The Supreme God of Martial Arts

When Austin noticed that there was a level two double-headed snake hawk inhabited in a cave at the end of a steep and slippery cliff high up the mountain, he headed towards the direction in a rush.

Since he could use his vital energy to fly, he didn't have to toil up the steep cliff and within minutes, he could see the cave in sight. However, as he got closer to have a better look, a sudden gust of piercing wind blew out of the cave. He took a step back in caution and then peered at the cave from a safe distance. He saw that deep in the cave, in complete darkness, four green balls glinted and twinkled at him.

Suddenly, Austin heard roaring and rustling sounds. The green balls started to enlarge and the wind beceven stronger.

Something was moving and slithering out of the cave. Undeterred, Austin waited to see what it was. In a blur, the creature shot out from the cave, whizzed over Austin's head and circled in the air before landing in front of him. From its appearance, Austin instantly recognized the animal as none other than the double-headed snake hawk that he had been looking for. True to his expectation, the animal had two snake heads while its torso was that of a hawk. The four green balls he had seen earlier were its eyes producing a green light in the darkness of the cave.

The double-headed snake hawk felt threatened at Austin's unexpected arrival. With cautious eyes, it glared at Austin for a moment before making a loud, shrill sound of threats. Austin neither stepped back nor walked forward. For a moment, both the animal and Austin stood facing and seizing each other, gauging the opponent's strength. Suddenly, the animal unfurled its wings and flew straight towards Austin.

"Yes, come, you ugly thing. Showwhat you have got," Austin murmured.

In an instant, Austin took a fighting stance and pulled out his Violet Royal Sword. He rapidly put the level two sword intent into action. Suddenly, thirty rays of sword-light emitted from the sword as Austin transferred his vital energy to it. He brandished his sword and waved its rays of light over the impending beast.

The double-headed snake hawk sensed the danger at once, but it was a tad too late. In fear, it strove to beat a hasty retreat. But, since it was flying at an insanely fast speed towards Austin, it was impossible for it to slow down immediately and turn back.

Before it could even turn around, the rays of the sword-light had already reached it. In an instant, the thirty rays of sword-light bored thirty holes into its body.

The blood splattered out of the double-headed snake hawk's body like a red fountain and spread on the ground slowly dripping over the cliff below.

The blow was lethal. In a scream of unbearable pain, the beast dived down the cliff. After a few seconds, Austin heard a dull thud: it was dead.

After vanquishing the animal, Austin briskly slipped into the cave. The inside space of the cave was impressively big, and the scent of the snake hawk still lingered in the atmosphere. Although the place was not the cleanest place on earth as it was smelly and littered with fecal matter, it was still better than hovering outside with nowhere to hide and rest. So, Austin opted to stay in the cave for the tbeing.

He scanned the place and found a relatively flat and clean spot and sat down for a rest. Although the cave was not as comfortable as home, he had to make do with it. He drew a deep breath of relief as he lay down. It was not likely that anyone would suspect that he was hiding in the cave of a mighty beast. So, being in this smelly and messy place, he at least didn't have to worry about being caught by anyone.

Lying motionless for a moment, he began to grow sleepy. His muscles were stiff and his whole body felt sore. He could finally feel the fatigue and weariness of his body after the adrenaline had powered his body through the constant running from danger for half a day. He had consumed too much of his vital energy than required in a day, which made him utterly exhausted and he was now in urgent need of srest.

As soon as he lay down, he entered dreamland.

After half a day of good sleep, he woke up.

Although his physical fatigue was alleviated a lot, his vital energy was still negligent and not restored to its peak.

The vital energy volin his energy meridian seemed to be only half of what it was before while the vital energy of the vital energy stone stored in his elixir field had almost run out. To escape from the attacks of the two fighters of the Mysterious Realm, he had to constoo much of his vital energy. Plus, taking down the snake hawk had also significantly decreased his already depleted store of the vital energy. If his need of this refuge hadn't been so dire, he wouldn't have taken that risk. With little vital energy, he felt weak and vulnerable like a defenseless ordinary person.

Searching frantically through all of his Space Rings, he found selixirs that could help him speed up his cultivation and boost the volof the vital energy. After experiencing so many fights, Austin developed a habit that every the killed a person, he would search over the body to see if there was anything valuable. By now, he had collected a variety of things and stored all of them in his Space Rings. Living in a turbulent world with fighters wandering everywhere, he had no options but to collect selixirs or weapons in case they might cin handy one day.

Usually, he would just keep the elixirs for a rainy day and wouldn't take them despite they had a potent effect that they could expedite his cultivation speed and strengthen his powers. It was because regardless of how high a level the elixirs could help a cultivator to achieve, the outcwould not be based on his actual true strength. In the long run, he would experience the symptoms of a vacant, false vital energy cultivation base that would inevitably lead to crippling injuries for the rest of his life. The situation was comparable to a plant that was being pulled to grow by sexternal force, since the root was not mature and stable enough, the plant could therefore not sustain such an unnatural force and the plant would wither eventually.

There was a popular myth among fighters that due to the limited capabilities of most of the pill refiners, the elixirs they produced usually contained stoxic substances. As much as the elixirs would cure diseases, they also would leave sharmful residual elements in the cultivator's body. If the elixirs were taken for a long time, the harmful residues would increase and cause incurable diseases to the recipient.

Given this reason, Austin did not use the elixirs often although he had plenty of them in his Space Rings. He only used them for emergency situations, like if he got injured or if the timing was urgent, then he would take a few.

Considering that he had consumed too much of his vital energy and was being hunted by so many fighters, he felt that he should replenish his vital energy and regain his strength as early as possible. Although the cave was a safe place to hide, without food and water, he could not survive for long. Besides, before he got back into battle, he needed to be both mentally and physically prepared. So considering the situation he was in, he took the elixirs he had.