide at one point but skinny at the other, it could very easily be made into a sword artifact or something similar but Xue Tie has no need for something like that. So he puts it away and focuses on his new ability.

The ability is called Refinery. It's based off of the gland that the scorpion has which allows it to spend multiple days to refine a large amount of its acid into a higher concentration. But it never got a chance to use that as the sudden effect of Blood Drain (name of the first spear technique). The acid was so volatile that any usage of it weakens the scorpion more.

The usage of the skill while cleanly explained to Xue Tie once he absorbs it but it doesn't provide any specification but the most obvious choice to Xue Tie would be blood. Refining a drop of blood to either heal or assist others in Cultivation without using his own cultivation base as the focus unlike when he helps with the bonding circle under Xia Wei.

How an acid concentration ability turned into healing, Xue Tie can only assume it is because it's blood and thus has the focus of vitality in it. Xue Tie shakes his head as he knows that this ability will take a while to get used to and understand all of it's usages or how to effectively maneuver with it as he is a frontline combatant and most often can't afford to run around and heal someone unless he can store it away like a potion but he assumes that it's energy potency decreases over time.

Xue Tie stores the scorpion away along with the bloodpool and bone and grabs the kangaroo which was awake but paralyzed by fear from the spiritual energy explosions going on. It was luckily unharmed except for being slapped with dirt. To avoid problems, Xue Tie simply knocks it out again. He summons his wings and begins his journey back

What Xue Tie didn't know however was that he was being watched from a great distance away. A figure wearing steel armor watched his performance with interest.

"What a cutie" a sultry voice is heard next to the armored figure. Who has also borne witness to his actions.

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There we go, the mc has given his first spirit skill to the trident. And it's a spicy one at that.

I wonder if anyone can figure out the full usage of it like me? hehehe

Also some new guests have arrived, Oh I wonder who they might be?

Also for anyone wondering why he didn't use his wings in the scorpion fight. It's just because he is not used to it. Not like a bird type spirit master is. He has only had his wings for roughly 5 days. There is a learning curve