Volume One: First Signs of Brilliance Chapter Seventy-Five: A Handsome Profit

As Wang Jue dealt with the star beasts, he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. He regretted not being able to kill those two star beasts himself, watching helplessly as the starlight energy and experience slipped away before his eyes. More puzzling to him, though, was that with the strength of Tian Yuan and his companion, they could easily have captured the two star beasts alive. But just now, neither of them had shown any intention of capturing them; instead, they had killed them outright.

No matter how you looked at it, dead star beast meat was never as valuable as the meat of a live one.

Unable to understand, Wang Jue asked Tian Yuan about it as he processed the corpses. The answer was simple. They had only just entered the forest; if they captured star beasts alive now, their cries would easily attract other beasts or even other adventuring teams along the way. To avoid unnecessary trouble, they rarely captured star beasts alive when moving deeper into the forest—instead, they only did so on the way back.

Hearing Tian Yuan’s explanation, Wang Jue was enlightened, but he also secretly smiled bitterly to himself: “So I was making a fool of myself. I should talk less and do more in the future.”

Soon, after Wang Jue had processed the two star beasts and loaded them into the iron cage cart, the group set off again.

They moved in fits and starts. By the end of the afternoon, they had hunted six star beasts in total, all of them second-tier. However, these kills had nothing to do with Wang Jue; apart from the first first-tier beast, the rest were all slain by Lin Mu and Tian Yuan’s team.

Although Wang Jue didn’t get a chance to finish off the beasts himself, he watched every time. When Lin Mu and the others took turns dealing with the star beasts, their individual strength, combat experience, and especially their seamless teamwork, far surpassed his own. In particular, when battling the beasts, every strike seemed to target a vital spot. Their precise anticipation and rich battle experience left Wang Jue deeply impressed.

As dusk approached, Lan Yiyi saw that it was getting late, and since everyone had been fighting all afternoon and was getting hungry, she led the group to a lakeshore, planning to camp there for the night.

When they were still dozens of meters from the lake, they spotted a third-tier star beast reflecting in the water’s glow. The beast was drinking at the lakeside. Lan Yiyi and the others exchanged glances, seeing excitement flicker in each other’s eyes.

To avoid startling the beast, Lan Yiyi didn’t speak, but instead signaled to Lin Mu and the others. They immediately understood and quietly spread out, encircling the third-tier star beast from several directions, cutting off its escape.

In an instant, only Wang Jue was left standing where he was. Lan Yiyi told him to stay put and then, in a flash, darted toward the star beast.

A third-tier star beast was not the same as a second-tier one. If it had been second-tier, Lan Yiyi might have stood back as she had in the afternoon, but against a third-tier beast, she had no choice but to join the fight—unless she was willing to see her teammates get hurt. Of course, she trusted Lin Mu and the others’ abilities; they could certainly deal with a third-tier beast. However, a flawless victory was impossible, even with their numbers. Besides, Lan Yiyi knew that their current location was extremely dangerous; it was best to avoid injury if at all possible.

Before long, Wang Jue heard the distant roars of the beast and the sound of large trees being smashed and felled. But with darkness falling and the distance too great, he couldn’t see the scene of the group besieging the star beast.

After about five minutes, Lan Yiyi and the others did not kill the third-tier star beast; instead, they bound its four legs while it was still howling and carried it over.

Wang Jue was stunned. They had captured the third-tier star beast alive?

“Wang Jue, what are you standing there for?” Lin Mu saw Wang Jue dazed at the side and urged him, “Hurry and get a bowl—while the star beast still has some breath, catch its essence blood in a bowl. We’ll use it to make soup later…”

“Oh, right!” Wang Jue replied quickly, fetched a clean bowl from the iron cage cart, and hurried over. Looking at the still-living star beast, he was struck by an idea. He volunteered to Wei Lin, who was about to act, “Brother Wei, I’ve never killed a third-tier beast before. Why not let me finish this one?”

“Uh…” Wei Lin hesitated, glanced at Lan Yiyi, and when she nodded, handed the knife to Wang Jue. “Alright, it’s yours.”

