"Clatter!!"
He lifted his tiger claw, turned the treasure box over, and examined it carefully.
The treasure box seemed to be naturally formed, without a single seam, as if it were originally a single piece. It had neither a lock nor a switch, which was quite peculiar.
Suddenly—
Di Shitian vaguely guessed that the mechanism to open this treasure box was probably the puzzle on the box itself. In his previous life, he had once heard someone mention that in ancient times, there was a type of mechanism called a 'puzzle mechanism.' This involved dividing a complete picture into different parts, scrambling their order, and placing them together. Only by completing the full image could the mechanism be opened.
Such mechanisms were quite rare. There was also a similar type called a 'word puzzle mechanism,' for example, taking a complete sentence and mixing it with unrelated characters, also in a scrambled order, requiring someone to find the sentence and arrange it according to a certain rule. Both of these mechanisms were extremely uncommon.
He silently looked at the treasure box for a while, then slowly shifted his gaze away from it.
He looked at a jade bottle placed next to the box.
The quality of this jade bottle was more perfect than most jade he had seen in his previous life. Most caves tend to be dim, but in such an environment, the jade bottle faintly emitted a soft jade glow.
"Puff!!"
When he opened the jade bottle, a strange medicinal fragrance immediately wafted out. Di Shitian inhaled deeply from the bottle's opening, and the medicinal fragrance entered his nose and permeated his internal organs.
"Boom!!"
The Demon Power in his body, excited like a sow in heat, eagerly rushed towards this medicinal fragrance. In an instant, Di Shitian clearly felt that after devouring the medicinal fragrance, the Demon Power in his body immediately grew a bit thicker. His spirit was invigorated.
"Could this bottle contain the 'Spirit Gathering Pill' that the mysterious woman mentioned?"
Di Shitian re-capped the bottle and gently shook it. The Medicinal Pills inside made a crisp sound. He had just glanced at it; this bottle was not simple. It didn't look very big from the outside, but it likely contained over a hundred thumb-sized Medicinal Pills.
A glimmer of human-like intelligence flickered in his tiger eyes as he pondered, thinking to himself: The woman from earlier was definitely not an ordinary person. She cared so much about the treasure box that she used a feint, hiding it with me. Then this is definitely not an ordinary treasure. And this 'Spirit Gathering Pill'—without even consuming it, just the medicinal fragrance emanating from it has significantly increased my Demon Power. Consuming such Medicinal Pills long-term will surely greatly accelerate my Cultivation speed. Perhaps I might even condense an Inner Core in one go.
Thinking of this, Di Shitian felt a bit bitter.
To become a demon seemed still far off. He now had Demon Power and had found methods to increase it by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon and consuming blood food. However, he truly felt that he was still missing something very important—something crucial for Cultivation.
A Cultivation Technique!!
A Cultivation Technique that could truly allow him to step into the world of Cultivators.
Indeed, this was what Di Shitian most yearned for at the moment.
In his previous life, there were numerous Chinese myths and legends, many of which involved the Yao Race. For example, Bai Suzhen, the millennium snake demon from 'Legend of the White Snake,' Cultivated for over a thousand years, yet she was suppressed by a single Fahai. A thousand years of Dao cultivation couldn't compare to one or two hundred years of human Cultivation.
This was undoubtedly—
A matter worth scrutinizing.
Di Shitian had also thought carefully about this. If he had to pinpoint a reason, it was simply—
Firstly, the Yao Race was not as favored by nature as humans. Their inherent Wisdom was inferior to humans. Even if they possessed some nascent spiritual awareness and understood how to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and the essence of the sun and moon from the outside world, they wouldn't, like humans, specifically focus their efforts on this. They would absorb it unconsciously.
With such a Cultivation approach, strengthening Demon Power would naturally yield half the results for twice the effort.
Furthermore, the Yao Race originated from birds, beasts, and plant spirits in the mountains and forests. They were naturally born and raised, with no means to obtain suitable Cultivation Techniques. They could only Cultivate based on instinct.
One can imagine, with such a method of Cultivation, how could the Yao Race compare to humans? Humans had good Cultivation Techniques, good Masters, and occupied Heaven And Earth Treasure. By Cultivating according to Cultivation Techniques, a few decades could equal the Yao Race's hundreds or even thousands of years of Cultivation. Such a disparity meant the Yao Race was completely reduced to targets for Cultivators to hunt for their Inner Cores.
"If only I had a Cultivation Technique,"
Di Shitian thought, but he also knew this was just a wishful dream.
"Crack!!"
He shook off the impractical thoughts in his mind and looked at the two treasures before him. The treasure box, needless to say, was certainly an extraordinary treasure. However, it was a pity that this treasure was left with him by the mysterious woman, and it might be taken away at any time. But the 'Spirit Gathering Pill' belonged to him, and the Medicinal Pills inside were very precious, helping to increase Demon Power.
