Starting My Immortal Life by Upgrading Buildings

Chapter 101: Tier-Two Demon Core

Ji Yuan stared at the heavily wounded giant toad before him.

He never would have thought that the first being to risk its life for him wasn’t a human, but a demon beast—a toad, to be exact.

Both were demon beasts, both at tier two.

Though Ji Yuan couldn’t clearly distinguish whether they were early or mid-tier, the fact that the toad ended up in this state implied their levels were likely close.

A battle between equals, just to get him something tasty to eat.

This truly was a life-or-death effort.

Ji Yuan looked at the nearly half-dead giant toad, unsure of what to say.

All he could do was let out a long sigh.

“Croak...”

The giant toad, thinking Ji Yuan was dissatisfied with the food, let out a weak and somewhat aggrieved croak—it even sounded pitiful.

Given the situation, Ji Yuan didn’t feel like concocting pills anymore.

It was just one night, after all. He might as well enjoy the food first.

He jumped down from the flying boat and landed in front of the giant insect.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned the Qingfu Flying Sword and slashed at the insect’s massive pincers.

Sparks flew as the blade made contact.

Even this high-grade flying sword couldn’t break through the tier-two demon beast’s defense. Damn—this thing was terrifying.

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but reevaluate the giant toad’s strength.

He examined the massive insect. Its fatal injury was at the point where its head connected to its body—its head was barely hanging on, as if it had been forcibly torn off.

Only the giant toad’s tongue could have done that.

Ji Yuan resized his flying sword to normal size and sliced between the gaps in the insect’s shell, finally severing the head from the body.

A pungent, bloody odor accompanied a blood-red demon core about the size of a pigeon egg that rolled out from the insect’s head.

It was Ji Yuan’s first time seeing a demon core. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he picked it up.

It was slightly warm, and he could sense the spiritual energy contained within—though it wasn’t pure and carried a trace of demonic energy.

This was why cultivators couldn’t directly absorb demon cores—unless they had a death wish.

Only after being refined by a pill alchemist to remove the demonic energy could they be safely consumed.

Gulp—

The one swallowing saliva wasn’t Ji Yuan—it was the giant toad.

While demon cores couldn’t be directly consumed by cultivators, demon beasts had no such limitation. Most of their battles were for each other’s cores.

But what surprised Ji Yuan was that the giant toad made no move to claim the demon core.

It really did seem like it was offering this delicacy to him.

A tier-two demon core would sell for at least several hundred low-grade spirit stones—it was truly a valuable treasure.

With a flick of his finger, Ji Yuan sent the core flying into the toad’s mouth.

It instinctively swallowed, its eyes lighting up instantly.

A faint red glow emanated from its body, and minor injuries visibly began to heal.

“Croak—”

The toad didn’t expect to end up eating the treasure itself, and for a moment, it almost seemed... embarrassed?

“You’re this badly hurt. Save your life first.”

Ji Yuan didn’t care whether it understood. He waved his hand dismissively and turned his gaze back to the massive insect’s corpse.

The shell alone should fetch a few hundred low-grade spirit stones.

As for the meat—of course he had to savor it himself. He couldn’t let the toad’s goodwill go to waste, could he?

Besides, eating tier-two demon beast meat would surely nourish both his body and spiritual energy.

The insect was so huge that it couldn’t be stewed in a single pot, so Ji Yuan planned to butcher it first and store the meat in his storage pouch for gradual consumption. Before that, he glanced at the still pitiful-looking giant toad.

He pulled a pig’s trotter from his storage pouch and tossed it over.

The meat had body-strengthening properties, especially useful for beasts like the toad that relied on brute strength.

Ji Yuan had recently acquired two more Spiritual Pigs back home—he couldn’t eat them all himself, so sharing with the toad seemed fair.

Not to mention the Pigsty was now breeding them; every seven days, four matured at once.

That night—

Ji Yuan prepared a full table of demon beast meat for himself: stir-fried, steamed, garlic-flavored, spicy—you name it.

The insect resembled a small lobster, and its taste was even better—absolutely delicious.

After stuffing himself, Ji Yuan had Tu Yue clear the table, while he rushed back to his Cave Dwelling to cultivate.

Tier-two demon beast meat was far superior to low-grade spirit stones.

He wasn’t going to waste any of it.

In the following days, Ji Yuan spent his time cultivating and feasting. Occasionally, he grilled some meat for the injured giant toad.

Sometimes it was Spiritual Pig, sometimes Spiritual Chicken, or even Spiritual Fish from the Fish Pond.

Ji Yuan cultivated while eating and using spirit stones, and his cultivation steadily rose.

As for the toad—it had always been tough-skinned and resilient. After consuming a same-tier demon core, enhanced Spiritual Pig meat, and various demon beast meats, its injuries recovered at a visible pace.

When not cultivating, Ji Yuan focused intensely on refining high-grade first-tier pills, hoping to become a top-tier first-grade alchemist.

However, he still lacked the accumulation needed, so progress was slow.

He mainly refined mid-grade first-tier pills, though he had become proficient in inscribing high-grade first-tier talismans.

After tasting Ji Yuan’s grilled fish and meat, the toad refused to eat raw meat anymore—let alone weeds.

