Lifespan Extraction: I Ascend As The Immortal Beast Tamer
Chapter 26 - 9th Layer Nascent Soul Realm, 270 Shadow Beasts

Chapter 26: 9th Layer Nascent Soul Realm, 270 Shadow Beasts

The other Azure Outer Disciples blankly stared at the shameless Meng. Even more pity for Zar emerged when they imagined having such a Senior Brother.

"I’m sorry for your loss, Junior Brother Zar..."

"You always have a home here; this Senior Sister of yours will take care of you if it really comes down to it."

"Junior Sister, surely you don’t mean to say that I’m unable to adequately care for him as his Senior, Senior Sister?"

Zar awkwardly scratched his neck, bowing his head to everyone speaking kind words. Though, on the inside, his emotions couldn’t be any colder. The way he viewed everyone was as no more than covers for his identity; nothing more, nothing less.

They weren’t friends.

He’d never find friendship with a bunch of Therians. The hateful, narcissistic creatures.

Unbeknownst to his true thoughts, Hua Ling and Valley Master Yu descended from the heavens like two otherworldly fairies. The former was the first to approach Zar, asking him if he was okay in an icy tone that failed to conceal her concern.

After reassuring her with apologetic nods, Zar then found a large pair of breasts swaying left and right in front of him, obscuring his vision.

"Your failure to break through is not too serious," Valley Master Yu said with a perceptive stare, seemingly uncovering his secrets.

Zar just hoped she wouldn’t delve too deep.

"Here." Valley Master Yu curled a vial into his veiny hands. "This is a Rank 4 Unfurling Elixir; it should allow you to recover as quickly as possible. Moreover, it’ll make your next attempt at breaking through an almost guaranteed success."

"!!!" "!!!" "!!!"

An extremely valuable Rank 4 Unfurling Elixir gifted just like that!?

Even Core Formation Realm powerhouses would kill themselves over such a luxurious elixir!

*Envious stares...*

"Haha..." Zar awkwardly laughed, shaking his hands. "I really can’t accept something so precious, Valley Master Yu—"

"If you don’t accept it, then you can consider yourself exiled from the Medicine Valley and Sect."

Impossible to bargain with that!

Reluctantly, Zar accepted the Rank 4 Unfurling Elixir.

After storing it within his Spatial Ring, he bowed to the Valley Master and his Senior Sister. He then nodded toward everyone else before returning to his house, saying something along the lines of needing to recover with the Elixir before closing the door.

Noticing the unrest of Hua Ling out of the corner of her eye, Valley Master Yu raised a brow. "Do you want him as your Dual Cultivation Partner, Hua Ling?"

Startled by the abrupt question, Hua Ling jumped out of her skin. Furiously shaking her head, she replied, "N-No," while doing her utmost to maintain her frigid facade.

Valley Master Yu’s eyes narrowed, but beyond becoming a little more suspicious, she shook her head and set the topic aside. After which, she said, "Good. Continue with your cultivation, and soon you’ll see an opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm. As for the matter with the mysterious drainage of Spiritual Energy in the surroundings, it was likely caused by an inexplicable Natural Phenomenon, so you needn’t concern yourself with it anymore."

Hua Ling’s lips pursed at the way her Master said, "Good," but she decided to pursue the subject no further. A slight harrumph did, however, sound out as she bowed and turned around, making her way back to her cultivation abode.

"That girl..." Valley Master Yu’s eyebrows drew together as she sighed. "She’s such a bad liar."

Vanishing like an incomprehensible higher being, she left the rest of her Disciples to mingle among themselves and eventually return to whatever they were doing. She did the same, going back to her Alchemy Furnace, her eyes softening a bit after seeing the Ruby Grass that Zar had plucked earlier that day.

A period in time when he was still of the Core Formation Realm...

The winds of autumn and spring arrived once more in the Blazing Sun Sect’s Outer Sect, with an entire year having flown by.

Yawning, Zar got up off his cultivation mat. His mood was joyful, especially after observing what was displayed on his System Interface.

BLING!

{[Lifespan Extraction System]}

[Name: Zar ????] - [Godling]

[Lifespan: 21/19,220]

[Beast Master Rank: Journeyman(3)]

[Spirit Root: Ordinary Tier- Supreme Sword Dao Spirit Root (can invest lifespan to evolve)]

[Cultivation Level: 9th Layer Nascent Soul Realm (can invest lifespan to evolve)]

[Cultivation Technique(s): Heavenly Beginnings (Low-Earth)(Unmastered)]

[Martial Technique(s): Purple Oblivion (Low-Earth)(Partially Mastered), Sonic Speed Steps (Low-Earth)(Partially Mastered), Ultimate Heavenly Transfiguration (Low-Earth)(Partially Mastered) - (can invest lifespan to evolve)]

[Named Beast(s): Albion (9th Layer Nascent Soul)]

[Total Contracted Beast(s): 270/270] - (can increase maximum limit using lifespan)

[Average Beast Cultivation: 7th Layer Nascent Soul]

Even after spending thousands of years of lifespan on evolving his Martial Techniques to the Low-Earth Rank, Zar still had well over 19,000 years of lifespan saved!

It was incredible!

And it could mostly be attributed to the hard work of his Shadow Beasts, who had more than tripled their efficiency after reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. As Nascent Soul Realm entities, they could not only fly far easier than before, but they could also better sneak around all the Core Formation Realm Cultivators that lingered around the Sect Quest Boards.

All in all, with so many of his Shadow Beasts out and about, the Outer Sect became a much safer place. The Quixan Dynasty also experienced fatality rates that were far less than they once were.

