Looking at the strewn bodies of the wolves and the gigantic, emerald-scaled corpse of the Moon Boa lying across the fractured earth, Dai Yuan felt a burning spark of anticipation ignite within his chest. The sheer volume of raw, vital essence waiting to be harvested in this clearing was staggering.
According to the deep, instinctual knowledge embedded within his memories of the Shamanic Rite Scripture, raising his physical cultivation from his current low-stage Silver Bone foundation to the next minor threshold would typically require the condensed life essence of at least ten mid-tier, mortal-grade wild beasts. For a long time, Dai Yuan had wished for a concrete method to measure his progress and understand the exact requirements of his path. Now, through his persistent practice of the ancient scripture, that wish had finally manifested.
It came to him in the form of a sharp, spiritual sixth sense. The moment he concentrated and focused his gaze on a fallen beast, an intuitive understanding would ripple through his mind, indicating the approximate energy value of the carcass and how much closer it would push him toward the next cultivation tier.
Stepping through the blood-stained grass, Dai Yuan carefully counted the remaining wolf carcasses on the floor. Between the initial skirmish and the chaotic free-for-all against the giant python, dozens of beasts had perished here. According to the internal guidance of his Shamanic sense, if he could successfully absorb and process the latent vital energy contained within every single one of these carcasses, the sheer volume of power could potentially catapult his cultivation straight through the mid-stages of the Silver Bone realm. It was a terrifyingly rapid increase—a leap that would normally take ordinary mortal cultivators months, if not years, of bitter, meditative grind.
However, after a few minutes of vivid fantasizing, Dai Yuan snapped back to reality, his face immediately cramping into a disgruntled expression.
Looking at the massive number of bodies scattered across the entire forest floor, a glaring problem presented itself. Refining these beasts one by one using his standard method would take an immense amount of time. Each individual refinement required focused concentration, and given the rapidly approaching dusk and the heavily battered, exhausted state of his physical body, sitting in this exposed clearing for hours was a recipe for suicide. The scent of blood was already dense enough to attract even worse predators from the deeper sectors of the Brightmoon Forest.
"Hmm… I guess that's the only method available," he muttered to himself, his voice raspy from exhaustion.
Gritting his teeth against the lingering soreness in his muscles, Dai Yuan proceeded to drag his heavy body across the riddled battlefield. He began collecting the white-furred corpses one by one, hauling them toward the wide space beneath the cliff. Instead of a random pile, he meticulously arranged the carcasses into a precise, large octagonal formation. He piled the bodies on top of each other, creating eight distinct heaps of flesh and bone at the vertices of the geometric shape.
Once the outer structure was complete, Dai Yuan gripped his iron rod, poking the blunt end into one of the freshly severed wounds of a peak-stage wolf. Using the weapon as a gruesome brush, he dragged the heavy flow of blood along the inner region of the octagon, carefully drawing diagonal lines that connected the opposing heaps of bodies. Finally, he used his bare hand, dipping his fingers deep into the pooling crimson essence, to scribble a wide, perfect circle directly in the center of the intersection. Inside the perimeter of the circle, his fingers moved with a strange, hypnotic fluidity, drawing unknown, archaic runes and scriptures pulled straight from the deepest recesses of his inherited shamanic memories.
This particular arrangement was a specialized mass-refinement ritual designed specifically for elevating one's strength when resources were abundant but time was short. From the fragments of memory within his mind, this ruthless technique had been forged by an ancient Shaman amidst a brutal war of attrition. The Shaman had used the piled bodies of fallen enemies on the battlefield to rapidly refine his own strength while the conflict was actively ongoing around him. Though this mass-absorption method was inherently less efficient than refining a single unit—losing a portion of the pure vital energy to the open air—it drastically saved time, condensing hours of tedious cultivation into a single, rapid burst of power.
After finishing the final, intricate stroke of the central rune, Dai Yuan stepped into the middle of the blood circle. He sat down heavily, crossing his legs and resting his hands flat on his knees. Closing his eyes, he took a deep, stabilizing breath and began to recite a series of low, incomprehensible incantations.
The moment the first syllable left his lips, the ambient air in the clearing turned icy cold.
