Chapter 23: Ling Qingshu Breakthrough

Xu Yang still smiled and said, "Because you will die very soon."

Hearing this, the five Core Formation cultivators were immediately enraged.

"You damn Qi Refinement cultivator, how dare you speak with such arrogance? If you want to die, just say so!"

"Once I've dealt with this beast, I'll come and kill you." The person said, then glanced at Ling Qingshu and Yu Sanniang behind Xu Yang, lust glinting in his eyes.

"Heh heh, these two women are truly exquisite. We brothers are in for a treat."

The five Core Formation cultivators laughed more and more lewdly.

*Whoosh*, Ling Qingshu drew her sword, her face ashen, and gritted her teeth, saying, "Hmph, you perverts! Watch me kill you all."

Xu Yang shook his head and held Ling Qingshu back.

"It's fine, don't waste your energy. They won't live much longer."

Xu Yang suddenly found it amusing. Everyone thought he was a Qi Refinement cultivator, which was true, but he was at the 99,999th level of Qi Refinement.

"I advise you to try and escape with your lives. If you stay here any longer, you will die terribly."

Xu Yang watched as the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard's blue eyes slowly turned blood-red.

The Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard was already stirring. These Core Formation cultivators wouldn't last another minute.

The five Core Formation cultivators were about to say more when they suddenly saw the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard turn into an afterimage and pounce fiercely towards them.

Its speed was incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, it was beside one of them.

Its sharp claws instantly slashed across the Core Formation cultivator's abdomen.

The Core Formation cultivator didn't even have time to scream before his Core Formation shattered, and he died.

The next second, his body withered into a mummified corpse.

The others were stunned. By the time they reacted, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard was already upon them.

"Help!" they shrieked in terror.

Blood bloomed rapidly. The Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard moved as if through an empty realm, and the Core Formation cultivators were no match for its sharp claws!

The five Core Formation cultivators died just like that.

Just then! Xu Yang drew his sword with a *swish*! He thrust it towards the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard.

The Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard had a unique characteristic: if killed within one minute of devouring a cultivator's essence blood, the medicinal power contained within its demonic core would be ten times greater than usual.

However, within that same minute, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard's combat strength would also surge several times due to the fresh essence blood it consumed!

"Extreme Life Sword!" Xu Yang roared. A red halo appeared at the tip of his sword, and with a whooshing sound as it pierced the air, he thrust it forward, causing ripples to appear in space itself!

Yu Sanniang watched from behind, her face ashen. The power of that single strike was incredibly potent.

She couldn't help but compare it to herself and concluded that if that sword strike had been aimed at her, she would have been utterly powerless to resist; only death would have followed.

The Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard opened its maw wide, and a blood-red beast core shot out at extreme speed!

The beast core flew towards him, bringing with it a biting cold wind, and collided with Xu Yang's long sword in an instant.

Xu Yang sneered.

The beast core was the most crucial part of a demonic beast, even more important than its brain.

Some powerful demonic beasts could even be reborn through their demonic core after their physical bodies died.

Yet, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard had now directly spat out its beast core to contend with Xu Yang, which clearly showed how terrifying Xu Yang was.

Seeing the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard spit out its demonic core, Xu Yang was no longer in a hurry.

He sheathed his sword and reached out to grab the demonic core.

Yu Sanniang's eyelids twitched as she watched. Grabbing a demonic beast's inner core with bare hands?

Was Xu Yang crazy?

A demonic beast's inner core was not a fragile egg; on the contrary, it was the most powerful part of the beast, and some inner cores possessed exceptionally treacherous and poisonous attack methods.

Indeed, the moment Xu Yang's hand touched the demonic beast's inner core, a surge of white cold air instantly emanated from it, enveloping Xu Yang's entire body.

*Crack, crack, crack...*

The white cold air instantly solidified into ice, transforming Xu Yang into a translucent ice figure.

"Ancestor Xu!" Ling Qingshu couldn't help but shriek when she saw Xu Yang in this state.

Tears welled up in her eyes. Could it be that the invincible ancestor had finally fallen here today?

"Why are you crying? Calm down." The tightly sealed block of ice *cracked*, and it loosened.

*Boom...*

Then, the ice block instantly exploded, turning into white powder that scattered everywhere like a white mist.

Xu Yang stepped out, enveloped in a halo of light, appearing like a war god amidst the white mist and sunlight.

Ling Qingshu breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Yang walked over to her side and, smiling, playfully flicked her small nose.

"What's wrong? Don't you believe in your ancestor?"

At this moment, the previously menacing demonic beast stood rigidly in place, its eyes vacant.

Xu Yang had just violently and forcibly severed the connection between the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard and its inner core.

Deprived of its inner core, the Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard died instantly.

"Wait, eat this first. It'll be useless after a minute. Later, I'll harvest the Ice Soul Snow Lotus and refine it into a pill for you."

Xu Yang handed the demonic beast's inner core in his hand to Ling Qingshu.

The demonic beast's inner core was no longer blood-red; it had become a sparkling, transparent color, looking beautiful under the sunlight.

Not only was this demonic beast's inner core beautiful, but it also emitted an alluring fragrance that made one want to swallow it whole.

Ling Qingshu still frowned.

Could demonic beast inner cores be eaten? She had never heard of such a thing.

However, if the ancestor told her to commit suicide immediately, she would obey unconditionally.

She immediately grabbed the inner core and swallowed it.

*Boom...*

The next second, an extremely powerful surge of spiritual energy rushed into Ling Qingshu's body.

Ling Qingshu couldn't control such turbulent spiritual energy and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Steady yourself, and cultivate," Xu Yang said calmly, placing his right hand on Ling Qingshu's shoulder. A faint white spiritual energy flowed into her body, helping her stabilize the raging energy.

Ling Qingshu gratefully glanced at Xu Yang. If this spiritual energy couldn't be stabilized, it would be a deadly poison, but once stable, it was a peerless spiritual medicine for cultivation.

Ling Qingshu mobilized all the spiritual energy she could, using it to break through her cultivation realm.

After a while, with a *crack*, Ling Qingshu's cultivation advanced from the first stage of Core Formation to the third stage.

One must understand that after reaching the Core Formation stage, advancing even a single minor realm becomes incredibly difficult.

Some cultivators, despite reaching the Core Formation stage at a young age, might remain stuck at the first stage for their entire lives, unable to advance further.

Yet, in just a quarter of an hour, Xu Yang had elevated Ling Qingshu's cultivation from the first stage to the third stage of Core Formation.

This was a direct two-stage advancement! If outsiders knew, they would likely be utterly dumbfounded.

Yu Sanniang, who witnessed everything firsthand, was completely stunned.

The Bloodthirsty Demonic Leopard, which had instantly killed five Core Formation cultivators, was instantly killed by Xu Yang.