Chapter 25

Yang Junshan held a long bow but did not draw an arrow. In front of him, a tiger with its spine broken, its hindquarters a bloody mess, was barely supporting itself with its front legs, growling lowly at Yang Junshan in defiance.

The man and the tiger seemed to be in a standoff, but in reality, Yang Junshan knew that the giant tiger was already at the end of its strength. The reason it could still stand was due to its indomitable will and the dignity of being the lord of Baique Mountain, which would not allow it to fall before its enemy.

Between the two, a giant bear, nearly nine feet long, lay on the ground. The ice layer that had covered its body after being hit by the ice arrow had melted, and a deep gash on its massive bear face, along with a shattered eye, was still oozing blood. The other eye socket had been pierced by a hundred-refined cold light dagger, which had already killed it.

Droplets of blood seeped from the tiger's mouth and nose, staining its originally black, white, and yellow fur a vivid red. The front legs that were barely supporting its upper body were already trembling, but the fighting spirit in the tiger's eyes did not waver. As the sun set, Yang Junshan felt an unusual sense of tragedy from this mountain lord.

Reaching back to touch the iron-feathered arrows in his quiver, Yang Junshan ultimately did not act himself. Instead, he squatted down and pulled the hundred-refined cold light dagger out of the bear's brain.

The tiger thought Yang Junshan was about to attack. The giant tiger, which was about to collapse, suddenly lifted its massive head, and its blood-filled mouth let out a low, muffled roar.

This action, which should have been full of fighting spirit, exhausted the tiger's last bit of strength. Its remaining front legs could no longer support its upper body, and it fell to the ground, its eyes still fixed on Yang Junshan, refusing to back down.

Yang Junshan glanced at the tiger, then turned and squatted down to begin dissecting the giant bear's massive body, starting with the bear's paws that had broken the tiger's spine.

The steppe bear, which had already begun to develop a rudimentary spirit and possessed characteristics of a demon, must have instinctively hidden its innate spiritual talent. The tiger's ability to break through the fire field created by Zhang Yueming's firebird talisman confirmed that the tiger had a high-quality spiritual tiger bone. What could be hidden in the bear's paws that could break the tiger's spine?

Opening the bear's front paws, Yang Junshan saw a black, shiny pad in the center of each paw. Without the bear's instinctive protection, Yang Junshan could already feel the concentrated spiritual energy within the pad.

Yang Junshan was filled with joy. He whistled happily and performed a beautiful knife flourish with the cold light dagger before accurately cutting along the edge of the pad and extracting it.

The steppe bear's skin was tough and its flesh thick. The spiritual essence condensed in the bear's paws required considerable effort to cut, even with the hundred-refined cold light dagger. Finally, he managed to extract the two pieces of spiritual essence without damaging them.

These were two pieces of medium-grade spiritual essence!

If considered individually, their quality might not match the previous piece of ox yellow spiritual essence, which had strong detoxifying properties when refined by cultivators. The bear's paw spiritual essence could only be used to awaken a spiritual acupoint and, at best, slightly increase a cultivator's strength.

However, Yang Junshan had not just one or two pieces, but a pair!

The difference between a single piece and a pair of spiritual essence was significant!

Finding a pair of spiritual essence was difficult, and it was even rarer for a cultivator to have a pair of matching spiritual acupoints. Therefore, a cultivator with a pair of matching spiritual acupoints finding a matching pair of spiritual essence was extremely rare.

If a cultivator had a pair of matching spiritual acupoints, even if they were awakened with ordinary spiritual essence, once they reached the fifth layer of the Mortal Realm and began practicing spells, the two acupoints would resonate, often enhancing the spells' effects.

If a pair of spiritual essence was used to awaken the acupoints, the effect would be equivalent to increasing the spiritual essence's quality by one grade. A pair of medium-grade spiritual essence, when refined by a cultivator with a pair of matching acupoints, would be almost equivalent to a high-grade spiritual essence.

When a cultivator reached a certain level, they would have unique secret techniques and powers, which were far more powerful than spells of the same grade.

Zhang Huzi, who had just suffered a great loss at Yang Junshan's hands, had a pair of matching acupoints in his hands, which was a rare talent. Otherwise, Zhang Huzi would not have been so arrogant among the young people of Tuqiu Village.

