Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Following the elder's announcement, the dozen or so disciples who had come with him immediately dispersed and entered the Monster Mountain Range.

In an instant, the sounds of spiritual energy breaking through the wind and the howls of demonic beasts echoed throughout the mountains and forests.

Before long, the entire outer perimeter of the Monster Mountain Range was in complete chaos.

Many low-level demonic beasts, who were out foraging and resting and were completely unprepared, were unable to dodge in time and perished under the sword light of the magic weapon.

Gou An curled up in a dense, hidden thicket of bushes, his belly pressed against the cold earth.

I deliberately slowed my breathing, trying my best to blend my own scent with the smell of the surrounding grass, trees and decaying earth, minimizing my presence.

He only hoped that these sect disciples would finish the assessment quickly and leave this mountain forest as soon as possible.

This area is located on the outermost edge of the Monster Mountain Range. Most of the monsters living here are weak monsters of the first to third rank, with the top combat power being no more than the fifth rank, and their cultivation levels are generally low.

The disciples who came into the mountains to participate in the sect's assessment this time also had limited cultivation levels. The low-level demonic beasts on the outskirts became their targets for accumulating assessment results and honing their combat experience.

At first, Gou An harbored a secret plan: to wait until the group of cultivators finished hunting and left, then sneak over to the battlefield ruins and try his luck.

By picking up scraps of monster meat abandoned by cultivators and other miscellaneous supplies, one can easily replenish their energy and steadily accumulate demonic power without having to risk hunting for themselves.

But after observing for half an hour, his plan completely failed.

After hunting down demonic beasts, these cultivators first swiftly extracted and stored the demonic cores from their bodies, and then they also put the complete bodies of the demonic beasts into their personal storage bags, leaving not a single remnant behind.

"They're nothing but a bunch of bandits."

Gou An lay prone in the bushes, secretly cursing.

I had never considered this matter from the perspective of the monsters before, but now that I have experienced it firsthand, I have a different perspective.

In the eyes of demonic beasts, human cultivators are like ruthless bandits who break into homes and plunder indiscriminately slaughter and loot, leaving no one alive in their wake. Thinking about it carefully, one can't help but feel a chill.

He was only at the second-tier demon beast level, at the bottom of the power rankings, and was no match for them at all.

However, these cultivators couldn't distinguish the strength of the demonic beasts. As long as a living demonic beast appeared in their sight, they would kill it. Showing themselves rashly was tantamount to walking into a trap.

Just as they were lying low in peace, quietly waiting for the storm to pass, a fierce tiger's roar, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, came from afar.

A fifth-tier demonic beast, the Ice Flame Tiger, whose body was covered with black and white stripes, was being chased by a white-robed swordsman. In its panic, it rushed straight to the bushes where Gou An was hiding.

The demon tiger's lower back was slashed open by the longsword, and blood dripped continuously down its fur.

Seeing that it had been driven to the brink of despair, it gave up on escaping and turned around to fight to the death.

The white-robed swordsman held a green-edged longsword, his robes fluttering as he hovered in mid-air, the blade gleaming coldly.

A man and a tiger faced off across the distance, the tense atmosphere making the surrounding plants and trees seem to stand still.

War is imminent!

Gou An, hiding behind a gap in the bushes, felt his heart leap into his throat and held his breath.

Both the fifth-tier demonic tiger and the cultivator chasing it were far stronger than itself.

Either side, if they had spare energy, could easily crush this second-tier yellow-haired wild dog.

He could only silently pray that the fight between the two sides would not spread to their hiding place, and that they would not discover him in the bushes.

The next second, the battle suddenly erupted.

The white-robed swordsman unleashed layers of sword energy from his wrist, the sharp sword wind slicing through the air, and countless fine sword threads slashing towards the demonic tiger.

The demonic tiger opened its mouth and spewed out fierce icy flames. The white, icy air froze and cracked the soil and rocks as soon as it landed. The icy flames and sword energy collided and exploded continuously, and broken stones and withered branches flew everywhere in the forest.

