Free Web NovelChapter 393: Chapter 290: The Savage Mutant Beast and the Malicious Human
Before, killing three Tier One Mutant Beasts yielded one percent progress. Now, it took five of them to get that same one percent. The difficulty had nearly doubled.
The thought of having to hunt 500 Tier One Mutant Beasts just to harvest another mature Magical Little Fruit gave Lin Li a bit of a headache.
It wasn’t that hunting Tier One Mutant Beasts was difficult. With Lin Li’s current strength as a Second Order High Rank, any Tier One Mutant Beast that crossed his path was as good as dead.
The hard part was finding five hundred Tier One Mutant Beasts in the vast wilderness; that would take a considerable amount of time.
To shorten the time it took to harvest a mature Magical Little Fruit, Lin Li thought it over and decided to venture deeper into the wilderness and turn his attention to Tier Two Mutant Beasts.
After all, a single Tier Two Mutant Beast now provided one and a half percent progress. If he focused solely on hunting them, he would only need to kill sixty-seven to harvest a mature Magical Little Fruit.
Of course, while hunting Tier Two Mutant Beasts would speed up the maturation of the Magical Little Fruit, it also significantly increased the danger.
Far from the safe zone, hunting Tier Two Mutant Beasts in the treacherous wilderness, he could very well run into a beast far stronger than himself.
If he was really that unlucky and ran into a beast far stronger than himself, he would have to retreat to the Mysterious Small Island at the first opportunity. As long as he wasn’t killed instantly, he could survive.
...
"CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK..."
"SHHNK."
A Luhua Chicken Beast was scratching at the earth with its talons, searching for insects to eat.
Suddenly, it saw a ferocious-looking human in the distance, grinning as he charged toward it.
A single glance was all it took for the juvenile Luhua Chicken Beast to know this human meant trouble.
It let out a few angry squawks. Just as the Luhua Chicken Beast prepared to attack the ill-intentioned human, its cry rang out.
But before it could even charge the smirking human, its head was severed from its body, and it collapsed with a thud.
"A weakling with only First Rank Initial Stage strength actually tried to attack me. Talk about overestimating yourself...," Lin Li chuckled as he watched the twitching body of the beast he had just killed in one blow. He flicked his bloodstained Spiritual Longsword clean.
He then squatted, touched the corpse of the Luhua Chicken Beast, and stored it away on the Mysterious Small Island.
Lin Li looked at the grass, stained red by the blood of the dead Luhua Chicken Beast, and thought to himself.
’It’s a shame Mutant Beasts can’t be bred in captivity. Otherwise, I’d just find a farm, buy a few hundred Tier One beasts, and go on a slashing spree. I could get the progress for the Magical Little Fruit to one hundred percent in a single day...’
Just as Lin Li was lost in a pleasant fantasy of hacking through hundreds of Tier One Mutant Beasts to harvest a Magical Little Fruit in a single day, a frantic roar suddenly echoed from the distance.
"ROAR—"
The loud roar snapped Lin Li out of his daydream. Grasping his Spiritual Longsword, he broke into a run toward the sound.
...
Under the scorching sun, a crystal-clear stream meandered through the rolling terrain, winding its way toward the distant safe zone.
Beside the stream stood a small, dense grove of trees. At this moment, just outside the woods, a creature over four meters long and two meters tall, covered in golden fur that shimmered like yellow satin, was drinking from the water’s edge.
Every time the massive creature took a drink of the clear, cool water, it would lift its enormous head and let out a deafening roar.
It had two curved, sharp horns atop its head, enormous eyes like copper bells, and powerful limbs. Its tail whipped back and forth restlessly, striking its own flanks.
An ox. This was a Yellow Ox Beast.
In the wilderness of the East District suburbs, the most common Mutant Beasts are the Luhua Chicken Beasts. In the South District Suburbs, however, these Yellow Ox Beasts are more common.
The Luhua Chicken Beasts commonly found in the wilderness of the East District suburbs were generally Tier One in strength; it was extremely rare to find one at Tier Two.
