Chapter 194: Left With Only The Essence

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Edited by Aelryinth

It was no fun; it turned out that his subdued beasts and pets could “see” him.

Zhang Che shook his head, his interest waning.

The frisky monkey looked in Zhang Che’s direction, his ugly face still showing the helpless expression from before. -I really don’t know what you’re playing at; it’s not fun at all!-

“Come, come, you tell me, what’s this look on your face? Do you think I’m being very silly?” Zhang Che’s temper immediately flared up!

The frisky monkey blinked his eyes, shaking his head like a rattle drum, indicating that he definitely didn’t mean it that way!

He mustn’t admit to that no matter what; he might not get to eat any delicacies in the future if he did!

“Tch, just look at your monkey face. I’ll let you off this time!” Zhang Che pursed his lips. Although it was truly a huge wet blanket, this invisibility skill was still very useful. Perhaps it might come into great use in some situations in the future.

Seeing as the day was about to be over, Zhang Che looked to his food storage at the side, his complexion turning a little ugly. Over the past three days, despite him eating more exotic fruits and less compressed biscuits, his supply of dry rations was still rapidly declining. There was only less than twenty-five kilograms of it left.

It seemed like he had to ration his food from now on. Otherwise, if he finished them and he had yet to leave this dangerous area, he’d really have to rely on eating only fruits to fill his stomach.

However, with his current digestive system, it’d be a torture to only be eating fruits. To use a old saying to describe it, it truly would be so dull that he could hatch a bird from it!

{TLN: A phrase quoted from Water Margin. Dull is a homonym to egg in Chinese. Doesn’t really have a meaning to it.}

“Go, bring more fruits back,” Zhang Che instructed the frisky monkey. Afterwards, he sat cross-legged on the platform above the withered tree, looking at three spiritual fruits growing on the purple plant. He didn’t know when would they finally mature. He could only hope that it wouldn’t take too long.

———————

The sky gradually darkened. Zhang Che sat opposite the frisky monkey, facing one another, with a pile of fruits between them. They were originally very delicious, but now tasted bland. They were stuffing the fruits down their mouths mechanically, taking much effort before they finally felt full.

“This isn’t working… I’ll feel hungry again soon. How pitiful of me… there’s so much Titan Python meat in storage, but I can’t roast any of it to eat…”

He stayed on this withered tree for three whole days. Other than practicing his swordsmanship and archery a little, there wasn’t anything else he could do.

There were powerful exotic beasts everywhere in this area. Zhang Che didn’t dare to go around hunting thoughtlessly. If he encountered a strong one that he couldn’t beat, it would be a one way trip.

A curtain of darkness gradually covered the lands…

————-

Suddenly, Zhang Che, who was sitting down and staring blankly, noticed a faint purple glow at his side. He turned his head to look, and saw that the purple stalk of plant was rapidly withering. The three spiritual fruits on it were like little purple lamps, emitting a purple glow.

The spiritual herb was matured, showing an unusual phenomenon!

Immediately after, before Zhang Che could react to any of this, a thick fragrance suddenly spread out from the three spiritual fruits.

-Not good!- Zhang Che’s face sank. He recalled all his subdued beasts and pets into his spiritual sea with a wave of his hand. Afterwards, he summoned the Rock Tortoise and ordered it to swallow the spiritual fruits, along with the entire withered purple plant.

After doing this, Zhang Che hurriedly recalled the Rock Tortoise again, then brought out the Rotten Ent Prowler whip and coiled it around the trunk below him, quickly sliding down.

A tiger’s roar rang out in the forest in the distance.

Immediately after, it was like a medley started playing in the forest. Various ferocious beasts cried out in succession, echoing in the forest, and quickly closing in on Zhang Che’s location.

The fragrance from the purple spiritual fruits actually spread out that quickly!

Zhang Che’s expression grew even uglier. He moved his legs as fast as he could, hoping to run out of this forest as soon as possible, and escape being surrounded by all the ferocious beasts who were attracted by the scent.

However, a sharp cry suddenly rang out from the sky above. Despite the darkness, Zhang Che could clearly see a large black silhouette swooping down towards him.

He didn’t dare to run anymore. He looked up and set his gaze on a large tree with many leaves. The Rotten Ent Prowler whip quickly shot forth, and at the same time, Zhang Che activated the Myriad Transformation Lizard’s invisibility skill, fading into the darkness with no trace to be found.

In the next moment, a huge, strange-looking bird swooped down to the platform on the withered tree. It searched for something for a brief moment, before letting out an extremely displeased cry and taking to the skies once more.

Afterwards, a bunch of black silhouettes came to this area one after another, and left just as unwillingly. The auras on these black silhouettes left Zhang Che not daring to be careless at all. He suppressed his breathing to the softest he could manage.

Just like that, about a quarter of an hour passed in a flash. The Myriad Transformation Lizard’s invisibility skill duration ran out for some time before Zhang Che finally sensed that peace had returned to his surroundings.

“Hoo… it should be fine now, right?” Zhang Che slid down the tree stealthily and perked up his ears, listening. There were no more unusual sounds. A huge burden was finally lifted from his chest.

Luckily his reactions were fast and he immediately recalled the Rock Tortoise into his spiritual sea after making it consume the spiritual herb. Otherwise, not even his bones would be left after facing off against those terrifying beasts.

Thinking of the Rock Tortoise, he realized he was too nervous earlier and didn’t pay any attention to its situation at all. He wondered if it had completed its advancement.

Zhang Che immediately focused on his inner self. There was now another beast card emitting five-colored rays of light in his spiritual sea. Taking a closer look at it, there were four hexagrams on the card.

-This is the Rock Tortoise? Well, it can’t be any subdued beast other than the Rock Tortoise.

-But why would it directly advance from gold to legend-quality!?-

Zhang Che really felt as if he was dreaming, “looking” at the five-colored light above his spiritual sea, corresponding to the beast card beneath it.

He had originally thought that the Rock Tortoise would definitely advance to dark gold-quality smoothly after consuming the three spiritual fruits, but the possibility of it directly breaking through dark gold was miniscule.

He had never expected to be given a huge surprise out of nowhere!

“Great. With another legend-quality subdued beast, together with the Steel-Armored Tyrannosaurus, my chances of leaving this area have increased by a lot!” Zhang Che smiled brightly. With a wave of his hand, the five-colored beast card immediately shot out of his spiritual sea and materialized into a five-colored streak of light, landing on the grass before him.

The light faded. Zhang Che’s eyes narrowed slightly.

-Why did the Rock Tortoise became so much smaller after advancing? Could it be that it’s left with only the essence?-

Regrettably, the forest was covered in darkness. Zhang Che was unable to see the Rock Tortoise’s appearance clearly. With another wave of his hand, he summoned the Scarlet Flame Drake.

The scarlet flame dancing around this fellow was the best source of light.

Making use of the scarlet flames dancing around the Scarlet Flame Drake, Zhang Che finally got a good look at the Rock Tortoise’s appearance. He saw a one-meter-plus huge tortoise laying on the grass before him, its shell resembling a purple-colored crystal.

The hue of purple on its shell was pure and translucent; under the illumination of the scarlet flames, it reflected a layer of faint purple light.

“Is this for real? The three spiritual fruits actually had such effects… let alone raising the Rock Tortoise’s quality, it even altered the color of its shell?” Zhang Che was immediately fascinated.