Chapter 16

A ticket that can be exchanged for fifty soul stones, and a foot-long, cold-glowing, exceptionally sharp dagger.

Soul stones are stones that contain the soul power required for cultivators to break through major realms!

Before cultivators reach the peak of their cultivation realm, they can break through by simply absorbing spiritual energy. However, when they reach the peak of their realm, they need the soul power in soul stones to break through and enter another realm.

Therefore, soul stones have become a necessity for cultivators who have reached the peak of their realm. At the same time, holding a soul stone and drawing the spiritual energy from it allows for much faster cultivation compared to sitting in meditation and absorbing it from the surroundings.

Although I am still some distance away from the ninth level of the Qi Wheel Realm, with my current cultivation speed, I believe I will soon reach that realm.

After putting away the soul stone ticket and hiding the dagger under his sleeve, he walked out of the forest.

"That guy said he was going to pee, and he's been gone for so long. I wonder if something happened to him?" Seeing that Zheng Shiyi had not returned for a long time, Wu Dong sat up and prepared to get up to look for Zheng Shiyi.

Zheng Shiyi walked back from where he had left, patted Wu Dong on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "All done, feeling much better. Don't you want to go pee too?"

Wu Dong shook his head and joked, "You sure took your time. How many days have you been holding it? Looks like your body is pretty good."

Zheng Shiyi smiled lightly and said, "Not bad."

"Ha ha." Wu Dong laughed and pointed to where the team was, saying, "They're all asleep. We have to travel early tomorrow, so find a sheltered spot and go to sleep."

"What about you?" Zheng Shiyi looked at Wu Dong.

Wu Dong patted his shoulder and said, "Of course I have to keep watch! Otherwise, if that guy blames us in the morning, we won't have a good time."

"Be careful then." Zheng Shiyi quickly walked to the resting position and silently urged himself to improve his cultivation and combat power as quickly as possible!

The reason Zhou Qiang dared to sneak away and attack was because his cultivation was too weak, right? Zheng Shiyi clenched his fist slightly, strength! He needed strength to face Zheng Tianyu! He needed strength in the Xuanming Sect too!

Zheng Shiyi sat in meditation, absorbing the elemental energy from the surroundings. The deeper into the mountains they went, the more concentrated the spiritual energy became. The speed at which the spiritual energy entered his body was several times faster than before, and the purity of the spiritual energy was also much higher.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long to reach the sixth level of the Qi Wheel Realm!

"Whoosh!"

Sitting in meditation, Zheng Shiyi was immersed in a mysterious feeling.

"Boom!"

A dull sound suddenly came from his dantian, and the sixth spirit wheel appeared on the wheel inside his body.

"Sixth level of the Qi Wheel Realm!"

Zheng Shiyi could feel his strength growing at an alarming rate, and the spiritual energy in his body was flowing much faster than before.

He knew he had broken through the fifth level of the Qi Wheel Realm and entered the sixth level, but he didn't stop there. He continued to cultivate as if nothing had happened.

The next morning, Huang He shouted with his hoarse voice, waking up all the team members.

The team members quickly packed their bags and gathered in groups of three or four.

Huang He started counting from the front of the team to the back, "One, two, three... How come one person is missing?"

After counting, Huang He frowned. There were clearly thirty-eight people in the team yesterday, but today there were only thirty-seven.

Su Xing looked around and said, "Brother He, the missing person is Zhou Qiang."

"Zhou Qiang?" Huang He raised an eyebrow and scanned the team, but Zhou Qiang was not there.

He waved his hand and shouted at everyone, "What are you all standing around for? Go find him!"

Everyone quickly turned around and split up to search the nearby forest. Zheng Shiyi followed them with a blank expression, pretending to search.

Soon, the searchers returned one by one, reporting their findings.

"Not on the east side!"

"Not on the west side!"

"Not on the south side!"

"Not on the north side!"

"None at all?" Huang He put his hands on his hips, listening to the reports, his eyes darting around, quickly making deductions.

In this mountain range, with Zhou Qiang's cultivation, if he left the team, his chances of survival would be very small! There was no reason for him to leave without a word.

"Could he have been killed?" Huang He scanned the team, especially pausing when he looked at Zheng Shiyi and Wu Dong.

Zheng Shiyi looked back at Huang He fearlessly, his eyes filled with dissatisfaction and defiance. He silently calculated that Zhou Qiang's body was most likely dragged into a nest and eaten by a strange beast. Even if Huang He suspected, he had no evidence.

"Hmph! How could these two废物 be a match for Zhou Qiang!" Huang He muttered to himself, mocking himself for even suspecting Zheng Shiyi and Wu Dong, who were of such low cultivation! Even if they worked together, they wouldn't be a match for Zhou Qiang!

Zhou Qiang was at the eighth level of the Qi Wheel Realm, and no one in the team except himself was a match for him. It was impossible for anyone else to kill him.

Even if someone here could kill him, there should have been sounds of a struggle before he died, which would have alarmed him! How could he have disappeared without a sound?

"Where did that bastard Zhou Qiang go? Su Xing, leave marks along the way so that bastard can find us when he returns."

After giving the order to Su Xing, Huang He stepped into the team, waved his arm, and shouted, "Let's go!"

Wu Dong, who was walking in front of Zheng Shiyi, was extremely excited, constantly rubbing his arm and whispering, "That bastard Zhou Qiang has disappeared! Where do you think he could have gone?"

"Where? Probably eaten by a strange beast." Zheng Shiyi pursed his lips and said the most truthful answer, which few would believe.

"Eaten by a strange beast? How do you know?" Wu Dong looked at Zheng Shiyi in surprise.

Zheng Shiyi shrugged and nodded toward the surroundings, saying, "Strange beasts often appear here. Where else could he have gone if he suddenly disappeared?"

"That's hard to say..." Wu Dong frowned, thinking hard, trying to find a counterpoint.

"Rumble!"

A ground-shaking sound came from the forest ahead. The team members habitually drew their weapons, ready to face any possible danger.

"Roar!"

Zheng Shiyi soon saw the strange beasts that had emerged, a group of first-stage Qingfeng Wolves!

These strange beasts were very agile, with paralyzing venom on their claws. The sharp claws, glowing blue, were the best evidence.

The moment the Qingfeng Wolves emerged from the forest, they dug their hind legs into the ground, leaped several yards into the air, and viciously pounced on the team members.

The warriors, who were already accustomed to combat, dodged the attacks and countered with their swords and knives.

Zheng Shiyi quietly followed behind Wu Dong, occasionally using the Eight Directions Step to dodge attacks and delivering lethal Thunder Strikes.

Seeing the Qingfeng Wolf lying in front of him, Wu Dong thought he had killed it. He looked pleased and turned to Zheng Shiyi, saying, "Follow me, and you'll be safe! Don't stay too far from me!"

Zheng Shiyi smiled and nodded. It was better to stay close to Wu Dong during the chaos, as no one could guarantee that Huang He wouldn't take advantage of the confusion to secretly attack him or Wu Dong.

"Roar!"

Soon, a large number of Qingfeng Wolves lay on the ground. Zheng Shiyi calculated that the battle would end soon, so he could conserve some energy.

Suddenly, the ground around them began to tremble slightly.

A large, muscular Qingfeng Wolf with red eyes and rotting flesh on its claws, and a mouth that emitted a foul odor, emerged from the forest.

"Second-stage strange beast, Qingfeng Wolf King!"

Everyone's faces changed dramatically! Dealing with first-stage Qingfeng Wolves was already difficult enough!