But now, more than an hour later, when James Walker climbed Wushan and reached halfway up one of its peaks, near that sunken boulder, he saw that the little monkey still wore a look of contempt and impatience. Yet the sweat lingering on its forehead revealed that even it hadn’t arrived long ago.

James Walker smiled, stepped forward, and patted the little monkey’s head, took off the woven basket from his back, and stood atop the boulder, gazing at the hazy mist between heaven and earth in the distance, taking a deep breath.

He liked standing here, looking ahead. Even though just a few steps forward was a sheer drop, and if the mountain wind blew, it would make one feel as if they might topple at any moment—quite dangerous—James Walker had been climbing this mountain since childhood. To him, this place was like a second home.

“Xiaohong, what’s it like on the other side of the mountain… have you ever been there?” James Walker stood there, his animal hide clothes fluttering in the wind with a whooshing sound, his right hand subconsciously touching the black fragment on his chest.

The little monkey beside him rolled its eyes, glanced at the distant world, ignored James Walker, and instead lowered its head to rummage through its own fur, as if searching for something.

Seeing the little monkey grooming itself and ignoring him, James Walker touched his nose, shook his head with a smile, and simply sat cross-legged on the spot.

“Xiaohong, I won’t be returning to the tribe for a while this time. I’ll probably be living here for some days. When you go out to play, remember to bring me back some wild fruits.”

The little monkey immediately looked up in surprise, studied James Walker for a moment, then broke into a beaming smile and nodded repeatedly. Usually, it would only spend three to five days with James Walker at most, and once James Walker returned to the tribe, it would be left alone in the mountains and forests. Now, having understood James Walker’s words, it was overjoyed.

James Walker took a deep breath, faced the mountain wind, and slowly closed his eyes. He was preparing to cultivate here, not leaving until he had fully completed the first layer of the Blood Condensation Realm.

After all, regarding what had happened to him, James Walker didn’t know how to explain it. Vaguely, he wanted to keep it a secret and didn’t want others to know.

With his eyes closed, it wasn’t long before a bloodline appeared on James Walker’s body. This bloodline emitted a faint red glow, but the glow didn’t flicker; instead, it was quite solid.

Even that bloodline was no longer as faint as it had been half a month ago, but was now fully revealed.

On the path of barbarian cultivation, James Walker might not have talent, but he possessed perseverance and a determination not to give up easily. Sitting cross-legged, time slowly passed.

The sun rose and set, mist in the mountains and forests gathered and dispersed, the sounds of birds and beasts echoed from time to time, filling the place with a special tranquility. Amidst this peace, James Walker opened his eyes at dawn the next day.

After stretching his body, he turned to find the little monkey was nowhere to be seen, but on the ground were some wild fruits and a few fruit pits that had been spat out after eating…

Picking up some of the fruits, James Walker ate eighteen or nineteen of them. With his appetite, these were enough to make him mostly full. Although he liked eating these wild fruits, he didn’t like eating too many at once.

After finishing the fruits, James Walker sat cross-legged again, immersing himself in refining barbarian blood. But this time, after only a few hours, James Walker opened his eyes, a look of confusion in them.

“The first bloodline has fully condensed, but as for the second one, it always feels as if there isn’t enough blood in my body…” James Walker couldn’t quite describe the feeling himself. It was as if the first bloodline had already absorbed most of his blood, leaving not enough to condense a second one.

It sounded paradoxical and mysterious, hard to explain, but it was exactly how James Walker felt at that moment.

“Not enough blood…” James Walker scratched his head, pondering. He didn’t know that for barbarian cultivators, especially in the early stages, a strong body was needed to sustain cultivation, and even more so, large amounts of medicine had to be consumed. The purpose of these medicines was to rapidly produce new blood, thus driving cultivation and condensing one bloodline after another.

Therefore, among barbarian warriors in the Blood Condensation Realm, the higher their cultivation, the more astonishing the power of their blood and qi. Once unleashed, their physical strength alone could tear apart powerful wild beasts—hence the name “barbarian”!

These matters were secrets within the tribe, known only to those who possessed a barbarian body.

“In the tribe, when someone is injured and loses a lot of blood, they become pale and weak all over. At such times, they need to take some herbs to replenish their blood and qi…” James Walker’s eyes lit up. After thinking carefully, he immediately got up, slung on his basket, and leapt toward the mountainside. This time, he moved extremely fast, and after about half an hour, he hurried back.

When he returned, his basket already contained some herbs still covered in soil. After cleaning them up, James Walker took out a stone bowl from the basket, crushed the herbs, mixed them with some dew, and mashed them together into a dark green juice that gave off a strange smell.

But he was long used to the smell. After sniffing it a few times, he added some more herbs. When he was finally done, he took a deep breath and, without hesitation, drank the entire bowl.

It tasted terrible. James Walker frowned, forcing himself to finish every last drop, then sat cross-legged again to meditate.