Deep within Thousand Beast Forest, a large shadow was moving through the undergrowth at rapid speed. It was a large golden furred tiger with a patch of orange-red fur shaped like a flame on its forehead. This was a Blaze Tiger, a strong demonic beast that possessed the strength of a peak level Mortal realm cultivator.

It was around seven meters long from head to tail, and stood almost three meters tall. It was a truly terrifying beast. If anyone saw this monster coming toward them, they would probably shit their pants and run away as fast as possible.

Strangely, this mighty predator seemed to have been injured as it was limping. It also seemed to be running away from something as its eyes flickered with fear as it looked around periodically, like it was wary of something.

Suddenly, another figure emerged out of nowhere from the bushes. It was a handsome dark haired youth with bright eyes. The youth was none other than Mu Chen. He directly rushed at the Blaze Tiger without hesitation.

“Demon Vanquishing Fist!” Mu Chen shouted, his fists turning into a brilliant gold that emanated a sacred, inviolable aura as he unleashed a vicious punch directly at the beast’s flank.

The Blaze Tiger howled in pain as it was sent flying and crashing onto the ground, leaving a deep groove in the earth. Its eyes were blazing with fury and indignance as it got to its feet once again.

Half an hour ago, it came across this human wandering around deep in the forest. The human had no spiritual qi in his body at all. Thinking that he had found some easy prey, the tiger snuck up on the human and attacked, but the human seemed to have eyes on the back of his head as well as unexpectedly high strength.

After a few minutes of fighting, the tiger knew that this guy was not easy pickings like he had hoped, so it retreated and tried to escape. However, this damn human actually refused to give up and chased him relentlessly.

Now the beast knew it could no longer escape, so it readied itself to fight to the death. It let out a low, threatening growl as it tensed up its body, ready to pounce.

“Finally ready to fight for real?” Mu Chen grinned as he cracked his knuckles and strode leisurely toward the beast.

Swoosh! The Blaze Tiger rushed forward at lightning speed and swiped its paw at Mu Chen’s head, scorching flames trailing from its claws. Blaze Tigers were known for their usage of flame attributed spiritual qi, which was offensively powerful, so most people would run away upon seeing one.

Mu Chen grinned and met the claw with his shining gold fist.

Bang! The impact between the two combatants created a wind which caused the vegetation in the surroundings to shake violently. A sickening crunch could be heard as the beast roared painfully as it was sent flying once more, while Mu Chen himself retreated a few steps due to the tiger’s heavier body, which gave it an edge in direct clashes.

“Alright, enough playing around. I’ll end you right now.” Mu Chen lightly shook the hand he had used to clash against the tiger.

“Divine Thunderflash!” Mu Chen’s body flickered momentarily with bolts of lightning as he appeared directly in front of the Blaze Tiger and unleashed a continuous barrage of powerful punches at the beast.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The beast howled as it repeatedly retreated with all its might. With every blow that struck it, a bone in its body would shatter. The pain was excruciating.

Crunch! Mu Chen’s fist finally landed onto the tiger’s head, crushing its skull and killing it, ending its misery. The massive beast collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.

Surprisingly, this Blaze Tiger was the first beast Mu Chen had encountered in the Thousand Beast Forest. It could be said that for anyone else, it would be considered bad luck, but for him, the beast was a perfect training dummy for him to test his strength.

Usually, demonic beasts with the same level of cultivation as humans were stronger than them. This was due to the beast’s innately powerful body. Therefore, a cultivator who was also at the peak of the Mortal realm would not be able to defeat this Blaze Tiger.

Even Mu Chen had to spend a good amount of time and spiritual qi before finally killing the beast. He had used up almost half of his supreme spiritual qi.

“Finally, it's dead.” Mu Chen said with a satisfied look.

“Hmm?” He suddenly noticed something strange. The stone tablet seemed to be reacting to something. At the same time, Mu Chen’s right hand started trembling.

His gaze landed on the Blaze Tiger’s carcass. Reaching over, he placed his hand on the beast carcass. To his shock, the Blaze Tiger’s corpse withered visibly, rapidly turning into a skeletal husk that was completely devoid of blood and muscle.

