Chapter 40 – Strange Changes

When Liu Ming returned to the big hall feeling gloomy, the lady dressed in green was still busy reading the manuscript in her hand. She did not even lift her head when Liu Ming returned.

Liu Ming looked at the lady deeply and left the pavilion.

This time, even though he gained nothing and even lost the spirit stones that he had, at least he felt a lot more relieved because the Spirit Master that was experienced in the art of curses said that there was nothing wrong with him.

Maybe the cold sensation he felt in the sole of his feet before was just a delusion.

Right now, he could only comfort himself with such thoughts.

Liu Ming once again used the Soaring Sky Technique to rise up and fly away. Flying directly to his courtyard and going back into his training room.

After Liu Ming had sat crossed-legged, he examined his internal body again. When nothing out of place was found, Liu Ming stopped worrying. He then took out the small half-full box of blood and flesh from the monster and scrutinized it.

To find out about the use of these fragments, Liu Ming planned to go to the Spirit Spell Pavilion on the Nine Infant Mountain to check some manuscripts. After doing so, he would decide on what to do with the remains.

Liu Ming had just finished a Contribution Points mission and was not planning to take another mission for a while. He planned to strengthen himself first before accepting some easy missions which he could complete by himself.

After all, even though Liu Ming’s trip had awarded him with some Contribution Points, he had nearly lost his life between the jaws of the monster rat. This gave him the urge to raise his power first.

Moreover, on this trip he offended a Middle Spirit Apostle by the name of Ou Yang Xin. It would be better for him to avoid any exposure for a while.

The best way to strengthen himself in a short period of time would be by mastering the Three Star Shield that he had just gained. Afterwards, he had to get his other spells to the point of Initial Spell Mastering.

When Liu Ming made his decision, he put away the wooden box which housed the bone and flesh of the monster rat. He then placed the triangular steel plate in the palm of his hand and calmed his heart and mind. After that he slowly started cultivating.

…..

After two days, Liu Ming was returning after a trip to the Spirit Spell Pavilion with an thick and ancient manuscript. From time to time, great surprise lit up on his face as he was reading the it.

He completely lost track of time as he was reading. When he finally closed the ancient manuscript, his face showed intense excitement.

According to the ancient manuscript, even the body of low tier monsters were treasures.

By eating the meat of monsters, one’s cultivation strength and Fa Li could increase. If someone ate pills that were made from the body of monsters, the effects would be even better. Eating pills would also prevent a person from some of the negative effects caused by the meat of monsters.

However, the negative effects would only manifest in people who consume the meat of monsters long-term. Eating the meat of monsters once in awhile would not bring any harm to the consumer.

The furs, skins, bones and internal organs of monsters were the best material for weapon crafting.

The lady named Ye Tian Mei was at least a Spirit Master. Therefore, a monster that was pursued by her could not have been a monster of a low level.

Liu Ming’s face flashed with different emotions. Suddenly, he raised his hand and took out the wooden box that housed the Rat Monster’s flesh and bones.

After Liu Ming opened the lid, he found himself a pair of bamboo chopsticks. He did not mind the smell of blood and started to fiddle with the meat of the huge rat bit by bit. He was carefully separating the bloody flesh from the furs and bones of the huge rat.

After a good deal of sweat and effort, Liu Ming had successfully separated the meat residue from a big piece of the huge rat’s skin and three smaller pieces of rat skins. On the skins of the rat were twenty strain of silver-green fur. Besides the fur, there were also thirteen pieces of bone residue of various sizes.

Liu Ming then took out another small box and place the furs and the bones residues of the huge rat into the box. Looking at the bloody meat of the huge rat left in the first wooden box, he hesitated. Liu Ming gritted his teeth and picked up a small piece of rat meat using two of his fingers.

Using one handed signs, pure water poured down and washed away the dirt on the rat meat.

With a change of hand signs, fire came out from between his two fingers and burned the rat meat within seconds. Pleasant smells of meat started to diffuse out.

Liu Ming slightly moved his wrist, threw the half-cooked rat meat directly into his mouth and started chewing it.

The next moment, Liu Ming suddenly winced his eyes.

This rat meat was surprisingly good. There was an indescribable freshness and juicyness in every bite. When Liu Ming swallowed the meat, the meat changed into balls of heat and was stored in the Spirit Sea within Liu Ming’s dantian.

Liu Ming only needed to slightly push his Spirit Sea in order to convert the pure Yuan Li energy into his own Fa Li.

Due to excitement, Liu Ming lost interests in enjoying the freshness of the meat. He swallowed all the rat meat in his mouth with just a few bites. Then, he started his concentrating on his cultivations.

The next time when he opened his eyes, the day had already mostly come and gone.

When Liu Ming checked the growth of his Fa Li, he was surprised to find that his Fa Li had increased at a rate that was comparable to the increase in Fa Li he would get with half a month of cultivation.

Liu Ming paused for a long time. Then, he turned his head to look at the large amount of huge rat meat still left beside him. He could not control himself anymore and burst into laughter.