Hummm!
The drawn blood lines on the ground suddenly glowed with a faint, eerie crimson light. Almost instantly, the eight heaps of wolf carcasses at the outer edges began to wither at a visible pace. Their flesh shriveled, their fur lost its luster, and their blood dried into dust as strange, vaporous streams of grey and red vital energy were forcibly extracted from their remains. The energy flowed rapidly down the diagonal blood pathways, channeling directly into the central circle before erupting upward into Dai Yuan's body.
The influx of power was not a gentle stream; it was a raging, chaotic torrent. The overbearing, unrefined energy crashed through his meridians like a tidal wave, running completely rampant as it slammed into his skeletal structure. It immediately began to refine his bones from his torso down to his legs.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones breaking echoed from every part of his body. The overwhelming energy rampaged through him, shattering and reforming his bones repeatedly — from his torso down to his legs. The pain was excruciating. After just a few minutes, Dai Yaun lost all sensation in his body and passed out.
Even while unconscious, the ritual continued.
He woke up briefly, only to scream in agony as another wave of bone-crushing energy hit him, then passed out again. This cycle repeated several times. Each time he regained consciousness, the pain was worse than before. His bones were constantly destroyed and rebuilt, becoming denser and stronger with every cycle.
Hours passed.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of cyclic torture, the violent torrent of energy began to subside, Dai Yaun woke up one last time. His entire body felt different — heavier, tougher, and filled with power. He stood up, his joints popping like small firecrackers. As he flexed his fingers, a profound sense of dense, heavy power vibrated through his arms. The silver coloration within his bones had deepened significantly, taking on a polished, metallic sheen that radiated immense physical durability He had successfully broken through to the Mid Silver Bone stage.
Getting a firm grip on his newfound strength, Dai Yuan shook off the remaining dust and approached the massive trunk of the Fullmoon Grape tree.
The gentle, cool evening breeze brushed against his bare, scarred skin as he looked up. Hanging from the high branches were clusters of fist-sized, translucent purple grapes, glowing faintly under the twilight. Dai Yuan felt slightly puzzled; the fruits possessed absolutely no scent, making it impossible to tell if they were truly ripe by smell alone. But remembering his promise and the tight schedule, he decided not to waste time analyzing them.
Taking a step back, he drew a massive breath into his lungs. He sprang forward, launching his bulky frame into the air. With his newly elevated Mid-Stage Silver Bone strength, his leaping power was incredible; he easily cleared several meters, his hands locking onto a thick, low-hanging branch. Flexing his powerful back muscles, he maneuvered his large frame with surprising agility, rapidly ascending into the upper canopy like a nimble forest ape. His massive size did absolutely nothing to hinder his speed. Within minutes, he had carefully harvested the ripe, heavy clusters, placing them gently into the woven basket until it was filled to the brim.
Descending back to the forest floor, Dai Yuan didn't stop to rest. He quickly used his iron rod to skin the most valuable portions of the giant emerald python, harvesting its thick, intact scales and extracting its valuable beast core. With the heavy basket of grapes secured in one hand and the bundled python materials slung over his shoulder, he turned away from the blood-scented clearing and began his journey back.
By the time the towering walls of Brightmoon Town emerged on the horizon, the sun had completely dipped beneath the mountains, painting the sky in deep shades of purple and orange.
By the time he reached the Peace Goose Inn, it was already evening. Wang Linlin was waiting outside with a worried expression. The moment she saw him, her eyes widened.
"Brother Yaun!" she called out and ran toward him.
Dai Yaun smiled tiredly and handed her the basket full of Fullmoon Grapes.
"Here. As promised."
Wang Linlin's face lit up with joy, but it quickly turned to shock when she saw the terrible state of his body — covered in dried blood and countless wounds.
"You… you really went back? Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine," Dai Yaun replied simply. "Just a little tired."
He then went with her to her uncle's shop. Mr. Wang's eyes nearly popped out when he saw the python materials Dai Yaun brought. After some negotiation, Dai Yaun sold most of the valuable python parts to him for a good price.
As night fully settled over Brightmoon City, Dai Yaun finally returned to the inn to rest.