More than that, its demon core and flesh contained pure spiritual energy and it is valuable for cultivation or selling. Killing it was an opportunity no one wanted to miss.
The battle raged on, but the tide was turning. One by one, injured students were withdrawing, their strength drained.
Tangsu Ming and his team were still fighting, their eyes gleaming with hunger for glory and rewards.
Lu Shen didn't move. He remained hidden, observing.
"This is interesting…"
He wasn't in a hurry.
Why fight when he could let them exhaust themselves first?
A wounded rank-two demon beast.
A battlefield full of exhausted warriors.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Lu Shen's lips curled into a faint smile.
He would wait.
And when the moment was right, he would strike.
About half an hour passed, and only seven students remained in the field, including Tangsu Ming.
Among them, four students were considered talented individuals with medium-grade bloodlines from Class A and other classes. However, luck had been on their side, as they had only suffered minor injuries.
Meanwhile, the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast was in a far worse state.
A large 2 inch burn mark stretched across its body, leaving it in a pitiful condition, barely clinging to life.
Unexpectedly, the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast burned its own bloodline power in desperation. With a fierce swing of its massive tails, it sent five students flying through the air.
The next moment, the demon beast turned and fled into the distance.
A Two-Tail Scorpion that has ignited its bloodline already possesses the speed of an ordinary Rank 2 beast. Unless an Integration Realm warrior was present, no late-stage Blood Refinement student could possibly catch up.
The students tried to chase after it, but it was already far beyond their reach.
"Damn it! We let the demon beast escape again! Everyone, chase after it! It's seriously injured, it can't run far!" Tangsu Ming shouted angrily.
However, what none of them realized was that a shadow was silently trailing behind them.
"Haha, luck is on my side! With my Swift Skill, I can easily catch up with that scorpion!" Lu Shen grinned.
Lu Shen followed the injured Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast through winding paths. After many turns, he finally saw the creature dragging its wounded body into a cave.
He hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.
"At my speed, I can retreat safely if things go wrong."
The cave was deep, its path leading downward. He had no idea how long he walked, but eventually, he reached the end and there, lying weakly, was the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast.
The beast was on the verge of death, yet it still crawled forward, as if desperately seeking something.
Suddenly, a translucent screen appeared before Lu Shen.
[Demon Beast: Two-Tail Scorpion]
Race: Demon
Affinity: Fire/Earth
Rank: 2 (Early)
Battle Power: 1,000
Skills: Tail Strike, Poison Spit
[Description:] Having broken through to Rank 2 during battle, the scorpion is now in a weakened state. Excessive blood loss has left it barely alive, and after burning its bloodline, it has only one minute left to live.
[Tail Strike:] The scorpion's tails cut through the air like blades, targeting an opponent's weak points.
[Poison Spit:] Shoots a deadly venomous spray that melts armor and paralyzes the victim on impact.
Seeing the beast's critical condition, Lu Shen didn't hesitate.
Swish!
With sharp movement and targeting its wounded areas, Lu Shen easily finished off the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast.
"Collect the core and valuable materials!" he reminded himself, knowing the importance of this task.
He dug into the beast's chest with his bare hands,s his body was as strong as iron and extracted a small core, only an inch in length.
It emitted a steady flow of spiritual energy but was much smaller than the Rank 5 Demon Core stored in his Origin Bracelet Space.
Most of the demon beast's body wasn't valuable, but the Demon Core was a rare prize.
Demon beasts were divided into ranks 1 to 9 and not all rank 1 demon beasts possessed a core in their bodies.
However, after rank 2, the possibility of having a core increased and this time, he was fortunate. He could use the core to refine the blood of warriors in the Bloodline Refinement Realm and beyond.
Demon beasts were further divided from rank one to rank nine,
Rank 1-3: Low-level beasts
Rank 4-6: Mid-level beasts
Rank 7-9: High-level beasts
"This core alone is worth $10,000! What a huge profit!" Lu Shen was thrilled.
Aside from the core, the two tails of the demon beast were also worth several thousand dollars. However, the meat was contaminated with poison, making it less valuable.
Lu Shen decided it wasn't worth carrying and left it behind.
"Tangsu Ming and the others will definitely find this cave soon. I can't stay here for too long."
Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something strange.
"The scorpion was crawling toward that area before it died… Could there be something important over there?"
Curious, Lu Shen followed its path.
His eyes widened.
"This is…!"
Not far away, a small, clear pond shimmered under a faint white glow. It emitted an overwhelming spiritual energy.
"This… this is the legendary Hundred-Year Spiritual Dew?!"
His mind flashed back to a lesson from Teacher Tang as he remember about hundred years dew.
[Spiritual Treasure: Hundred-Year Spiritual Dew]
Grade: ?? (Unknown)
Description: ?? (Unknown)
Lu Shen lacked the expertise to fully understand Hundred-Year Spiritual Dew actual value, but based on what his teacher had mentioned, this was an extremely rare treasure.
Without hesitation, he took out his water bottle, emptied its water and carefully collected as much of the spiritual dew as he could.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much left, the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast must have consumed most of it before breaking through to Rank 2.
In the end, he only managed to fill half his bottle.
