When Ou Yangming put his saber away, he sensed the upsurge of essential Qi in his body, as well as the weakened Qi and blood. He was in high spirits. In actual fact, he had not come out to cultivate martial arts. He had only wanted to test the Blood Flight skill.

However, his unintended actions had brought unexpected results. After performing the Blood Flight skill, he lost a substantial amount of Qi and blood, which was why he used the Devouring ability in the dense forest to absorb energy from flesh and blood, and to turn them into Qi and blood for his body. During the process, Ou Yangming suddenly experienced a strong heroic spirit, and he cultivated martial arts, causing an upsurge of his Qi and blood. As things got out of hand, he eventually advanced to the peak of Force Grade.

It was definitely a massive opportunity for him.

Nonetheless, once Ou Yangming arrived at the peak of Force Grade, he realized that his rich Qi and blood were emptied again.

As such, he headed inside the dense forest easily, and recovered his Qi and blood after just 15 minutes.

Honestly, Ou Yangming's current body was so much more powerful than before that the amount of Qi and blood he could store was on a different level. That said, his attributes had improved accordingly. He also had the support of abundant essential Qi and a considerable amount of mental power. Therefore, Ou Yangming became a few times more efficient in hunting and required a much shorter time.

When Ou Yangming absorbed the energy of more flesh and blood, he had also used appraisal art a few times.

If Zheng Ziwen knew that Ou Yangming could perform appraisal art so frequently, he would definitely be stupefied and in disbelief.

Ou Yangming, who had 20 points of mental power, was more powerful than the good-for-nothing, Zheng Ziwen. At the very least, Ou Yangming would not feel burdened even if he consecutively used appraisal art four to five times.

Needless to say, he dared not attempt to use the art more than that.

After testing and verifying a few times, Ou Yangming finally understood something.

Sure enough, as he had guessed, if he did not use essential Qi or other unique abilities, his personal attributes were linked to his cultivation rank. On the other hand, if Ou Yangming employed his essential Qi, his attribute values would change significantly, and the specific amounts changed would vary.

Ou Yangming exclaimed once he confirmed everything. It seemed like there was a certain limit to appraisal art, he could only find out the most basic information, and could not inspect specific changes during a fight.

After replenishing his Qi and blood, Ou Yangming put his military saber away reluctantly. He drew the Devouring attribute, then used his body technique to hurry back to the military camp.

There was an important matter that he had to attend to back in the military camp.

When Ou Yangming returned to his courtyard, he put away his equipment set properly, then retrieved the raw gemstones that he had brought back.

The raw gemstones were extremely valuable, but they would not be coveted by anyone even if he just left them there. After all, nobody could break into his residence other than Old Craftsman.

Ou Yangming casually smashed one of the raw gemstones, and as he had expected, no gem was found.

On the contrary, when he reached for the other raw gemstone, he was cautious with it.

Based on the raw gemstone's hardness, unless it was intentionally broken, it was unlikely to shatter even if one accidentally dropped it. Despite being aware of that, Ou Yangming subconsciously handled the stone carefully.

After some thought, a light flashed in Ou Yangming's hand as his Military Fire burned.

Zheng Ziwen could carry out stone-cutting using different tools, but Ou Yangming did not have the conditions to do so. Besides, even if Ou Yangming was given those tools, he would not have had control over them right away, thus he decided to use his Military Fire.

Nevertheless, under Ou Yangming's control, the Military Fire burned very slowly. He did not want the fire to ruin the gem inside the raw gemstone.

If the Spiritual Fire Blacksmiths in the gem trade had witnessed this, they would surely yell at Ou Yangming as they were afraid that he would destroy the gem.

This was because there were many past cases where the Military Fire or the spiritual fire was used to retrieve a gem, but very few were successful cases. If a person was slightly careless, the raw gemstone would crack, and the gem would be destroyed.

However, Ou Yangming was different.

When he used his Military Fire's power, his consciousness was split into two, where the one watching from above was in a miraculous state — the integration of Heaven and man. Under the consciousness' observation, the situation inside the raw gemstone was crystal clear. Hence, Ou Yangming was aware of the key points when he advanced further with his Military Fire.

Like peeling a bamboo shoot, he removed the raw gemstone's surface bit by bit.

Following that, a mysterious gem was revealed, but Ou Yangming was surprised because the gem was odd.

