Early the next morning, Xu Luo got up and purchased a whole host of supplies for the mountains from the nearby shops. He organized them, packed them into a large backpack, shouldered it, and began to walk slowly in the direction of the Black Forest.
At the base of a distant wall, a grimy-looking youth sat on a stone slab, squinting as he lazily basked in the gentle morning sun.
Watching Xu Luo's back disappear into the distance, the youth shook his head slightly and muttered, "Fool. For an idiot like you to enter the Black Forest, nine out of ten never return... Well, for the sake of that one tael of silver, I'll begrudgingly wish you good luck!"
Walking through the morning dew, Xu Luo entered the vast, boundless forest. Breathing in the incredibly fresh air, he began to circulate his Shadow Shaking Heart Method.
He was pleasantly surprised to discover that cultivating in a place like this was much faster than in the Imperial Capital!
Wisps of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi transformed into threads of True Essence, flowing through the meridians of his entire body and entering his Dantian. A warmth spread throughout him, an incredibly comfortable sensation.
Xu Luo could even feel his own strength growing, little by little!
'Of course, it would be even more perfect if that greedy Shaking Light Star Soul wasn't sucking me dry!' Xu Luo grumbled to himself.
Whenever his True Essence accumulated to a certain point, it would be siphoned away by the Shaking Light Star Soul. After so many days of this, Xu Luo had gone from his initial resistance and frustration to being somewhat used to it.
The Shaking Light Star Soul was like a giant bottomless pit. No matter how much True Essence he gathered, it devoured it all.
If it weren't for this, Xu Luo wouldn't have come out to gain experience so soon.
He really couldn't afford to feed this bottomless pit any longer.
As he walked, Xu Luo suddenly felt a slight tremor from the Shaking Light Star Soul in his Dantian. He froze for a moment, then a strange expression crept onto his face.
'Don't tell me... you can even find treasures in a place like this?' Xu Luo muttered softly, his face immediately lighting up with ecstatic joy.
If he weren't in such a place, the young man would have truly let out a few hearty laughs.
'If I'd known you had this ability, why would I have bothered asking my big brother for his notes?' Xu Luo thought, before another idea struck him. 'Then again, the notes are still useful. Without them, I'd only know I found a Spirit Medicine, but I wouldn't know its properties or effects...'
Regardless, the fact that the Shaking Light Star Soul in his body would alert him whenever a Spirit Medicine was nearby made Xu Luo incredibly excited.
It was just like when he had found the Lieyang Grass; that ineffable feeling, one that could only be understood and not described, let Xu Luo know instantly that a Spirit Medicine was nearby.
"This way... this way... over here..." Xu Luo rambled to himself, muttering as he walked in a particular direction. As he drew near, he suddenly froze, his face contorting into a grimace as he sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
The happy smile on his face froze.
Blocking his path was a large golden snake, a full ten feet long. It had raised the upper half of its body, poised to strike, and was flicking its crimson tongue at him.
From its triangular head, its eyes radiated a cold and piercing killing intent.
If Xu Luo dared to take a single step forward, the golden snake would surely attack!
Xu Luo didn't retreat. Instead, he stood his ground, gathering the power of the Breaking Army Seven Kills. With a backhanded motion, he drew the short sword he had named Azure and faced off against the golden snake.
Although it was just a large snake, it exerted immense pressure on Xu Luo, leaving him without even the mental energy to complain about how unreliable his Shaking Light Star Soul was.
HISS!
The golden snake hissed a warning. In the silent forest, the soft sound was nonetheless filled with menace.
At that moment, Xu Luo's gaze fell upon a plant behind the golden snake.
It was a gray plant, a little over a foot tall. Its branches were gnarled like an ancient, horned dragon and completely bare of leaves. Four blue, bull's-eye-sized fruits hung from the rugged branches. They looked perfectly ordinary, emitting no luster whatsoever.
Xu Luo found it difficult to tell whether it was the plant or the golden snake before him that was causing the Shaking Light Star Soul to tremble.
The man and the snake remained locked in their standoff.
DRIP. DRIP.
Large beads of sweat trickled down Xu Luo's forehead, and the palm of the hand gripping Azure was slick with it.
He held his breath, a resolute light gradually forming in his eyes.
'If I let a mere snake block my path, how can I ever talk about growing stronger or gaining experience?'
Suddenly, Xu Luo took a step forward.
SNAP!
A dry twig snapped underfoot, and the equilibrium was instantly broken!
However, that step landed precisely on the Shaking Light position of the Big Dipper formation. Instantly, a new Cultivation Technique appeared in his mind.
'Shaking Light Step!'
After the Shadow Shaking Heart Method and the Breaking Army Seven Kills, the Shaking Light Star Soul had granted Xu Luo yet another new Cultivation Technique.
At this moment, however, Xu Luo had no time to think. As he took that step, the golden snake opposite him transformed into a streak of golden lightning, its great maw gaping open...
WHOOSH!
A black liquid reeking of a foul stench shot from the snake's mouth, heading straight for Xu Luo's eyes!
It was as fast as an arrow!
Instinctively, Xu Luo lifted his other foot and, in the nick of time, stepped onto the Mizar position of the Big Dipper formation.
SIZZLE!
The foul-smelling black liquid grazed the hood of Xu Luo's cloak as it flew past.
It punched a hole through the hood's tough fabric, which then began to corrode over a large area with a continuous SIZZLE.
