"The Xiao family, I will uproot you all sooner or later!"
After dealing with Xiao Ke and the other two, Ling Feng gripped his injured arm, a cold glint in his eyes.
As for the psychological burden of killing, Ling Feng felt absolutely nothing. In his past life, he loved watching horror movies and even found zombies cute; why would he be afraid of the dead?
Although it was his first time killing, Ling Feng felt little discomfort, only resentment towards the Xiao family. The incident with Xiao Ke and Xiao Yan had thoroughly fueled his hatred for the entire Xiao family.
"Hmm?"
At this moment, Ling Feng suddenly felt an itch on his neck and reached up to touch it. He discovered that the scratches from Xiao Ke's attack had already scabbed over.
Even more surprising to Ling Feng was that his arm, which had previously been painful to move, was now painless. Even with larger movements, there was only slight pain, which quickly disappeared, as if the wound was constantly healing.
"What's going on?"
For a moment, Ling Feng was also somewhat surprised. "Could it be... the power of the Taotie bloodline?"
After thinking it over, Ling Feng could only think of this as the most fitting and reasonable explanation. After asking the system, Ling Feng finally understood that his ability to heal his wounds quickly did indeed come from the power of the Taotie bloodline.
"Taotie bloodline, Thunderous Clap, Ruthless Harasho!"
After learning about the power of the Taotie bloodline again, Ling Feng's mood improved somewhat.
After a while, Ling Feng began to clean up the battlefield.
"Xiao Ke is a direct descendant of the Xiao family, let's see what good stuff he has."
With this in mind, Ling Feng began to search the corpses, and after a sweep, he reaped a rich harvest.
"A total of two thousand two hundred and twenty-two gold coins, this number is really quite auspicious."
Ling Feng's lips curled up, his face full of smiles, "With these gold coins, I can buy a few spiritual herbs to help me break through to the Dou Zhe level faster."
————————————————
The next morning.
At the foot of the southern mountain stood a thatched hut.
The morning light streamed through the window, bathing the young man sitting cross-legged on the bed outside, mending his chain.
"Hoo~"
After sitting quietly for a long time, Ling Feng took a deep breath. A visible, pale white stream of energy flowed through his mouth and nose, nourishing his bones.
His eyes snapped open, a white light flashing within them. Ling Feng slowly stretched, his face filled with bliss: "This feeling of becoming stronger is wonderful."
After stretching, Ling Feng took a medicine box from the bedside table. He had obtained it yesterday by scavenging gold coins from Xiao Ke and the others.
"The Taotie can devour everything and transform it into energy to enhance itself. Now, let's try it..."
With this thought in mind, Ling Feng opened the medicine box. Inside were several herbs that were over ten years old.
Ling Feng didn't know which ones to choose, only that the older the herbs, the better their medicinal effect. He randomly bought five, spending over two thousand gold coins.
"Awoo~"
Ling Feng swallowed and chewed the herb, then waited a moment. He raised an eyebrow, "Huh? Why don't I feel anything?"
Another one!
Thinking this, Ling Feng swallowed another herb.
"Still no feeling?"
"...Again!"
In a short while, Ling Feng had swallowed all the spiritual herbs he had bought. Only then did he feel a change within his body.
Immediately, Ling Feng sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began refining.
A warm, pure energy began to flow through his limbs and bones, finally converging in his dantian.
The sunlight was warm, but Ling Feng, who was refining on the bed, had an extremely heavy expression.
This was a crucial moment for him to break through to the Dou Zhe realm!
Ling Feng hadn't expected that swallowing a few spiritual herbs would provide him with the opportunity for a breakthrough.
He underestimated the power of the Taotie's bloodline, and even more so his own ability to consume energy.
Several medicinal herbs, some over a decade old, transformed into a pure stream of energy in no time, aiding Ling Feng's breakthrough to the Dou Zhe realm.
