Chapter 8. Entering the Pocket Hunting Dimension for the second time.
After returning to the Grand Clarity Pavillion, Lin Xiang ate a scrumptious lunch and continued cultivating inside his room.
Lin Ming visited him in the evening and called him over to complete their daily quota of vicious beasts.
Although Lin Xiang had only practiced with the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians for a single day, the effect of increasing his reaction speed and perception was quite substantial. With this, it became twice as easy for him to debone vicious beasts.
Even Lin Ming was slightly surprised by Lin Xiang's improvement in deboning, but he simply explained it by the fact that Lin Xiang was always a genius, so he didn't think it to be too suspicious. He assumed that after putting his mind to it, Lin Xiang's proficiency must have increased by a lot.
In the later evening, Lin Xiang decided to enter the Pocket Hunting Dimension for the second time. A deboning bone was still strapped to his tight, but this time he also held his 100 jins heavy iron spear in his hands and wore a backpack that had a few items in it like bandages, some food, water and spare clothes.
Compared to yesterday, his speed, strength and reaction speed had all improved by a small yet considerable amount. In addition, the soul fragment from the Magic Cube that he consumed seemed to have also increased his soul force and perception.
With these improvements, and most importantly the spear, he might not be able to kill the white rabbit, but he still wanted to at least explore that dimension and improve his combat effectiveness.
If he ends up slaughtered, then it was still acceptable, as long as he did not die for real.
Without further ado, Lin Xiang lit up an incense, sat down, closed his eyes and focused. He called out to the mark on his forehead, attempting to sink his consciousness into the Dream Realm.
Not a moment later, his consciousness sunk into darkness.
…
When Lin Xiang recovered consciousness again, his room was gone. What was in front of him was a bright grass plain, with a fresh smell of grass brushing into his face.
Lin Xiang's heart began to beat fast and he opened his eyes.
When he saw the familiar grass plain he almost jumped in excitement. He could come back in again, indeed!
As he checked his situation, he still had his backpack, his knife and also the spear.
Lin Xiang's lips raised up. 'Great! I can bring items that I wear on myself, as well as those I hold in my hands.'
Cold light flashed across his eyes as he began to carefully and slowly search the surroundings.
Soon, Lin Xiang saw a large gray rabbit eating grass just one hundred meters in front of him.
It was a bit smaller than the huge white rabbit yesterday, but was still nearly 70 cm tall while being twice as long.
When Lin Xiang came to a 50-meter range of the rabbit, the rabbit raised its ears in vigilance. When its red eyes saw Lin Xiang, it bared its sharp teeth from its triangular mouth.
Lin Xiang's heart felt a chill. Every time he saw a cute rabbit bare its sharp fangs, it felt unnatural.
It reminded him of a certain anime where the protagonist was eaten alive by a horde of rabbits… In fact he had a similar experience, except that his consciousness drifted off soon after his throat was ripped out, so he was much better off.
But Lin Xiang wasn't the same person as yesterday! Since the rabbit was smaller, it might be weaker. Perhaps he could hunt it down!
Lin Xiang's eyes went cold. He looked calmly as the rabbit began to jump toward him and brought his spear in front of him.
When the gray rabbit reached him and plunged, Lin Xiang decisively leaned forward and thrust out his spear.
The gray rabbit began screeching as its chest was skewered thoroughly by Lin Xiang's spear.
Yet despite being pierced through, the gray rabbit did not instantly die. It continued flailing its limbs and claws while trying to slash at Lin Xiang.
The rabbit began to slide over the spear straight at Lin Xiang, and Lin Xiang decisively let go of the spear.
In normal circumstances letting go of your weapon would be a suicidal move, but that was Lin Xiang's intention from the start. It was a tactic that he wanted to adapt if he fought a rabbit again. Although the gray rabbit was smaller, Lin Xiang preferred to play it safe.
After successfully skewering the gray rabbit, the iron 60 kilogram heavy spear was left inside its body.
At that time Lin Xiang then took out his secondary weapon, the foot-long deboning knife, while backing away.
The gray rabbit screeched and jumped at Lin Xiang with killing intent in its red eyes, slashing with its claws.
