In Firmament Heaven, human cultivators were usually stronger than demon beasts at the same level. This was because humans possessed wisdom and cunning while beasts were held back by their savage natures. On top of that, humans utilized cultivation techniques to gather spiritual energy in a refined manner, whereas beasts chaotically—and passively—absorbed spiritual energy with no set technique, leading to their utility being chaotic.
Other reasons were the fact that human cultivators had daoist arts and focused battle techniques while beasts used their bodies just like mortal wild animals, though they had greatly increased physical abilities. This was not even factoring in the fact that humans had tools and equipment to assist them in each endeavor.
Li Ling was also aware of this, which was why he immediately zeroed in on hunting demon beasts in the first place, as opposed to targeting actual human cultivators.
Li Ling took out a minor grade one array he had custom made based on his past life knowledge, which he called the mobile distraction array. He threw it out, letting it land in the opposite direction of the warthog that was still enjoying itself, causing the beast to become alert as it glanced over.
Then, the array activated, making sounds of random animals like birds chirping, wolves barking and bulls mooing. This sudden noise completely captured the attention of the warthog that sat up and became ready for battle, scanning the array disk with seriousness.
As such, it was not able to respond when Li Ling imbued his body with all of his refined spiritual energy, charging forth like a blur and stabbing his short spear into the backside of the warthog, piercing all the way through to the limit.
After doing this, Li Ling jumped back and watched as the warthog reacted in agony, squealing loudly and jumping about, trying to dislodge the short spear from its backside to no avail, rather making the entire thing worse.
However, at the end of the day, it was still a demon beast with cultivation, and unlike a normal hog which would have died by this point or have been incapacitated from the pain, this one turned to face Li Ling with bloodshot eyes full of bestial hatred.
With a squeal of madness, it began charging at Li Ling with its tusks out, leaving a trail of brown colored blood with each step that came from its backside. Li Ling saw this and did not panic, circling round the beast slowly causing its charge to slow down as it had to adjust direction to follow him.
When it was about to collide with him, Li Ling suddenly darted to the side with a burst of startling speed, having been suppressing himself earlier to make it seem like his movement speed was slower than it actually was. This also caught the warthog off guard, causing it to miss its charge and strike a tree head on, causing a spell of dizziness.
Once again, he burst forward and jumped on the back of the warthog, imbuing his full strength into his foot and stomping downward, causing the warthog to squeal in agony once more as its spine was bent. It fell to the ground on its belly with its legs spread out, unable to get up for a few seconds but Li Ling did not stop here.
He leapt forward and came to the nape of the beast's neck and stomped down again, this time shattering its spinal connection here and rendering the beast crippled. It squealed weakly in pain, knowing that it was finished, desperately trying anything it could to regain mobility and flee.
However, if it was so easy to regain movement after having a broken spine, then there would be no need for wheelchairs. Li Ling plopped right down and sat on the back of the warthog as it continually squealed helplessly, still bleeding out from the back.
He casually scanned the area to make sure no third parties thought about making a sudden move to enjoy the spoils, but he was being overly cautious. If such a thing was normal in this controlled hunting area, then no one would dare to hunt, especially in a weak zone like the first sector.
Soon enough, the beast beneath him came to a stop, its breath dispersing as it died rather pitifully.
Li Ling leaped backward and punched a certain spot on the warthog's carcass near its rump, causing his short spear to come flying out like an arrow and embedding itself into a nearby tree. As he walked over to reclaim his weapon he glanced at the notification that came up.
｢System Prompt: You have gained 0.2 Slaughter Points.｣
Not bad, it was exactly as he thought then. If he was able to kill four more demon beasts like this warthog, he could gather a full Slaughter Point, which was definitely not a difficult endeavor for him, just time consuming.
He smiled and cleaned his weapon before grasping it once more in hand, moving back towards the carcass and hoisting it over his shoulder. Even though he didn't need the petty earnings from killing demon beasts, he was not magnanimous enough to leave his gains out in the open for others to enjoy for free.
Li Ling found a nice spot nearby and dug a small cellar there, placing the carcass of the warthog within. He would come back for it or simply just leave it there if he couldn't be bothered, letting it return to nature.
As for returning to the encampment, it would be too much of a waste of time to go and come each time he killed a beast, and it would be counterintuitive since that would hinder his goal.
Li Ling glanced upward, looking out in the vast expanse of the hunting ground and grinned despite himself. He checked his consumption of spiritual energy and found that he utilized barely 20% of his stored qi to deal with the demon beast, which was actually quite wasteful.
Qi Refinement cultivators usually fought with weapons and their bodies, using refined spiritual qi akin to how mortal martial artists used their True Qi. The consumption of such was extremely small, especially for short battles like these, but if one started using daoist arts or throwing fireballs everywhere, you would run out rather quickly.