The essence from the slain beast then surged into his body and was sucked into the stone tablet, which then surged forth with supreme spiritual qi, restoring some of the qi he had used up earlier while fighting. His entire body felt warm and tingly, and he felt refreshed and reenergized despite having previously fought for an extended period of time.

“This…”

Mu Chen was momentarily stunned, but he quickly calculated the implications. The stone tablet could actually absorb blood essence and convert it to spiritual qi? That was a truly heaven defying ability! With this, his problem with resources could be alleviated for now. Instead of resources, he could just increase his cultivation by continuously hunting and absorbing the essence of demonic beasts.

“Hold on…if it works on demonic beasts, then perhaps…it could work on other living things as well?” Mu Chen furrowed his brows thoughtfully. Although he wanted to, he could not test that out right now. For now, he would go ahead with hunting demonic beasts first.

......

Somewhere within Thousand Beast Forest, two burly men were walking down a beaten dirt path. These men were clad in rough clothes, with some beast skins draped on their shoulders. Their bodies were tanned and littered with an assortment of scars of all shapes and sizes. They also carried various weapons. Both had bows slung across their backs as well as sabers and knives dangling from their waists.

They were hunters as well as cultivators who frequented the forest, as their livelihoods depended on it. These two hunters were talking to each other in low voices.

“Hey brother, did you hear? There are rumors that a strange beast has appeared in Thousand Beast Forest in the past week or so!” One of the hunters whispered. He had small eyes and a shifty look.

“What’s the big deal? It's just a beast isn’t it? The forest is full of beasts, idiot!” The other hunter scolded. This one had a large mustache that would twitch violently whenever he spoke.

“No, no. Listen to me, this is not just any regular beast! It's said that this beast has been brutally and indiscriminately killing other beasts, and completely draining those corpses of blood! The carcasses were all shriveled and dried up, not a single drop of blood left in their bodies!”

“What?! That’s complete bullshit. We’ve been hunting for decades already, you and I both know that there isn’t any such beast that exists here! Who told you about this?” The mustached hunter grumbled with an irritated look.

“Old Hong!”

“Old Hong? From Drunken Dragon Tavern?” The mustached hunter raised a brow.

The small eyed hunter nodded profusely.

“Idiot!” The mustached hunter slapped his companion on the head. “Old Hong is full of shit! Why are you so naive to believe that fool? You-”

Just as the mustached hunter was about to unleash another barrage of curses, both men stopped in their tracks like statues while pricking up their ears and listening intently.

“Brother, do you hear that?” The small eyed hunter nudged his friend and whispered.

“No, all I can hear is you, dumbass!” The mustached hunter slapped his friend on the head again.

The small eyed hunter rubbed his sore head with a wronged expression on his face.

“Roar!” A loud roar suddenly came from somewhere in the distance.

“There! Let’s go take a look!” The mustached hunter took off, running in the direction of the sound.

“Wait for me!” His companion chased after him.

Both of them ran swiftly and soon reached a large clearing. Staying hidden on the edge of the clearing, they gingerly peered through the bushes to see what was going on.

A massive bear-like beast lay motionless in the center of the clearing, a pool of blood slowly expanding from beneath it.

“B-b-brother…isn’t that…” The small eyed hunter muttered and turned to his companion.

The mustached hunter nodded slowly.

“Ironfur Bear…” He mumbled.

The small eyed hunter pointed at the slain beast once more, his eyes widening in shock.

The corpse was rapidly shriveling into a skeletal husk, right before their very eyes. As the mass of the beast shrunk, a figure could be seen standing behind it. It was a handsome youth of around fifteen or sixteen, with long black hair and deep, dark eyes. His right hand was placed on the corpse.

Both men turned to face each other, staring directly into the other person’s eyes for a second, then turned back to the clearing. Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

The youth…was gone!

“Hello.” A voice suddenly came from behind them.

The voice was soft and gentle, but both hunters felt the hair on their backs stand on end as a chill ran down their spine. Swallowing their saliva, they slowly turned their heads.

Standing directly behind them was the smiling face of a handsome youth with pitch black eyes as deep as the abyss.

Both men screamed in unison.

A few seconds later, Mu Chen disappeared into the forest, leaving two shriveled corpses clad in beast skin lying in the bushes, looks of terror eternally etched onto their faces.