"My experience points increased by 2,000! You're certainly worthy of being a big boss, Sister Guanyin!"
After enduring thirty minutes of passive leveling in Guanyin's divine embrace, Zhu Hao was summarily tossed off the lotus platform and ordered to resume his mountain-guarding duties.
He was internally ecstatic. The experience gain in that half-hour was equivalent to weeks of intense, dangerous monster hunting.
"It seems the stronger the being, the more profound the experience gain!" Zhu Hao concluded, filing away this crucial discovery. He yearned to run back and snuggle into her thigh for another session, but he knew the rules of social engineering. Too much eagerness was suspicious. Today's harvest was already enormous; he wouldn't be greedy.
He found a comfortable, large tree, nestled onto a thick branch, and fell into a deep, contented sleep.
The next day, the blissful quiet was broken by an irritating sound.
Quack!Quack!
"What? Are you trying to interrupt Lord Pig's beauty sleep?"
Zhu Hao opened his eyes, rubbed them with his paw, and looked down. He saw a brightly colored five-colored toad—about the size of his head—hopping and running near the base of the tree. A magnificent, shimmering five-colored light pulsed around its body.
"Looks truly impressive," Zhu Hao muttered, licking his lips. The toad seemed powerful, and challenging strong local beasts was a great way to accumulate powers and experience.
He leaped down from the branch.
"Heavenly Cruel Kick!"
A huge, golden, spiritual foot descended from the sky with impossible speed, pressing down on the toad.
Quack! The five-colored toad shrieked in shock. It had lived peacefully on Luojia Mountain for tens of thousands of years. Who in this sacred place dared to launch a sneak attack?
Seeing the Heavenly Cruel Kick arriving instantly, the toad had no time for thought. Its body light flared, forming a dense five-colored barrier around itself.
BUMP!
The earth trembled violently. The Heavenly Cruel Kick landed, submerging the toad deep into the ground.
Defeated the Five-Colored Spirit Toad (Unconscious), Experience +200, Magical Power Acquired: Immunity to All Poisons
"Blast it, he actually survived!" Zhu Hao was momentarily stunned. He hadn't used his Big and Small Ruyi size amplification, but the Heavenly Cruel Kick was still a massive, devastating skill. Even a peak Nascent Soul expert should be half-dead after taking that hit. Yet, this toad was merely unconscious.
But wait...
"This magical power is excellent! From now on, Lord Pig is a divine creature that is immune to all poisons!" He immediately turned to his system interface.
"Acquired the Magical Power: Immunity to All Poisons. Upgrade?""Consume 11 points of Energy and Experience to upgrade 'Invulnerability to Hundred Poisons' to 'Invulnerability to Ten Thousand Poisons'!"
"Upgrade!" Zhu Hao didn't hesitate.
"Quack, let the grind continue!" After successfully upgrading his defense against venom, Zhu Hao was energized.
He spent the next hour bounding through the surrounding purple bamboo forest, aggressively testing the local fauna for experience points and new powers.
Bang! Experience +10 Bang! Bang! Experience +30 Bang! Experience +25
"Experience +80, Magical Power Acquired: Swallowing"
"New Magical Powers detected! Consume 500 Energy and 500 Experience points to fuse Swallowing, Venom, Fangs, and Black Chicken Beak? (Recommended)"
"Fusion!" Zhu Hao had no time to consider the strange input powers. He was wealthy now, and 500 points were negligible for a powerful new skill.
Fusion Successful, Magical Power Acquired: Sun Devouring
He checked his updated stats with immense satisfaction:
Light of the Pig God
Name: Zhu Hao
Race: Little Pig Bear
Level: Level 4 (Energy 0/10000, Experience 0/10000)
Energy: 26,677
Experience: 31,561
World: None (Note: You can travel through the world by consuming energy and experience)
Skill: Taiyin Zhengong Level 1 (Energy 0/1000, Experience 0/1000)
Magical Powers: Big and Small Ruyi, Wind and Thunder Sky Wings, Indestructible Golden Body, Sun Devouring, Heavenly Dragnet, Death Scythe, Invulnerable to Ten Thousand Poisons; Phantom Clone, Purple Demon Eye, Soul Locking Chain, Earth Escape, Sky Crushing Kick, Heavy Water in the Heart of the Sea (Energy 0/100, Experience 0/100); Gale Bow, Ink Soul Spear (Energy 0/10, Experience 0/10)
Backpack: Three Heads, Stab (Energy 0/1, Experience 0/1)...