Other gems had a beautiful color and luster, but the one that he was holding was black and unexceptional.

No, even though the gem was as black as an inkstone, inside it was a rich core, but the core looked like a sleeping person.

As Ou Yangming looked at the black core, he felt a chill for some reason.

While he was unaware of the gem's background, his guts were telling him that it was incredibly valuable. It was rare and more powerful than the gem that had increased his Physique by 4 points.

Appraisal art…

An Appraisal Light landed on the gem.

[Item: Substitution Gem]

[Attributes: Accumulates energy from Qi and blood, resists a fatal attack for the host]

Ou Yangming was hesitant for the first time when he held the gem in his hands.

His initial plan was to embed the gem in the waist sash after carrying out the stone-cutting process. In any case, the waist sash had three grooves, so one slot would be left even if he added this gem.

Nonetheless, he suddenly realized that the gem's equivalent rank was definitely above the waist sash's and he would not be using the same equipment forever. Would it be a waste to embed this gem in the waist sash?

After some consideration, Ou Yangming cast his worries aside and began refining the gem.

This was because he thought about his mysterious Military Fire. Although Ou Yangming had no idea if the fire had the ability to draw and transfer skills, he believed that he could keep the gem intact if he were to remove it from the waist sash in the future.

Soon enough, the black gem began transforming in the Military Fire. At the very least, its outer appearance was obviously changing.

By controlling the Military Fire, the black gem's attributes did not decline, and it was smoothly embedded in the waist sash. Similarly, once the gem was embedded, its outer appearance was no longer unusual, and the human-like core seemed to have faded away.

Ou Yangming studied it for some time before confirming that there were no flaws, then he proceeded to scan the waist sash with his MIlitary Fire.

[Item: Extraordinary waist sash (Yellow)]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Fine Grade, Rank Five]

[AttributesL Toughness +20, Physique +4]

[Skills: Blood Flight (Activation Condition: Abundant Qi and blood), Substitution (Accumulates Qi and blood, substitutes death)]

'Fine Grade Rank Five?'

Ou Yangming suddenly widened his eyes. What did he see? He saw that the waist sash had leaped from Good Grade Rank Three to Fine Grade Rank Five without warning.

After blinking a few times, Ou Yangming realized that the black Substitution Gem was not as simple as it seemed.

The waist sash's grade had improved dramatically after the gem was embedded.

Ou Yangming had another vague thought in his head. He believed that super-powerful equipment above ordinary tools — the legendary magic tools — possessed unimaginable magical effects.

It would surely not be easy to cross the boundary between an ordinary tool and a magic tool.

Therefore, whether it was the waist sash that had accidentally grown or the shield that had declined from being a magic tool and was now an ordinary tool, they were stuck being ordinary tools at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five.

The reason being they could not advance further than that.

Ou Yangming had a fiery feeling inside his heart. He wanted to find out exactly how powerful a magic tool was.

That being said, it was difficult to acquire one.

Ou Yangming shook his head and cast the unrealistic thought aside. Perhaps his wish would come true one day, but today was definitely not that day.

After halting his thoughts, he continued to focus on the waist sash.

The waist sash had two skills at the moment. Ou Yangming had tried the first — the Blood Flight — and realized that its might must not be taken lightly. Though there was a high price to pay, it could definitely pose a huge threat to one's opponent during a crucial moment.

'But how should I use this new Substitution skill?'

Ou Yangming pondered for a while. Based on its literal meaning, he channeled his essential Qi slowly into the waist sash.

This time, to sense every change within the waist sash, he circulated his essential Qi on purpose. His eyes suddenly lit up because, sure enough, there were two powers in the sash that echoed his essential Qi.

Ou Yangming was familiar with one of the powers because he had tried it once earlier, so he was not going to contact it this time.

He directed his essential Qi away to contact the other power. Next, a massive absorption power burst out.

Ou Yangming felt a chill right away. He noticed that the overflowing amount Qi and blood that he had just replenished earlier was now gushing out like a flood.

In just a brief moment, he became seriously depleted of Qi and blood once more.

Ou Yangming rolled his eyes. He realized that he did not have the power to even lift his hands anymore.

He wondered with a bitter smile, 'What's happening to me? Why do I always encounter skills that devour Qi and blood?'