But with something like this happening for what seemed like no reason whatsoever, people from both sides started to grow suspicious. And though they suspected it to be because of the outside influence of a different faction or individual, they quickly realized that no one had anything to gain by helping them out.

Thus, they inferred that whatever was going on must be related to the internal affairs of the Demon Beasts themselves.

Why else would anybody leave perfectly fine Demon Beast corpses strewn about??

However, on the other hand, only their Demon Cores were taken, which came across as odd to the people of the Blazing Sun Sect and the Quixan Dynasty. After all, Therians were more likely to snatch up Demon Cores than Demon Beasts were.

This wasn’t to say that Demon Cores weren’t useful to both races; it was just that Demon Beasts were more primitive and often just ate whatever they could get their claws on.

And in case one wasn’t aware, eating Demon Cores was hard...

After much time spent pondering the matter, a Soul Transformation Realm Elite Disciple from the Blazing Sun Sect proposed something. He told everyone that this string of violent Demon Beast murders was all somehow tied to an active quest posted either in their Sect or the hundreds of cities in the Quixan Dynasty.

This riled the emotions of many, for it could very well mean that... an absurdly intelligent Demon Beast had appeared among Demon Beast kind!

Would they have considered these Demon Beast murders to be caused by a Therian after reaching this point in the discussions?

Of course not! It made no damn sense!

Who would purposefully sneak around helping lessen the load off the backs of the citizens and Disciples??

No one!

In the World of Immortal Cultivation, reputation and fame were everything to the truly powerful!

And from the looks of it, all the Demon Beasts’ deaths were done by a multitude of powerful individuals. This made it even more impossible that so many people would be okay with staying so low-key for virtually no reason.

As for considering the possibility of this all being due to the actions of a Summoner and his Contracted Beasts—well, that was even more impossible than a second sun appearing in the sky!

They’d sooner deem all the Demon Beasts’ deaths to be caused by a Demon Beast-eating donkey that fell from Heaven and got hungry!

This was all to say that Zar was safe for the meantime.

Though even if the representatives of the Blazing Sun Sect and Quixan Dynasty did circle back to the possibility of a Therian being the cause, they’d never think it to be him. After all, he was just a normal Outer Disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect, and one with an airtight alibi to boot.

None of the residents of Azure Medicine Valley had ever even seen him leave the Valley, let alone go off on long Demon Beast slaughtering expeditions with some mysterious powerful faction.

It was ludicrous to even consider such a thing!

"Junior Brother Zar!" Meng called out from the other side of Zar’s house, his voice taking him out of his thoughts. "Have you broken through the 3rd Layer of Foundation Establishment yet? The Master and Senior Sister Hua are asking, which I must admit, makes me jealous..."

*Thwam!*

Opening his door, Zar walked out. Meeting the goofy face of his Senior Brother, he replied, "I have. Can you not tell?"

Taking a closer look, Meng was left awed. "You really have broken through!" he exclaimed. "Though, seeing as how you were given that Rank 4 Elixir, it’s surprising that it took you this long, haha!"

"Yes..."

With a helpless smile, Zar was escorted to the winding mountain path, where he then parted ways with his senior brother. He traveled to the large home of Valley Master Yu, figuring she wanted to speak to him.

And just as he expected:

"You’ve broken through the 3rd Layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm," Valley Master Yu said from under the gazebo, her side view beyond ravishing. "I figured you would, what with you never coming around as much. And even when you do, it’s work-related, so you’re always in a hurry to leave."

’Is that not why I’m here...? To, you know, work??’

Although Zar was filled with exasperation, he outwardly showed a wry smile. Valley Master Yu noticed his nervousness and stopped pursuing the matter that made her a little peeved.

"I wanted to know if you’d like to take on this Sect Quest," she began as she took out a piece of bamboo paper that detailed something about Foundation Establishment Realm Bandits running amok. "It will give at least 10 Sect Credits, with the potential for more if you slay more Hard-Water Bandits. It’s in the town of Brimlore, so it shouldn’t take more than a day to get there. Furthermore, you won’t be the only one working the Quest, as there will be—"

"I’m sorry, Master," Zar bowed his head respectfully. "I can’t accept this Quest. No matter how many Sect Contributions I’ll get, my mind won’t change."

Valley Master Yu curiously stared at Zar, asking, "May I know why?"

"Danger and pain scare me!"

Silence...

"Danger and pain... scare you...? Are you not an Immortal Cultivator treading an innate path fraught with danger??"

Zar shook his head. "Nope! I’m a loyal, devout disciple of the beautiful and compassionate Valley Master Yu! Why would there be danger here?"

Valley Master Yu went silent.

Though, eventually, she giggled a little. "You truly are quite the amusing man, and silver-tongued at that. But very well, you don’t have to accept this Quest; I’m sure one of the other disciples will be more than pleased to accept it in your stead."

"That’s very wise of you, Master!" Zar praised fervently, all while slowly sneaking away. "I’d only get in the way with my puny strength anyway. The Senior Brothers and Sisters are far more fit for the job."

"Hm?"

Valley Master Yu was both surprised and amused to see that Zar had already slipped away, doing so in a way that made him seem like a peerless thief. This urged forth a series of giggles as Valley Master Yu spun her parasol in a graceful manner.

"There’s definitely something special about him," she mused. "I just can’t seem to pinpoint what that something is."

While images of that exceptionally handsome young lad filled her mind, she suddenly remembered her impending breakthrough. The 9th Layer Deity Transformation Realm awaited her, and at her current rate of progression, it wouldn’t take any longer than five or so years to advance.

Which, for her, was an amount of time equivalent to a mere drop in the ocean...