However, it remained skewered in the middle of a nine foot long spear and its weight of 60 kilograms weighed on it, making its movements awkward.
At that time Lin Xiang continued backing off and dodging rabbit's jumps.
He dodged once, then twice, then thrice, all while slashing out with his knife.
Although the rabbit was smaller than the white one, it was still very quick. But thanks to his improved speed and the spare inside the rabbit's body, Lin Xiang still managed to safely dodge all attacks.
In addition to receiving slashes from the knife, as the rabbit continued jumping, the iron spear also jumped around and did not leave his body, causing its internal injuries to worsen over time.
After several more breaths of time, the rabbit finally collapsed to the ground.
Lin Xiang let out a breath of relief. The rabbit finally bled out to death!
While laying on the ground, the rabbit still kept twitching.
Lin Xiang did not approach yet out of caution and only looked around to check for any intruders. If he suffered a severe and unnecessary wound after already defeating the gray rabbit, then it would be incredibly stupid.
After a while, he noticed as the rabbit's body suddenly turned into a stream of light and then condensed into a cherry-sized red orb. This orb emitted a weak glow, making it slightly stand out in the grassy plain.
So monsters really did drop loot in this world!
After a moment's lag, the white orb which was suspended in the air, turned into a stream of light and shot straight at Lin Xiang.
Lin Xiang only saw a red blur and felt nothing, but he left as if the red orb had entered his forehead.
But he did not have time to ponder over what happened, because at this moment one black and one white rabbit, each about the same size as the white rabbit that killed him yesterday, appeared on the grass before him. They were rapidly running towards him in a frenzy, seeming attracted by the sounds of battle.
Lin Xiang's heart grew cold.
In addition, there also seemed to be grass rustling sounds coming from behind him. Then two more rabbits, both gray, were also jumping in his direction.
Four rabbits in total. Their red eyes flashed with killing intent as they dashed through the grassy plains.
Lin Xiang didn't even bother to pick up his spear, turned and then broke into a sprint without hesitation.
Just one of these huge rabbits was impossible for him to kill, but now there were two large and two small rabbits. It was impossible for him to deal with them. Even just two would definitely kill him!
Lin Xiang didn't use up too much stamina in the previous fight, but the rabbits' speed was far superior to him.
After running for a few seconds, he felt a breeze brushing right behind him. Then there was a sharp pain and he stumbled forward as something seemed to have slashed his back.
A moment later, a flurry of claws buried themselves in his body one after another. Lin Xiang barely maintained his balance while running as his body was being shredded in various parts, but then he suddenly slammed to the ground face first as the back of his legs seemed to have been slashed.
He did not see the amount of his injuries, but he knew that the situation was bad. Due to the adrenaline and the sudden injuries, he did not even react in time to scream in pain, only groaning.
At that time the four giant rabbits began to gnaw at his flesh with their teeth, pulling it out piece by piece.
Lin Xiang screamed out loud in pain.
Desperately and with a heart full of anger, he tried to turn his body around while clutching his knife, hoping to at least take down one of the rabbits with him, but at that moment his eyes widened as he saw his right arm being ripped off by a black rabbit's teeth.
Following that, he drowned in a sea of suffering.
The only salvation was that a few seconds later, one of the rabbits soon ripped out his throat.
Lin Xiang's consciousness drifted off.
…
"Aaaahr!" Lin Xaing shouted out, cold sweat soaking his body, as he appeared back in his room of the Grand Clarity Pavilion.
He died again.
But this time his death was much much more painful than before. The first time that he died he lost consciousness only a few seconds after his throat was slashed, but this time he had to endure flesh and skin of his entire being ripped and pulled out by several rabbits before one finally put him out of his misery.
A low growl escaped his mouth. In the last two days, he died twice. It seemed that from now on, he would die every day.
The pain still lingered in various places of Lin Xiang's body and he was unable to smile. He could only resist it with all his will while waiting for it to pass.
After a few seconds, he finally let out a breath as he eventually collected himself.
Although the lingering pain felt like utter torture, Lin Xiang became excited.
