Chapter 498 - 428: The Strong Devour the Weak, All Life Competes

He even digests faster than I do. Yes, he himself had only eaten a leg, and it had taken him more than two hours. Jiang Qiu, on the other hand, ate bite after bite, chewing for a moment before swallowing each one. In no time, he had devoured the Fierce Tiger Great Demon’s mountain-sized corpse!

It was hard to imagine. ’Is Jiang Qiu’s stomach some kind of cosmic furnace? How else could he digest the Fierce Tiger Great Demon’s flesh so quickly and easily?’

Of course, there were some noticeable changes. Jiang Qiu’s frame seemed a little fuller, and his entire aura had become more substantial, more powerful.

Xiong Batian was filled with envy. ’I knew it. Jiang Qiu is a creature from the High Heaven. Even the way he eats is superior to a native of the First Celestial Realm like me. Maybe up in the High Heaven, powerful beings normally dine on creatures with Chaos Bloodlines.’

It was simply that the beings from the High Heaven were too powerful and mysterious. Xiong Batian truly couldn’t imagine what they normally ate to fill the stomachs of existences like Jiang Qiu.

"Not bad. This tiger meat is decent," Jiang Qiu said, patting his stomach. He could feel a trace of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm brewing within him. "Pretty good. I’ve managed to get some Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm to undergo Refinement in my body."

Indeed, after swallowing that enormous Fierce Tiger Great Demon, his body had managed to store some Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm. It wasn’t a lot, but it would suffice.

This "not a lot" wasn’t really a small amount. In truth, he had absorbed and digested seventy to eighty percent of all the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm the Fierce Tiger Great Demon had accumulated over many years.

But he just felt it wasn’t enough. For a young cub of the Dragon Race with his bloodline, that meal was probably no more than a plate of bean sprouts—hardly worth mentioning.

For Jiang Qiu himself, however, it was actually quite nice. He was able to experience the so-called Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm all at once and have it infuse his physical body.

’Yes, this Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm is stored in my stomach, but I can’t actually mobilize it directly. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t gone through Opening Spirit Veins yet, or maybe the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm gained from Food can’t be mobilized to begin with.’

Nevertheless, the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm was continuously strengthening Jiang Qiu’s physical body. He could clearly feel his own power subtly increasing, making him a little stronger than before.

His strength was, of course, unquestionable. A creature as powerful as the Fierce Tiger Great Demon—a being at the Late-stage of Spiritual Vein Opening, who had even begun to glimpse the realm of the Peak of Spiritual Vein Opening—was a formidable member of the Demon Race with the greatest potential to become a Dominator Level existence. Its body had been tempered for countless years, and it could have swatted Xiong Batian to death with a single swipe of its claw. Yet, it had still been shattered by a single punch from him.

This just went to show that Jiang Qiu’s strength absolutely surpassed that of the local Dominator Level beings. At the very least, only a Dominator Level being from a higher tier could hope to match his strength.

Of course, he wasn’t sure what "a higher tier" even meant. ’What level is the Tai Python of Tai Lake? And those with Chaos Bloodlines deep within the Primitive Ancient Forest... what level are they?’

Jiang Qiu didn’t know. So, he wanted to go find out.

"How are you doing, Xiong Batian? Finished eating?" he asked, looking at the bear lying on the ground in a state of both ecstasy and agony. "It’s time to get going."

"Right, right!"

Taking a deep breath, Xiong Batian scrambled up from the ground. He could feel his very bloodline boiling. His entire body was constricting as a powerful torrent of energy washed through and refined him.

In short, he had overeaten.

He had only eaten a single leg of the Fierce Tiger Great Demon, but the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm it contained was already more than he could handle. He feared it would take a long period of meditation to fully digest it and return to normal.

Of course, his current state wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, he was agitated, brimming with energy, and incredibly restless. All he wanted was to quickly digest the power surging through his body!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He charged forward again with Jiang Qiu on his back. The explosive force he unleashed had reached a new level, as mighty as Thunder itself.

