Beast God
Chapter 13: The Gravedigger's Ghanta

Chen Guan pondered for a moment. Warring States had also been stimulated by the Cheerleader's Soul earlier, so why hadn't its quality and growth rate changed? Somewhat suspicious, he checked Warring States' information again—its quality remained Common, and the growth rate was still 1.14, with no changes whatsoever.

"It seems not all pets can improve their quality and growth rate under the Cheerleader's Soul's enhancement. They must have sufficient inherent potential to have a chance at such improvements." Chen Guan wasn't particularly disappointed. Even without quality and growth rate boosts, the Cheerleader's Soul's effects were already excellent.

After emerging, Warring States stood guard beside Chen Guan, vigilantly scanning the surroundings on alert duty.

Suddenly, Warring States spotted the Stealth Killer's remains, its eyes instantly lighting up. After Rouge had drained its blood, the Stealth Killer's corpse had turned into a mummy, just skin and bones now.

Warring States wanted to charge over but didn't immediately rush forward. Instead, it anxiously paced in circles, repeatedly turning its head to look at Chen Guan, then back at the Stealth Killer's remains, its expression full of eager anticipation.

"Go ahead, it's yours," Chen Guan said.

With permission granted, Warring States finally charged over and started gnawing on the Stealth Killer's bones. Soon, the grating sound of teeth scraping bone echoed through the air.

The Stealth Killer's bones were too hard for Warring States to chew through, so it could only nibble off bits of the dried meat clinging to them. Each bite yielded only a tiny morsel—not even enough to fill its teeth gaps—yet it happily continued munching away.

Chen Guan walked over and picked up the broken dagger and torn clothing scattered on the ground. Although these secret treasures were damaged, their materials still held some value. Moreover, these were treasures from a Unique-grade Mystical Spirit, suggesting their quality shouldn't be too poor—they might even be Unique-grade treasures that could fetch a decent price back home.

The dagger was pitch-black and cold, its blade exceptionally sharp—clearly a fine weapon. Unfortunately, being broken had drained its spiritual nature, and no information could be discerned from it now, though it might have been Unique-grade.

The set of damaged black nightclothes felt smooth like black silk, appearing to be quality material as well. It was a shame Chen Guan had no needle and thread; otherwise, some stitching could have made them wearable with minor defensive properties.

As Chen Guan lifted another piece of clothing, something fell out from within, hitting a stone on the ground with a crisp clinking sound.

"What's this?" Chen Guan picked up the curious object and examined it carefully between his fingers.

It was a bracelet. The beads forming the bracelet were grayish-white bone-like objects—not truly spherical beads but small disc-shaped pieces slightly larger than soybean grains. Though roughly similar in size, each showed minor variations, seemingly hand-polished rather than uniformly shaped. Their colors varied too—grayish-white with an oily patina resembling aged bone.

"Is this a secret treasure?" Unsure, Chen Guan activated the Longevity Art secret technique, channeling his Primordial Energy into the bracelet.

The next instant, the bracelet resonated with energy, transmitting information directly into Chen Guan's mind:

Gravedigger's Ghanta: Level 10 Unique-grade Secret Treasure.

A sacred relic crafted from the Gravedigger's finger bones, imbued with his divine power. Grants one opportunity for a living being to use the "Body Offering Sutra." After use, the ghanta will shatter and lose its divine power. Limited to users below Level 10.

When Chen Guan fully comprehended what the Body Offering Sutra actually was, he was overjoyed.

The Gravedigger's Ghanta's power allowed living users to employ the Body Offering Sutra—resetting their level and attributes back to Level 1, equivalent to reincarnating for renewed cultivation.

Countless powerful cultivators, having lacked sufficient early-stage resources for perfect cultivation, later found it extremely difficult to compensate for these deficiencies—with no way to start anew.

This Gravedigger's Ghanta could actually return someone to Level 1 for restarting cultivation—an incredibly precious ability.

Unfortunately, being limited to users below Level 10 greatly diminished its value for high-level experts. But for Chen Guan, this was a godsend.

This area was too dangerous—advancing his level first would be ideal. Previously, he'd had reservations, wanting to obtain a supreme secret technique before cultivating and leveling up, thus forcing him to take risks.

But now with the Gravedigger's Ghanta, Chen Guan no longer needed to take that gamble. He could first raise his level—as long as he didn't exceed Level 10—then acquire a supreme secret technique and restart cultivation.

Having reached this conclusion, Chen Guan didn't hesitate further. He took out the Stealth Kill Art's technique core and absorbed it directly, instantly gaining possession of this Unique-grade secret technique.

Activating the Stealth Kill Art, he could clearly feel Primordial Energy from the world slowly flowing into his body, circulating once before departing. Both the absorption speed of worldly Primordial Energy and the amount retained during circulation far surpassed what the Longevity Art could achieve.

And this was just the Stealth Kill Art's basic effect. Its true method of absorbing Primordial Energy came from killing Mystical Spirits and absorbing their dispersed energy—far more effective than simply drawing from the environment.

Wrapping the Stealth Killer's remains in the tattered nightclothes—leaving only one leg bone for Warring States to gnaw on—Chen Guan secured everything on his back and left the Corpse Puppet Forest with Warring States and Rouge.

Before exiting the forest, they encountered several wandering ordinary corpse puppets. After having Rouge kill them, Chen Guan discovered a drawback of the Stealth Kill Art.

The technique could only absorb Primordial Energy dispersed from Mystical Spirits he personally killed. Energy from spirits killed by others—even his own pets—couldn't be absorbed. Chen Guan himself had to deal the killing blow.

Fortunately, through testing, he found it unnecessary to fight from start to finish—as long as he delivered the final blow, he could absorb the dispersed energy.

This resembled how secret spirits and technique cores were obtained—both would only materialize for whoever dealt the killing blow.

Thus Chen Guan became an execution specialist—having Rouge weaken the corpse puppets near death before he stepped in for the final strike.

Soon Chen Guan reached Level 2, his Primordial Energy increasing from 1 to 2.94. The Stealth Kill Art actually provided a 1.94 Primordial Energy increase per level—equivalent to a 1.94 growth rate. Even among Unique-grade secret techniques, this was top-tier, surpassing even some supreme secret techniques in energy capacity growth.

Of course, supreme secret techniques offered more than just energy capacity—they enhanced energy recovery and provided unique abilities. Higher energy capacity alone didn't guarantee superiority.

"If I can't find a suitable supreme secret technique, continuing with the Stealth Kill Art wouldn't be bad. After all, supreme techniques are extremely rare," Chen Guan mused silently.

With his increased energy capacity, he could now use the secret skill Blood Palm. Unfortunately, they encountered no more corpse puppets before leaving the forest. After some thought, Chen Guan decided to return and practice on Evil Cute Rabbits—he was more familiar with that terrain. According to Old Bird, veteran cultivators on the island generally avoided that area.

First, Evil Cute Rabbits were too low-level—killing them yielded nothing useful for veteran cultivators. Second, the area contained special zones where accidental entry could be extremely dangerous—like the Midnight Yin-Yang Valley where Chen Guan had previously emerged. Entering during the midnight or noon hours would be particularly hazardous.

Fortunately, Chen Guan hadn't been transported there during those times and had left early—otherwise, his bones might have long turned cold.