[Name: Rootbound Spirit | Level: 68]

William was momentarily surprised when he couldn’t kill the beast in one shot while using his martial skill. However, that was quickly remedied with another palm thrust.

[+5700 XP]

[Trait Activated | -570 XP]

He would usually be more concerned about why that had taken two tries to accomplish, but spirit beasts below level seventy were not enough of a concern for him to bother sparing any attention to them. Even as his palm had split the Rootbound Spirit in half, his eyes stayed locked onto the QiMoth Wisp hovering above.

He used Observe.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Name: QiMoth Wisp

Level: 76

Cultivation: Immature Beast (Level 7)

Health: 1600/1600

Spiritual Energy: 723/730

Spirit: 146

Strength: 25

Stamina: 94

Agility: 115

William tilted his head to the side to dodge some type of strange spitting attack that seemed filled with Qi. It was one of the first attacks that a Jingmu Shadow had ever done against him. Previously, they would be killed before there was any opportunity for them to take any sort of action.

[Name: Jingmu Shadow | Level: 55]

Perhaps the fact that it was in a higher minor realm made it possible to attack him at a range. Not that it changed the ultimate fate of the Jingmu Shadow.

Death.

[+4275 XP]

[Trait Activated | -428 XP]

[Level Up! | Stat Points Added]

[The eliminated Jingmu Shadow’s body has been preserved]

[Current odds of preservation is 0.77% based on Luck: 77]

William jumped back slightly to dodge the swipe of another spirit beast as he glanced quickly between the Jingmu Shadow’s body and the minuscule percentage it apparently had at being preserved.

This only happened once before, and that was with the Pyralisk. However, the chance of that spirit beast’s body being preserved was over thirty percent. The immediate conclusion that came to William’s mind was that a preserved body of a Jingmu Shadow was far more valuable, even though it was a lower-level spirit beast.

He needed to store the body in his spatial stone. No matter how much it seemed like a blob of muddy filth.

All William had stopping him were a couple rootbound spirits.

[Name: Rootbound Spirit | Level: 63]

[Name: Rootbound Spirit | Level: 66]

A flash of light from the Qi erupting around his forearms blinded the mob of spirit beasts briefly before it died off to reveal the two rootbound spirits disintegrating before William’s eyes.

[+4713 XP]

[Trait Activated | -471 XP]

[+5256 XP]

[Trait Activated | -526 XP]

[Level Up! | 5 Stat Points Added]

William ignored the dying wails of the two beasts. He refocused quickly on the leftover body a short distance away. With a path finally clear of any pesky spirit beasts, he appeared next to it in a flash before quickly pulling it into his spatial stone.

As quickly as he tried to complete the act of storing the body, it seemed like he was still far too slow.

A strong feeling of danger practically screamed at him, coming from above. William felt he would be critically injured if he didn’t act. Thankfully, his instinctive reaction saved him.

[-50 HP]

William grunted when the arm he raised to somewhat shield his head was slammed into by a powerful strike. He gritted his teeth when he saw that something that resembled tentacles covered with Qi continued to put increasing pressure to break through his surprisingly effective defense.

[-100 HP]

With an alarmed expression at seeing the loss of health double, William did the only thing that came to mind when it seemed like he was about to lose the stalemate. Attack.

However, it would mean it would lessen the Qi he could maintain for defense.

[-50 HP]

He stored the round jade in his spatial stone and savagely thrust his free palm at the beast attacking him, hoping to kill it in one strike or at least fatally injure it so he could safely escape this precarious situation.

It was somewhat successful.

William pushed away from the area the moment the beast fled to avoid his attack. Only then could he see the devastation around where he had been attacked.

While he had lost two hundred health, that was apparently a testament to his body’s robustness compared to the sudden void of spirit beasts around him.

The attack William had been able to stop with a simple Qi-reinforced block with his forearm had killed everything around him due to what could only be the aftershock. The other spirit beasts hadn’t been on his mind during that little strength contest, but it certainly made sense why he hadn’t been besieged by the fodder spirit beasts.

[Name: QiMoth Wisp | Level: 76]

William made eye contact with what had attacked him, which didn’t surprise him. The QiMoth Wisp seemed to have waited for him to get sufficiently distracted before launching an attack.

By all rights, an attack by this flying spirit beast should have fatally injured him, especially considering what most of its attributes looked like. However, there was one thing that was likely the most significant factor in preventing that outcome.

The ridiculously low strength attribute of the QiMoth Wisp.

It was low enough that William shouldn’t even feel the attack without enhancement. He suspected that what truly damaged him was a martial skill.

“Alright then,” William muttered as he warily watched the QiMoth Wisp for its next move, “This isn’t going to be fun.”

He had said that out loud to calm himself, but when the QiMoth chittered at him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Who knew if this thing could understand him or not?

William quickly glanced at the two corrupted beasts, satisfied that they hadn’t moved from their original spot, before returning to the QiMoth Wisp.

It seemed more than ready to wait patiently for him to make a move. Or it might be waiting for the spooked spirit beasts below to regain their courage and swarm him.

He didn’t have much hope of ever matching its speed, so he decided to see if it was possible to attack with little downside.

William jumped without warning at the hovering QiMoth Wisp with arms blazing with Qi. Practically telegraphing his intention of a straightforward attack.

It was of no surprise that his target chittered mockingly and disappeared, reappearing well outside his range. That was fine. This was expected. Better than expected, to be honest.

He thought he would have to shield himself from another attack, but it only wanted to stare at him mockingly at a distance. That was perfectly fine. He made sure to glare at the QiMoth Wisp as if it personally offended him since it seemed to have some sort of intelligence, but only until the last second.

Right below where the QiMoth Wisp was hovering, there was a truly disgusting amount of spirit beasts that were amassed in a tight area.

This was what he wanted to attack in the first place. William hadn’t forgotten that he had a miracle solution to all his problems in the form of a jade ball. There was no need to let himself take unnecessary damage by fighting with formidable spirit beasts when there were far easier ways to gain experience points.

William was no more than ten feet above his targets when he finally switched the concentration of Qi in his body. The fiery Qi surrounding his forearms disappeared before appearing around his legs, brilliantly lighting up the alarmed spirit beasts below.

He could hear the QiMoth Wisp chitter angrily in the distance, but it was too late. He was already rocketing down at a speed that made it impossible for it to stop him.

William noted that most of the spirit beasts that would be killed were fodder, but at least five would give him a substantial number of experience points.

He crashed thunderously into the now-shrieking spirit beasts with a savage smile, eager to wipe them out and extract the points their lives were worth.

[+1 XP] x 87

[+5716 XP]

[+4425 XP]

[+4056 XP]

[+4241 XP]

[+3688 XP]

[+1475 XP]

[Trait Activated | -2369 XP]

William was ecstatic that his ill-thought-out plan worked better than he ever hoped, but not receiving a level-up alert after all those experience points made his heart skip a beat.

He hadn’t checked on his stats for far too long, mainly due to his attributes already at the current maximum. It had also caused him to lose track of his level.

William ensured the QiMoth Wisp wasn’t about to attack him before pulling up his status screen.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 59

Experience: 25046/7375

Cultivation: Qi Gathering (5th Level)

Health: 1163/1400

Spiritual Energy: 342/385 (20% per Hour)

Spirit: 80 (77)

Strength: 80 (77)

Stamina: 80 (77)

Agility: 80 (77)

Luck: 80 (77)

Points: 148