Four days later, a thunderous shockwave echoed from somewhere deep within the woods. An outward gust of displaced air shoved aside tree branches and thick undergrowth, startling the surrounding birds and insects into frantic flight.
Chen Chuan withdrew his fist. Before him lay a beast resembling a wild boar, its body as large as a small hillock. The front half facing him had been driven directly into the earth—hammered down alive by the sheer force of a single punch.
This creature was called a rodent hog. Like the zheng sheep, it possessed a ferocious territorial instinct. But where the sheep was merely stubborn and fearless before formidable adversaries, this beast was utterly devoid of discretion and hopelessly dull-witted. The instant it sensed the vibrations of his footsteps, it had charged straight at him without a second thought.
It was the first time he had seen an ingredient deliver itself so willingly to his doorstep. Truth be told, its nutritional value was quite ordinary; had it not provoked him, he would have had no interest in hunting it.
Yet now that it had offered itself up, he could hardly let it go to waste.
Purely in terms of taste, its meat was superb. The Confluence garrison even maintained a dedicated breeding ranch for them.
In terms of size, however, one this massive was rare—a testament to how deep he had traveled into the Confluence.
Yet even as the thought crossed his mind, he sensed that something was amiss.
Rodent hogs usually lived in packs, but this one appeared entirely solitary. Moreover, its stature was colossal; standing on all fours, its shoulder height reached three to four meters. There was likely something unusual about it.
Consulting the compendium's information, he examined the carcass and uncovered a few clues. In truth, the rodent hog was not very old at all—barely reached adulthood. It had likely gorged on some high-energy nutritional source in the past to achieve such immense proportions.
He straightened up and swept his gaze outward across the woods. It seemed there was something in the vicinity.
Without delay, he called out to Chaoming circling in the sky above, directing it to scout the surrounding area.
A few minutes later, a sharp cry echoed from above. Chaoming had evidently spotted something. Chen Chuan immediately followed, and before long arrived at a secluded, narrow dell nestled in the terrain.
The area spanned only about three or four mu, wedged right into a fissure in the mountain massif. Above, burning high-energy algae could be seen, trailing rolling plumes of thick smoke across the heights. Before entering, a pungent stench had permeated the air, but once inside, the smell vanished. The hollow was pleasantly warm, and a wide opening along one side offered a clear view of the cone-shaped mountain outside, which resembled a volcano.
Chaoming had managed to locate the place because the rodent hog frequented this spot, leaving behind a prominent trail easily visible from high overhead.
Creepers and vines clung across the rock walls, dangling green fruits the size of persimmons.
Chen Chuan studied them for a moment and instantly identified what they were.
"So it's hanyao fruit. No wonder..."
According to the compendium, a single vine could bear dozens or even hundreds of these fruits. What made them unique was that most of the fruits might possess entirely different properties: some could serve as medicine, some were fiercely toxic, some were merely sweet wild fruit, and a rare few carried truly extraordinary effects—such as being densely packed with high-energy nutrients.
Furthermore, a single fruit might alter its nature over time, making it remarkably erratic. Theoretically, it was not impossible for one to manifest effects akin to a seed of the Nine Apertures Stone Lotus, though the odds were vanishingly small. Its greatest drawback lay in its exceptionally exacting growth requirements, rendering large-scale cultivation completely impossible; word had it that attempts by numerous pharmaceutical corporations had all ended in failure.
On the outside, all hanyao fruits looked identical. Until one took a bite, there was no telling what effects it held. That rodent hog had probably ingested one of the beneficial ones, triggering a bodily mutation and perhaps even gifting it the ability to discern and resist poisons—luck that its kin likely never shared.
Chen Chuan counted them. Roughly fifty or so fruits remained on the vines. Ordinary people would never dare sample them lightly, but he had no fear of their toxins or anomalous effects.
If even one of them contained high-energy nutrients, it would be a tremendous boon; if not, he lost nothing, and the fruit was tasty enough in its own right.
After a moment's thought, he went outside, butchered the rodent hog, and brought the choice cuts back inside to roast over a campfire. At the same time, he plucked the fruits and began tasting them one by one.
Even without deploying his Second Self, a martial artist's physical constitution combined with the Purist Faction's furnace secret art was more than enough to withstand and thoroughly neutralize any harmful substances.
Chaoming waited obediently off to the side, watching the skewers of meat turn over the crackling campfire, hissing and sizzling.
Seated upon a mound of piled stones, Chen Chuan gazed out through the gap in the ravine. The sight of the peak burning with high-energy algae felt strangely familiar; it vaguely reminded him of Mount Jiao outside Yangzhi City. He wondered whether there was any connection between the two.
By the time he had eaten roughly half the fruits, many of the skewers were done. The mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat drifted through the air. He pulled out a handful and tossed them to Chaoming, then took a skewer for himself, sprinkled it with simple salt and pepper, and began to eat.