Still, this was an incredible discovery.
"This must be how the scorpion evolved! If this place remains hidden, other beasts might evolve here as well."
Lu Shen's gaze darkened.
He was no saint, but if he could do good, he would try. The most important thing was that even though he had secretly killed two Tail Scorpions, the students would inevitably know it was him.
Because of his kill points.
And if they discovered that he possessed a hundred-year spiritual treasure, they would try to seize it, no matter the cost, even if they had to bleed for it
"I can't let anyone else find this place."
With a wicked smile, he activated his Inferno Strike, aiming at the rocks above the pond.
Boom!
The cave collapsed.
The cave was now covered with rocks hiding the Hundred-Year Spiritual Dew from any prying eyes.
"The spiritual dew can be born here. There may be more precious treasures in the rock layer, but the rock layer is too strong. I can't open it now. Let's explore it later!" Lu Shen sighed with regret and left reluctantly
Less than ten minutes later,
Tangsu Ming and his group arrived at the cave, following the blood trail of the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast.
When they saw the corpse, they were stunned.
"The beast is dead!"
A student exclaimed in shock.
Tangsu Ming's face twisted in rage.
"Damn it! Someone stole our kill and 1,000 points, gone!"
He had spent a fortune hiring others to weaken the Two-Tail Scorpion Demon Beast, only for someone else to swoop in and take the rewards.
The other students were also very angry. They had been busy for so long, all of them were injured, and many students had died, but now the kill had been taken from them.
"The core is missing! Even the scorpion's tails are gone!"
Everything of value had been stripped away. The corpse itself was worthless. Furious, Tangsu Ming clenched his fists.
"Don't let me find you, you bastard…!"
----
Meanwhile, Lu Shen had already found another cave, defeated the beasts inside, and occupied it.
Now, he had killed the two tail scorpion demon beast, which was worth 1,000 points.
"I should check my rank on the leaderboard to see my position. I will plan my next move accordingly" Lu Shen thought before planning anything for the future.
Feeling satisfied, he decided to check his ranking.
[Leaderboard]
1st Place: Lu Shen – 1,780 points
2nd Place: Feng Yue – 1,200 points
3rd Place: Tangsu Ming – 1,100 points
4th Place: Wang Mei – 1,000 points
7th Place: Wang Xiang – 500 points
"Hmm, first place with 1,780 points in just two days... not bad."
Lu Shen smiled as he glanced at the rankings.
"She's not far behind with 1,200 points. Impressive… she's stronger than I expected."
It had been three days since the trial began. Twelve days remained before the trial ends.
The kill points probably won't increase much now. A Rank One beast was already nearly hunted to extinction in this area.
With his current lead, he didn't need to hunt any more beasts today. No one could catch up to him so easily. But idling away precious time? That wasn't an option.
He had other plans.
"I wonder just how much this demon beast cores can strengthen me..."
He took out a beast core, its surface glowing with an eerie energy, and began refining it, immediately start practicing the Five Element Refinement Technique.
Boom!
Boom!
The beast core's spiritual energy surged, flowing through his body like a roaring river, refining his bloodline at an astonishing rate. He could feel his strength rising faster, more faster than he had anticipated.
After several cycles of refinement and the energy of the beast's core was still their showing no sign of exhaustion.
Lu Shen sensed the changes in his body carefully and he was immediately overjoyed.
"Nearly four times my usual training speed... and this is just from a low-level demon beast core? If I had a mid-level core, wouldn't my cultivation skyrocket? No wonder even those without talent reach the Integration Realm by their twenties or thirties… even Spirit Core warriors must rely on beast cores to advance!"
His excitement dimmed slightly as he muttered to himself.
"But it's a pity… I can't use Rank Five demon cores yet."
Shaking off the thought, he resumed refining the core's energy. With his top-grade bloodline, his absorption efficiency far surpassed that of ordinary warriors.
If he had a low level bloodline, it would be good to be able to increase the cultivation speed by 2 times. With the core of demon beasts, Lu Shen's growth rate far surpassed others.
Time slipped away. Hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Lu Shen paused, noticing something unusual.
"I've performed the Five Element Refinement Technique far more times than usual… yet, my body doesn't feel exhausted?"
Curious, he tried again.
The technique flowed effortlessly, his energy reserves untouched. His muscles, bones, and meridians felt… refreshed. Not drained. Not overexerted.
"Strange… if a warrior exceeds their limit while training, it usually backfires. So why do I feel stronger instead?"
Realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
"I see now! The reason ordinary people can only perform the technique ten times is because their bodies have limits. Their energy gets depleted, and they rely on their own life force to continue training, which weakens them over time."
A grin spread across his face.
"But with demon beast cores and pills, it's different. The energy they provide replaces my own, allowing me to train far beyond the normal limit. Ten times? That's just the baseline! I can push even further!"
Excitement surged in his veins.
Perhaps this secret was not a secret to high level bloodline warriors, but no one had ever revealed it to them. The main reason was that obtaining beast cores was difficult, and pills were extremely expensive.
And how could Lu Shen even know about these things?
He was desperately poor. It comforted him somewhat, knowing that all rich may not cultivate using demon cores.