Chapter 9 A Double Whammy of Disasters When the Swift Wolf Appears
Looking at the longbow hanging on his back, Lin Mu Yu thought it was quite a shame that he didn’t get a chance to use it.
However, Lin Mu Yu had no regrets because having a few weapons meant he was no longer defenseless in a dangerous place like the Seven Star Forest.
……
Chu Yao excitedly pulled at Lin Mu Yu’s hand as she said, “Ah Yu, a wild beast’s spirit is a valuable a.s.set to a martial artist. Quickly, go refine that Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s beast spirit. That’s not something easy to come by. If you don’t refine it in an hour, it is going to dissipate by itself!”
Lin Mu Yu stared with a stupefied look, “How do you refine it?”
“You…you haven’t awakened your martial spirit yet?” Chu Yao asked questioningly in return.
“I haven’t…” Lin Mu Yu continued to be befuddled by her questions, “martial spirit…what’s a martial spirit?”
Chu Yao could barely comprehend how a person who could torture a Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger to death would not know able martial spirits. Originally she had thought Lin Mu Yu to be a warrior of the second stage of Human realm, but now…he looks to be just an average guy with a slightly strong physique.
“Then, Ah Yu you stay here to guard me while I refine it.”
“Okay!”
Lin Mu Yu stood guard on one side with his sword in hand while Chu Yao sat down. She shut her eyes as energy began to envelope her body. Slowly, the beast spirit of the dead Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger started to drift towards her and little by little was absorbed into her body. However it seemed like she was only able to take in a very small portion and the small amount that she did take in seemed to be very difficult to absorb. Not long after, her clothes were soaked by the overwhelming amount of sweat.
“Big sis Chu Yao, are you alright?” To Chu Yao, Lin Mu Yu was a newbie that lacked an understand of what was going on.
Chu Yao continued to clench her brows as she silently concentrated.
After a whopping two whole hours, Chu Yao finally exhaled a deep breath and opened her eyes. Almost instantly, her spirit seemed to have renewed itself so much that even Lin Mu Yu could tell of the difference as he smilingly asked, “Big sis Chu Yao, could it be… that you have become stronger?”
Chu Yao answered with a smile, “Yep, I’ve broken pa.s.s the Human realm’s second state and stepped into the third state now!”
Seeing the confused look on Lin Mu Yu’s face, Chu Yao couldn’t help but laugh, “On the continent, martial artists use numbers to measure against one another. An hour ago, my power level was about that of Level 19. Frankly, I had been stuck on Level 19 for the last two years because I never found the chance to advance. This time I was only able to ascend with the Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s spirit aiding me. Now that we’re talking about it, when I first ascended the first state to Level 9, it was with the spirit of a 50 years-old mountain boar that Grandpa had slain. It’s just a shame that…”
She looked at the quickly dissipating beast spirit above the tiger’s carca.s.s and regretfully said, “It’s a shame that I am too weak and can only absorb not even close to 1% of this 4000 year old beast spirit. It’s such a waste. Anyhow, Ah Yu, come and cut open this Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s head, there should be a spirit stone inside!”
“Oh…”
Lin Mu Yu stepped forward and slashed at the wound Hawkeye had inflicted earlier. Finally, after several cuts, the Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s head was sliced opened and the brain matter squirmed out with a scent of blood wafting through the air. At the same time, a l.u.s.trous flame-colored stone was embedded on the inside of the skull. Chu Yao happily rejoiced, “As expected, there is a spirit stone inside. Quickly take it out!”
With a bang, the spirit stone fell into Lin Mu Yu’s hand and a faint heat could be felt coming from the stone.
Chu Yao said with a slight smile on her face, “A 4000 year old spirit stone. This is quite a treasure. Ah Yu, be sure to keep it safe and never let anyone else know of it aside from me.”
“Aye.”
Lin Mu Yu slipped the spirit stone into a hidden pocket then sliced off a piece of the tiger’s thigh. Stuffing it into a cloth sack, that was going to be their food stock until they manage to get out of Seven Star Forest. Maybe if they could find a fire source, they might even get to eat it cooked.
……
“Ah Yu, let’s go?” Chu Yao pulled at Lin Mu Yu’s hand and chuckled, “ What are you still looking at? It’s too dangerous to stay here since it’s filled with all kinds of thousand years old spirit beasts. If we run into one, we’ll never leave this forest again.”