Ji Yuan also forbade it from eating the Spiritual Chickens and Spiritual Fish from the Chicken Coop and Fish Pond, so it began roaming nearby daily.

It would leave empty-handed in the morning and return each evening with various Spiritual Fish or demon beasts in its mouth.

Thankfully, Ji Yuan had managed to explain the importance of bullying weaker beasts. "You’re a tier-two demon beast! Why risk your life against another of your kind?"

“Go bully the first-tier ones—use your superior power to crush them. Much more satisfying.”

So now, the toad brought back a first-tier demon beast almost every day.

The edible meat was shared between Ji Yuan and the toad. The unusable materials were stored by Ji Yuan and sold at nearby marketplaces every few days.

He had no choice—the toad had daily gains.

The storage pouch for demon beast materials filled up rapidly.

Several months passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Ji Yuan returned to Zengtou Market to check in on Lin Hu and the others—and to see if anyone had been looking for him.

There wasn’t much—just Du Wanyi visiting a few times.

She had no particular business—just came to see if Ji Yuan had returned.

Six months after Ji Yuan secluded himself on Misty Island, winter returned. In a few weeks, the New Year would arrive.

Once the New Year passed, the Water Dragon Sect’s recruitment would begin.

Thinking of this made Ji Yuan quite expectant.

Yunyu Marshlands were too small—he had outgrown it. His cultivation was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, on the verge of breaking through.

It was time to start preparing for Foundation Establishment.

Like the Thousand-Year Blue Hui Grass that Wen Lin once mentioned—a primary ingredient in Foundation Establishment Pills.

He had to retrieve it before leaving Yunyu Marshlands.

The timing was perfect—he could fetch it and celebrate the New Year.

With that thought, Ji Yuan prepared to act.

He first instructed Tu Yue to tend the pigs diligently on the island, then communicated with the toad through gestures that he’d be gone for a few days and no one was allowed on the island.

Having lived and eaten together for months, they had established basic communication.

Perhaps because Ji Yuan frequently left before, the toad wasn’t alarmed this time—just croaked a few times, as if telling him to return soon.

To retrieve the Blue Hui Grass, he first needed to ask Wen Lin for details.

So he headed back to Zengtou Market.

One day later, when Ji Yuan brought up the matter at the Wen residence, Wen Lin clenched his fists in excitement, his expression a mix of excitement, resentment, and relief.

Beside him, Zhao Yuechan tried to pull Wen Ling’er down to kneel before Ji Yuan.

He quickly raised his hand and used spiritual energy to stop them. “Sit, let’s talk.”

The four sat down.

Zhao Yuechan and Wen Lin wore heavy expressions. Even little Wen Ling’er, usually lively and cheerful, sat pale-faced on her mother’s lap, clutching her clothes tightly.

“Brother Wen, now you can explain.”

Last time, Ji Yuan wasn’t ready to take action, so he hadn’t asked Wen Lin to elaborate. He still didn’t know the full story.

Wen Lin had long been waiting for this moment, yet now that it had come, he found it hard to speak. After a long silence, he finally said, “Brother Ji, have you heard of the Yue family in Lingshan Market?”

“You’re from Lingshan Market?”

Ji Yuan remembered Wen Lin saying he was from Heishui Market.

Wen Lin gave an apologetic smile. “A stray dog, constantly on edge. I had to change identities. Please forgive me.”

He stood and bowed. “My original surname is Yue. My name is Yue Lin. Wen is my mother’s surname.”

Ji Yuan said nothing more, waiting quietly for the rest.

He had heard Du Wanyi mention the Yue family once—similar in status to the Qin family in Zengtou Market. Most cultivator families in Yunyu Marshlands were about the same.

“I was the Yue family’s illegitimate son. My father was weak-willed, so the entire family looked down on me.”

Wen Lin recounted calmly. “That would’ve been fine—but when I was ten, my mother died under suspicious circumstances.”

“It was my father’s legal wife who killed her—she’s the first person I want to kill.”

“You don’t need to worry about her, Brother Ji. She’s originally from Lingshan Market, a fishing family with no background. Marrying into the Yue family was pure luck.”

Wen Lin handed over a portrait—it showed the woman’s face and included detailed information.

Ji Yuan glanced at it—seventh level of Qi Refining?!

“She’s in the late stage of Qi Refining?”

That surprised Ji Yuan.

The current head of the Yue family should be Wen Lin’s grandfather, making this woman a second-generation member—and just a married-in woman at that. Reaching late-stage Qi Refining was rare.

“Hmm, a paper tiger of a late-stage cultivator.”

Wen Lin’s eyes flickered with scorn.

“Oh?”

“That ties into the second person I want to kill.” Wen Lin turned to Zhao Yuechan.

She understood and quickly carried Wen Ling’er away. “You two talk. We’re going to sleep.”

She closed the door behind them, and only then did Wen Lin continue.

“Her cultivation was boosted by my grand-uncle, Yue Zhu, the current family head.”

“When she married into our family, she was only at the fourth level. But after she got involved with Yue Zhu, he started pouring spirit stones into her, and her cultivation shot up.”

“Wait, wait—”

Ji Yuan pulled out the scroll again, staring at the details. “This woman named Wang Shan—your father’s legal wife—ended up with your grand-uncle?!”