Overlord of the Wilderness

A Mammoth could traverse this Dark Canyon in just a single day. But Zhaang Ye was far slower than a Mammoth. With the canyon’s many forks and its complete darkness, Zhaang Ye had no choice but to feel his way along, making his progress agonizingly slow.

Fortunately, he was very familiar with the Mammoth’s scent, so he didn’t get lost. Even so, it still took Zhaang Ye five days of feeling his way through the terrifying canyon before he finally got out.

Covered in dust and grime, he emerged from the pitch-black canyon. The intense sunlight outside was so harsh that Zhaang Ye couldn’t even open his eyes. He stood there in a daze for a long time before he dared to open them.

”Haaaah!” Zhaang Ye let out a long breath of fresh air and sighed, ”It feels great to be alive.”

He glanced back at the canyon, then turned and left without a second thought.

After spending five whole days in the canyon, Zhaang Ye was now so hungry that even walking was a struggle. His first priority now was to fill his stomach.

SWOOSH! Zhaang Ye landed on a small tree in the swamp. With a swift motion, he snatched up a stone crab larger than his palm. He examined it with a frown, then crushed it with his bare hand and ate the roe inside.

Beyond the Dark Canyon lay a vast swamp. The creatures here reeked of mud and fish, and Zhaang Ye had no desire to eat them. However, his life was on the line, so he forced himself to eat despite his reluctance. At his pace, crossing the swamp would take at least two days. If he didn’t get some food in him, he wouldn’t even have the strength to resist an attack from a Fierce Beast.

After eating the stone crab’s roe, Zhaang Ye casually scooped up a huge mud clam. This clam was as large as a millstone. When he opened its shell, the meat inside was surprisingly snow-white. Although it had a slightly fishy smell, it also carried a faint, fresh fragrance. Delighted, Zhaang Ye grabbed the clam meat and took a few large bites. Once his stomach felt somewhat full, he tossed the shell aside.

Patting his stomach, Zhaang Ye executed his Body Technique and began to speed across the treetops.

The swamp was filled with small trees and tall grasses. When the Mammoth had passed through, it had been able to identify the dangerous parts of the swamp and walk straight through without fear of sinking. Zhaang Ye lacked this ability and could only travel across the treetops, carrying the long whiskers, which weighed over three hundred jin, on his back.

Countless formidable Fierce Beasts lurked beneath the swamp’s muddy waters. The Mammoth was immensely powerful and naturally exuded a suppressive aura; the underwater Fierce Beasts wouldn’t have dared to surface when it passed.

Zhaang Ye, however, was a different story. His strength was far inferior to the Mammoth’s, and he had no such Suppression. Along the way, he was attacked several times by mud-crocodiles and water-pythons. Fortunately, these were all Low-level Fierce Beasts. With Zhaang Ye’s strength, he could handle them, and he managed to survive the several attacks shaken but unharmed.

Two days later, Zhaang Ye finally succeeded in crossing the swamp and stepped onto solid ground.

”AWOOO—”

Zhaang Ye had just stepped onto solid ground when he heard a howl. In the distance, the tall grass was suddenly torn apart as a Tusked Beast, over ten feet tall, burst out. Its eyes were bloodshot as it charged straight for him.

The Tusked Beast had two tusks like great sabers protruding from the corners of its mouth. It was a ferocious type of Low-level Fierce Beast. This particular Tusked Beast had an overwhelming presence as it ran, shaking the ground with every step. Its power was even a cut above the Iron-Armored Long-Horned Ox that Zhaang Ye had killed before.

”Hm? Good. Perfect timing!” Zhaang Ye let out a low growl. When the Tusked Beast was about ten feet away, he suddenly swung his Thick-Backed Saber. The blade unleashed a streak of Saber Qi over a foot long, which instantly swept across the Tusked Beast’s head, slicing it in two.

BAM! The headless Tusked Beast continued to charge forward for more than a hundred feet before it finally collapsed.

A little over a month ago, Zhaang Ye, along with Zhu Nulang and Pan Shi, had to expend a great deal of effort just to kill that Iron-Armored Long-Horned Ox. Both were Low-level Fierce Beasts, yet Zhaang Ye had killed this Tusked Beast with a single slash. Neither the Tusked Beast’s sharp tusks nor its thick Beast Hide could block his Thick-Backed Saber.

”What a prize, a real prize.” Zhaang Ye couldn’t help but drool as he stared at the Tusked Beast’s flesh.

After two days of eating fishy clam meat in the swamp, Zhaang Ye was desperate for the taste of beast meat. Now, seeing this Tusked Beast, he could no longer hold back.