“Wait, we can’t just leave like this…” Lin Mu Yu frowned, “Sister Chu Yao, I think… I want to go look for the Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s cave. You can go back first!”
“Cave?”
Chu Yao asked, “What’s so good about a tiger’s den?”
Lin Mu Yu answered with a smile, “As far as I know, one of Bloodl.u.s.t Tigers’ favorite hobby is to collect rare treasures. The more powerful the tiger, the better the treasure. This Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger is already a seasoned monster at 4000 years old; we can’t possibly let this chance go by.”
Chu Yao once again found herself laughing, “You little runt, not even the slightest bit afraid of death? Alright then, but how do you know where the tiger’s den is at?”
“Bloodl.u.s.t Tigers always hate to part with their caves as they die, so they will run in the direction of their cave. That Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger turned around when it was dying of blood loss. The direction the head was facing should be the direction of the cave.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Lin Mu Yu nodded with steadfastness; in the game , it was certainly set as such. From herbs to Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger, the game’s settings were all realized in this world, thus Lin Mu Yu never hesitated to believe in his prior knowledge.
Chu Yao quietly nodded, “Okay then, since Ah Yu helped me advance to a Level 20 Battle Spirit, as your senior, I’ll go along with you on this detour.”
“Are Level 20 Battle Spirits really strong? Big sis Chu Yao, why are you so happy…”
“Of course, even though there are countless martial artists above Level 20 in Silver Fir City, there is… there is a law in the War Temple that granted Level 20 to 29 Battle Spirits a monthly allowance of one gold Yin from the local War Temple branch. It’s not a lot but it’s still something. Grandpa is definitely going to be very happy now that I can get this one gold Yin.”
Seeing Chu Yao smiling blissfully like a small child, Lin Mu Yu couldn’t help but smile as well as he walked toward the tiger’s den with his sword in hand.
……
After running in Starfall Step for an hour, his legs were still worn out so he began walking in a humorously shaky posture, so much so that Chu Yao let out a small chuckle at the sight.
Yet Lin Mu Yu did not mind it and continued to walk in this funny manner. Feeling a bit sorry about laughing at him, Chu Yao walked over to support Lin Mu Yu with her arm and quietly said, “Spirit beasts usually come out at night, so we’ll have to find the tiger’s den before sundown and stay there overnight. We’ll need to wait until sunrise of the next morning to leave for Silver Fir City, which we’ll have to rush once again to arrive home before sundown.”
“Aye.”
Chu Yao was a smart girl; knowing that this area was the Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s territory and that weaker spirit beasts would be reluctant to challenge the den, spending a night in a Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s den was an exceptionally safe choice.
Good thing the two of them were quite lucky as it took but two hours to find the tiger’s den within a mountain cave. Using a few sticks and resin to make a torch, they entered the cave with a lid torch. A scent of blood wafted through the air and bones could be seen littered everywhere. There were beast skeletons as well as human skeletons. Some of the corpses were even wearing heavy armor, with the flesh gorged out from inside the armor.
“Urgh…”
A look of horror appeared on Chu Yao’s face. Lin Mu Yu gave her hand a tight grip, motioning her to not be afraid.
Once they entered deep within the cave, the environment became much drier and warmer. The Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s bed was made with dried gra.s.s, but the treasures all seemed to be useless rocks with a few pieces of gold Yin and silver Yin coins sprinkled in between, most probably “left behind” by hunters. Aside from those trifles, there was a single crystal clear dagger. One could tell it wasn’t an average item from a single glance.
Lin Mu Yu picked up the dagger and swung it a few times before smiling, “Not bad. Big sis Chu Yao, this is yours now!”
Chu Yao was pleasantly surprised, “You’re really going to give it to me?”
“Yeah, I’m not too fond of weapons that are too short.”
“Alright!”
Holding the dagger in hand, Chu Yao was so happy that she could not express it in words. This dagger looked to be an exquisite item. When held, one could feel the spirit within the weapon. Clearly this was a weapon that had been spirit forged, as there was a beast spirit within the blade. Although Chu Yao was not familiar with the Empire’s weapon cla.s.sification, she knew that spirit forged weapons are definitely not average items. At the very least, none of Hawkeye or Hua Wan’s weapons could match this dagger. Considering Hua Wan’s status, the fact that not even Silver Fir City’s young master could own this kind of weapon was a clear sign of this dagger’s value.
