Chapter 89: Marbled Toad (II)

3 to 4 hours passed, and the sky began to darken. After searching the forest for hours, he had only found 3 peak Organ Forging Realm beasts and 8 Bone Forging Realm beasts. After a full day of fighting, he noticed his fist momentum had grown noticeably denser.

I'll search a little longer. If I still can't find a Blood Qi Realm beast, I'll stop and come back another time,

thought Lin Zheyu.

The sky was dimming quickly, and there were living corpses lurking in Beast Roar Mountain. His strength had yet to reach the first transformation of blood qi, so he had no desire to confront those terrifying corpse yaos. After another 10 minutes or so and slaying one more beast, Lin Zheyu finally began to make his way back.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

His figure darted swiftly through the branches, weaving through the forest with incredible speed. As he passed by a marsh, strange noises rose from within it.

Gurgle, gurgle.

An eerie bubbling sound echoed out. Suddenly, a massive beast over 10 meters long burst from the marsh. It resembled a crocodile but looked far more savage and menacing. Its maw opened wide, revealing three rows of razor-sharp teeth. A single bite from that mouth could tear hundreds of bloody holes into its prey.

A Blood Qi Realm beast!

Lin Zheyu's eyes narrowed as a wave of thick, bloody aura surged toward him. A beast of the Blood Qi Realm carried an extraordinarily overwhelming presence. That presence was a unique kind of aura born from its ferocious nature, forged through countless hunts and battles. It exerted a natural suppression over weaker beasts.

In that instant, Lin Zheyu's own momentum surged forth as the blood qi within his body erupted with explosive force. With a light tap of his toes on a branch, Lin Zheyu shifted sharply to the left, narrowly dodging the beast's snapping jaws.

The sudden burst of speed in the beast's ambush was terrifying. Most Blood Qi Realm martial artists who had not trained in lightness techniques would have been caught by such an ambush.

Having evaded the beast's strike, Lin Zheyu's blood qi surged like boiling water. In an instant, his momentum qi rose to its peak. A sense of confidence, dominance, and invincibility filled his entire being.

This fist momentum was something he had comprehended from the Barbaric Ox Fist. When facing opponents weaker than himself, he had never noticed anything amiss.

But now, clashing against the terrifying presence of a Blood Qi Realm beast, Lin Zheyu finally discovered the problem—a sense of disharmony. This fist momentum and him were deeply out of sync.

The momentum was confident, domineering, and invincible, but he himself had not yet forged such a martial conviction. If he wished to truly make this momentum his own, Lin Zheyu would have to fight again and again, winning each battle and nurturing the will and conviction of a true powerhouse. Without hesitation, Lin Zheyu counterattacked the instant he dodged.

Bang!

A surge of immense blood qi power erupted as both his fists slammed into the beast's head with a heavy, muffled thud. A powerful recoil shot back through his fists, and even with the blood qi gauze cushioning the impact, Lin Zheyu still felt his arms go slightly numb. The beast's defense was unbelievably strong!

Boom.

The sudden blow from Lin Zheyu struck the beast head-on, sending it crashing down from the air and slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash. Yet its thick hide and flesh absorbed the blow, leaving it unscathed. It scrambled out of the pit it had created, thrashed its limbs, and with a splash, dove back into the marsh and vanished.

It got away.

Lin Zheyu looked toward the swamp but could no longer see any trace of the beast. The creature was a natural-born predator. When it attacked just now, it had not revealed even the faintest trace of hostility, leaving Lin Zheyu's sharp sixth sense completely unaware. It was only when it burst out of the marsh that Lin Zheyu finally detected it.

I need to get out quickly. The sky is getting darker, and Beast Roar Mountain becomes even more dangerous at night,

thought Lin Zheyu to himself.

With a swift movement, he dashed toward the outer reaches of the mountain. By the time he returned to Songyi City, it was already past 6 in the evening. After washing up, Lin Zheyu gathered Jia Yanyong and the others and headed to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion to unwind.