After a moment of thought, he walked to a secluded corner of the cave, swung his tiger claws, and quickly dug into the ground. The ground was very hard, and it took Di Shitian a great deal of effort to dig a pit large enough to hold the treasure box and the jade bottle. He opened his mouth, placed the two treasures into the pit, and then filled it with the surrounding excavated soil. After doing all this, he thought for a moment and then covered it with a bear skin he used for sleeping. This completely concealed all traces.
He left the cave.
He was very hungry. Di Shitian didn't know how long he had been in slumber. Looking up, the sun was almost setting, and the sky was adorned with evening glow, radiating thousands of colorful rays, wisps of light, carrying the unique charm of a sunset.
After catching and eating a few wild rabbits in the forest to sate his hunger, he returned to the cave, dug out the jade bottle containing the Spirit Gathering Pill, and poured out a single golden-yellow, thumb-sized 'Spirit Gathering Pill.' He placed the Medicinal Pill in a piece of animal fur, wrapped it up, held it in his mouth, and leaped out of the cave, quickly running towards the mountain peak with the boulder.
He skillfully arrived at the mountain peak and saw the rushing river. He placed the fur-wrapped Spirit Gathering Pill beside him. Di Shitian lowered his head and took several large gulps of river water. He looked at the sky; the sun had already set, but the moon had not yet appeared. Not in a hurry, he lay by the stream, deep in thought.
The events of the past few days were too unbelievable, things he had never witnessed before. While enriching his experience, they also made him more alarmed. What kind of world lay beyond the mountain? Especially that mysterious treasure box, which used thousands of puzzle pieces as its lock. To solve it would be an inhuman task.
However, looking at it from another perspective, locking the treasure box with such a mechanism indicated that the contents of the treasure box must also be extraordinarily precious. If he could obtain it, there might be a huge surprise. He also wanted to see what changes this bottle of Spirit Gathering Pill could bring him.
Moonlight, like water, clear and translucent, sprinkled on the river surface. As the stream flowed, circles of ripples shimmered with a faint silver sheen, like beautiful scales, giving a feeling of refreshing comfort.
"The moon is out."
Di Shitian was awakened by the sound of the water beside him. Seeing the moonlight reflected on the water, he looked up, and the bright crescent moon once again revealed her gentle side.
Without much thought, he raised his head, opened his mouth, and began to inhale and exhale towards the moon, just as he had done several times before. Each breath, each exhalation, would create a current of Qi in front of him.
But strangely, he could see the moonlight, yet he couldn't absorb it into his body. The continuous inhalation and exhalation seemed to be in vain, producing no effect at all.
This action continued for a long time, yet still yielded no results. A look of confusion appeared in Di Shitian's eyes.
"What's going on? Last night I clearly could absorb the essence of the sun and moon from the moonlight, and my Demon Power indeed increased by nearly twofold overnight. Why is it having no effect today?"
Confusion mixed with a hint of anxiety. He really didn't understand what was happening.
"Eh!!"
While he was confused, Di Shitian's eyes suddenly fell on the large boulder not far away. At this moment, under the moonlight, the large boulder emitted faint silver halos. Moreover, when the moonlight fell on the boulder, it seemed as if it was directly absorbed by the boulder. He also discovered a peculiar thing: the moonlight on the boulder was noticeably richer than in other places.
"Could it be because of the boulder?"
Di Shitian pondered thoughtfully. Although he had reincarnated as a tiger, he still retained his original keen Wisdom. With his mind, after only a slight pause, he realized that this boulder might be closely related to his possession of Demon Power and his ability to absorb the essence of the sun and moon.
The first time he realized he had Demon Power, he had been lying on this large boulder, sleeping for a night. Later, he couldn't absorb the essence of the sun and moon elsewhere, but the second time he went onto the boulder, he again absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, nearly doubling the Demon Power in his body.
If the absorption of the essence of day and night was related to the location, the cave was at the foot of the mountain, so there was no need to elaborate. Now he was on the mountain peak, yet he still hadn't absorbed it. This meant that perhaps the height of the location didn't matter much. The true mystery, perhaps, lay in this boulder.
Thinking of this, a sharp glint flashed in Di Shitian's tiger eyes.
He held the fur wrapped around the Spirit Gathering Pill in his mouth, stood up, and leaped onto the boulder. He calmed his mind.
He felt a magical power within the boulder beneath him, quickly guiding him into a state of lightness. In this state, as if forgetting himself and everything else, Di Shitian slowly regained the feeling he had that night. Everything around him appeared in his mind. In wisps of moonlight, there were tiny silver-white specks of light, and these specks carried traces of wondrous power.
"Is this the essence of the moonlight?"
Di Shitian instantly understood what those specks of light were. He breathed naturally through his mouth and nose. When he exhaled, all the pores on his body closed. When he inhaled, all 108,000 pores opened, drawing the surrounding essence of the sun and moon into his body through them. Then, in the circulation of Demon Power, it quickly gathered, slowly strengthening the Demon Power that was only as thick as a head.