The fresh heart, still warm, was carefully placed by Li Chonglou into a simple wrap made of animal hide and secured to his waist.
"Truly a seventh-tier异兽 (yì shòu - monstrous beast), its hide alone is probably worth a good sum," he mused.
As he was about to leave, he glanced at the massive carcass. The more he looked, the more he felt it was a waste.
"Never mind, I'll hide it first. It might be useful later."
The carcass of a seventh-tier 异兽 (yì shòu) could be considered a treasure, every inch of it. Although the heart was the seat of its bloodline, its flesh and blood also possessed significant efficacy. It was like in ordinary households, even killing a chicken could yield a nourishing soup. In Southern China, elders felt a meal was incomplete without a bowl of nourishing soup daily. The soup his mother made had a soul-stirring flavor, leaving one lingering and endlessly reminiscing!
Li Chonglou, in a sense, was now penniless. He couldn't return to the company, and his subordinates had all been sent to the underground world for training. He couldn't afford to not gather some capital himself.
With that thought, Li Chonglou first found a suitable spot nearby. It was by a stream, the gently flowing water carrying a hint of coolness. Reaching out, he could still feel the chill. This environment and temperature were most suitable for storage.
Using his inner strength, Li Chonglou divided the massive 异兽 (yì shòu) carcass into pieces, preserving some vital parts whole, and then stuffed them all into a large hole he dug beside the stream. Thinking there would be more to come, Li Chonglou specifically enlarged the space several times over.
After completing all this, he once again set off to find more 异兽 (yì shòu).
About another half hour passed before he found the third 异兽 (yì shòu). Just as he had guessed, it was also a seventh-tier 异兽 (yì shòu), a giant version of a mountain goat. The difference was that this goat was exceptionally volatile. It sensed Li Chonglou's presence first.
"Maa!"
A furious roar echoed through the mountainside. The behemoth charged directly at him.
"Holy crap, this guy is so feisty?" Li Chonglou was startled by the beast. Unlike other 异兽 (yì shòu), this one was clearly declaring war immediately!
"Elder An!" Their tacit understanding had already reached a new level. Before Li Chonglou could even speak, Elder An had already entered the bottle space to instruct Old Lin and the others on their tasks. While it was a bit troublesome, there was still a little left after each consumption. Once accustomed to it, everyone felt it was no big deal. After all, there was still profit to be made.
Elder An emerged and saw the giant goat 异兽 (yì shòu), nearly four meters tall.
"I've seen fierce ones, but never one this fierce. Does it want to live its life out quickly?" Elder An muttered with a strange tone.
As expected, under Li Chonglou's almost perfect combat skills, the goat 异兽 (yì shòu) only lasted about a minute before becoming fresh ingredients.
"Another perfect heart." Li Chonglou chuckled, suddenly enjoying the feeling of extracting treasures. If outsiders were present and saw him digging out a heart from a corpse with a smile, they would probably say: "Pervert!" This scene, if captured and put into a supplementary reader, would undoubtedly be an image capable of stopping a baby from crying.
Carefully securing the heart, he then proceeded with the somewhat unskilled task of dismembering the carcass. The blood itself was also a good thing, but unfortunately, he couldn't manage it. He could only let it seep into the surrounding soil. Some scraps also had to be discarded on the spot.
"Consider it a treat for you," Li Chonglou murmured, glancing at the surrounding grass, before leaving and returning to the underground mine. A gentle breeze stirred the grass and leaves stained red by the blood.
Li Chonglou had set aside time to check back every half hour or hour. As soon as Tian Yi and the others returned to the underground mine, he could immediately go back to Donghai Island to continue his mission.
Unfortunately, the stone door remained tightly shut.
"Are they really going to wait two or three days to open the door?" Li Chonglou, with a troubled expression, could only return to the underground world again. Of course, all the fresh hearts were given to the three fierce beasts. If their eyes previously held only awe, now they held complete reverence. It was a heartfelt devotion, and Li Chonglou could clearly feel the change in their emotions.
"It was worth all my effort," Li Chonglou grinned. However, relative to this, there was an even more noticeable change: the aura of the three fierce beasts. For easier identification, Li Chonglou had left a mark on the chest of the beast that had fought him and named it Zhizhi No. 1. Its mate was Zhizhi No. 2, and its offspring was Zhizhi No. 3. Together, they were called the Zhizhi Three Beasts.
At this moment, the auras of the Zhizhi Three Beasts had all entered the fifth tier!
"Strange, you guys don't need to hibernate to advance?" The three beasts shook their heads in confusion. This time, it was Li Chonglou's turn to be baffled. He scratched his head: "Strange, don't they need to sleep for a while to break through? Is it that they are special, or is Xiaobai special?"
Afterward, Li Chonglou posed this question to the Zhizhi Three Beasts. The response was that neither they nor any other 异兽 (yì shòu) needed to hibernate to break through! Just as Li Chonglou thought his Xiaobai was unique, Zhizhi No. 1 suddenly spoke.
"Zhizhi." Whether it was due to their familiar relationship or the beasts' promotion, Li Chonglou could now understand the meaning of the three beasts.
"You mean, only divine beasts with ancient bloodlines exhibit this characteristic?" Who knew how they managed to convey so much information with just two syllables, "Zhizhi." Li Chonglou was now completely captivated by what it said. His brow furrowed even tighter.
"If that's the case, it means Xiaobai might be a divine beast with ancient bloodlines." While this was something to be happy about, let's not forget Xiaobai's origin. Over at Tielin, there was a sizable sacred beast breeding base! If Xiaobai was a divine beast with ancient bloodlines, wouldn't that make the Tielin base a divine beast production facility? One must remember that such a thing was even more outrageous than a nuclear base!
"No." Li Chonglou suddenly remembered something. Xiaobai's egg was brought to him by the little girl. Later, he learned that usually, only participants could retrieve beast eggs. So, when Li Chonglou later brought Xiaobai to the cultivation base, he wasn't surprised at all when Brother Axe, who escorted him back, said Xiaobai was an incomplete specimen. Xiaobai's background was already full of twists and turns, and perhaps this was due to its inherent uniqueness!
With this thought, Li Chonglou's heart felt slightly more at ease. At least he had a reason to convince himself, otherwise, Tielin's existence would be a sharp thorn in his heart!
"It seems I still know too little about Xiaobai. Why do I suddenly feel a bit sorry for this little fellow?"