"The stench of blood here is overwhelming. Let's hurry and dig out some fiend beast materials, then get out of here." Joe Di was also feeling a surge of excitement. He had only acted on a desperate impulse, never expecting he would actually succeed.
"Class leader, how did you know that when you attacked the Scaled Crocodile Fiend with your blade, the Horned Lion Fiend wouldn't turn on you?" Frank Pang had finally calmed down from his excitement, his mind growing clearer. He now called Joe Di 'class leader' instead of 'boss.'
Before Joe Di could answer, Tyler He interjected, "Idiot, I said he used his mouth, not his hands."
"I'm not wrong. That Horned Lion Fiend has four claws—aren't those its hands, too?"
Even though he wasn't in the same class as Frank Pang, Joe Di knew all about his chatterbox habits. He couldn't be bothered to argue further and explained, "If someone stronger than you is teaching you a lesson, and another person comes to help you deal with that strong guy, would you keep attacking the strong guy, or would you turn on the one helping you?"
"Now I get it. Looks like that Horned Lion Fiend has some intelligence—it knew the class leader was helping it." Frank Pang nodded, clearly agreeing with Tyler He's explanation.
Tyler He replied speechlessly, "Even if it didn't have intelligence, animal instinct wouldn't make it attack someone who helped it right away."
Joe Di didn't bother bickering with the two. He began to pry off the two horns of the Horned Lion Fiend. According to the cultivation jade slip, fiend beast materials were among the most important resources for refining weapons.
Each of the Horned Lion Fiend's horns was over a foot long, resembling ox horns. But when Joe Di casually slashed one with his blade, not even a white mark appeared—he instantly knew this was top-grade material.
Frank Pang endured the stench of blood as he pulled his long blade out from the Scaled Crocodile Fiend's jaws. This was his treasured weapon, and after retrieving it, he vigorously wiped off the blood.
"Class leader, what should we do with this Scaled Crocodile Fiend?" Seeing that Joe Di had already pried off the Horned Lion Fiend's two horns, Tyler He pointed at the massive, armored crocodile fiend beast.
"The most valuable thing on the Scaled Crocodile Fiend is its scales. Let's each take some." As Joe Di spoke, he also removed the two fangs from the Horned Lion Fiend.
Tyler He and Frank Pang began prying off the scales. Each scale was about a foot wide and felt heavy in their hands.
On the back of the Scaled Crocodile Fiend, there were three of the largest scales. After each of the three took one, Frank Pang stopped, "I'm exhausted, and these things are way too heavy. If we take too many, we won't be able to carry them."
"How about we bury these two fiend beasts here? If we ever need them again, we can come back for more." Tyler He suggested.
Joe Di immediately agreed. With the strength of all three, digging pits was quick work.
Half an hour later, the three had buried both fiend beasts.
Apart from the mess left behind, the bloody atmosphere had faded considerably.
"Class leader, where do we go next?" At this moment, Tyler He's admiration for Joe Di ran deep to the bone.
Frank Pang, clutching his blade, sidled over and said with a hint of flattery, "Class leader, that slash of yours was terrifying and so cool—seriously awesome. Can you teach me?"
Hearing Frank Pang's words, Tyler He forgot his earlier question and also looked at Joe Di with eager eyes. When Joe Di unleashed that slash, it felt as if the temperature around them had dropped—the killing intent was so intense that not only did they have no hope of resisting, they couldn't even muster the will to dodge.
Tyler He guessed that even Victor Wu, the academy director, wouldn't be able to evade Joe Di's blade.
As for who was stronger between Joe Di and Victor Wu, Tyler He didn't even need to think about it—he was certain Joe Di was superior. It wasn't just because Victor Wu had chosen to flee when the two fiend beasts fought over territory, while Joe Di had come forward. More importantly, it was that slash. It wasn't just impressive—it was truly formidable.
Joe Di replied without hesitation, "Stop dreaming. Even if I taught you that slash, you wouldn't be able to learn it. When we have time, I'll teach you two other blade techniques. And stop calling me class leader—I'm not a student in your Elite Class. I'm only here thanks to you guys."
Joe Di wasn't just making this up—the Fourth Blade was a breakthrough he had achieved during cultivation, a sudden epiphany born from his understanding of the Di Family Seven Blades and his own path of cultivation. He even suspected that his enlightenment was related to the stone embedded in his chest.
This blade technique couldn't be taught to others; even Joe Di himself could only grasp it through intuition for now.
"Alright, I knew class leader... I mean, Brother Joe wouldn't mind teaching me." Frank Pang patted his blade proudly, quickly switching to a new form of address. Before, he always treated Joe Di as a junior, but now he saw himself as the junior.
