Over the following month, Wu Tian never stopped consuming qi. Whenever the snow cleared, he would head out to hunt alongside the hunting team.
Even when heavy snow sealed the mountains, with the aid of the Spirit of the Wind, he could still accurately locate prey within the vast ranges.
Throughout the entire winter, no one in the village went hungry.
The emergence of the Consuming Qi talent caused Wu Tian's physique to grow stronger with each passing day. The tempering and nourishment provided by the Essence Qi of Heaven and Earth were far beyond what ordinary skills could achieve.
His body became increasingly agile—and increasingly extraordinary.
As time passed, the amount of Essence Qi he could ingest steadily increased, and the duration for which he could maintain the process grew longer.
Inhale.Exhale.
Creation took shape naturally as essence entered his body.
Wu Tian could feel a power slowly being nurtured within him. When his physique was fully tempered by Essence Qi, when qi overflowed naturally, that power would be born.
"If this tempering of the body continues, I'm confident I can forge a body of steel tendons and iron bones."
"Unfortunately, I can't control the Essence Qi absorbed through Consuming Qi. The nourishment of my body happens naturally, without deliberate refinement."
Through this period of consuming qi, Wu Tian gradually realized that if cultivators truly existed in this world, they must be able to draw in Essence Qi and actively use it to temper the body and nourish the soul.
"To nourish essence, qi, and spirit with the power of heaven and earth—and thus transcend into the extraordinary!"
Wu Tian was no ignorant beast. Having lived through an age of information explosion in his previous life and studied the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi, he faintly grasped the path of cultivation through the Consuming Qi talent.
"The envoy from Skull Mountain should be arriving soon… but is Skull Mountain the domain of immortals—or demons?"
During this time, Wu Tian had carefully observed the night winds.
Whenever the bright moon hung high, countless spirits of ferocious beasts would ride the sinister wind, roaming between heaven and earth.
The eerie wind howled.A hundred beasts roared.Ghostly souls ran rampant.
The scene was utterly terrifying.
Even demon beasts encountering such a sight would likely be devoured completely by the spectral hordes.
Wu Tian was puzzled.
If the talismans posted in the village and the ancient bronze cauldron at its center possessed mysterious powers to repel evil—keeping the spirits of beasts at bay during the night—
Then how did the demons and spirits within the forests survive?
Surely, once the spectral tide passed through, those spirits would be devoured without leaving a trace…
Yet in reality, those spirits were living just fine.
After long observation, Wu Tian gradually reached a chilling conclusion.
"Those spirits of beasts are controlled—and even the demons and spirits in the mountains are likely being raised by someone."
The thought made his heart go cold.
To herd the spirits of a hundred beasts…to cultivate demons within the mountains…
Such methods were terrifying beyond measure.
"If all of this is the work of Skull Mountain, then the people there are truly horrifying."
"What kind of change will the arrival of the Skull Mountain envoy bring to the village?"
Wu Tian felt both anticipation and fear.
He hoped Skull Mountain could accelerate his growth and transformation—yet he was deeply wary.
The power of Skull Mountain was simply too vast. The spirits of beasts, the demons of the mountains—none were forces he could oppose.
Much less the existence that orchestrated it all.
Wu Tian felt a profound reverence for power.
Days passed one by one.
Finally, Wu Tian's first talent reached full mastery after relentlessly devouring poisonous insects, venomous snakes, and even refining the lingering toxic miasma left behind by the Jade Centipede Gu.
Ding! System Notification:Your talent Poison Devouring has reached full mastery.
Ding! System Notification:Your talent Poison Devouring has advanced.Current level: Intermediate Talent – Immunity to All Poisons.
Immunity to All Poisons (Intermediate):You are immune to the vast majority of ordinary poisons. Even lethal toxins that kill mortals cannot harm you. You possess weak resistance to toxic miasma and baleful energies born from Essence Qi.
"So at the intermediate stage, I can already completely ignore ordinary poisons."
"Only toxins involving extraordinary power—miasma and baleful energies—can harm me."
"Even so, Immunity to All Poisons still provides resistance to them. Once this talent advances further, it'll become terrifying."
"The Jade Centipede's venom clearly involves extraordinary power—it's far from ordinary poison."
As Wu Tian examined his new talent, joy filled his heart—along with a trace of melancholy.
After carefully reviewing the system panel, he realized that advancing intermediate talents was far more difficult than advancing beginner ones.
