Chapter 23

Wei Shizhe lay on his back on the ground, feeling extremely refreshed. The sensation of his fists striking flesh was truly delightful; the body was the most powerful weapon.

Taking advantage of the moment, he devoured the flesh of a rat demon, absorbing its essence, and then arched his back to collide with a tree, chiseling out acupoints and refining his body. When he was tired, he took a nap; when he was hungry, he ate another one. It took him a day and a night to finish four rat demons, three large and one small. The acupoint on his back, the Shen Dao point, loosened a bit more. To his pleasant surprise, the largest rat demon turned out to be of the Earth element, its body full of Earth energy, which completely filled the Lingtai acupoint.

Counting on his fingers, he had already eaten nine rat demons. The Jinwen rats were mostly of the Wood and Earth elements, with fewer of the Metal and Fire elements, and he hadn't encountered any of the Water element yet.

Wei Shizhe also gained some insights. The method described in the tattered scroll divided the refinement of the body into two stages. The first stage involved consuming moonlight and colliding with trees to refine the acupoints and meridians. The second stage involved converting the essence of moonlight into the Five Elements' essence, storing it in the acquired acupoints. As he sat, stood, or walked, the essence in the acupoints continuously overflowed, refining the tendons, bones, and flesh. To refine the acupoints and meridians, any type of essence from heaven and earth or moonlight could be used. To refine the tendons, bones, and flesh, it had to be Earth energy that matched the body. Each additional acquired acupoint made the body's essence deeper and the refinement process faster.

Understanding the direction of cultivation was like a ray of light in the darkness. Although it was still distant, at least his resolve was firm and unshaken.

He was about to bury the remaining heads, limbs, and bones in a pit when Wei Shizhe felt he had overlooked something. He remembered the old bear in Black Pine Valley, how Deng Shouyi had cut open the bear's belly, his face showing joy. When he met Qi Du in Kunlun Mountain, the python he killed had its head fall to the ground, and its belly was split in two. Could it be that the bellies of these demons contained the legendary demon core? But after skinning so many Jinwen rats, he found only internal organs and clotted blood, never any good things.

Wei Shizhe's gaze fell on the shriveled heads. He chose the largest and most ferocious rat demon, smashed its skull with a short knife, and searched carefully. He found a pea-sized demon core, crystal clear like jade, shining brightly in the sunlight.

The other rat demons' brain acupoints did not contain any demon cores.

Wei Shizhe thought, "After all, this is Kunlun Mountain. You might encounter venomous snakes at night, and in a den of Jinwen rats, nine have become demons, with some even developing demon cores. The essence in their flesh is also abundant. Lao Ya Ridge is much worse... There must be some reason for this..." He couldn't figure it out at the moment and kept his doubts in his heart.

He hadn't seen his junior sister for about two days. He picked up his bow, arrows, and short knife and hurried back to the Bujiquan Spring.

Qin Zhen was starting a fire, sitting downwind, coughing from the smoke. Hearing the familiar footsteps, she knew her senior brother had returned and jumped up happily, ready to greet him. But when she saw his clothes torn and covered in blood, her face changed, and she asked anxiously, "Senior Brother, are you injured?"

Wei Shizhe looked down at himself and said nonchalantly, "No, just some superficial wounds. I encountered a Jinwen rat, and you wouldn't believe it, it was as big as a calf, very fierce. It took a lot to take it down."

He squatted by the spring, washed his face, and drank some water to quench his thirst, moving nimbly, not looking like he was injured.

Qin Zhen sighed with relief and reached into her chest to pull out a handkerchief but found it empty. She remembered she had given the handkerchief to Song Ji to wipe away blood. After hesitating for a moment, she tore a strip from her blouse, dipped it in the spring water, and gently and tenderly wiped the wounds on his back.

"You don't have to go through so much trouble."

"It's fine."

"Then I'll do it myself."

Wei Shizhe took the cloth from his junior sister, roughly wiping away some of the dried blood, and said, "Junior Sister, what are you doing? The smoke is blackening your face."

"I wanted to make some cakes, but I don't know how." Qin Zhen was a bit embarrassed, using her hand to scoop spring water to wash her face, removing the soot, her face clean and her cheeks slightly red.

"This is easy, I'll teach you." Wei Shizhe mixed the flour he brought from the mountain with some water on a white stone by the Bujiquan Spring, kneaded it into a ball, and flattened it into a cake. He then gathered some dry branches, piled them on the fire, and burned them to ashes. He buried the cake in the ashes, using the residual heat to cook it.

Qin Zhen watched him work and remembered something, saying, "These past two days have been quite strange. There's always a large green dog that brings mountain chickens and wild rabbits, and then leaves."

Wei Shizhe didn't reveal the truth and said, "Dogs are intelligent; it must feel sorry for you. Did you eat it?"

"I did, but it was burnt, and the meat was a bit bitter."

...

The two chatted casually, and Qin Zhen felt a sense of peace and joy, wishing time would stop at this moment.

The ashes gradually cooled, and Wei Shizhe took out the cake, brushed off the surface ash, and tore it into pieces, handing them to his junior sister. Qin Zhen smelled the faint aroma of the cake, took a small bite, and found it quite chewy. She thought, "How can Senior Brother only eat meat and not grains and vegetables?"

The sky was high and the clouds were light, the mountain breeze refreshing, and his junior sister was right there. Wei Shizhe watched the spring water flow down the mountain, momentarily forgetting all his worries.