Wang Xuan kept alert, listening intently to the slightest rustle on the ground beneath his feet, which could barely be detected unless one listened carefully.
Ten minutes later, having found a few good shooting points, Wang Xuan assembled his sniper rifle and lay in wait for his prey. This shooting point was an entrance sheltered by thick soil, allowing him to have no worries about what lay behind.
The sniper rifle was two meters long, camouflaged with strips of cloth. Wang Xuan's entire body was inside the cave; for safety, he had also dug a corner, preparing an escape route.
Wang Xuan's five senses were acute, capable of hearing the munching of bamboo rats a hundred meters away, alongside the crawling of snakes, the flight of birds, the scurrying of mice, and the leaping of deer.
He held the sniper rifle, seeking alignment with it, aiming accurately at the eyes or the center of the brow of each prey, always striving for a one-shot kill.
Each time he aimed, he would have a premonition about whether this shot would hit or not. If he was sure, then he was certain; if not, it meant too many influencing factors were at play.
Thus, he did not shoot lightly; when he did, he never missed. This was his standing in the hunting team, a sniper with unfaltering accuracy.
Aime after time, as his sense of success increased, Wang Xuan gradually felt assured. Having rested for a month without shooting, he feared losing touch with the feeling of the gun.
Lying motionless on the ground, Wang Xuan's Life Generating Technique kept circulating within him, maintaining active flow of his vitality and energy, preventing the body from numbing or seizing up after prolonged immobility, thus averting impacts on sniping and combat power.
In this era where cultivation prevailed among all, although most lacked the aptitude for it, struggling their whole lives stuck in the first realm, Meat Training Realm, they were nonetheless exposed to posture stances, kung fu routines, training methods, techniques, and some widely known internal cultivation methods.
For instance, the Thirty-Six Techniques propagated by the Federation, which ordinary people could learn and practice with beneficial effects for strengthening and health-preservation purposes. But, of course, it could only aid in health preservation without grasping its essence; thinking of advancing to the second realm, Muscle Strengthening Realm, was extremely difficult.
Practicing inner strength requires perseverance; ordinary people can follow those well-versed in kung fu through online resources. However, achieving feats like walking on walls remains challenging, generally only activating vitality and energy.
Better cultivation techniques are hard to acquire, and practice requires guidance; otherwise, it's easy to hurt one's meridians.
Inner cultivation can accelerate the human body's circulation, categorizing into Minor Cycle and Great Cycle. Despite meridian differences, some are suitable for cultivation, while others yield half the results with double effort, but everyone possesses them naturally, enabling energy circulation.
The Innate Great Cycle takes a day per cycle, operating slowly, arriving at different parts in time and sequence during each hour. Inner cultivation can speed up the flow of energy, making this cycle faster, and once internal strength is generated, extraordinary feats can be achieved.
Having reached the second level of Life Generating Technique, when Wang Xuan executed inner cultivation and applied it against his flesh body, both strength and speed could improve by twenty to thirty percent—an unmistakable enhancement.
A two-three hundred-kilogram wild boar appeared, drifting through the bamboo grove, kicking up dirt as it dashed here and there, its mouth making happy grunting sounds, sometimes ramming the bamboo, causing them to resonate. Wang Xuan aimed, a boar of this size might even challenge a tiger, needing caution as its skin was thick and tough.
Should I shoot?
Or refrain from shooting?
Wang Xuan felt this filthy creature wasn't worth taking down, not only unwieldy but also worth little, thus he held back.
The wild boar wandered around the area for about half an hour, eventually attracting a leisurely strolling striped tiger, its steps broad and elegant, exuding the charisma of a forest king.
This tiger appeared a size one or two times larger than typical, weighing eight or nine hundred kilograms.
The massive three-four-meter-long tiger drew near, swiftly accelerating, pouncing fiercely—its fangs and claws like drawn swords, leaving the wild boar screaming miserably like a slaughtered pig, blood splattering, evidently unable to escape the tiger's claws.
Wang Xuan silently remarked, this striped tiger might already be at the peak of fierce beasts or entered the domain of fiends, capable of battling against Bone Refining or even Organ Refining cultivators.
The Body Refining Seventh Realm, muscles, tendons, skin, bones, organs, marrow, blood—in these years despite his fundamental source repairs enhancing significantly, Wang Xuan was still firmly stuck at the Meat Training Realm.
But now as the Life Generating Technique reached the second level, he was on the verge of breaking through to the Muscle Strengthening Realm, giving him future prospects and more enthusiasm for combat.
With a sniper rifle in hand, even Organ Refining or Bone Marrow Refining cultivators, if careless, might end up dead in the Yellow Springs. Resisting bullets with flesh required blood exchange or even Meridian Opening, let alone his heavy sniper rifle.
This fierce tiger, if hunted with intact skin and meat, might be worth over a million Star Yuan—an enticing prey. However, the risks were immense; if he failed, the infuriated tiger could retaliate ferociously.
The mother star harbored abundant fierce and fiendish beasts amidst its vastness, especially in the tropical rainforests, parts of Siberia and Africa, along with the spacious oceans, almost becoming a forbidden zone for human civilization. Only the strong could traverse; otherwise, encountering a demon beast by chance would spell misfortune.
Wang Xuan watched the tiger feeding, choosing to strike after it was sated, when the tiger would be most languid, alertness reduced, and its movements slow due to digestion.
Twenty minutes later, spotting a perfect kill opportunity, Wang Xuan prepared to pull the trigger. But suddenly he felt unease, laying flat, holding his breath, motionless, ears tuned out, eyes shut, resembling a piece of rock.
