Overlord of the Wilderness

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—Amidst a series of leaps and bounds, Zhaang Ye flew across the cliff face. Every time it seemed he was about to fall and be smashed to smithereens, he would manage to use Borrowing Power on the smooth rock wall just in time, escaping a grisly fate in a heart-stopping display of agility.

After traversing several smooth rock faces like an ape, Zhaang Ye arrived above the pool. With a slight shudder, his entire body drifted down from the air and landed on the ground like a weightless bird.

”Heh! To have trained my Startled Swan Step to this Realm, I can’t be far from the Great Success Realm!” Zhaang Ye looked at the sheer cliffs he had just crossed and couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.

The cliffs he had just passed would have been difficult for even a real ape to climb, yet he had crossed them with ease using his Startled Swan Step.

GRRR!

Two low roars echoed from the valley. Zhaang Ye turned to look and saw that the Mammoth was now surrounded by a thin layer of mist that had appeared out of nowhere. It was as if a wind had picked up in the valley, with all the air flowing toward the great beast.

’Huh? It looks like this Mammoth is about to advance!’ Zhaang Ye recalled an Ancient Book about beasts he had read before, which described the signs of a beast’s advancement in detail.

With that thought, Zhaang Ye’s body blurred into motion, and he flew toward the Mammoth.

Beast advancements often required a massive amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. This energy was exceptionally pure, and if a Martial Artist took the opportunity to practice their Cultivation at such a time, they could often achieve twice the results with half the effort.

It was a rare occurrence, and Zhaang Ye had no intention of letting such a golden opportunity slip by.

Zhaang Ye landed beside the Mammoth, a look of delight spreading across his face. Just as the Ancient Book described, a dense layer of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi surrounded the beast—so dense it was visible to the naked eye!

The thin layer of mist Zhaang Ye had seen earlier was, in fact, this dense Heaven and Earth Essence Qi!

And with each passing moment, this layer of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi was growing even thicker.

’There’s so much Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. Absorbing a little shouldn’t affect the elephant’s advancement.’ Zhaang Ye glanced at the energy pouring into the valley and felt reassured. He sat down to one side and began refining the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi with all his might.

Heaven and Earth Essence Qi exists between heaven and earth; it is the foundation of all life. The so-called True Qi was actually refined from this Heaven and Earth Essence Qi. A Cultivator’s Cultivation was, in essence, the process of refining the world’s Essence Qi bit by bit and making it their own True Qi.

There were many ways for a Cultivator to quickly obtain Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, with Elixirs being the most common. An Elixir was simply condensed Heaven and Earth Essence Qi formed into a pill. For example, a Qi Gathering Pill contained a vast amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, and with just a little refinement, this pure energy could be converted into one’s own True Qi.

Although Elixirs could rapidly replenish True Qi, almost all of them contained impurities and thus could not be consumed in large quantities. In other words, on the Cultivation Dao, the true path was to refine the world’s Essence Qi bit by bit on one’s own.

Zhaang Ye activated his Cultivation Technique. He felt the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, which he normally struggled to gather, now pouring down from the top of his head like an endless stream. It flowed into his Meridians, and after nine full Circulations through his body, this Heaven and Earth Essence Qi was refined into his own True Qi and flowed into his Dantian.

Rising, rising, and rising again!

Zhaang Ye’s Cultivation rose at an astonishing speed. The True Qi within his body grew increasingly potent, and he could faintly perceive the threshold of the Martial Arts Third Layer. He only needed to break through this barrier to advance and become a master of the Martial Arts Third Layer!

Just as Zhaang Ye was about to touch the threshold of his breakthrough, he suddenly felt the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi around him thinning out. At the same time, a long roar of ”GRRR—” reached his ears.

His Cultivation interrupted, Zhaang Ye regretfully stopped his technique and stood up. He saw the Mammoth standing proudly, its long trunk pointed at the sky. All the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi had gathered around it, and then, like a great whale swallowing the sea, the beast sucked it all in!

CRACK CRACK CRACK—

After absorbing the massive amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, a strange cracking sound came from the Mammoth’s bones. Its body abruptly grew by about ten feet, its muscles bulged, and even its tusks grew significantly longer. It looked extraordinarily majestic.

PFFFT! The Mammoth snorted through its trunk, and it was as if a typhoon had swept through the valley, sending dust and small stones flying everywhere.

Zhaang Ye sucked in a sharp breath. He never would have thought the beast’s strength would skyrocket to this degree after its advancement. ’It looks like even if I gave it my all, I still wouldn’t be its match,’ he thought.

The Mammoth strutted majestically around the valley, then shot a provocative glance at Zhaang Ye. It pointed its long trunk at him and then, quite elegantly, beckoned with it.

’What does that mean?!’ Zhaang Ye froze for a moment, a mixture of anger and amusement bubbling up inside him. He laughed and cursed, ”Hey, big guy, you looking for a fight? Don’t think you can walk all over me just because you got a power-up. I’ve got more than a few tricks up my sleeve to deal with you!”

The Mammoth flicked its trunk disdainfully, seemingly unimpressed by Zhaang Ye’s words.

”Damn it all, now even a dumb animal doesn’t believe me! Fine, let’s have a little spar!” Zhaang Ye said, bending down to pick up a few stones. He then hurled them with all his might at the Mammoth.

Zhaang Ye threw the stones with incredible speed. The Mammoth was unable to dodge in time and was struck several times.

The Mammoth had a thick, tough hide, so even though Zhaang Ye’s stones carried immense force, they couldn’t injure it. That said, while the stones didn’t cause injury, the pain was unavoidable. After being hit a few times, the Mammoth charged toward Zhaang Ye with a thunderous rumble, seemingly unwilling to stop until it had sent him flying.

Zhaang Ye chuckled, continuing to throw stones as his body moved like an ape, and with a SWOOSH, he leaped onto a rock wall.

Zhaang Ye laughed loudly as he threw more stones. ”How about that, big guy? You’re still a long way from being able to fight me! Right now, I can hit you, but you can’t hit me. I win!”

GRRR—!

The Mammoth roared in anger and stomped its foot down hard. With a massive BOOM, the ground split apart inch by inch. The entire valley shook from the force of the stomp, and slabs of rock broke off the cliffs, tumbling down. The whole valley was quickly shrouded in a cloud of dust raised by the falling stones.

Zhaang Ye sucked in a sharp breath, then chuckled again. ”So strong! So strong! But no matter how strong you are, you can’t do anything to me!” As he spoke, he picked up a few more stones and hurled them down, landing a direct hit on the Mammoth’s large head and making it cry out in pain.

The Mammoth was powerful, but its body was massive and clumsy, making it completely unable to climb the rock wall. Furious, it jumped up and down on the spot, pointing its long trunk at Zhaang Ye and letting out a series of ”grrr” sounds. It was like a shrew, cursing and seeming to complain that Zhaang Ye had run away, too afraid to face it head-on in a direct confrontation.

Zhaang Ye paid the big elephant no mind. He continued to throw stones, laughing heartily. ”Big guy, have you had enough yet? If you haven’t, I’ll just keep throwing stones at you forever! I know you like to sleep, heheh... I’ll just keep throwing stones so you can never get any rest!”

GRRR! Hearing Zhaang Ye’s shameless threat, the Mammoth shot him a glare. It had the look of someone thinking, ’I can’t beat you, but I can at least avoid you.’ Huffing in anger, it stomped out of the valley.

(If you have any Recommendation Tickets, please toss one or two my way. Things are looking pretty bleak.)