Ling Feng dared not delay and immediately entered a breakthrough state.
However, to Ling Feng's surprise, the energy of the herbs didn't clash with his Dou Qi; instead, they seemed to be a harmonious family.
Everything went exceptionally smoothly.
Soon, the scale of Ling Feng's Dou Qi was expanding at a visible rate...
"Boom!"
At a certain moment, a soft, muffled sound quietly echoed within his body.
Ling Feng, his eyes slightly closed, focused his mind on his body. At this moment, a palm-sized milky-white vortex was slowly rotating in his lower abdomen, surrounded by a layer of nebula-like milky-white energy gas...
"Whoosh~"
His tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and the milky-white light in Ling Feng's dark pupils lingered for a full ten seconds before gradually dissipating.
Smacking his lips, Ling Feng exhaled a breath of stale air, his complexion noticeably brighter now.
He cracked his neck, the bones snapping together, sending a satisfying jolt of pleasure through him. A wide grin spread across his face. "Success! I've broken through to the Dou Zhe level!"
Ling Feng was inwardly excited, exclaiming, "No wonder it's a Taotie! Its innate greed allows it to devour everything... It seems that as long as I have enough cultivation resources, a cramming-style advancement is entirely possible."
"However," he continued, "a single herb that's been around for over ten years doesn't seem to be enough to activate the Taotie bloodline's devouring and consuming abilities; only several herbs are effective. It seems I need to further explore the Taotie bloodline's potential."
While Ling Feng knew some of the Taotie bloodline's abilities, he wasn't entirely clear on its hidden potential.
But one thing was certain: the Taotie bloodline was absolutely incredible.
"Is this the power of a Fighter?" Clenching his fist and feeling the changes in his internal energy, Ling Feng grinned.
"The energy of the medicinal herbs is extremely pure, yet it doesn't repel my internal fighting spirit. It's as if they're one, fusing together without any conflict. This must be a latent talent of the Taotie bloodline. Advancing by taking medicine, the energy doesn't repel, it's perfectly absorbed, and my realm isn't even slightly unstable. This is practically a bug!"
Ling Feng could sense that although he was advancing to Fighter through cramming, his realm wasn't unstable at all; on the contrary, his fighting spirit was extremely dense...
Ling Feng loved this lazy advancement method.
"Others work hard to cultivate their martial arts, but I can advance just by taking medicine. This lazy cultivation method is so awesome!"
Lost in his fantasies, Ling Feng grinned, his smile radiant and wonderful.
[Stare!]
[Detected changes in host's fighting spirit... Congratulations on advancing to Fighter. Reward: one draw from a treasure box.]
The system's voice suddenly rang in his mind, stopping Ling Feng's fantasy. But his mood remained good, and he even teased the system.
"System, are you using 2G? Or has it been too long since you updated, causing this long delay?"
[...]
The system's voice finally spoke again after a long pause.
[Ding!]
[Would you like to draw a prize now?]
Seeing that the system didn't tag him, Ling Feng wasn't annoyed; instead, he was excited. He was eager to see what kind of ability he would get from the treasure box he drew this time.
Just like last time, Ling Feng first prayed, even sacrificing himself to pray for a chance to win the 'grand prize.'
"I'm willing to abstain from sex for a year... seems a bit too long, half a year, seems a bit too much, a month, yes, just a month... I'm willing to abstain from sex for a month, please, all you big shots, gods, demons, and monsters, draw me a good treasure."
After praying, Ling Feng commanded the system.
"Draw immediately!"
[Draw begins...]
The system was very direct; in no time, three more treasure boxes appeared in front of Ling Feng.
Without much thought, 2 was Ling Feng's lucky number, so he directly clicked on the second treasure box.
With a flash of light, the second treasure box slowly opened, followed by a system voice:
[Congratulations, host, you have drawn a Mythical Treasure Box and obtained the Creation Brush, the Spirit-Enhancing Pearl...]