To him now, anything taught by Joe Di was sure to be top-notch.
"These two fiend beasts fought over territory here. Now that we've taken them down, we can go check out the place they were fighting for." Joe Di pointed to the trail they'd followed.
At this point, both Frank Pang and Tyler He naturally followed Joe Di's lead.
The aftermath of the battle between the two fiend beasts was striking. The three followed the trail for just over half an hour before arriving at the base of a cliff.
Though called a cliff, it was actually a massive boulder, as if carved by a blade. Standing beneath it and looking up, the three seemed to be at the foot of a sheer precipice.
The boulder stretched nearly several thousand meters long, its height rivaling that of a mountain peak.
At the base of the boulder lay a flat, open ground. Not a single blade of grass grew in its center, and the three could easily guess that this was likely the territory of one of the fiend beasts.
"I wonder if this is the home of the Scaled Crocodile Fiend or the Horned Lion Fiend," Frank Pang chuckled.
Just thinking that the three of them had found a fiend beast's lair filled Frank Pang with pride.
"Does the fiend beast really sleep out in the open here? Actually, this place looks just like a giant football field," Tyler He mused as he tapped his foot on the ground.
"Of course not. There must be a den beneath this boulder. Let's look around and we'll know soon enough." As Joe Di spoke, he walked closer to the blade-cut rock.
It didn't take the three long before Frank Pang called out, "Something's different here!"
Joe Di and Tyler He immediately joined Frank Pang, and sure enough, they noticed the spot he was touching was different. The area was unusually smooth, as if something had been rubbing against it frequently.
"There's a stone blocking the way here," Joe Di said. Using his spiritual sense, he could tell that, although the stones looked similar, one was actually blocking an entrance.
Joe Di pushed hard, and the stone slid aside like a door, almost soundlessly. A huge, pitch-black cavern appeared before them, and as they stood at the entrance, all three felt a bone-chilling cold.
"This must be the lair of that dead Scaled Crocodile Fiend. The Horned Lion Fiend wouldn't live in a place like this," Tyler He said, eyeing the dark cavern.
"Let's go take a look inside." With his spiritual sense, Joe Di could see clearly even with his eyes closed.
Tyler He pulled a flashlight from his backpack. Once he and Frank Pang entered, Joe Di restored the stone to its original position, sealing the entrance behind them.
Inside, the three searched for anything useful, hoping no fiend beast would follow and block the exit.
The cavern was deep, yet surprisingly free of any foul odor, suggesting the resident fiend beast was quite clean.
The deeper they went, the more Joe Di sensed dense spiritual energy pouring out. Celestia's spiritual energy was already richer than Earth's, but here it was even more concentrated.
"I feel like this place is perfect for cultivation." Even someone as thick-skinned as Frank Pang could sense the beneficial environment.
"Huh, a stone ball? Ow!" Tyler He yelped, grabbing his foot.
Joe Di and Frank Pang also saw the object on the ground—a stone about the size of a soccer ball.
"It seems to be rooted here. I tried kicking it but couldn't move it," Tyler He said through gritted teeth, pointing at the stone ball.
Frank Pang went over and tried to lift it, managing to pick it up before quickly dropping it. "How is this possible? This little thing must weigh several thousand pounds—how dense is it?"
Joe Di, familiar with cultivation, knew that ordinary objects could have their weight drastically altered by formation inscriptions.
"Let me take a look." Joe Di crouched down and sent his spiritual sense into the stone ball.
His spiritual sense was swallowed up like mud sinking into the sea. When he tried to force his way in, a surge of icy energy shot straight into his mind, making Joe Di cough up a mouthful of blood.
"What happened?" Tyler He and Frank Pang hurriedly knelt down beside him.
"It's powerful..." Joe Di wiped the blood from his mouth. "This thing is no ordinary object. I'll bury it for now and come back for it when I'm stronger."
Joe Di had a feeling this stone ball was extraordinary. According to the cultivation jade slip, it was likely a top-tier material for refining weapons.
Unfortunately, even with his knowledge from the jade slip, Joe Di was still a novice. The stone ball weighed several thousand pounds—he simply wasn't strong enough to take it now.
Joe Di didn't explain why he'd coughed up blood, and neither Frank Pang nor Tyler He asked. They felt that Joe Di not only far surpassed them in strength, but also in his understanding of cultivation.
After burying the stone ball, the three walked less than two hundred meters before discovering a massive cauldron-shaped pit shrouded in white mist.
"What is this place? Could the Scaled Crocodile Fiend really sleep in this pit?" Frank Pang exclaimed, standing at the edge.
"There's a blue-green plant in the mist, with seven flowers—all blue-green." With his spiritual sense, Joe Di could see through the mist more clearly than the others.