"Sun Devouring? Not bad at all!" Zhu Hao's eyes sparkled. The name sounded suitably grand.
He opened his mouth and tested the new power. A miniature black hole emerged from his snout. A terrifying, focused devouring force surged out. Dozens of surrounding purple bamboos and the underlying spiritual plants were instantly ripped from the ground, compressed, and swallowed into the black vortex.
Energy +3,500
"Magnificent! My Lord Pig is invincible!" Zhu Hao's little fat face shone with unrestrained glee. This was exponentially faster than chewing them one by one!
He took a preparatory breath, ready to unleash the black hole and consume another massive section of the spiritual forest.
BUMP!
"Ouch!"
Before he could activate the power again, a pair of sharp, cold gazes descended from above. The pressure was like a mountain pressing down on his head, instantly forcing him back into the ground, leaving only his furry little head sticking out above the surface.
"Sister Guanyin, Lord Pig was wrong! Please, please forgive me!" Zhu Hao whined pitifully. He struggled a few times but found the ground around him solidified by an overwhelming divine power. He couldn't break free.
"Damaging the environment, damaging personal property, and being grounded for one hour," Guanyin's cold, indifferent voice drifted down faintly.
Zhu Hao instantly drooped his head, feeling utterly defeated.
Quack!
The five-colored toad, having miraculously dug its way out of the ground, hopped past the imprisoned piglet, its little eyes filled with blatant, unadulterated gloating.
"What are you looking at, you poisonous little pebble? Do you believe Grandpa Pig can still swallow you in one bite?" Zhu Hao hissed, showing off two tiny, white canine teeth that glittered menacingly in the sun.
Quack! The toad shrieked, instantly burrowing back into the earth and fleeing. It still remembered the horrifying sight of the pig's black hole swallowing the entire environment.
"Escape underground!" Zhu Hao thought quickly, trying to use his basic Earth Escape skill to break free, but it was useless. The power was too weak to overcome Guanyin's divine confinement.
"Upgrade the magical power of Earth Escape!" Zhu Hao decided immediately.
"Consume 100 Energy and 100 Experience points to upgrade the Magical Power 'Earth Escape' to the 'Five Elements Divine Escape'!"
A strange, potent power surged through his body. Zhu Hao had an idea:
"Five Elements Divine Escape!"
Swish!
Zhu Hao's figure instantly vanished.
The next moment, a furry little head popped out of the branch of the very same tree he had slept on earlier, his big eyes twinkling with triumph.
"It really works! I can sneak around using the five elements—earth, wood, water, fire, metal! I am utterly unstoppable!" Zhu Hao laughed in pure, mischievous delight, testing the incredible mobility of the Five Elements Divine Escape.
From her observation deck, Guanyin had opened her eyes. The moment Zhu Hao used the Five Elements Divine Escape, his shimmering silhouette was reflected perfectly in her pupils. She watched him move with clear interest.
While her confinement had been casual, the piglet had broken it by upgrading a fundamental escape technique to something remarkably advanced. The Five Elements Divine Escape was undoubtedly a powerful, multi-faceted technique. Naturally, she would not covet the technique, but it further confirmed that this arrogant piglet was far more than a simple beast.
Giggle!
A plump, multicolored pheasant—another spiritual creature of Luojia Mountain—ran past Zhu Hao on the branch.
Bang!
Zhu Hao slapped it with one casual, reflexive claw.
Killed a Seven Treasures Chicken (Level 5 Spiritual Fowl), Energy +300, Experience +300, Magical Power Acquired: Heal
"Wait, did Lord Pig just commit another felony?" Zhu Hao's heart pounded. He glanced around furtively, grabbed the Seven Treasures Chicken with his little claws, and executed a silent, panicked dive into the ground using the Five Elements Divine Escape.
He resurfaced by a gurgling stream. He had already plucked and washed the unfortunate Seven Treasures Chicken clean.
"Steamed or braised?" he pondered, holding the glistening fowl.
"No, a Beggar's Chicken!"
A flash of culinary inspiration struck him. He remembered the lotus pond where the golden carp lived. The lotus plants there were not ordinary—they were spiritual artifacts. A Beggar's Chicken wrapped in such a spiritual lotus leaf and cooked would be an act of divine gastronomy!
Swish!
The next moment, Zhu Hao instantly drilled back into the ground, using the earth element of his powerful new escape technique, and began tunneling directly toward the lotus pond to obtain his fragrant wrapper.