Wang Jue hadn’t expected much, merely asking on a whim, knowing that with his current strength, even a first-tier star beast was a challenge, let alone a third-tier one. He hadn’t expected such luck to come so suddenly, and he broke into a foolish grin: “This is a windfall. I wonder how many starlight points and experience I’ll get?”

The others, already famished, saw Wang Jue standing there grinning instead of acting and began to get impatient. Urged on, Wang Jue took Wei Lin’s knife, and under his guidance, cut open the heart of the third-tier star beast, collecting its essence blood in the bowl.

As he dealt the fatal blow to the star beast, a message popped up on the panel before his eyes, making him tremble with excitement.

[Starlight +3]
[Experience +1000]

Seeing these notifications, Wang Jue couldn’t help but smile with joy. Comparing the earlier first-tier beast to this third-tier one, he was now certain: killing star beasts really did reward him with starlight points and experience. He wasn’t sure, though, whether the amount depended on the beast’s rank. If so, then he had found a more reliable source of starlight than star energy stones. Although he wasn’t strong enough to take on second- or third-tier beasts yet, he could focus on hunting first-tier ones—not only earning starlight for free, but also selling the beast materials for profit.

With this thought, Wang Jue grew more and more excited.

Soon, after the essence blood from the third-tier beast’s heart was drained, the following butchery was beyond his ability. Even dead, the beast’s scales were too tough for someone at his level to cut through. He could manage first- and second-tier star beasts thanks partly to Wei Lin’s excellent knife, and partly to his high-level cultivation technique and refined energy. But in truth, the knife made the greater difference.

As the old saying goes, “A clever housewife cannot cook without rice.”

So, Wang Jue was quickly sent off to start a campfire and prepare to cook the essence blood soup.

Normally, most people would drink the essence blood fresh after killing a star beast, as the energy within wouldn’t dissipate with time. However, the taste was so strong that many couldn’t bear it, leading some to develop a method of making soup by cooking the essence blood with beast meat.

At first, no one was sure if this method would work. The pioneer had to test it on themselves and was astonished to find that, with no seasoning added, the soup lost its bloody taste and became delicious, with most of the star energy retained.

Because of this discovery, many martial artists now carried large pots when hunting star beasts. Still, not everyone was willing to spend an hour making soup, especially out in the wild where danger could strike at any moment. Only larger teams or those confident in their skills took the risk; most preferred to drink the blood raw.

For martial artists, as long as it strengthened them, they would eat raw beast meat if necessary!

Lan Yiyi asked Wang Jue to make the soup not to trouble him, but because essence blood soup was common knowledge—even children in elementary school in the safe zones knew how to make it. The method was simple: just boil the essence blood with chopped beast meat in water, no seasoning needed. The meat’s own flavor was more than enough. Of course, timing was important; overcooking would cause the star energy to evaporate.

Lighting the fire, boiling water, adding wood—these tasks were no challenge for Wang Jue. As the water neared boiling, he poured in the essence blood, stirring slowly. Five minutes later, when the broth was bubbling, he added the pre-cut third-tier beast meat.

After another five minutes, the big pot of essence blood soup was ready.

Wang Jue served a bowl to each person present, but none for himself. Without a word, Lan Yiyi and the others accepted the soup and started drinking. The star energy in the blood of a third-tier beast was intense, beneficial even to martial artists at the Orange Star stage, let alone those like Lin Mu and his team at the Spirit Fusion stage. For someone like Wang Jue, still at the Body Tempering stage, it was no different from a supreme elixir.

Whenever they went hunting, they would make this soup for themselves. Even knowing how beneficial it was, they didn’t overindulge; after two or three bowls each, they began roasting meat instead.

Seeing that Wang Jue hadn’t had any, Lan Yiyi glanced at the remaining soup and said, “You’ve never had essence blood soup before, have you? Well, the rest is yours—drink it all.”

“Thank you, Captain Lan!” Wang Jue replied, looking at the pot—there were at least two or three bowls left. He gratefully thanked her, knowing that the third-tier beast had been caught by their team and that he was already lucky to benefit. Now that Lan Yiyi had spoken, Wang Jue didn’t stand on ceremony. He ladled himself a bowl, and without worrying about the heat, drank it down in one gulp.