"To upgrade an intermediate talent, I'll likely need prolonged tempering with poisons like the Jade Centipede's venom, along with a vast amount of time."
"In other words, intermediate talents demand far greater time and far rarer resources."
He clearly understood that if he remained in the village forever, his growth would eventually stagnate.
"Immunity to All Poisons aside, talents like Agility, Spirit of the Wind, and Consuming Qi will require increasingly scarce resources to advance."
"And those are resources the village simply cannot provide…"
Wu Tian's anticipation for the arrival of the Skull Mountain envoy grew stronger by the day.
Time flowed onward.Ice melted.Snow receded.Spring returned to the land.
The hunting team resumed its usual operations, venturing out almost every day. With all things reviving in spring, they could easily secure enough food.
Amid these hunts, Wu Tian gradually raised his second talent—Agility—to full mastery.
Ding! System Notification:Your talent Agility has reached full mastery.
Ding! System Notification:Your talent Agility has advanced.Current level: Intermediate Talent – Divine Travel Across a Thousand Miles.
With this advancement, Wu Tian felt his already astonishing speed surge yet again.
When he ran through the forest, his body became a streak of white lightning.
"With this speed, no ferocious beast that hasn't become a spirit can possibly threaten me."
Wu Tian dashed wildly through the forest, feeling the raging wind tear past his fur, a primal sense of freedom surging from deep within his bones.
"Immunity to All Poisons. Divine Travel Across a Thousand Miles."
"These two talents alone make me one of the top predators in the forest. Even if I encounter spirit creatures, I can avoid them."
As he raced through the woods, Wu Tian suddenly lunged toward a massive python on the verge of becoming a spirit.
In the past, he would have approached such a creature with caution.
But now—
With explosive speed, his body flashed.
Before the python could even react, its vital point was torn apart by Wu Tian's claws.
Wu Tian darted around the massive body, striking again and again. The python thrashed and roared, yet it couldn't touch a single strand of his fur.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the nearly transformed python was slain—killed purely through overwhelming speed.
"Woof—!"
Wu Tian howled toward the sky.
He was no longer the frail pup he once was.
Soon, Yin Shuang arrived with the hunting team. When they saw the massive python Wu Tian had slain, shock filled their faces.
"Bai Long'er is getting stronger and stronger!"
"That python was almost a spirit, wasn't it?"
"Even the legendary white dog from the stories wasn't this powerful!"
"Even Yin Shuang can't compare to Bai Long'er now!"
"This is a blessing for White Dog Village!"
The hunters were ecstatic, especially Gu Xiong Mu. He had once tasted the flesh of a creature on the verge of becoming a spirit—such meat was immensely nourishing to humans.
The enormous python stretched several zhang in length—enough to feed the village for a long time.
"Everyone, help carry it back!"
"Hahaha! What a harvest!"
"The kids in the village are probably going to cry when they see such a huge snake!"
"Hahaha!"
As everyone worked together excitedly, Wu Tian stood to the side, calmly consuming Essence Qi to restore his stamina.
"Once Spirit of the Wind and Consuming Qi advance further, I should be able to truly become a spirit creature."
"By then, I'll be able to hunt even the spirits of the mountains."
With the system panel, his growth far outpaced all others of his kind.
Upon returning to the village, the massive python caused an uproar. Nearly everyone came out to see it.
Even Chi Li Mu ran out excitedly.
"Bai Long'er, I've never seen such a huge python!"
"They all say you hunted it—was it really you?"
"Bai Long'er, you're not allowed to take risks anymore! What if it swallowed you in one bite?"
The little girl scolded him while staring at the python—both frightened and thrilled, itching to touch it.
By evening, the clan chief and villagers butchered the giant python together, tossing all its flesh and bones into the ancient bronze cauldron and lighting a fire beneath it.
"It's been a long time since we cooked a prey this close to becoming a spirit," the clan chief said, surrounded by the villagers. "Back in the day, this cauldron even cooked a true spirit—a wild boar that had already transformed."
He began recounting the village's former glory.
Then—
Amid the lively atmosphere, a black wind suddenly swept in from the horizon, descending straight toward the center of the village.
The clan chief and Gu Xiong Mu's expressions instantly turned solemn.
They stood up at once as the clan chief called out loudly,
"All clansmen—join me in welcoming the arrival of the envoy!"
(End of Chapter)