In contrast, the Yellow Ox Beasts commonly found in the South District Suburbs were typically Tier Two, with some individuals even reaching Tier Three.
Many years ago, a veteran Exotic Beast Hunter who was hunting in the South District’s wilderness personally witnessed a Tier Three Yellow Ox Beast.
How could he be so sure it was Tier Three? Because the veteran Exotic Beast Hunter had watched with his own eyes as the Yellow Ox Beast flew directly over his head.
Once a Cultivator breaks through to Tier Three, it isn’t just humans who gain the ability of Flying in the Sky—Mutant Beasts do as well.
Fortunately, the Tier Three Yellow Ox Beast seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t have time to bother with the human Exotic Beast Hunter who had spotted it.
Otherwise, that veteran Exotic Beast Hunter, a Second Order High Rank himself, would never have had the chance to post on the Exotic Beast Hunter app’s forums about his sighting of a Tier Three Yellow Ox Beast.
The irritable Yellow Ox Beast had just let out a roar and was about to lower its head for another drink when it suddenly heard footsteps from behind. It whipped its head around to look.
A human. A human holding a weapon was slowly approaching. The person’s expression seemed strangely happy, and the beast could feel the thick malice in his gaze.
"ROAR—"
The moment this weapon-wielding human appeared, the irritable Yellow Ox Beast’s already bloodshot eyes turned an even deeper shade of crimson.
The tyrannical aura emanating from its body surged instantly as a series of utterly ferocious bellows erupted from its throat.
"My luck is amazing! I’ve already found one of those strange Mutant Beasts Liu Jialin mentioned, the kind that grows red mushrooms on its corpse," Lin Li muttered to himself, gripping his Spiritual Longsword as he faced the vicious beast.
Lin Li was certain this irritable Yellow Ox Beast was the strange type Liu Jialin had described—the kind whose corpse grew red mushrooms—because an ordinary Yellow Ox Beast wouldn’t roar like this. It would moo.
Besides the unusual cry, this beast’s size was also exceptionally large.
Furthermore, any Cultivator who had broken through to Tier Two and possessed Perception Ability could tell there was something off about this beast just by sensing the tyrannical aura it was emitting.
The treacherous wilderness was home to a wide variety of Mutant Beasts. While many were fierce, they didn’t typically exude such an obviously tyrannical aura that could be picked up with a simple Perception scan.
If this roaring, irritable Yellow Ox Beast before him wasn’t the kind Liu Jialin had described—the one that grew red mushrooms on its corpse—then he’d eat his hat.
"ROAR—"
The irritable Yellow Ox Beast saw that the human before it was completely unfazed by its intimidation, still sizing it up with malicious intent.
Seeing itself so utterly disregarded, its rage skyrocketed. A tyrannical aura erupted from it like water from a burst pipe...
"THUD, THUD, THUD..."
Its powerful hooves lifted and stomped heavily on the grassy ground, creating a series of loud thuds.
An ordinary person, if confronted with such an enormous, multi-ton, irritable Yellow Ox Beast, would likely be scared stiff and collapse on the spot.
Even a Cultivator, if they weren’t strong enough, would inevitably feel the urge to retreat when faced with such a behemoth.
Lin Li perceived the irritable Yellow Ox Beast’s Spiritual Energy Wave gradually intensifying, rising from Second Rank Initial Stage to Second Order Middle Stage.
’Tsk, a Second Order Middle Stage Spiritual Energy Wave. I’ve read posts on the Exotic Beast Hunter forums saying to be careful of Yellow Ox Beasts in the South District’s wilderness because they’re at least Second Rank Initial Stage. I can’t believe I ran into a species that’s typically Tier Two or higher before I even went deeper into the wilderness. And this one is even at Second Order Middle Stage...’
After perceiving the irritable Yellow Ox Beast’s Spiritual Energy Wave strengthen to the Second Order Middle Stage, Lin Li’s relaxed expression slowly turned serious.
Although he was stronger than the beast, he knew that if he took a direct hit from its horns at full force, he would be severely injured, if not killed on the spot. He had to take this fight seriously and couldn’t afford to be careless.
...