Lifting his Thick-Backed Saber, Zhaang Ye strode over to the Tusked Beast. With a flick of his blade, one of its legs was instantly hacked off. He deftly skinned the leg with a few more cuts. Just as he was about to slice the meat, his expression suddenly shifted. His Thick-Backed Saber became a streak of white light as he slashed behind him. With a loud CLANG, the saber perfectly deflected a long arrow.

Having deflected the sudden arrow, Zhaang Ye fixed his gaze on a patch of trees and shouted, ”Who’s there? Show yourself!”

The person in the trees didn’t respond. With three soft SWISHES, three more long arrows shot out. The arrows flew at different speeds and from varying angles, seemingly sealing off all of Zhaang Ye’s escape routes, a testament to the archer’s superb Arrow Skill.

Zhaang Ye snorted. He stood his ground, not moving an inch. He unfurled his Thick-Backed Saber and executed a saber move from his Nameless Saber Technique—Gentle Wind Slash.

Gentle Wind Slash was a saber move that could turn one slash into a hundred. Zhaang Ye had already cultivated this move to the Great Success Realm. Over the past month of constant fighting and practicing with the Light Curtain, his Saber Technique had reached an entirely new level. As he executed Gentle Wind Slash now, its light and unpredictable movements secretly contained a Rotating Power. The moment he unleashed the move, the three incoming arrows were caught by his saber’s Rotating Power and flung aside.

Although he had easily deflected the three long arrows, Zhaang Ye felt an immense force contained within them. The impact left his saber-wielding hand slightly numb.

’This archer has to be at least at the Martial Arts Fourth Layer!’ Zhaang Ye estimated his opponent’s strength, secretly shocked. With a tap of his foot, he instantly concealed himself in a patch of dense grass behind a large rock.

In a dense forest, the Bow and Arrow is the most terrifying weapon. Against someone who was not only skilled in Arrow Skill but also possessed great power, Zhaang Ye didn’t dare to be careless. The price of underestimation was an arrow through the throat from an unknown direction.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! Zhaang Ye had just hidden himself when several more long arrows flew at him. Two zipped past him, while a third struck the rock firmly, sending a shower of sparks.

Zhaang Ye placed one hand on the rock, broke off a large chunk, and then crushed it into a dozen fist-sized pieces. After crushing one piece, he broke off another and crushed it as well. He repeated this several times until hundreds of fist-sized stones were piled in front of him.

Zhaang Ye planted his saber in the ground and grabbed a handful of stones in each hand. Channeling his strength, he hurled the dozen or so stones in his right hand with all his might.

Zhaang Ye’s Dragon Elephant Skill cultivation had reached the Middle Stage of the 4th Layer, and he frequently soaked his body in the blood of Mid-level Fierce Beasts, making his physical strength astonishing. When he threw this handful of stones with his full power, they made an eerie whistling sound and flew with a speed no slower than an ordinary arrow.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

When the large trees in the forest were struck by the stones Zhaang Ye threw, they trembled violently, shedding their leaves. Some of the thinner trees were pierced straight through by the stones, leaving large holes in their trunks.

After throwing the stones in his right hand, Zhaang Ye swung his left, hurling another handful. His left arm wasn’t as strong as his right, but the force was still considerable. The forest shook again, and a few smaller trees were even snapped in half by the impact of the stones.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG—

Zhaang Ye continued to hurl handful after handful of stones, suppressing the archer in the woods to the point where they didn’t dare to fire another arrow.

After throwing more than twenty handfuls of stones, Zhaang Ye spoke slowly, ”I know you’re still in there. Come on out. Let’s talk. Otherwise, I’ll just keep throwing. Even if I can’t hurt you, the noise will attract the Fierce Beasts of the forest. If that happens, things won’t end well for either of us.”

After a moment, a young man in green robes walked out with a wry smile on his face. In his hand, he held an all-black Longbow with an arrow nocked. Clearly, this was the young man who had been shooting at Zhaang Ye.

Zhaang Ye glanced at the young man and was suddenly taken aback. ”You’re an Inner Sect Disciple of the Cyan Mulberry Zhaang Family?”

The green-robed youth now saw Zhaang Ye’s face clearly and was stunned as well. He had never imagined that he, who had always been proud of his Arrow Skill, would be suppressed by someone throwing mere stones. What he found most unbelievable was that his opponent was a boy of only thirteen or fourteen!

(This is the second update for today. Because I got back late, the third update will be a bit later. You can read it tomorrow. Thank you all!)