A fleeting shadow, a savage charge. He left a trail of deep, crater-like footprints across the land. Amidst the spray of flying mud, Jiang Qiu had already ridden him far into the distance.

Meanwhile, other creatures began to emerge. Near the spot where Jiang Qiu and Xiong Batian had feasted, creatures that had undergone Spiritual Awakening, like rats and cats, cautiously poked their heads out. They stared at the bloody mess on the ground, their eyes gleaming!

"Those are the fleshy remains of the Fierce Tiger Great Demon!"

"Who in the world were those two? How could they devour the Fierce Tiger Great Demon? The Fierce Tiger Great Demon was practically the Dominator Level expert of this area! How could he be taken down?"

"Who could possibly know? Those two must be terrifying entities that specifically prey on Dominator Level experts. The Fierce Tiger Great Demon just had the bad luck of running right into them."

"Truly unlucky. Such a powerful, commanding presence... to think he was eaten. And... it smells so fragrant..."

Although Jiang Qiu and Xiong Batian had eaten most of the flesh, there were inevitably still scraps left on the ground. The bones and other leftovers were also there—all of them priceless treasures.

Especially for those creatures who hadn’t even gone through Opening Spirit Veins, this was a massive stroke of fortune!

Yes, by devouring the flesh of a Great Demon that had undergone Opening Spirit Veins—even just the scraps—there was a chance to awaken on the same path. They might even directly inherit a measure of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm, triggering their own minor transformation.

However, Jiang Qiu was unaware of this. Xiong Batian knew very little about it either; before this, he had been a mere down-and-out who had never tasted the flesh of a creature that had completed Opening Spirit Veins.

The weak creatures that had gathered also had no experience with this; they were simply driven by an overwhelming desire to taste the flesh of the powerful.

Soon, a scramble for the remains of the Fierce Tiger Great Demon began. A bloody storm descended upon this small patch of territory!

One should not underestimate these creatures that had only just undergone Spiritual Awakening without yet Opening their Spirit Veins. Their desire to grow stronger was innate. They would stop at nothing to achieve it, because they knew full well that if they didn’t, they would be devoured by others.

Take the Fierce Tiger Great Demon, for example. He had been incredibly powerful, but wasn’t he dead now? Eaten by an even greater existence.

This gave the weaker creatures all the more reason to become stronger. Amidst this battle, a tiny mouse managed to snatch a small scrap of meat. No one noticed it.

It was too small, its Spiritual Awakening not even complete. It was no different from a common mouse, acting on pure instinct when it scrounged a tiny piece of meat from the edge of the fray.

Clutching that tiny morsel of meat, the mouse scurried back to its hole. Before anyone else could notice, it began to devour its prize.

But alas, its bloodline was impure. It was, after all, only a mouse. Its Spiritual Awakening wasn’t even complete. How could it possibly withstand the tyrannical power contained within the flesh of a Great Demon who had undergone Opening Spirit Veins?

The faint wisp of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm contained within the scrap of meat swept through its mind—a mind no bigger than a walnut kernel—like a raging flood. Its entire Soul trembled, as if it would be shattered in an instant.

PLOP. The mouse collapsed. Its eyeballs bulged, shot through with blood vessels that looked like red glaciers. The entire orb looked like a bead on the verge of exploding. Its body was already stiff.

A mouse, its Spiritual Awakening incomplete, had by a twist of fate snatched a piece of a Great Demon’s flesh. But in the end, its weak body could not bear the power contained within.

Fate is fate. Even when given an opportunity, it could not change its own feeble destiny. Born a mouse, with no chance at life.

The mouse’s corpse lay still, but the struggle outside continued. Even the tiniest morsels of meat were being fought over and snatched away by insects and ants.

Every living creature gave in to its primal instinct: they must grow stronger!

Soon, a small ant discovered the dead mouse. It cautiously crept into the mouse’s hole and, approaching the corpse, opened its mandibles.

It had no Spiritual Awakening whatsoever, but instinct told it that eating the mouse’s corpse would change its destiny...