With no time to think, Xu Luo used the Shaking Light Step, swung Azure, and viciously slashed at the spot seven inches below the golden snake's head.
'The vital spot!'
That was the snake's weak spot!
The golden snake, as if intelligent, ducked low, miraculously dodging Xu Luo's strike. It then opened its mouth and lunged for Xu Luo's calf.
Using the Shaking Light Step, Xu Luo retreated two steps, evading the golden snake's attack.
If one could have slowed down the snake's movements, they would have seen its four sharp fangs, jaws agape, graze Xu Luo's trousers as it bit down on empty air.
"Die, you beast!"
Xu Luo roared and stomped down hard on the golden snake's tail.
The stomp was both precise and ruthless!
The golden snake let out a shriek of pain and fury. It twisted its body with incredible flexibility and snapped at the foot pinning its tail.
SWISH!
Azure hummed as it sliced through the air, chopping down hard on the golden snake's head.
This golden snake was truly no ordinary beast. Despite Azure's sharpness, which could cut through iron like butter, Xu Luo felt the blade slip slightly...
Gritting his teeth, he poured all the power of the Breaking Army Seven Kills into Azure.
Azure suddenly erupted with a brilliant blue light. It lasted only for an instant, but it was enough!
Xu Luo brutally hacked the golden snake's head clean off!
It landed with a THUD on the ground several meters away.
CHOMP!
The golden snake's jaws snapped shut violently.
In the two cold eyes on the severed head, the killing intent still lingered, refusing to dissipate!
Breaking out in a cold sweat from the shock, Xu Luo let out a long breath and gasped for air a few times before finally collapsing onto the ground.
'Gods, is this the Black Forest? I'm... I'm only at the very edge, and I've already run into such a ferocious beast. No wonder when people talk about the Black Forest, their first reaction isn't its treasures, but its dangers...'
Muttering to himself, Xu Luo put away Azure and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He then sized up the golden snake's body, which was still twisting and writhing before him.
"What in the world is this thing?" Xu Luo wondered aloud, taking out the notebook Huangfu Chongzhi had given him. He flipped through a few pages before suddenly stopping.
Staring at the entry in the notebook, Xu Luo froze for a moment. Then, his face went pale and the corners of his mouth began to twitch violently.
After a long moment, he patted his chest and said softly, "Xu Luo, oh, Xu Luo, you truly are fearless only because you're ignorant!"
The entry on that page was not about the golden snake, but about a plant.
The very same plant was depicted in two drawings. One was a drab gray, looking utterly unremarkable; the other was a brilliant, shimmering gold, like a Golden Tree.
Xu Luo recognized it at a glance. This was the target plant from that pile of seemingly worthless herbs he had bought for one thousand taels of silver in the Imperial City West Market!
This thing was called Lieyang Grass!
"Lieyang Grass, a Spiritual Object of this world.
Supremely Yang and unyielding!
It contains a massive amount of pure energy.
It is incredibly expensive; sought after for thousands of taels of Gold, yet impossible to find on the market.
Most people use it to concoct Aphrodisiac Spirit Medicine; a tiny pinch of its powder is enough to..."
But what few know is that when combined with several other herbs, Lieyang Grass can be used to recreate an ancient formula for concocting the Lieyang Pill!
A single Lieyang Pill contains an immense amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power and can easily allow an ordinary person to break through to the Swordsman realm...
However, the medicinal effects of Lieyang Grass are incredibly overpowering. If an inexperienced Pharmacist were to use even a slightly larger dose, it would be enough to cause a person's body to explode and kill them.
Therefore, one must exercise extreme caution when using Lieyang Grass!
Only a highly experienced Pharmacist should ever attempt to prescribe it.
For years, I have been searching for this Spirit Medicine. Unfortunately, on the rare occasions one appears on the market, it is immediately snatched up by a powerful and noble family for an exorbitant price. Firstly, I have not had the good fortune to come across it myself. Secondly... even if I did, I would lack the immense wealth required to purchase it.
I can only yearn for it from afar...!"
This entire passage was recorded in the notebook Huangfu Chongzhi had given Xu Luo.
Xu Luo hadn't bothered to read it carefully before; he had only stumbled upon this page by chance while searching for information on the golden snake.
Reading it scared Xu Luo so badly his heart pounded wildly in his chest—he was even more terrified than when he had faced the golden snake.
The fear that comes in hindsight... is the most terrifying of all!
'This wasn't being fearless out of ignorance, this was just me courting death!'
Leaning against a tree, Xu Luo muttered to himself, "'Even a slightly larger dose is enough to make a person's body explode...' And I absorbed an entire plant. If my big brother ever found out, even if the shock didn't kill him, he'd scold me to death for being such a wastrel..."
Xu Luo could just imagine Huangfu Chongzhi's reaction. That gentle and magnanimous Eldest Prince would first check him over with extreme anxiety. Only after confirming he was unharmed would he lament, his heart aching, "What a sacrilegious waste!"
Xu Luo couldn't help but let out a bitter smile. He shook his head slightly, turning his senses inward to the still-trembling Shaking Light Star Soul in his Dantian. 'Now I truly believe you're the Shaking Light Star Soul,' he said softly. 'Even a Spirit Medicine like Lieyang Grass, powerful enough to make me explode a dozen times over, can't even begin to satisfy your appetite...'
In his Dantian, the light of the Shaking Light Star Soul flickered twice, as if in disdain.