The accelerator in his mind continuously alerted him to a nearby energy source available for collection, beckoning him to gather it, but Wang Xuan remained inert, growing even more serene.
He already understood that anyone possessing items imbued with source power was invariably a formidable cultivator; otherwise, they wouldn't qualify to have such.
Suddenly, two streaks of light flew overhead, weaving to and fro above Meiling, passing several times over Wang Xuan's head. The rumblings they brought forth made the local creatures tremble in fear.
The tourists at the tourist spot all witnessed this scene, some with wide-open eyes watching, others using personal devices to record, fearing they might miss this moment.
There's no need to think much about it; the cultivators engaged in battle are certainly not of a low realm. At the very least, they are likely figures of Land Immortal caliber, capable of slicing off a mountaintop with a single sword.
Ordinary people, who are not in touch with such realms, only know rough divisions such as Earth Immortal, Celestial Immortal, and True Immortal, without knowing the specifics.
Such strong beings who can soar through the sky and traverse the earth would even earn respect from the mayor of Yuzhang City, this provincial capital, earning them a considerable amount of face.
Two streams of light sped by amidst the fierce battle, as several streaks of Sword Qi shot out, with one sword cleaving a hundred-meter-high mountain peak in half, while another sword carved a gully several hundred meters long, showcasing immense power.
Ultimately, the two beams of light engaged in fierce combat landed near Wang Xuan, causing him to shout inwardly in misfortune: Had he used up all his luck, or was this self-inflicted? He regretted coming to Meiling.
"The Great Dao contends for opportunities, but who wouldn't want them? Chen, go to hell!"
A voice bellowed as a streak of sword light tore through the sky, instantly scattering golden light and sending dozens of fragments falling, while a mist of blood dispersed with the wind.
Another voice emerged, laughing heartily: "Well done, young one, a single sword breaking ten thousand techniques, Celestial Sword Mountain lives up to its reputation!"
This voice grew weaker and weaker, as a head fell from mid-air. Wang Xuan's heart leapt upon hearing it: It was that young Sword Cultivator and the Hall Master! The Hall Master was defeated and perished?!
Startled, Wang Xuan slowly retreated into the cave. Despite the numerous obstructions at the cave entrance, he felt no sense of security, and retreated to the depths of the cave.
His hands swiftly moved, blocking the cave entrance with dirt, forming a narrow, enclosed space where Wang Xuan hid.
It's said that a Land Immortal's divine sense can scan everything around them clearly, but it's difficult to penetrate through solid objects like soil, as the divine sense is weakened and obstructed.
After doing all this, a minute later, Wang Xuan felt the ground tremble, and the cave collapsed directly, with a heavy pressure almost crushing him to the point of vomiting blood.
Yet Wang Xuan remained still, enduring, as the Life Generating Technique circulated within him, slowing his metabolism. Relying on a single breath and the vitality of the Life Generating Technique, he endured bitterly.
Not until a few minutes later did Wang Xuan arch his body slightly, allowing his right hand to create a small space, and continued to punch, carving out more space for movement.
Soon after, Wang Xuan emerged from over a meter deep in the soil. If not for his innate divine strength, he might have perished even though he endured in the Muscle Training Realm.
But there was no time to relish in the joy of escaping death. Wang Xuan saw a giant palm print, spanning a thousand meters in diameter, imprinted on the ground, as if a sky-supporting giant had slapped it here.
To have such destructive power, and for a small Body Refining Realm person like him to survive, it was truly a stroke of great fortune.
"What bad luck!"
The battle between two Land Immortal-level experts, and even ten thousand of him would be sent to their deaths, as evidenced by this apocalyptic wasteland.
Thinking of the Hall Master, Wang Xuan searched around but found not a trace, leaving him very disappointed, believing that this gigantic palm print was meant to destroy any evidence.
The Hall Master, neither alive nor a corpse, prompted Wang Xuan to realize that this was not a place to linger. The Federation and some large forces would soon arrive, and he needed to erase his traces, so he quickly departed with his sniper rifle.
Accelerator in his mind constantly alerted him to nearby energy sources he could collect. Despite knowing the grave risks, Wang Xuan couldn't resist the desire.
Heading towards the area with the strongest energy perception, Wang Xuan ran over a thousand meters, picking up a fingernail-sized fragment along the way. As soon as his fingers touched it, the accelerator indicated it was absorbing the source point, urging him to be patient.
Exiting the palm-printed area, he found a fragment of armor that had shot here, roughly the size of a washbasin, much larger than the previous fragment.
Upon contact, a massive influx of Source Power surged forth, with the numbers on the accelerator panel rapidly jumping, increasing by hundreds of source points with each breath.
A minute later, as Wang Xuan detected someone approaching, he hurriedly left, abandoning the large armor fragment, heading towards the city without looking back. Only when he saw the bustling crowd did he feel a bit safer.
It was then that emotions surged inside him. The Hall Master of the Immortal Martial Combat Hall, whom he knew, had fought with a young Sword Cultivator from Celestial Sword Mountain today, and died!
This was a very significant event, sure to cause a great upheaval. Immortal Martial Mountain would not let this go easily.
Wang Xuan knew his own insignificance; his life was not worth a finger's press from others, and he couldn't get involved at all.
But, could he just play deaf and dumb? The Hall Master had a life-saving grace towards him. If he were to hide like a quail, pretending to know nothing, what kind of man would he be?
After pondering briefly, Wang Xuan took up his personal device and sent a message to Senior Brother Chen Qingniu, who replied immediately.
"Meet at the teahouse near you in three minutes!"