Li Lin suddenly remembered how this woman had seen his bare bottom before and felt a bit frustrated, thinking he should have taken his revenge by looking back at her, though he realized this idea was rather wicked.
"Where is this?" After a moment, the woman disguised as a man slowly propped herself up to a sitting position, opened her eyes, and looked around. Seeing Li Lin beside her, she asked in surprise.
"I don't know where this is either. This sword is yours, here you go," Li Lin said, handing over the sword he had taken the day before.
"Did you save me?" she asked Li Lin.
"I suppose so. If you want to repay me, I'd be happy to accept it," Li Lin responded.
"My clothes..."
At that moment, the woman finally noticed her clothes were changed, and her expression changed dramatically, looking at Li Lin in surprise.
"We escaped from the river to here. Your clothes were all wet. I didn't know you were a woman, so I thought of changing them for you, but who knew you were actually..."
"Fool, how dare you insult me, you should die!" Without hesitation, the woman picked up the sword from the ground and swung it at Li Lin while sitting.
"Sshh..."
At that moment, Li Lin quickly immobilized her with several finger strikes. "Hmph, I knew women were like this. I saved a thankless person," he angrily said. He had immobilized her by pressing several meridians, a trick he had self-taught.
The woman was now unable to move, but her eyes burned with increasing anger. If looks could kill, Li Lin would have died many times over.
"You're still looking at me, you vile person. I risked my life to save you, almost got eaten by beasts, gave you healing pills, and even changed your clothes, only because I realized you are a woman. And you still want to kill me. I am fundamentally kind-hearted, but you insist on provoking me," Li Lin angrily said, feeling more and more indignant as he thought about it.
"Fine, you want to kill me, then I will kill you first," Li Lin angrily said, taking the sword from the woman's hand and raising it high, ready to strike.
"Sshh..."
The sword stopped right above the woman's head. Seeing her eyes, Li Lin felt he couldn't go through with it. If she were a man, he wouldn't hesitate, but knowing she was a woman, he felt reluctant to harm her. Killing a defenseless woman didn't seem honorable.
"Forget it, I won't kill you. Let nature take its course," Li Lin coldly said, putting the sword into his space bag. The sword was of good quality and could fetch a decent sum of money.
"Since you're going to die, the things on your body are superfluous." Li Lin had noticed a silver storage ring on the woman's hand. Considering she had a storage ring, she must be of some significance, and the ring likely contained valuable items.
This storage ring, though currently beyond Li Lin's ability to open, he contemplated that with increased strength in the future, forcibly opening it might not be impossible. Taking the ring into his hand, he grasped the woman's jade-like hand and roughly touched it, remarking, "So I found out you're a woman, now I've touched you, you can kill me if you dare."
The woman, glaring furiously at Li Lin, was helpless, her meridian points having been sealed, rendering her immobile.
"You're still glaring at me, not convinced?" Li Lin, returning her gaze, let a wicked smile cross his face and said, "If you don't die, I'll make sure you never forget me." His smile then vanished, and his hands harshly landed on the woman's chest. Over her clothes, he ruthlessly squeezed, saying, "Remember this, this is real humiliation, hmph!"
With those words, Li Lin coldly snorted, stood up, and walked away, his hands lingering on the memory of the softness he had just felt, a sensation that somehow eased his anger.
The woman, still unable to move, watched Li Lin's retreating back. Her anger gradually gave way to a look of grievance, and tears slowly slid down from her eyes.
"Little Dragon, let's go, we're heading to the ancient domain," Li Lin said after determining the direction, speaking to Little Dragon who was circling over his shoulder.
Little Dragon, flicking its tongue and nodding its little head, seemed to be scouting around. With Little Dragon there, Li Lin felt much more at ease, knowing that the creature would instantly alert him to any nearby demonic beasts.
Two hours later, by the riverbank, the woman's body slumped to the ground, lying there for a moment before slowly getting up. She gazed in the direction where Li Lin had disappeared, her eyes filled with coldness, and then walked away, disappearing into the riverbank.
Five days later, in a canyon surrounded by towering rocks and stretching mountain ranges:
"Furious Flame Fist!" Li Lin's punch, enveloped in flames, powerfully struck out. The punch created a tumultuous disturbance in the surrounding air, its fiery and formidable energy rippling through the space.
"Boom!" The punch, a mix of flames and formidable force, struck the top of a giant python's head, which was over seventy meters long and covered in scales. Under the terrifying force of the blow, the python's massive head was thrown back several meters, though it did not completely shatter.
