Beast God
Chapter 5: Secret Core

The Evil Cute Rabbit possessed enough strength and size to serve as a mount, but when it ran on all fours, its hopping movements created intense jolts that made it nearly impossible to sit steadily, let alone wield weapons in combat while riding it.

Even during normal riding, the violent bouncing made it extremely uncomfortable and completely unsuitable as a mount. At best, it could barely be ridden when fleeing for one's life.

Strangely, when the Evil Cute Rabbit walked upright on its hind legs, its movements became remarkably stable. Its two rear legs were incredibly strong and powerful, allowing it to run swiftly, fiercely, and steadily. Yet it still preferred jumping, leaping several meters high with astonishing bouncing ability.

Chen Guan didn't rush to apply the Cheerleader's Soul to the Evil Cute Rabbit because he discovered the buff's effects weren't permanent—they would naturally fade after some time and needed reapplication for renewed effect.

He wanted to first test the Evil Cute Rabbit's true combat capabilities before applying the Cheerleader's Soul, allowing for comparison and better understanding of both the creature's abilities and the buff's effects.

With only the Evil Cute Rabbit as his Mystical Spirit in the valley, Chen Guan had it scout ahead as they slowly made their way toward the valley exit.

For some unknown reason, the valley contained numerous skeletal remains, yet beyond the valley mouth, hardly any bones could be seen. Instead, several massive blood-red characters were carved into the cliff face at the valley entrance.

"Midnight Yin-Yang Valley..." Chen Guan hadn't expected this relatively small valley to have a name.

While pondering this, he spotted several Evil Cute Rabbits outside the valley feeding on plants. These were about the size of adult huskies—far smaller than his own "Rouge."

Rouge was the Bloody Evil Cute Rabbit's name, given by Chen Guan.

The Evil Cute Rabbits outside the valley matched Chen Guan's understanding of normal specimens, likely all of common quality.

Following Chen Guan's command, Rouge charged forward on its powerful hind legs. Leaping into the air when still seven to eight meters away, it brought down its Bloodsucking Blade mid-charge, instantly decapitating one Evil Cute Rabbit.

Rouge slaughtered mercilessly, cutting down all six Evil Cute Rabbits within moments, leaving none of their corpses intact.

"Brutal... absolutely brutal..." Chen Guan couldn't help but marvel. Unique-grade creatures truly were different—their combat power far surpassed common Mystical Spirits of the same level.

When Rouge plunged its Bloodsucking Blade into an Evil Cute Rabbit's heart, the corpse visibly withered as blood drained into the blade, turning the black weapon faintly crimson while Rouge's snow-white fur emitted a subtle bloody aura.

Within moments, the corpse became completely desiccated. Rouge leaped to another body and repeated the process.

Bloody mist rose from both the Evil Cute Rabbit and the blade—a phenomenon unique to the Bloodsucking Art, where blood was refined and evaporated to absorb Primordial Energy.

Despite absorbing six Evil Cute Rabbits' blood energy, Rouge still hadn't reached level 2. This much energy would have easily leveled up a common Mystical Spirit, proving that higher-quality spirits faced greater leveling difficulties.

Fortunately, Evil Cute Rabbits were plentiful nearby. After absorbing ten specimens' blood energy, Rouge finally leveled up to 2. Its fur gained a lustrous, jade-like sheen with an icy translucence.

At level 2, Rouge's Primordial Energy capacity increased to 2.91, confirming its 1.91 growth rate wasn't exaggerated.

Its strength, speed, and other attributes also improved, though these hidden stats lacked visible numerical representation.

Bloody Evil Cute Rabbit (Unique): Level 2 Spirit Pet.

Primordial Energy: 2.91.

Growth Rate: 1.91.

Innate Talent: Bloody Revival (Unique).

Secret Technique: Level 2 Bloodsucking Art (Unique).

Secret Skill: Level 2 Bloodsucking Blade Technique (Unique).

Treasure: Level 2 Bloodsucking Blade (Unique).

Unlike humans, Mystical Spirits' techniques, skills, and treasures level up alongside them.

Ding!

At level 2, Rouge slaughtered Evil Cute Rabbits like chopping vegetables. After killing another, white light particles rose from its corpse.

Chen Guan initially thought it might transform into a pet, but the lights condensed into a ping-pong ball sized white crystal core that flew toward him like a meteor, landing in his palm.

"Secret Core..." Chen Guan's heart leaped. These cores were the source of practitioners' secret techniques and skills—whether yielding one or the other depended on luck.

He hoped for a skill. Common Evil Cute Rabbits likely only dropped common-grade techniques, which would be useless to him. A skill could be immediately useful, slightly boosting his combat ability.

Clutching the core, he activated his Longevity Art to examine it, receiving strange information directly in his mind.

Secret Technique: Herbivore Vitality Art (Common).

Slightly disappointed, Chen Guan recognized this as practically worthless, unlikely to fetch much if sold.

Continuing onward with Rouge, Chen Guan needed to find both a high-quality cultivation method and Mount Pingdu Blessed Land's teleportation station—the only way out. Future entries would deposit him at this station rather than random locations.

Progressing intermittently and killing numerous Evil Cute Rabbits, the area seemed to contain only this common-quality Mystical Spirit with abysmal drop rates. Besides the Herbivore Vitality Art, he gained nothing else.

The Bloodsucking Art required time to digest absorbed energy. Having long stopped blood consumption, Rouge needed to process existing energy before further leveling. Continued Evil Cute Rabbit killings became meaningless.

"This place isn't as dangerous as I initially thought." Surrounded by mountain ranges, Chen Guan decided to leave this grassy basin with Rouge and explore the forests for other Mystical Spirits.

Finding no human traces nearby, he hadn't ventured far into the woods when sudden shouts and combat noises erupted ahead.

Recalling Rouge, he stealthily approached, discovering the commotion came from a stream at the mountain's base. Concealing himself, he observed a human man battling a Mystical Spirit.

The spirit resembled a skeleton but had a jade-white membrane covering its frame. Its left hand—noticeably larger than the right—was blood-red.

From afar, Chen Guan couldn't clearly see the man's face but guessed he was young. Wielding a wooden bow with a quiver, the man couldn't draw arrows at such close quarters, forced into panicked retreat.

Though faster than Chen Guan, the man remained slower than the bony Mystical Spirit, only surviving by weaving through ancient trees. The spirit's blood-red hand struck with terrifying force, tearing through hard tree trunks like soft tofu.

"Old Bird!" Chen Guan recognized the man's face and froze momentarily.