If this continued he would truly experience countless life and death battles. Even if there are no other functions to the Pocket Hunting Dimensions, at least his combat ability would rise to incredible heights.
'It's similar to Ling Sen's Ashura Battlefield Martial Intent,' Lin Xiang thought.
After having this thought, Lin Xiang looked to the side as he saw the incense that he lit up before entering the Pocket Hunting Dimension.
Apparently, only less than a minute passed! The time didn't match. It was basically the same as the amount of time that Lin Xiang took to enter the Pocket Hunting Dimension and then collect himself after dying inside.
He clearly stayed inside for at least five minutes, yet barely any time passed in reality!
Unfortunately, he was still very weak when compared to the rabbits in that world. A smaller gray rabbit was the limit of his ability, and even then he had to engage it in a battle of attrition while being extremely careful.
Lin Xiang sighed. The starting difficulty in that world was quite high.
After a while, he didn't continue pondering uselessly and tried to enter the Pocket Hunting Dimension again.
As expected, he failed. It really did seem to be available only once a day.
But at the same time he found that there was now a red orb of light floating in his mind space of the Magic Sphere. It should be the one that he gained from killing the gray rabbit.
Lin Xiang called out and the little orb disappeared from the dimension and then appeared in his hand.
The faintly-red orb of light, originally the size of a cherry, condensed and turned into cherry-seed sized pearl. Its weight seemed negligible and it was warm, but unlike in the special space, it seemed to be a solid object.
Lin Xiang was slightly surprised. Inside the original novel the orbs remained as spheres of light throughout. However, in this world they condensed into red round crystals. They could even be disguised as precious pills or other heavenly materials…
According to the novel, if he now swallowed this red orb, then it would increase his cultivation.
Lin Xiang hesitated only for a moment and then put the red cherry-seed sized crystal in his mouth.
The tiny red crystal turned into a warm flow that fused into his body. It was like flames burning his body from the inside. Quickly, Lin Xiang's skin turned red as his body was overflowing with energy.
In response, Lin Xiang began to chant the True Primal Chaos Formula as he guided the powerful energy of the red crystal to refine his muscles.
As he chanted his formula for revolving true essence mantra, extremely pure and potent heaven and earth energy sunk into his muscles, rapidly refining them. At that time his cultivation was rising at a speed tens of times faster than before when he practiced with the Chaotic Virtues Combat Meridians!
Over time, oily and smelly sticky liquid began to appear all over Lin Ming's skin.
It was his impurities.
Lin Xiang was surprised. Apart from rapidly increasing his cultivation, the red crystal also caused his body to remove its impurities.
It meant that the energy that the red crystal contained was pure to the extreme, containing pure Xiantian air.
The body of a human, ever since it comes from the womb, would constantly be exposed to the contaminated houtian air of the world. This kind of air was contained in every breath they took, in the grains they ate, in the water of the rivers and streams, and lakes that they drank from. It was inevitable that the impurities would accumulate in the body.
It was possible to use special medicine in order to cleanse the body of impurities and improve the circulation speed of true essence through the body.
An aristocratic family's junior would begin this cleansing process as early as at twelve years of age - they would practice martial arts after their body had been tempered and purified. Soaking in baths of rare medicines was commonplace for them, and they naturally had lesser impurities in their body, so it would be much easier for them to integrate the true essence.
A medicine commonly used for this purpose is a Golden Deer Pill which costs 200 gold taels for each.
Because the Golden Deer Pills were refined from the deer embryo, they contained a rich and fragrant vitality. In addition, they had not been contaminated by the houtian phase of air outside the womb and contained a hint of xiantian air, thus it was possible to use them to remove the impurities of the body.
The first Golden Deer Pill taken was the most effective, and afterwards the efficacy halves. Taking more than three would generally be a waste.
Three years ago Lin Xiang received two Golden Deer Pills from the Lin family and used one. If he had money he would certainly purchase and consume at least two more to further improve his cultivation speed.
However, it appeared that he had no need for Golden Deer Pills because the red energy crystal he swallowed contained pure Xiantian air and was very effective at cleansing the body. In fact, it was far more effective than the Golden Deer Pill that Lin Xiang used in the past!