The only regret was that the spiritual essence Zhang Huzi had refined was not a pair. His father, Zhang the Blacksmith, had spent considerable effort trying to find a pair of spiritual essence, even a pair of low-grade ones.

Unfortunately, pairs of spiritual essence were extremely rare, and their scarcity was comparable to that of high-grade spiritual essence. Even if someone had them, they would either keep them secret or not exchange them. Zhang the Blacksmith was just an ordinary martial artist, and his minor reputation was not enough to attract many people.

In the end, Zhang the Blacksmith spent years of savings to get a medium-grade spiritual essence for his son, effectively wasting half of the pair of acupoints in Zhang Huzi's body.

Zhang the Blacksmith had been unable to find a pair of low-grade spiritual essence, but now Yang Junshan had a pair of medium-grade spiritual essence, which were almost as good as high-grade and, in terms of rarity, were even more valuable.

More importantly, if Yang Junshan remembered correctly, his younger brother Yang Junping would also have a pair of matching acupoints in his hands when he was tested next year.

"This kid has really good luck!" Carefully storing the pair of spiritual essence, Yang Junshan turned his attention to the bear's waist and abdomen.

For a steppe bear, there were only two places where spiritual essence was most likely to form: the paws and the gallbladder.

It was already rare for a common fierce beast to have one piece of spiritual essence, let alone a steppe bear that had already formed a pair of spiritual essence. Yang Junshan did not think the bear could have another piece of spiritual essence, which was a bit disappointing, as the gallbladder spiritual essence was quite compatible with one of his acupoints.

Even without the spiritual essence, such a large steppe bear was rare, and its gallbladder would be an excellent tonic. Holding the cold light dagger, Yang Junshan skillfully cut open the bear's abdomen and extracted the large gallbladder, then froze in place!

A wave of immense joy swept over Yang Junshan, even more intense than when he found the pair of spiritual essence!

There was a third piece of spiritual essence in the bear!

More importantly, this gallbladder spiritual essence was of high-grade quality!

A high-grade spiritual essence! In his previous life, Yang Junshan had only seen one after reaching the Martial Realm. He never thought he would have a genuine high-grade spiritual essence in front of him now!

Even with his hundred years of experience, Yang Junshan had never heard of such a case. He could only attribute the bear's ability to form three pieces of spiritual essence to its initial demonization.

In terms of quality, the gallbladder spiritual essence had just crossed the boundary of high-grade, and its value was naturally less than the pair of spiritual essence in the bear's paws. However, the key was that one of Yang Junshan's acupoints was in his gallbladder!

The great harvest made it difficult for Yang Junshan to calm down. It was not until a mournful roar sounded behind him that he was startled, realizing he was still in danger.

Turning around, Yang Junshan saw that the mountain lord, perhaps sensing its impending death, no longer had the indomitable fighting spirit in its eyes. An endless sadness filled its gaze, and it struggled to turn its massive head toward the dense forest, as if calling for something.

Yang Junshan's eyes gleamed with an indescribable light, and he suddenly spoke, "I know you can understand human speech. You should know what I need. I can fulfill your last wish in exchange for the spiritual essence in your body. What do you say?"

The mournful roar abruptly stopped, and the tiger, which had been on the verge of death, suddenly struggled to lift its head, though it ultimately failed. The previously lifeless eyes showed signs of renewed fighting spirit.

Yang Junshan remained unmoved and said coldly, "This will only accelerate the loss of your life, and you might not even get to see your cub one last time. You should understand that if you fall, your cub will not survive in Baique Mountain!"

The tiger, unable to turn its head, only glanced at Yang Junshan with a mixture of deep wariness and doubt.

Yang Junshan said indifferently, "You should understand that I didn't have to tell you this. Since I know you have offspring, I could find them myself. The bear was lying in wait here because it knew this was your path back to your den, which must be close by."

The tiger stopped its mournful roar, and its eyes showed panic for the first time.

Yang Junshan smiled and said, "I know you don't trust me, but you can't do anything now. Don't worry, I have a way to prove my sincerity!"

Glancing at the mountain pass, Yang Junshan, under the tiger's complex and panicked gaze, ran into the dense forest in the direction the tiger's head was pointing.