17: Chapter 17 Five Elements Techniques, Strange Black Beast

[Ding! Harvested one lingzhi. Reward: A wisp of Soul Origin.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten lingzhi (1/10)]

[Ding! Harvested one lingzhi. Reward: A wisp of Soul Origin.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten lingzhi (2/10)]

...

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the 'Harvest Ten lingzhi' mission. Reward: One Divine Lingzhi Seed, 10 Spirit Coins (Stored in system inventory).]

...

[Ding! Harvested one tuckahoe. Reward: A wisp of Innate Spiritual Qi.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten tuckahoe (1/10)]

[Ding! Harvested one tuckahoe. Reward: A wisp of Innate Spiritual Qi.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten tuckahoe (2/10)]

...

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the 'Harvest Ten tuckahoe' mission. Reward: One Spirit Tuckahoe Seed, 10 Spirit Coins (Stored in system inventory).]

[Ding! Congratulations on completing three system missions. Reward: One Gift Pack.]

...

[Ding! Harvested one earth spirit. Reward: A wisp of Earth Qi.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten earth spirits (1/10)]

[Ding! Harvested one earth spirit. Reward: A wisp of Earth Qi.]

[Current Mission: Harvest ten earth spirits (2/10)]

...

[Ding! Congratulations on completing the 'Harvest Ten Earth Spirits' mission. Reward: One Mountain Spirit Seed, 10 Spirit Coins (Stored in system inventory).]

...

Lu Hu circulated his cultivation technique, quickly refining the Soul Origin, Innate Spiritual Qi, and Earth Qi rewarded by the system.

At this moment, Lu Hu felt his spiritual sense warming up, and his mind became incredibly clear. With the help of the ten wisps of pure spiritual qi from the system, Lu Hu made a final push, and his cultivation broke through to a brand new stage.

"Whew~"

As Lu Hu exhaled, his entire tiger body glowed with a faint yellowish light, appearing incredibly heavy.

Boom!

After a long time, Lu Hu opened his eyes. A bright light flashed through them, instantly severing a small tree a hundred meters away. Lu Hu stood up with a look of joy, observing the changes in himself.

'The things rewarded by the system are a bit buggy!'

Lu Hu marveled. The Innate Spiritual Qi went without saying—it was a cultivation resource. Meanwhile, the Soul Origin strengthened his spiritual sense.

The Earth Qi improved his skeletal structure, taking his defense to the next level.

These were all energies that improved one's aptitude. Over time, even if his original aptitude had been trash, the system would gradually improve it into a top-tier constitution.

His body's dantian and meridians had expanded, allowing him to hold more spiritual qi, which was also much purer than before.

"Ha~"

Lu Hu opened his mouth, and spiritual power gathered into a sphere. It was continuously refined and condensed until it became a ball the size of a fist.

Bang!

Lu Hu shook his head and threw it. A sharp whistling sound rang out as the spiritual power ball shot out like a cannonball, landing on a giant rock over ten meters high a thousand meters away.

Boom!

Debris flew everywhere, and the loud noise caused all the animals in the mountain forest to become restless.

Tiger Dad was also startled awake under the Tiger Fruit Tree. He witnessed with his own eyes the scene of Lu Hu spitting out a ball and blowing up the giant rock.

He was dumbfounded and terrified, unable to believe or understand what kind of power this was.

"Awoo~"

Tiger Dad opened his mouth, but nothing happened.

"Roar~"

Tiger Dad was so frustrated he wanted to slap himself twice.

Useless mouth, why can't you do that?

"Not bad."

Lu Hu nodded. That move just now was very simple: just gather the spiritual power in his body to a certain extent and then throw it out.

It was like an explosive; its power depended on how much spiritual power the ball contained.

He just needed to practice his accuracy in the future.

Lu Hu thought to himself. The target he had aimed for wasn't the rock that shattered, but a rock a hundred meters away from it.

The deviation was quite severe.

Lu Hu opened the system and felt gratified when he saw his Spirit Coin balance.

From the three missions, he had received a total of thirty Spirit Coins in rewards. Combined with the thirty he had left, he had sixty Spirit Coins. He could finally spend again.

"Another Gift Pack."

Lu Hu looked at the box marked with a '?' in his space.

Completing the mission for the first time had rewarded him with a Newbie Gift Pack, and completing three missions had rewarded him with another Gift Pack.

Would there be another Gift Pack when he completed five missions, or ten?

Lu Hu speculated. Regardless of whether he was right, it was a good thing. Lu Hu opened the Gift Pack.

[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining Five Elements Magic, thirty cubic meters of Spiritual Soil, and three hundred Spirit Coins.]

"Awoo!?" (Three hundred Spirit Coins!!)

Lu Hu was stunned and rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

There were actually three hundred Spirit Coins!

Just a moment ago, he had been secretly rejoicing over getting thirty Spirit Coins. Now, suddenly getting three hundred, this...

The feeling of being filthy rich surged up instantly!