As time passed, greasy and disgusting oily substances continued accumulating on his skin, but he could not stop cultivating in order to prepare a bath. If he stopped, he felt that the heat from the red energy crystals might burn him from the inside.
It took Lin Xiang close to an hour of meditation to completely absorb the efficacy of the red crystal.
When an hour passed, Lin Xiang opened his eyes. He then squeezed and opened his fists. He had a look of excitement on his face as he felt that his cultivation had risen by a lot.
At this moment it felt as if during this single hour his strength had risen by at least 100 jins! In other words, he had progressed by about 10% of his First Stage of Body Transformation in just an hour.
In retrospect, it took Lin Xiang two years of hard training to gain 500 jins of strength at fourteen years old.
Right now, as he attempted to circulate his true essence, he also discovered that his speed of absorbing heaven and earth energy increased by about 30%.
It was also shocking because in the past Lin Xiang had already experienced a 30% increase in his cultivation speed after he consumed his first Golden Deer Pill.
Logically, even if he took a thousand more Golden Deer Pills their combined effect could not equal the first one, but now just the single red crystal allowed him to thoroughly complete the cleansing of his body of impurities like Golden Deer Pills never could.
Lin Xiang's only regret was that he only managed to kill a single small rabbit and only gained a single orb.
As he thought of the orb storage dimension in his hand, Lin Xiang suddenly realized that he hadn't tried something.
He pulled out his knife and thought of storing it inside that dimension, but then he felt that, in a way, it was quite reckless and silly to try and put a knife inside your head. Instead, he first took out a one-gold tael coin.
He willed and with a small cost to his true essence, the gold coin disappeared.
That gold coin was now in the space of his mind.
Lin Xiang called out and the coin then re-appeared in his hand.
He was positively surprised. It turned out that apart from just the energy orbs he could actually store physical items inside his mind space as well! It was just like an interspatial ring.
'Perhaps it could even store living things like the Magic Cube can with Mo Eversnow's assistance. As for the amount of space, maybe it's limitless?' Lin Xiang thought.
At this moment Lin Xiang didn't own an interspatial ring, and he never even saw an interspatial ring, so this space would be quite useful to him. Later on, although it was not necessary, it was certainly something very nice to have!
Lin Xiang felt excited and a sly smile appeared on his lips. 'All this time I was worried that I might need to live a dog's life if I don't acquire the Magic Cube, but apart from acquiring the Magic Cube, I also got the Pocket Hunting DImension. With these two cheats, the future will be quite interesting.'
He chuckled as he thought this.
He then sighed and after thinking for a while visited the reception for guests that stay in the Grand Clarity Pavilion's hostel. He was covered in filth and wanted to take a bath.
The receptionist was a beautiful woman in her late twenties. She looked at Lin Xiang, his ordinary clothing, hair and body covered in smelly grease, and scrunched her nose. She wondered how it is possible that this dirty beggar came from the hostel; she hadn't seen Lin Xiang before.
Lin Xiang faintly smiled. He took out two golden coins and said, "Miss, can you please call someone to prepare me a bath?"
The receptionist raised her eyebrows. She didn't expect Lin Xiang to actually have some money. In truth, she earned around ten gold taels a month, and that's because she was working throughout the night. Two gold taels was nothing for nobles, but it was a considerable amount of money for her as a tip.
She smiled and soon called a servant over.
Lin Xiang's bath didn't take place in his room, but in the bathing room where he could wash himself more thoroughly. He felt generous and gave two gold taels to both the receptionist and the servant; thanks to his knowledge of inscriptions, such amounts of money would be nothing to him soon.
In the washing room, Lin Xiang noticed inside a body mirror that his skin actually became more clear and smooth. Clearly, after his impurities were expelled, he became better looking than before.
In the past his looks were just above average, but now he leveled up a bit. At this time he might be considered only half-a-step from pretty young masters like Zhu Yan, looking quite good!
Lin Xiang was slightly surprised because the first time that he used the Golden Deer Pill to remove impurities from his body the effect on his skin was quite mild. Yet, now the cleansing with the red crystal was far more thorough.
After quickly washing himself, Lin Xiang returned to his room and went to sleep.