Then, the python lashed back fiercely. Its enormous tail, whistling through the air, struck towards Li Lin like lightning.
"Soul Blade Slash!" Spiritual power coalesced into a blade, slicing through the air with violent force and meeting the python's tail head-on.
"Swish, swish..." "Hiss, hiss..."
A rain of blood fell from the sky as the python let out a pained scream. Its twenty-meter-long tail was cleanly severed, falling amid a shower of blood. The thick defense of the python couldn't withstand Li Lin's Soul Blade Slash, and the point of severance gushed blood.
"Bang!" The python's massive body fell to the ground, twitching twice before becoming motionless. Li Lin, however, took no chances. Knowing that snakes could still move their heads for several minutes after death, he remained cautious to avoid any potential bites.
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Several fiery spirit fingers shot out, piercing through the python's head. Only then did Li Lin relax, assured of its death.
"Chichi..." Little Dragon, by his side, flicked its tongue as if praising Li Lin's improved strength.
"Little Dragon, go ahead and consume the corpse of this demonic beast," Li Lin said with a smile. The python was a third-tier early-stage water demonic beast, and now, with the Soul Blade Slash, Li Lin was capable of defeating it.
Having left the riverbank five days ago, Li Lin had been evading various demonic beasts. Several times, he narrowly escaped pursuit, thanks to Little Dragon's timely warnings. In these five days, he managed to kill four third-tier early-stage demonic beasts and wisely avoided those of mid-tier or higher.
Throughout this trial, Li Lin felt he had reaped substantial benefits. His reactions, attacks, and defenses had all improved significantly. This kind of training, unattainable elsewhere, could only be achieved through life-and-death experiences.
In these five days, Li Lin had also completely purged the toxins of the Blood-Devouring Bone-Melting Pill from his body, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
At night, under the moonlight, the forest trees danced chaotically, like countless ghostly claws tearing through the sky in the quiet night. Accompanied by the howling night wind and occasional beast roars, the forest took on an eerie atmosphere.
In a hidden cave, Li Lin sat cross-legged on a spiritual jade bed. Surrounded by a faint yellow glow, his aura was slowly rising.
Inside Li Lin's body, his dantian and meridians were filled with Qi, giving him a sense of expansion.
"Compress," Li Lin thought heavily, forcing the Qi inside him to compress. Suddenly, a muffled explosion echoed in his dantian, and an invisible force from the heavens and earth entered his body.
Li Lin's aura surged instantly. His dantian expanded once more, and his strength increased exponentially.
After spending the night like this, Li Lin stopped cultivating only when dawn broke.
"Whew..." Li Lin exhaled a long breath, a smile on his lips. He had finally broken through to the eighth layer of the martial warrior realm. Feeling the abundant Qi in his body, he had the Blood-Devouring Bone-Melting Pill from the old poisoner to thank for that. After refining the poison of the pill, it had transformed into Qi, aiding in his rapid breakthrough.
Li Lin thought to himself that if the poisoner knew his Blood-Devouring Bone-Melting Pill had become his tonic, he would probably have quite the reaction.
"Little Dragon, let's keep moving," Li Lin said to Little Dragon beside him.
"Chichi..." Little Dragon leapt onto Li Lin's shoulder, affectionately licking his cheek, seemingly congratulating him on his breakthrough.
After packing up the spiritual jade bed, the duo set off again. In this perilous mountain range, Li Lin was constantly on guard for his life.
The mountains were desolate, home only to demonic beasts.
Three days later, in a forest overshadowed by towering trees, a massive beast appeared in front of Li Lin.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Each step of the enormous beast caused the ground to tremble slightly. The creature was over fifteen to sixteen meters tall and about three hundred meters long, its size somewhat intimidating.
Li Lin gasped at the sight of the beast. It wasn't an ordinary beast but a third-stage late-phase earth elemental Thick-Skinned Demonic Elephant. Even a martial soul expert would avoid it, and now it was too late for Li Lin to escape.
The Thick-Skinned Demonic Elephant's huge trunk was like a crane's iron arm, its limbs like giant pillars, and its two sharp tusks glinted coldly. Its eyes were as large as copper bells. The elephant's defense was formidable, and Li Lin had no chance against a third-stage late-phase demonic beast.
"Woo..." The elephant roared, emitting a huge white gust from its trunk, carrying a peculiar odor and causing leaves to fall like rain around it.