Spend it, he had to spend it!

That Vermilion Fruit Tree, wasn't it just a hundred Spirit Coins? Bought.

And the Strong Tiger Fruit Trees—one wasn't enough. Buy nine more to make ten and plant an entire orchard.

And Spirit Fertilizer—buy one bag and throw one bag away. Don't ask why; being rich means being willful.

"Hold back, hold back."

However, all of this was just in his head. Lu Hu still couldn't bring himself to spend so lavishly.

It was enough to feel good in his mind; in reality, he would continue to be a pauper.

Lu Hu took out the Five Elements Magic jade slip.

He had been worried that as his cultivation rose, he only knew the one spiritual power ball move. Now, it was fine; he wasn't lacking in spells anymore.

Lu Hu pressed the jade slip to his forehead, and soon, the knowledge of Five Elements Magic was stuffed into his mind.

Five Elements Magic consisted of spells regarding the Five Elements Power of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, with various ways of applying them.

For instance, regarding Fire Power, there was the simplest summoning of flames and the use of the Fireball Technique.

There were also more complex fire-manipulating techniques, like controlling Heavenly Fire, Earthly Fire, and other methods.

The other elements were the same, with both simple and complex methods.

However, although the contents of Five Elements Magic were fully loaded into his brain and Lu Hu knew how to use many spells,

knowing it in his head and being able to use it with his hands were two different things. Given Lu Hu's current state,

using simple small spells like fireballs and waterballs shouldn't be a problem, but if he tried to use large-scale spells like a sea of fire or a water domain, he really couldn't do it.

Lu Hu extended a claw and circulated his spiritual power. Soon, sparks appeared at the tip of his claw.

"Roar~"

Once the fire appeared, Lu Hu immediately stopped. Setting fire to the mountain meant a life in prison; it was better not to play with fire in the forest.

Lu Hu tested other spells. Five Elements Magic was indeed marvelous. Lu Hu also discovered that he was more proficient in using fire and earth spells.

Fire spells might have something to do with a tiger's Pure Yang nature.

As for the earth spells, it was likely due to the 'Earth Qi' rewarded by the system, which enhanced his aptitude in the earth element.

After experimenting with Five Elements Magic, Lu Hu ran to a pool in high spirits to play with the water using the Water Manipulation Technique, while also checking the three newly unlocked missions.

[Harvest ten dendrobium (0/10)]

[Harvest ten horny goat weed (0/10)]

[Harvest ten millettia (0/10)]

...

The three types of medicinal herbs, though few, were not rare. The difficulty wasn't high. Lu Hu planned to rest for two days before setting out for the new missions.

"This King seems to have become more diligent."

While sleeping, Lu Hu marveled at his own changes. Ever since the cultivation techniques appeared in the system, his whole heart had become active.

Even if his subconscious wanted to slack off, the desire for immortality through cultivation still pushed him forward.

The next day, Lu Hu was considering whether to plant the three spiritual medicine seeds rewarded by the system.

Suddenly, Tiger Dad's roar echoed from afar.

The sound was loud and filled with anger, while also calling for Lu Hu.

Tiger Dad had run into trouble!

Given Tiger Dad's strength, it should be the beast that had scratched his back.

Lu Hu immediately ran toward the source of the sound. He was so fast when running that he was like a gust of wind, and he soon saw Tiger Dad.

In the dense, overgrown jungle, Tiger Dad was looking around warily.

A Black Beast was darting back and forth through the jungle, hiding in the grass and leaping into the trees at extreme speed.

Every time Tiger Dad was attacked by this Black Beast, just as he was about to counter-attack, the Black Beast would immediately pull away and hide in the jungle, moving back and forth to create noise so that Tiger Dad couldn't pinpoint its exact location.

The Black Beast attacked Tiger Dad again and again like this, while Tiger Dad could only roar, feeling extremely frustrated by the kiting.

What on earth is this thing?

Lu Hu was in no hurry to intervene. He saw that Tiger Dad wasn't in danger, at most just suffering a little.

The Black Beast was an assassin with high movement speed and low damage.

And his old father was a tank with maxed-out defense.

Every attack from the Black Beast hit Tiger Dad, but for Tiger Dad, it was like losing one HP at a time, and Tiger Dad had ten thousand HP. It couldn't break his defense at all.

The greatest damage the Black Beast's attacks caused Tiger Dad was probably humiliation.

Without needing to worry about Tiger Dad's safety, Lu Hu was curious about the species of this Black Beast.

It had the face of a leopard and the body of a tiger, with smooth lines and a completely black body without a single stray color.

A black leopard? Or a black tiger?

Or was this thing a hybrid of a tiger and a leopard?

By the way, can tigers and leopards breed?

Lu Hu didn't know, but he could see that this Black Beast's stamina was truly good.

It kept jumping up and down and frequently attacking Tiger Dad without even a break.

After observing for a long time, Lu Hu noticed something different about the Black Beast.

"Awoo?" (Internal energy?)

...