The meat of the rat monster did not give Liu Ming the feeling of fullness and was also extremely helpful in enhancing one’s Fa Li.

This meant with just two small pieces of meats every single day, he could achieve the second level of the Dark Bone Method and easily become a Middle Spirit Apostle.

As Liu Ming stopped laughing, he started to ponder and was swayed by considerations of gain and lost.

If just eating these few pieces of monsters’ meats was all that was required to advance to the next level, there was no reason for the Spirit Apostle disciples to train so hard. There had to be more to it.

Liu Ming looked at the rat meat in the wooden block beside him and started to feel doubtful.

Liu Ming did not know that even though normal monsters also had to power to enhance Fa Li, their effects were not that superb.

Monsters which were at the peak of Liquid Level were hard for even Spirit Masters to encounter and kill, let alone Spirit Apostle disciples.

After all in all of Da Xuan Country, there were extremely few monsters in the Liquid Level and there probably was not another monster at the peak of Liquid Level.

Monsters at this level had already infused every part of its body with its Fa Li. When its meat was consumed by a Beginning Spirit Apostle, the effects were definitely going to be unbelievable

If an Late Spirit Apostle consumed the meat, the effects would have much less of a surprise.

As for a Spirit Master, the effects of consuming of such a small piece of the rat’s meat was equal to the effects of having a bowl of high quality Spirit Rice.

As for Ye Tian Mei and the grey robed elder of the Barbarian Ghost Sect, the effects of eating this meat did not bring much effects to them as their levels were already too high.

With just a little training a day, their Fa Li would increase much more than the Fa Li that would come from eating the meats of these monsters.

Liu Ming thought for quite a while in the same spot but he did not make any conclusion; however, he did make a guess that the effect was because of the level of the huge rate creature being much higher that much than his level.

By just consuming the meat of this rat, Liu Ming’s Fa Li had increased by an incredible amount. If he handed the meat over to Alchemists and asked them to make it into pills, the effects should be even more tremendous.

Liu Ming could not refrain himself to think that way, because according to the ancient manuscript, eating the meats of monsters could bring harm. This gave Liu Ming a doubtful feeling.

But then, if the news of him getting the meat of monster was spread out, his Sect would not leave him, a Three Spiritual Pulse Disciple, any meat at all. In addition, if this news were to spread to people with bad intentions, something bad might even happen.

To stop the worst from happening, Liu Ming could only ignore the negative effects.

Although according to the manuscript, eating the meat of the monsters may bring side effects, the details of what those were was not in any way clear enough. However, it was fine as there was only a half box’s worth of rat meat. This amount of rat meat could be consumed in a short time and would not bring any harm to Liu Ming, who would not be consuming the meat for a long-term.

Liu Ming was a very resolute person, and he hesitated a few times before he finally made his choice.

Liu Ming did not waste anymore time and lifted up his hand to pick up another small piece of rat meat from the wooden box. Then, he started to wash and barbeque it….

Twenty days later. Liu Ming was doing cultivating and sat cross-legged on the floor.

As he was inhaling and exhaling, many foot-long strands of dark gas were writhing around Liu Ming like a living entity. This scene appeared to be supernatural.

Time passed unknowingly for Liu Ming. As he opened his eyes, the dark gas was quickly absorbed into him.

As Liu Ming once again calmed himself and examined his training progress, he grinned.

The training over the last twenty days was unexpectedly smooth. Liu Ming’s Fa Li had grown a few times stronger than before and he was not far from mastering the second stage of Dark Bone Method. With just three or four more days, he could enter the Middle Spirit Apostle level.

This kind of insane training speed made him feel that the last twenty days were just a dream and everything was an illusion.

Thankfully, things were true and the daily increase of his Fa Li was still there. His Spirit Sea had grown a lot stronger, if not for this Liu Ming would be sure that he was dreaming.

Liu Ming shook his head and looked at the wooden box beside him. His face showed sorrow.

The box was half filled with bloody meat at first but now, only a little was left. It seemed that in just a few days, Liu Ming would have finished eating the meat.

Liu Ming was still thinking as he lifted up his hand and stretched towards the wooden box to grab a piece of meat.

At this moment, LIu Ming’s face suddenly changed. He stopped and his eyes showed a glint of fear.

“This is impossible, how could something like this happened!”

Liu Ming cried and immediately positioned himself by sitting cross-legged. Then, he started cultivating.

Strands of dark smoke re-appeared out of Liu Ming’s body and withered crazily….

After the time it took to eat a meal, Liu Ming was still sitting cross-legged. However, his back was drenched in sweat. In addition, the black smoke surrounding him had visibly became much smaller.

Two hours had gone by and the dark gas revolving around Liu Ming’s body became much thinner. His cultivation level had got back to what it was twenty days ago when he started to eat the rat’s meat.

After a long exhalation, Liu Ming opened his eyes.

This time, he looked really unhappy.

The Spirit Sea in his body which had already grew bigger returned to its original size. The Fa Li which surged like the torrential tide in his body had now reduced to a level that was even lower than the Fa Li he had before eating any of the rat’s meat.