Li Ling did not pay attention to the shock of the woman and beast duo, because he was busy admiring the current strength he possessed. He knew about the details of Body Refinement as he had researched it during his formative years in the Li Clan, considering dabbling in it when his golden finger awoke to double his power.
He had decisively dropped the idea after the awakening ceremony and realizing his talent, because his poor 99% impure spirit root could not bear to even manage his qi cultivation, much less take on the added burden of cultivating the body.
Fundamentally speaking, Body Refinement and Martial Arts were similar in theory. Both required the user to temper their body in stages through a slow methodical procedure, requiring a hefty amount of resources and effort.
The difference came in the specific method. Martial artists lacked spirit roots—otherwise they would not consign themselves to martial arts—so they used strenuous movements and martial practices to train their body in stages, from skin to muscle, bone, organs, and then began extracting their excess vitality from nutrition to form a special energy called True Qi.
They achieved this over the course of nine major realms named after each part they were focusing on, with the last three being energy-based realms, from Houtian which cultivated Internal Breath (gas-type energy) to Xiantian which had Internal Force (liquid-type energy) and finally the Grandmaster Realm which had True Qi (solid-type energy).
But as stated earlier, even a Grandmaster only now gained the qualification to contend with a Qi Refinement disciple, and this was because True Qi was an energy that was barely on par with refined spiritual qi in terms of benefits to the body, to lifespan, to strengthening, and more.
Body Refinement made use of spirit roots to absorb spiritual energy and infuse it into the body, tempering it thoroughly in a rapid and much more perfect fashion. It was not a realm that required martial practice, like punching or kicking or lifting stones.
Body Refinement was the same as qi cultivation—you sat down and ran your technique, just that the pathways and focuses were different. Rather than circle the meridians and come to rest in the dantian, you deposited the spiritual energy into the flesh as it passed through and then refined it in the muscles, bones, organs, and such directly.
This was far more efficient than martial arts and far more powerful, evidenced by the fact that the first level of Body Refinement, the Mortal Flesh stage, crammed the entirety of the martial artist's nine major realms into its fold.
Just like how Qi Refinement had early, middle, late, and perfection split into ten levels for ease of breakthrough, so too was Mortal Flesh. In the early stage of Mortal Flesh, one refined their skin and muscles, the middle stage refined the blood and bones, the late stage dealt with the organs and tendons, and the perfection unified everything.
Martial artists had their various Blood Qi Boosting Powders, Beast Blood Soups, and Condensed Essence Pills to help them along. Likewise, Body Refinement had specialized pills, pastes, and balms that were absolutely necessary for the technique, otherwise one could not attain the special effect of the technique.
Because of this, at the early levels of cultivation, Body Refinement cultivators had a slight advantage over Qi cultivators and a chasm of a gap between themselves and martial artists, especially from the second realm onward.
Li Ling was beginning to taste this power as he had climbed to the eighth level of Mortal Flesh in a short period of time, giving him the feeling of being limitlessly powerful.
He stood up and faced the opposite direction, unleashing a rather simple punch into the distance without using his qi cultivation abilities to imbue his body as he usually did.
KRAKOOM!
Immediately, the trees and grass in the direction of his punch trembled greatly, as if a fighter jet had flown over at full speed while close to the ground, causing them to split and tremble like a hurricane had passed through.
This was just a normal punch from Li Ling, he had not used any daoist arts or martial techniques.
If his Qi Refinement Perfection gave him a hypothetical 10 points of power passively, then he would have about 100 points when he imbued his refined qi strands into his body for an active boost.
However, his Body Refinement technique gave him a full 80 points of power passively, and he had not even yet added the Blood Asura cultivated from the demonic technique.
Just as Li Ling was about to test further, he frowned as he sensed a disturbance nearby. He activated his Qi Seeking Technique to see that, unsurprisingly, a group of Qi Refinement cultivators riding demon beasts were charging in this direction, soon to reach here.
Li Ling pursed his lips as he knew that it meant that the vanguard search party who were trailing him had caught up, which would typically be a good sign if he was not precisely waiting for them.
What could he say? His amazing 442 Slaughter Points were now left with only 72 points. The Blood Asura Descent was not a common technique like the Qi Circulation Mantra, it was a superior demonic technique that even had a mental method attached to cleanse the backlash effects of using demonic techniques.
So unlike the Qi Circulation Mantra that took single-digit Slaughter Points to advance, starting from 1 point at level one to 10 at perfection, totaling 55 points in all, the Blood Asura Descent required ten times that. Just going from uninitiated to level one cost 10 Slaughter Points, but luckily, going from level one to level two cost the same 10 Slaughter Points rather than increasing.
Hm, so if he had not been at Qi Refinement level 1 when the Infinite Slaughter System activated and he was just starting out, he would have needed 1 Slaughter Point to reach there? Interesting thing to note.
Jumping from uninitiated to level eight swallowed a whopping 370 Slaughter Points.