The man and the tiger fought for a long time. The white-robed swordsman's swordsmanship was exquisite, while the demon tiger's physical body was strong and its demonic magic was cunning. For a time, it was difficult to determine the winner.

The fierce battle continued, and the demon tiger was covered in sword wounds of varying depths, bleeding profusely.

But with its last breath, it charged forward with its fearless ferocity, its sharp tiger claws, imbued with powerful demonic energy, slamming into the cultivator's chest.

The white-clad swordsman was caught off guard and had several gruesome wounds torn open in his chest and abdomen by sharp claws. He staggered backward, and one of the storage bags hanging at his waist fell off and flew into the bushes nearby.

At the same instant, the cultivator endured the pain and mustered all his remaining strength, his longsword piercing the demon tiger's vital chest. The massive tiger twitched twice, then collapsed heavily to the ground, completely lifeless.

The white-robed swordsman slumped to the ground, clutching his bleeding wound, his face ashen, his eyes fixed on the storage bag that had rolled away not far away.

The bag contained healing pills and the demon cores he had obtained from the hunt. He gritted his teeth, struggled to his feet, and tried to move to retrieve the storage bag.

Just then, an inconspicuous blond figure suddenly darted out under the cover of grass and trees, snatched the cloth bag in his mouth, glanced lightly at the heavily injured and powerless white-robed cultivator, and ran away.

"Um?"

The monk was greatly alarmed.

Before the cultivator could react, Gou An pushed off the ground with all four limbs and darted into the depths of the dense forest at top speed, disappearing among the trees in a few leaps.

"Damn bastard!"

The white-robed swordsman watched helplessly as his storage bag was snatched away. He was both angry and anxious. His injuries aggravated his internal wounds, and he spit out a mouthful of blood. He could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.

Gou An, carrying a heavy storage bag, ran wildly, changing hiding places three times in a row, but none of them felt safe.

Finally, after discovering a secluded cave free of any demonic beasts, he crawled inside, carefully put down the storage bag from his mouth, and prepared to explore this unexpected gain.

When Gou An emptied the contents of his storage bag, his eyes lit up.

Besides a large number of bottles and jars of pills, there were also twelve colorful demon cores.

Some demon cores have one pattern inside, some have two, and one even has three.

The more patterns a demon core has, the higher the level of the demon beast.

These demon cores are a valuable resource, especially for demonic beasts.

In the past, when the dog pack hunted other monsters, the dog king was always the first to eat the monster cores. Today, it's finally Gou An's turn to taste the salty flavor.

But Gou An was very cautious and first chose a first-tier demon core.

One bite, and it's crunchy!

The texture is somewhat like eating a piece of crunchy rock candy.

After swallowing the demon core, Gou An felt a faint warm current swirling in his stomach.

He immediately closed his eyes to observe the increase in demonic power in his mind.

The demon power value steadily increased from the initial 38 points, and then suddenly jumped to 90 points.

This makes you gain weight much faster than eating meat directly.

Gou An did not stop, continuing to devour other demon cores, striving not to miss any demon core and not to waste any demon power.

After Gou An swallowed eleven demon cores, he felt his stomach was bloated and uncomfortable.

I closed my eyes and checked my current demonic power level.

[Current Realm: Tier 2 Demon Beast]

[Demon Power Value: 1600/2000]

A first-tier demon core provides over fifty points of demon power, but a second-tier core can provide over two hundred points.

At this moment, there was still a third-tier demon core left to eat. Without even thinking, Gou An knew that eating it would increase his power even more.

Gou An looked at his round belly, then at the third-tier demon core in front of him, and swallowed hard.

I just don't know if my body can handle it after eating it!

After a moment's hesitation, Gou An's eyes suddenly hardened.

Who cares! Let's eat first and worry about it later.

So he swallowed it whole.