"So this is the outer forest of the Barbaric Beast Mountain Range!" Zhaang Ye untied the pieces of wood strapped to his shoes and stared at the towering ancient trees, secretly amazed.
The outer forest of the Barbaric Beast Mountain Range was separated from the previous primeval jungle by only a river, yet it was vastly different. The most obvious distinction was the trees; every single one was a thousand-year-old ancient tree soaring hundreds of feet into the air. Some were even thousands of feet tall and looked to be at least several thousand years old.
As the old saying goes, "Deep waters are home to big fish." A forest this tall and dense could likewise harbor ferocious beasts. One could only imagine, judging by these trees that stretched thousands of feet into the air, that the beasts here must be incomparably fierce.
Zhaang Ye surveyed his surroundings and quickly found a hollow in a large tree. After confirming there were no dangerous Fierce Beasts inside, he slipped in.
The recent series of desperate battles, coupled with his frantic pace, had completely depleted the True Qi in Zhaang Ye's body. This tree hollow was the perfect place to regulate his breathing and recover his strength.
The fastest way to recover one's strength was by consuming an Elixir. Zhaang Ye had acquired quite a few Elixirs from his battles. Clenching his jaw, he took out the bottle of Qi Gathering Pills he had looted from Zhou Yutao and swallowed half a pill.
As soon as the half Qi Gathering Pill entered his stomach, its Medicinal Power, propelled by his True Qi, immediately transformed into streams of heat.
Qi Gathering Pills were meant for Martial Artists at the Martial Arts Third Layer and above, and their Medicinal Power was incredibly potent. Although Zhaang Ye had only swallowed half a pill, he could feel the True Qi surging violently within him, as if it were about to make him explode.
Zhaang Ye did his utmost to control the endlessly surging True Qi, circulating it through his Meridians again and again. By the ninth cycle, he had finally finished refining the Medicinal Power of the half Qi Gathering Pill. His True Qi was now fully restored and had even increased slightly.
'Elixirs are truly amazing things. Just half an Elixir was enough to completely replenish my True Qi. If I could take Elixirs every day, my Cultivation speed would definitely skyrocket!' Zhaang Ye marveled as he checked the state of the True Qi inside him.
After a moment of wonder, Zhaang Ye leaped down from the tree hollow. He found some plants with strong-smelling sap in the forest and smeared it on his body to mask his scent. Once that was done, he stuck a dozen or so fresh branches onto himself, disguising himself as a tree. Only then did he begin to move cautiously through the dense woods.
To survive in a dense forest, a person had to accomplish two things. First, quickly find something to eat to replenish one's stamina. Second, quickly find a place to hide to serve as a base.
Both tasks had to be completed before nightfall. Night was when the Fierce Beasts roamed, and anyone who hadn't found shelter by then was as good as dead.
Zhaang Ye's awakened memories contained a wealth of wilderness survival knowledge. This knowledge was a huge help to him now. In less than two hours, Zhaang Ye found a cave that could serve as a temporary shelter. It was an abandoned Fierce Beast lair. The entrance was only large enough for one person to pass through, but the space inside was quite large, big enough to house several people.
What satisfied Zhaang Ye the most was that the cave had two entrances. If a powerful enemy lay in ambush outside one entrance, he could easily escape through the other and avoid being trapped inside.
Zhaang Ye blocked one entrance with a large rock and was about to go out to find something to eat when he suddenly heard the sound of BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! footsteps in the distance. The very ground began to shake. Zhaang Ye poked his head out and saw a creature about thirty feet tall suddenly charge out from afar. This behemoth's limbs were as thick as pillars, and its massive body looked extremely cumbersome, but it ran with astonishing speed. A herd of Needle-Haired Pigs, each the size of a water vat, was being chased by it with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
'What a huge Mammoth!' Zhaang Ye recognized the creature at a glance. It was a Mammoth, renowned for its great strength and thick hide. A normal Mammoth was only about twenty feet tall, but this one stood a full thirty feet. One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary specimen.
SQUEAL SQUEAL SQUEAL SQUEAL SQUEAL… Several pained cries echoed from the distance. Zhaang Ye focused his gaze and saw that the ferocious Mammoth had caught up to the Needle-Haired Pigs. Its thick, flexible trunk lashed out like a whip. Amidst a series of CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK— sounds, the herd of Needle-Haired Pigs was sent flying into the air, squealing in agony.
THUD! THUD! THUD— The Needle-Haired Pigs fell to the ground like rain, each one slammed half to death.
The Mammoth shook its massive head and let out a triumphant roar. It stepped forward, coiled its trunk around one of the half-dead Needle-Haired Pigs, and tossed it into its huge mouth.
Zhaang Ye watched, dumbfounded, as the Mammoth coiled up one Needle-Haired Pig after another and tossed them into its maw. 'I think the books said that normal Mammoths don't eat meat. But not only does this big fella eat meat, its appetite is anything but normal! Damn it, is this thing even an elephant?'
CRUNCH. The Mammoth ate a dozen or so Needle-Haired Pigs in one go before it stopped eating and unhurriedly ambled away.
Seeing the Mammoth move off into the distance, Zhaang Ye's eyes suddenly lit up. He leaped down from the cave entrance and sprinted off. The Mammoth had slammed about twenty Needle-Haired Pigs half to death. After it had eaten its fill, there were still several left. Zhaang Ye quickly arrived at the scene and ran toward one of the pigs.
It was a fat Needle-Haired Pig. These pigs had an extremely ferocious temperament. Even though it had been beaten half to death by the Mammoth, its aggressive nature remained. Seeing Zhaang Ye approach, it let out a SNORT from its nose and opened its huge mouth to bite him.
Zhaang Ye took a step forward, pinned its head down, and raised his fist, smashing it into the pig's skull. The Needle-Haired Pig truly lived up to its reputation for having thick skin and tough flesh. A single punch from Zhaang Ye carried thousands of pounds of force, yet even with such heavy blows landing on its head, it took him more than ten punches to kill it. This gave Zhaang Ye a new understanding of the strength of the Fierce Beasts in the outer forests of the Barbaric Beast Mountain Range.
After killing the Needle-Haired Pig, Zhaang Ye began to drag it away. He was going to turn it into his next meal. The pig weighed two to three hundred pounds; with it, Zhaang Ye could eat for a very long time.
After dragging the Needle-Haired Pig into the cave, Zhaang Ye let out a long sigh of relief. He now had both food and shelter. In this terrifying, dense forest, he finally had a basic guarantee of survival.
Zhaang Ye took everything out from his robes, placed the items on a rock, and thought, 'I almost died several times recently, but the rewards were considerable. In the time that follows, I'll make good use of these Body Tempering Pills and Qi Gathering Pills. I'll focus on my Cultivation and see if I can break through to the Late-stage Martial Arts Second Layer in one go!'