'Soone's coming!'
Chu Qingyun's heart tightened. Wasting no more ti, he split open the Thundercloud Lion's head with a few slashes. Three vines from his Ten-Star Vine plunged inside and quickly retrieved a fist-sized Demon Core.
Thankfully, his new Treasure Sword was sharp enough. Otherwise, with his old Black Iron Long Sword, he might not have been able to cut through the Thundercloud Lion's incredibly tough skull in ti.
The Thundercloud Lion's Demon Core was a pale purple, with tiny bolts of lightning occasionally flickering across its surface, making it look like an exquisite work of art.
However, Chu Qingyun had no ti to admire it. After stowing away the Demon Core, he used his Stealth Soul Technique and quickly fled the scene.
Although the Demon Beast's enormous body was also quite valuable, the corpse of a house-sized creature vanishing into thin air would be far too conspicuous.
Chu Qingyun would rather give up the extra Primordial Stones than expose the fact that he possessed a Storage Ring.
After all, that was an item even a Martial Spirit Strong Person would covet.
Not long after Chu Qingyun left, a group of people cautiously approached the Thundercloud Lion's corpse.
In the lead was a middle-aged man dressed in blue. Flanking him, slightly to the rear, were Cao ng and Cao Jingbin.
This man was the Patriarch of Fla City's Cao Family, Cao ng's father and Cao Jingbin's older brother, Cao Jingwen.
At that mont, Cao Jingwen's expression was grim.
The commotion from the earlier battle between Chu Qingyun and the Thundercloud Lion had alerted the surrounding Cao Family Martial Artists.
They had rushed over as fast as they could, only to find they were a step too late. The Thundercloud Lion had already been killed by soone else!
"Second Brother, go check if there's a Demon Core in this Thundercloud Lion's head," Cao Jingwen said, his brow deeply furrowed.
Cao Jingbin nodded, leaped onto the Thundercloud Lion's head, and thrust his arm into the gash Chu Qingyun had carved out.
While a Demon Beast is alive, it is impossible to detect whether it has a Demon Core; not even the beast itself knows.
However, if its head is split open, traces will remain inside for a short ti even if the Demon Core has been removed.
"Big Brother, there's still so Thunder Power in this big lug's head. It's making my fingers tingle and go numb. It definitely had a Demon Core! Damn it, soone else reaped the rewards!"
After rummaging around inside for a mont, Cao Jingbin's expression turned foul, and he couldn't stop himself from cursing.
The most valuable part, the Demon Core, had been taken, leaving them with just a giant corpse.
A Demon Core's value far exceeds that of the beast's body. It was as if they had slaved away making a pot of stew, only for soone else to swoop in at the last second, eat all the at, and leave them with nothing but the broth.
"No matter who this person is, they will die!"
The Cao Family Patriarch, Cao Jingwen, was so furious his face turned pale, his lips trembling with rage.
The Cao Family had paid a terrible price to wear down this Thundercloud Lion, and to think soone else had just waltzed in and reaped the benefits!
"Father, do you think it could've been that brat?" Cao ng asked from the side, his expression venomous.
Standing on the Thundercloud Lion's head, Cao Jingbin shook his head. "Impossible. That brat is only a Level Three Martial Artist. Even with a Divine Weapon, one slap from this behemoth would have been enough to flatten him."
"Second Brother has a point, but we can't completely rule out that brat as a possibility. After all, he's the only outsider we know of in this area."
After a mont of contemplation, Cao Jingwen shouted, "Relay my command! Everyone, split up and search! Send a signal the mont you find anyone! Even a heavily injured Thundercloud Lion is no easy opponent. The killer must have expended a massive amount of Primordial Power and can't have gotten far!"
Upon receiving the Patriarch's command, the Cao Family's elite Martial Artists ford teams of two or three and began searching in every direction.
Even within the Cao Family, only the brothers Cao Jingwen and Cao Jingbin dared to traverse the Mist Forest alone. Martial Artists of a lower Realm had to travel in groups.
After leaving the site of the Thundercloud Lion's death, Chu Qingyun didn't imdiately rush back to Fla City.
He now needed a quiet place to use the Tier Three Demon Core to perform a Spirit Awakening on his Quasi-Spirit Level Treasure Sword and turn it into a true Spirit Level weapon.
Following You Yun's example, Chu Qingyun found a cave, drove out a Tier Two Demon Beast, and claid it for himself, even finding a large boulder to block the entrance.
The cave was spacious, more than enough for Chu Qingyun's needs.
He took so candles from his Storage Ring, lit them, and placed them around the periter. The dim candlelight illuminated the entire cave.
After finding a relatively flat patch of ground, Chu Qingyun took out a large amount of Top-Grade Primordial Stones from his Storage Ring.
Following the instructions Master Jin had given him, he laid out a complex Enlightennt Array on the ground.
Once the array was complete, Chu Qingyun placed the Treasure Sword and the still-bloodstained Demon Core within it.
After infusing a bit of his own Primordial Power into the array, the entire formation activated, linking the Primordial Power from all the Top-Grade Primordial Stones.
The surging Primordial Power lifted both the Treasure Sword and the Tier Three Demon Core into the air.
The Demon Core floated below the Treasure Sword, and the entire array pulsed with dense Primordial Power.
Under the Refining effect of the Primordial Power, the Demon Core stirred after three minutes. A tiny wisp of Thunder Aura separated from it, floated upward, and was absorbed by the Treasure Sword.
'It's starting!'
Chu Qingyun broke into a relieved smile. He knew the array had begun Refining the Demon Core.
He just needed to extract all the essential power from the Demon Core and have the Treasure Sword absorb it. Then, the sword would beco a true Spirit Level Divine Weapon!
The principle was the sa as when You Yun had helped him refine an Ice-type Demon Core to eliminate his Fire Poison.
The only difference was that this ti, Chu Qingyun was Refining a Tier Three Demon Core and only possessed the strength of a Level Three Martial Artist. Thus, he needed to borrow the power of an array, fueled by Primordial Stones, to complete the process.
As ti passed, more and more wisps of Thunder Aura seeped out from the Demon Core and were absorbed by the Longsword floating above it.
anwhile, the Demon Core was imperceptibly shrinking, bit by bit.
After absorbing a significant amount of the Demon Core's essence, the jet-black Longsword seed to gain a hint of life, with arcs of lightning occasionally flashing along its blade.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
However, after about fifteen minutes, the array's Primordial Power output began to weaken. The Demon Core had only shrunk by a fraction, still far from being completely Refined.
The corner of Chu Qingyun's mouth twitched. 'I just threw in a full three thousand Top-Grade Primordial Stones, and it only Refined that much!'
But a twitch was just a twitch; Chu Qingyun's hands didn't slow in the slightest. With a flick of his Storage Ring, he took out another pile of Upper-Grade and Top-Grade Primordial Stones and tossed them into the array by the handful.
'I can accept the cost of the Primordial Stones,' he thought. 'But if I hesitate and ruin this opportunity, I'll have wasted a Tier Three Demon Core and a Quasi-Spirit Level Divine Weapon for nothing. Now that would be truly idiotic!'
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