The technique she had so painfully inherited was The Blood Moon Cultivation Sutra, and it was an unholy technique that the heavens bestowed to those fated with it. Even the blood moon that had appeared yesterday was a natural phenomenon occurring after the successful refinement of a demonic artefact.

According to the legends, there was a demonic practitioner in the past who after sacrificing the lives of millions of people, made a heaven-defying weapon, causing the sky for many miles to turn red, and for the heavens to rain blood.

Qin Yao was nowhere near that level yet, but she had one advantage over that demon practitioner; her artefact was her life-bound weapon, and as she grew more powerful, so would it.

As things stood, her fluff bunny was currently in her mind palace, nicely wrapped with a slight sheen of silver - presumably her soul energy - being refined. Sadly for Qin Yao, she did not know how to increase the refinement rate and could do nothing but wait until this period naturally passed.

Qin Yao could not help but lament the difficulties of being a rogue cultivator as she secured her dagger to her waist and her belongings on her back and walked down deeper into the forest; unsurprisingly, this Blood Moon Cultivation Sutra required blood, and as no one would organise a search party for missing beasts, the forest would act as her perfect blood supply. She planned to stay here until she broke into the foundation establishment realm or at least reached the peak of her current realm

This small forest was known as the Blackwater Forest, and from what Zhong Xian said when she first passed by this forest, it was considered small and inhabited by weak beasts with either no or low cultivation.

According to some unverified rumours, a foundation establishment beast lives in the depth of this forest, and although no one has seen it, the peacefulness of this forest indicated that they must have one true overlord.

Most of this did not concern Qin Yao as even if there wasn't a foundation establishment cultivator, she could not handle the higher levelled beasts.

As Qin Yao walked on, a slithering snake silently crawled up her leg, wrapping itself around her tightly. Its cold grey scales caused Qin Yao to feel a subtle chill up her spine, but she remained mostly unaffected.

Qin Yao grabbed the snake's head and dug her nails into its neck, twisting it off; a dull grey stone rolled out of its skull; the stone was warm to the touch and didn't have the sharp edges of a natural crystal; it was the beast core of a 4th level Qi Refinement beast.

She had not bothered masking her aura, as she assumed that this would scare off weaker beastes and attract those around her level, and from the looks of it, she was right. Qin Yao stored the beast's core and hung the snake around her neck, hoping to attract a more powerful beast.

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After taking less than 50 steps, a deep-red fox appeared in front of her, baring its teeth aggressively before lunging itself at her. Qin Yao hastily dodged as she took the dagger from her waist. She couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement surge up from her chest, as she had never fought against a being this fast.

Qin Yao curled her left hand into a fist and fixed her grip on the dagger in her right hand, covering both with golden qi. As she readied herself for the fox's next pounce, it growled at her, baring its pale yellow teeth before finally lunging. Qin Yao smiled as she swiftly grabbed its head and dropped and banged him to the ground.

Qin Yao prepared to stab it, but the fox attacked her with its claws, causing her to retreat in order to avoid any injuries. She had no healing pills on her, and having a bleeding wound in the forest was nothing other than suicide for the current her.

"Come on, Mr Fox. " Qin Yao smiled before dashing towards him. She had to finish this before its little friends joined in.

As if sensing its impending doom, the fox howled with all its strength and caused a mini shockwave to spread, almost knocking Qin Yao back. Qin Yao kept her feet firmly to the ground leaving deep footprints behind her as she forcefully advanced.

The fox leapt to its feet and appeared closer to her; Qin Yao had long since expected this and swung her dagger upwards, striking the beast's neck and letting the blood splash onto her face. Qin Yao instinctively licked the blood that dripped into her lips before realising a small mistake.

I hope it's not infected, she sighed. It was her first time killing a beast in both of her lives, and Qin Yao couldn't help but find this entire thing to be a bit exhilarating. She did not forget why she came here, so she stopped the fox from bleeding everywhere and dragged its corpse away.

Once Qin Yao reached a relatively safe area, she dropped her two harvests on the ground and placed them on their backsides. She first started with the snake; though it did not look remarkable, its triangular head indicated that it could be venomous.

Qin Yao removed the snake's venomous gland and its gallbladder.

She then skinned the fox out of its fur and took its beast core.

The beast's core was very similar to the snake's, except it was a faint violet, and its energy was denser. The fox was at the 6th level Qi Refinement Realm. Qin Yao did not understand what caused the colour difference, but she didn't care.

After removing whatever she needed, Qin Yao placed her palm on the two corpses and circulated her cultivation method. Her golden qi turned crimson and seeped into the two corpses, slowly refining it into her qi. A strong sensation of pain overloaded Qin Yao's senses, and although it was much more bearable than last time, enduring it was still hard.

Qin Yao clenched her teeth and refused to let out a sound, though she did not believe in bottling up everything inside, she felt that increasing her pain tolerance was important.

The flesh of the beasts disappeared at a visible pace as Qin Yao's body tempered itself with the chaotic qi, and soon the beast was turned to bones, the bones to ash, and the ash flowed away.

Though this process happened quickly, it felt like hours to Qin Yao, and she couldn't help but feel a bit faint, and her clothes stuck to her body due to the mixture of sweat, blood and filth that covered her body.

Qin Yao sunk her consciousness into her dantian, her four qi streams were a little wider than before, a fifth stream appeared, and a weaker sixth one.