With one bite, he broke through the crisp, charred outer crust. A gentle chew released tender, succulent juices that flooded his mouth with savory flavor. The meat and juices were still scalding hot, but to him, it was just right. This cut was of exceptional grade—a rare delicacy indeed. Eating it brought a deep sense of satisfaction and comfort; even if its nutritional value was modest, it was well worth savoring.
He and Chaoming feasted continuously for over an hour. Sensing that they had eaten their fill, Chen Chuan picked the final few hanyao fruits and consumed them as well. Just then, an abundant rush of energy surged outward and spread through his body.
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. He had actually struck gold?
He turned the thought over in his mind and glanced outside at the surrounding environment. Was it because this terrain naturally fostered such fruits? If so, then it was hardly mere coincidence.
Well then. He would commit this place to memory and pay it another visit in the future.
Feeling the energy being greedily absorbed by his body's mutated tissue, he pondered for a moment, then reached into his pocket and retrieved the white jade-like mutated tissue harvested from the flying serpent's brain.
Encased within a mutated outer shell, it held all the concentrated nutrients the flying serpent had stockpiled for its metamorphosis. As long as this hard shell remained intact, it could be preserved for a long time.
He was considering whether to trade this item for specific mutated tissues he needed. Abundant though its energy and nutrients were, creatures packed with nutrition were everywhere in this place; to him, it was not indispensable.
Outside, however, this very object could likely boost the success rate of fighters attempting to breach the third limit by more than fifty percent.
Provided, of course, that their bodies could endure and assimilate such raw potency. Otherwise, their mutated tissues might undergo rampant, uncontrolled proliferation, or they might suffer psychic contamination from the serpent's lingering spirit.
Naturally, if taken alongside a seed of the Nine Apertures Stone Lotus or accompanied by sufficient suppressive drugs, aberrant tissue growth could be kept in check, and anyone with the right connections could find someone to soothe their spirit.
In short, to those who needed it, this was a priceless treasure. He might well trade it for resources far exceeding its intrinsic worth.
After some thought, he decided to revisit the matter later.
He slipped the prize back into his pocket and looked into the distance. When the flying serpent's psychic force had struck him earlier, he had caught glimpses of fragmented visions. It seemed that many years ago, this creature had briefly served as a physical vessel for some entity, only to be discarded later on.
By rights, it ought not to have survived. Perhaps the entity had occupied it only fleetingly, or perhaps there was another reason entirely—yet survive it did. In fact, it had benefited from the ordeal, gaining insight into how to ascend to a higher realm.
What Chen Chuan had hoped for most on this journey was to encounter creatures at a comparable tier of life. Naturally, yaogui did not count; unless accompanied by something like a Nine Apertures Stone Lotus or yielding tangible progress for his Second Self, fighting them was an outright loss.
Aside from gaining combat experience, there was practically nothing substantial to be won.
With beasts of an equivalent tier, however, the nutritional yield of their mutated tissue was leagues beyond anything ordinary creatures could offer—capable of supplying immense nourishment in a single stroke.
Moreover, the barrier confronting his Second Self might even be broken through as a result.
In his estimation, across such a vast expanse untouched by martial artists for so long, the chances of running into such beings were quite high. It simply required venturing deeper into the Confluence.
That would undoubtedly demand more time, with the lingering risk of returning empty-handed.
Still, before setting out, his original goal had merely been to master a few more forms of the Grand Radiant Light Forms and Grand Firmament Forms. To his surprise, only about a month had passed, and he was already nearly halfway through mastering the grand forms.
At this pace, completing the rest would likely take little more than another month.
In that case, he might as well stay for one more month. If he still failed to encounter his desired quarry, he would head straight back.
By his reckoning, when he returned then, the matter concerning Yuangan Company would also have reached its conclusion.
With this resolved, he rose from the ground. Chaoming immediately pushed itself up as well. Chen Chuan blew out the campfire, picked up the Xuejun Saber resting nearby, draped on the cloak he had shed earlier, pulled his hat back on, and signaled Chaoming as he stepped out of the hollow.
Leaving the area behind, he no longer navigated merely by terrain and ridges. Instead, recalling the psychic fragments from the flying serpent, he charted a course toward the direction from which it had come.
Two days later, he arrived at a boundless wasteland. Standing at its edge, he spotted more than a dozen colossal sand tapirs on the move, migrating across the plains, while many ape-like creatures clambered and leaped across their backs.
Sand tapirs tasted foul, offered negligible nutritional value, and reeked with an odor that repelled virtually all living things—hardly fit for consumption.
As for the apes, creatures of their kind in the Confluence were similarly of little worth. Moreover, they tended to be vindictive to a fault; kill one, and swarms would hound you without end. An annoying nuisance, and so he lost interest after a single glance.
It was not that the wasteland lacked valuable quarry, but searching for them was arduous and reading directions proved difficult. After weighing his options, he decided against pushing deeper into the plains and prepared to take a different route.
Just at that moment, however, one of the apes leaped down from a sand tapir's back and came bounding straight toward him.
……
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Chapter 892