If he wanted to reach Perfection today and even have some leftover for his other skills that needed investment, he would naturally need more sacrifices, so the arrival of these fellows was timely for him, though in the eyes of third parties, it seemed like Li Ling was caught unawares and under pressure.
However, Li Ling laughed inwardly at the thought. He was a brutal killing monster that grew stronger under the effects of oppression and pursuit, unlike others who would be slowly tired out and weakened by it. He was like a necromancer, the more enemies you sent his way, the stronger you were making him.
As such, he stood up and cricked his neck, first deciding to make some investments for good measure.
Of the remaining Slaughter Points, he immediately invested 5 points into the Qi Sealing Technique to take it to the Advanced level, then doubled up by investing another 10 points to raise it to the Expert level. Digesting the insights, he glanced at Cai Dong who was trying her hardest not to look at him, having sensed the incoming intruders with her superior mental senses due to the Sage Race's unique power system.
Li Ling curled his lips and appeared beside her in a flash, far faster than the woman could track. He then pressed a finger to her forehead, injecting his own power into her and corralling all the energy in her body, especially the majority which was concentrated within her cranium, into a seal on her forehead.
This formed a mark, and due to his origin from Earth and a bit of cruel amusement, he designated it to resemble a famous Majin symbol.
Cai Dong trembled as she felt her power leave her, turning her into a common mortal in a moment. When Li Ling took his finger away and glanced at her playfully, she only pursed her lips but did not show any signs of resistance, knowing that if she tried to rebel at this time, Li Ling would kill her immediately.
Li Ling took out the flying sword rather than his spear, investing 3 Slaughter Points into the Object Control Technique to bring it to the Advanced level, then 6 points for the Expert level, 9 points for the Mastery level, and finally, he paid 12 points for the Perfection stage of technique mastery.
Immediately, his clumsy control over the Mountain Splitting Sword became as smooth as if it were a drone piloted by a quantum-level AI. He glanced at his remaining 27 Slaughter Points and decided not to keep them, placing 9 points cumulatively into the Golden Bell Shield and bringing it to the Expert level.
This was just in case of any unforeseen circumstances. Li Ling, while brave, was not yet completely far gone in terms of his confidence becoming overconfidence and his pride becoming arrogance, leading to him being one-upped and killed.
"Go!" Li Ling pointed forward, letting the Mountain Splitting Sword speed forward with a "whim" sound that seemed more like something from sci-fi than a cultivation world, moving with truly breakneck speed.
Li Ling did not have a spirit sense so his range was limited, only able to maneuver the sword within 50 meters, but this was obviously more than enough for Qi Refinement, especially since the pursuers had entered the range of 20 meters and were charging at the camp bravely.
"There he is!"
"The murderer!"
"Quick, send a Thousand Mile Sound Talisman back to the sect!"
"Fiend, surrender yourself quickly!"
Despite Li Ling's overt cultivation at Perfection, none of those rushing over were cowed at all, their auras extremely robust and thick. They were a far cry from the Market Guards, and now that they were close, Li Ling saw that they all wore green-colored brocade robes with the sigils of a mountain covered with lush greenery.
Qing Shan Sect disciples.
Li Ling was interested in testing the difference between them and the various fodder he killed up until now. First, he assessed their numbers and cultivations, noting that they were a team of five, with two at Perfection and three at level 9 of Qi Refinement.
Then he noted that their mounts were all common demon beasts like leopards, wolves, or monitor lizards, though these were personalized, not like the publicly rentable versions in the marketplace.
Interestingly, they did not charge anymore after entering a range of 15 meters, rather spreading out to cover each other's backs as they immediately took out talismans then activated them. All of them used Golden Bell talismans and then surprisingly cast the technique itself again, forming a double layer of insurance before beginning to prepare their attacks.
But life was not a turn-based battle where Li Ling would let them do what they wanted. He only wanted to test the sharpness of the Mountain Splitting Sword, so he let them come close and use their talismans, but by the time their second shield went up, the sword which had been hiding behind them launched out menacingly.
Whiim! Whiim!
Immediately, the sound of the sword was briefly heard as it darted past two of the sect disciples, the sound of their double Golden Bell Shields shattering coming a few milliseconds later in a delayed manner as their bodies were decapitated, their heads exploding into blood mist from the force of the sword's movement.
｢System Prompt: You have gained 9 Slaughter Points.｣
｢System Prompt: You have gained 9 Slaughter Points.｣
"Xiao Wen! Ba Chen!" One of the two Perfection realm members of the team cried out, being a young girl who looked like she still had a chance to enter Foundation Establishment.
"Get down!" her male counterpart roared as he jumped off his demon beast in a hurry, falling to the ground clumsily as two more sounds erupted around him.
His pupils constricted to needle points because he did not need to use his eyes to know that his two remaining team members were already dead. This Qi Refinement Perfection cultivator's heart was like dead ashes as he raised his head to glance at the smiling Li Ling who had not moved one inch from where he stood this entire while.
"D-Demon…"
Those were the last words he uttered before his head was also liberated from his body.