"Little Dragon, can you handle it?" Li Lin nervously asked, watching the elephant.
"Swoosh..." Before Li Lin finished speaking, Little Dragon leapt up, transforming into a swift yellow flash, and charged towards the Thick-Skinned Demonic Elephant.
"Woo!" The elephant spewed a white gust, then its long trunk lashed towards Little Dragon, the force shaking the air.
"Hiss..." Little Dragon growled lowly, dodging the elephant's attack with lightning speed, and bit towards its giant ear. Golden flames enveloped Little Dragon, making it impervious to the water jet.
"Chichi..." The elephant shot a water column hundreds of meters wide from its mouth, striking the forest like a flood, sweeping away trees and bushes.
Enveloped in golden flames, Little Dragon was unaffected by the water column. The golden light intensified, but its body was also blocked, unable to advance further.
The water torrent poured down but dissipated into the air after reaching a distance, as it was only a water flow condensed from water attributes, not real water. Once the force vanished, the water flow naturally dispersed.
Little Dragon swiftly descended, its small body hanging by its tail from a branch of a towering tree.
"Yi yi..." Little Dragon seemed angry, with ferocious eyes and an intensifying golden glow around its body. Its scales began to vibrate, and in an instant, its body expanded, emitting a powerful aura.
Li Lin had felt this aura when Little Dragon broke through before, but now it was even more violent than during the breakthrough. Under this aura, Li Lin felt his own Qi being obstructed, and his soul trembled lightly in his mind.
As Little Dragon's aura surged, its body grew to about eighty meters in length. Its scales shone brilliantly, with strands of gold rising and tightly wrapping around its body.
Feeling Little Dragon's aura, the enormous Thick-Skinned Demonic Elephant showed fear in its eyes. It began to retreat slowly, its previously powerful aura now completely suppressed and wilting.
"What a strong pressure," Li Lin marveled. He felt the pressure subside after a moment, realizing it seemed to come not from strength but from bloodline, directly affecting the soul.
At that moment, a flash appeared in Little Dragon's eyes, and it leapt up. Simultaneously, a fierce flame burst from its mouth.
The flame surged, instantly evaporating and withering the surrounding trees. The Thick-Skinned Demonic Beast let out a piercing wail, unable to retreat any further, and another massive water column spewed forth.
But this time, the water column evaporated into nothingness under the burning golden flame, and Little Dragon surged forward like a shadow cutting through the sky, biting fiercely onto the thick neck of the Demonic Elephant.
The elephant shook violently but couldn't shake off Little Dragon. Two giant trees were uprooted by its impact.
"Crack." Little Dragon bit off a large chunk of flesh from the elephant's back and swallowed it. Blood spurted like a fountain from the elephant's back. Despite its strong defense, it couldn't withstand Little Dragon's biting.
"Woo woo..." The elephant roared in agony, rampaging wildly. Its massive body was so strong that it shattered rocks and broke trees upon impact, its long tusks capable of tossing giant trees into the air. The surrounding area within a thousand meters was leveled.
Witnessing this terrifying scene, Li Lin gasped in shock. A third-stage late-phase demonic beast was indeed fearsome.
"Chichi..." Little Dragon, coiled around a tree, lunged out again. Its long tail whipped fiercely onto the wound of the elephant. The elephant, unable to react to Little Dragon's speed, became an easy target.
"Woo..." The elephant could only keep wailing, retreating in defeat.
"Chichi..." In the air, Little Dragon lunged again, giving the elephant no chance to escape. Its massive jaws bit fiercely onto the elephant's neck.
"Chichi..." Little Dragon swallowed a large chunk of flesh from the elephant's neck, blood flowing freely. The elephant's massive body collapsed against a tree, lying powerless on the ground, convulsing a few times before becoming still, presumably dead.
Little Dragon, now on the ground, devoured the blood from the elephant's body and then shrank to twenty centimeters in size, leaping onto Li Lin.
"Little Dragon, you're really powerful," Li Lin said. Little Dragon seemed to have effortlessly killed the third-stage late-phase beast. With such strength, Little Dragon could even contend with human martial soul warriors.
Li Lin remembered that before breaking through, Little Dragon couldn't counter a martial soul warrior despite its strong defense. But now, after its breakthrough, it could kill a third-stage late-phase beast, and even a first-stage martial soul facing Little Dragon would likely have to flee.
"Chichi..." Little Dragon proudly flicked its tongue, its small eyes spinning gleefully, looking quite pleased with itself.