After a full day of battling fierce beasts deep within Beast Roar Mountain, he was exhausted, yet the thrill of blood-boiling combat and the exhilaration of battle still lingered within him.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Each day, Lin Zheyu ventured out to Beast Roar Mountain to clash with powerful beasts. Over those days, he planted within his heart the seeds of confidence, dominance, and an unshakable belief in his own invincibility, seeds that, given time, would slowly take root and grow.

In the afternoon, Lin Zheyu burst out from the depths of Beast Roar Mountain, with deafening beastly roars echoing behind him.

Rumble, Rumble, Rumble.

The ground trembled violently as countless beasts fled outward in a frenzy.

How could such terrifying beasts suddenly appear in that place?

Lin Zheyu cursed under his breath and sprinted with all his strength. The beast's claws had shredded the back of his clothes, revealing smooth, defined muscles and several shallow scratches.

Moments ago, while he was searching for beasts, two incredibly powerful beasts had burst out from the depths of Beast Roar Mountain, fighting as they went. Lin Zheyu had simply been caught in the crossfire.

A casual swipe from a massive beast that was as powerful as a lion but resembling a fox had torn through the back of his clothes with ease. Fortunately, Lin Zheyu's mastery of lightness techniques had saved him; otherwise, a chunk of flesh would have been torn from his back.

I nearly died there,

thought Lin Zheyu with lingering fear.

Had that beast not been locked in combat with the other, Lin Zheyu might not have escaped alive. After running a great distance, Lin Zheyu finally stopped, gasping heavily for breath.

"Those two beasts must be at the third or even fourth transformation of blood qi. That's enough for today. Luck isn't on my side, so I'll come back tomorrow." Muttering to himself, Lin Zheyu turned to leave.

The sky was still bright, and sunlight filtered through the forest canopy. He walked leisurely through the woods, and before an hour had passed, a group of people dressed as hunters came hurrying from the distance.

Looking closely, Lin Zheyu realized by coincidence that the man leading them was Ma Wangcheng, whom he had once met by chance.

Lin Zheyu stepped forward quickly and asked curiously, "Brother Ma, has something happened?"

Ma Wangcheng, true to his honest name, had helped him greatly back then. If he were in trouble now and it was within Lin Zheyu's ability, he would not mind lending a hand.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"It's you! Leave now, and don't go that way. There are signs of living corpse activity over there," said Ma Wangcheng, pointing toward the direction they had just fled from.

"Has a living corpse appeared?"

"No, but there are traces of living corpse activity there. There's a chance one is hiding nearby," said Ma Wangcheng gravely.

Living corpses did indeed prefer not to move about during the day, but if prey wandered too close, they would not hesitate to devour it.

"I see. How do you determine signs of living corpse activity? Could you tell me?" asked Lin Zheyu.

"Where living corpses roam, the vegetation around them appears scorched, and any corpses nearby look as if they've been corroded by some highly toxic substance, their bodies charred black. If you see such a scene, you must leave immediately!" said Ma Wangcheng in a grave tone.

"Thank you for the warning, Brother Ma. This is a little thing I found in the forest, and I'd like you to have it," said Lin Zheyu with a smile, pulling a vividly colored toad from his pouch.

"A Marbled Toad!" exclaimed Ma Wangcheng in surprise. This species of toad was poisonous, could be used as medicine, and was highly valuable. At current market prices, one was worth at least 3 taels of silver.

"Brother Lin, I can't possibly accept this," said Ma Wangcheng.

"It's fine. I caught several of them. You've helped me a lot, so this is what you deserve," said Lin Zheyu with a smile.

He had been lucky today and had caught three Marbled Toads. This type of toad could be used to make a rare hallucinogenic drug capable of rendering a Blood Qi Realm martial artist unconscious for the duration of one incense stick.

"I still have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Lin Zheyu handed over the Marbled Toad, and with a flicker of movement, vanished into the forest.