Chapter Sixty-Two: Roasted Whole Tiger

“As I thought, all the demon beasts have been driven to the other side of the island.”

Once again, he slew thirty demon beasts, earning three hundred and fifty skill points. Bai Li Feihong glanced at his Book of Skills.

Skill points: 1,425.

He had a premonition: by the time he finished exterminating all the demon beasts on HLD, his skill points would surely surpass two thousand.

“The Demon-Detecting Compass truly is a marvelous thing,” he mused. The finest aid for hunting demons and monsters. The needle still spun, unwaveringly pointing to the far side of the island. It did not budge—evidence that every creature tainted by demonic energy had gathered at that single spot.

“Dawn is near. Their gathering together saves me quite a bit of trouble. Once I’m done with you lot, there are still the pirates on this island to deal with.” That, he thought, would cost him considerable time. And time was money. But for the sake of those skill points, Bai Li Feihong was willing to accept it.

Gaining experience by practicing skills and raising skill level through accumulated effort was altogether different from directly increasing skill level with skill points. After hunting monsters all night, Bai Li Feihong was famished. Casually, he skinned a tiger demon, cleaned its innards, chopped several logs to build a spit, and began roasting.

With the toughness of a tiger demon’s flesh, ordinary fire would require at least a dozen hours to cook it through. Bai Li Feihong summoned his blood energy in both hands. The Fiery Palm of the Fivefold Demon-Subduing Hand was brought forth. The fire within his heart blazed as fierce as the noon sun. His crimson palms pressed down upon the massive tiger’s body.

Sizzling sounds arose.

Blood energy, fierce as flames, coursed from his palms, enveloping every inch of the tiger demon’s flesh, sinew, and bone. In no time, the aroma of roasted meat wafted to his nose. Yet Bai Li Feihong was absorbed in the Book of Skills.

[Culinary Arts gained +100 experience!]
[Culinary Arts gained +100 experience!]
...

A string of experience notifications floated before his eyes. His control over heat became ever more precise, responding to his will. His skill in the culinary arts, already at the level of mastery, soon reached the realm of perfection. Moreover, his use of the Fiery Palm grew ever more refined. Through controlling the heat, the insights of the Fivefold Demon-Subduing Hand at its peak became his own, fully mastered.

Many things, no matter how etched into the soul, only reveal their mysteries through practice.

“With this martial art, surviving in the wild will be much easier from now on.”

The Fivefold Demon-Subduing Hand was an exceptionally formidable technique, inherited from the Five Element Daoist Sect of antiquity, as noted in the scripture. It was said to be the finest method for cultivating the five viscera and six bowels—without equal. Reaching the pinnacle of this technique, the next step was to attain the Grand Five Elements Divine Art—an advanced power only cultivable by those who had achieved the Divine Martial Realm. To master this was to command the five elements of heaven and earth. The Demon-Subduing Six Paths Scripture, which recorded this divine art, included such a description.

“Gongyang Yan truly spared no expense in raising me as his blood ox,” Bai Li Feihong thought. The Demon-Subduing Six Paths Scripture was the supreme classic of the Demon-Subduing Directorate, rarely granted. Gongyang Yan just happened to possess it.

The tiger demon’s meat, charred crisp on the outside and tender within, was ready to eat. Bai Li Feihong set up a rack, used the Fiery Palm to turn the wood beneath into charcoal, and heaped it under the meat. From his pack, he produced fine salt, honey, spices, chili, and other seasonings, rubbing them with bare hands into the tiger demon’s flesh, blending the flavors.

He ate a great deal, but was also highly particular about food. As his culinary skill grew, so too did the fragrance and taste of his cooking. Satisfied with the result, he drew a small knife and set about slicing the demon beast’s meat.

The tiger demon’s flesh was incredibly resilient. Even after being thoroughly cooked by the Fiery Palm, its texture remained tough. An ordinary martial artist with a sword might not even cut through the hide, let alone the tempered muscle. Yet Bai Li Feihong’s teeth could bite through steel like sugarcane, not to mention demon meat.

He took a bite. The flavor exploded on his tongue—chewy, succulent—a rare delicacy.

“The demonic aura in this meat has been purged,” Bai Li Feihong observed. “Though demon meat contains a savage bestial energy, which, if consumed, would accumulate violent impulses within the body, my Fiery Palm, powered by blood energy, has refined the flesh. The violence is gone; instead, it contains the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, unlike any ordinary meat. With my culinary treatment, it bears a flavor never before tasted.”

He could not help but sigh with heartfelt appreciation. If he had known this earlier, he would not have wasted so much demon meat.

A warm current spread through his belly. He activated his Blood Refining Technique, absorbing and transforming the energy. A single bite, he reckoned, contained as much bioenergy as dozens of pounds of prime beef. A single morsel provided more nourishment than his usual entire meal.

The roasted tiger demon meat, after preparation, still weighed several tons. Without further ado, he began his feast. Under his iron jaws, only tiger bones remained in short order. The blood energy refined from this meal exceeded what he would gain from eight Blood Essence Pills.

“Blood Essence Pills, so that’s what it is.” Bai Li Feihong suddenly understood. The so-called Blood Essence Pill derived much of its power from the essence of demon beast flesh, though other herbs and secret alchemical methods were involved. Even with this secret in hand, he could hardly concoct the pill himself.

The Demon-Subduing Directorate’s pills were all made at headquarters. If a local branch wished to acquire more, they had to rely on their allotted share or earn extra through hunting monsters and meritorious service.

Ordinary folk—even knowing that demon meat could enhance blood essence—lacked Bai Li Feihong’s cultivation. Moreover, the Blood Refining Technique, in others’ hands, was insufficiently effective at transforming the meat’s essence. So while eating demon flesh and practicing the method simultaneously, they would only bloat from the sheer volume, unable to absorb it all.

“Eight Blood Essence Pills,” he mused. “I’ve wasted so many demon beast carcasses. Most were probably devoured by wild animals after I killed them.”

And those carcasses, still carrying malevolent energy, might cause the beasts that fed on them to mutate, break the limits of their species, and become demon beasts themselves. This, Bai Li Feihong did deliberately—a form of investment, raising crops to harvest later. Only then would there be more meat to reap.

His stomach was a bottomless pit, showing no sign of one who’d just devoured so much tiger demon flesh. He picked up the bones and began gnawing. Tiger bone was a potent tonic.

Suddenly, Bai Li Feihong’s movements paused. He gracefully abandoned the posture of a dog gnawing a bone, instead delicately sucking out the marrow.

Heavy footsteps, like a tank rolling through the forest, approached. For some reason, with his keen nose, Bai Li Feihong caught a whiff of musk—a woman’s scent. A woman, on this island?

“Hiding and watching, are you? Miss, why not come out and meet me?”

From the woods emerged a tall, powerfully built woman, her striking features marred by a sword scar across her face. She carried a sword as wide as a door across her shoulder, and strode forward.

“And who might you be, miss?”