As her heart started to feel uneasy, Chu Yao took a quick side glance at Lin Mu Yu’s handsome face and quickly looked down, afraid of taking another look.
Aside from the dagger, in a corner of the cave laid a metal casket. Prying open the lid with the dagger, a dust-covered book was seen sitting on the bottom of the box. As Chu Yao lightly blew at the book, the name as well as the nearly rotten pages became exposed. In the center, 3 ancient words were written: «Medicine G.o.d’s Index»!
……
“Medicine G.o.d’s Index?” Lin Mu Yu laughed, “Looks like we really found a treasure this time. Chu Yao, since Grandpa has been unable to advance to the level of Medicine Master, he must really need a book like this right?”
Chu Yao nodded, “Yeah, I can’t quite understand it at my level of alchemy so let’s bring it back for Grandpa!”
“Sounds good!”
Chu Yao flipped open the battered remnant of the book and as expected, she was unable to understand most of the text on the page. The use of herbal cores and recipes were extremely esoteric topics, thus she stuffed the book into her shirt to bring home for Chu Feng to study later. As for Lin Mu Yu, as a Master tier Alchemist in the game, he already knew all the recipes from tier one potions to G.o.d tier alchemy. With a glance, he saw that many of the words were foreign to him, and thought to himself that perhaps it was time to study a little.
……
As the night fell, they could no longer continue traveling on the road. After talking with Chu Yao, the two decided to set up camp outside the cave, for there were simply too many corpses inside the den. Chu Yao was worried that she might not even be able to fall asleep.
After last night’s restless traveling, there was finally a chance to rest.
Lin Mu Yu built a small fire outside the den and somehow found a steel helmet. Filling the helmet with water, he cooked the Bloodl.u.s.t Tiger’s meat in the boiling water. A 4000 year old spirit beast’s flesh was very hard to come by, and consequently it was also very difficult to fully cook. After two whole hours, a scent of cooked meat swelled forth from the helmet. The two had been starving for so long that they would have eaten anything, as such they split the meat and took turns drinking the soup. After filling themselves up for the night, they simply laid dry gra.s.s on the low-lying ground beneath a tree to use as beds.
As a result, the severely fatigued Chu Yao quickly fell asleep.
Lin Mu Yu applied another layer of his self-made Gold Sore cream on his wounds, which basically had begun healing, and laid on the ground to watch the night sky. Thinking back to all the things that had happened since he had been transported to this world, if not for Grandpa Chu Feng and Chu Yao giving him a shelter, he would have never survived so long in a world so based around survival of the fittest.
But right now, Lin Mu You realized that he didn’t only have Alchemy, but even Starfall Step had awakened. With his internal energy growing by the day, he had the confidence to become strong. He knew that what he needed to do now was to constantly strengthen himself to protect Grandpa Chu Feng and Chu Yao. It was possible that he could no longer return, thus they were the only ones he could rely on in this world.
At that thought, suddenly Chu Yao gave a soft cry and stuffed her face onto Lin Mu Yu’s embrace, probably feeling a bit chilly in her sleep. A surge of fragrance swept onto his chest while Chu Yao’s warm breathing blew at Lin Mu Yu’s neck, so that he couldn’t help but fantasize about the beauty in his embrace. Looking down, Chu Yao was hugging him as her pair of snow-white prides pressed onto his chest. Under the light of the fire, they rose and sank with her breathing, as if they were a pair of delicately carved jade rabbits.
Drowsily, Lin Mu Yu also fell asleep. Not knowing how long after, he suddenly felt Chu Yao stir in his embrace. He opened his eyes and was about to speak before the other person covered his mouth with her hand. Looking at Lin Mu Yu with her beautiful eyes, she slightly motioned the s.p.a.ce above them. When Lin Mu Yu looked up, he was almost scared to death by what he saw: a large green-furred wolf was staring at the two of them with its emotionless gaze as it stood atop the rocks above the camp.
Those were the eyes of a predator observing its prey!
Swift Wolf!
Lin Mu Yu’s heart thumped as he had an ominous premonition. Swift Wolves were a type of very agile beasts that were as fast as lightning when they attack. If they were to hunt as a pack, then the scene would be even more frightening.
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To the success (minus the minor setback in the morning) of TAG Sunday Fun-day Part 1!
Editing creds to the generous people who chimed in from the chat.