Speeding all the way back, the white tiger woman executed a roll on the spot, swaggering directly into the cloud and mist right before countless electronic eyes, her entire body vanishing from sight.
As she descended into the white mist, the clouds over Huyue Gorge grew increasingly dense, until one could barely see their own hand before their face.
Looking down from a satellite, the mist appeared as though gushing out from deep underground, wrapping around Huyue Gorge in delicate wisps, leaving only faint glimpses of thriving greenery below.
The instruments sent in by the authorities either mysteriously vanished or broke down completely, becoming no different from ordinary rocks.
Yu Lan had also sent people in to try, but the mist was far too eerie. No matter how familiar with the terrain the forest rangers were, they would enter only to walk back out in a daze without realizing it, completely unable to approach the core area.
Oddly enough, animals could come and go freely through the white mist, and even birds flying in the sky encountered no obstacles, which was truly miraculous.
Reports of a suspected intelligent humanoid non-human creature appearing in the Xixiang region were immediately relayed up the chain of command, along with the carcass of the giant catfish.
...
The moment Nan Zhi, transformed into the white tiger woman, stepped into Huyue Gorge, the first thing she noticed was a spread of wild ginseng, Polygonatum, matsutake mushrooms, goji berries, and other wild fruits and herbs arranged on a banana leaf at the entrance of the bear cave.
—These medicinal herbs had all been washed, though the handling was clearly somewhat crude; a piece of wild ginseng as thick as a thumb had a snapped section, and stepping closer brought a faint medicinal fragrance.
On the slope in front of the bear cave, fierce beasts like clouded leopards, brown bears, macaques, leopards, and gray wolves were lining up to pay “tribute” to the cave.
These animals were not demon beasts, nor had they awakened intelligence, but influenced by the spiritual energy Nan Zhi had released during her recent secluded cultivation, they had become remarkably attuned to human nature.
Seeming to realize that remaining near Huyue Gorge benefited them, these predators brought prey every day in exchange for permission to stay outside the bear cave.
They did nothing else—just lay there.
Animals were naturally drawn to spiritual energy. Although they could not speak, the beastly instincts embedded in their bloodlines reminded them of the benefits of absorbing spiritual energy.
Thus, whenever Nan Zhi opened her eyes over the past two days, rain or shine, she would always see various species of beasts lounging, crouching, or lying in rows on the slope outside the cave.
Sometimes it was a leopard lazily sunbathing alongside a family of brown bears chewing on orchids in the grass; other times, it was a python coiled in a tree alongside a strictly hierarchical wolf pack.
The animals did not bother one another, quietly enjoying the bath of spiritual energy, making for an extraordinarily harmonious scene.
Spiritual energy originally belonged to Heaven and Earth, and Nan Zhi did not mind giving back to nature, so she made no effort to chase the animals away.
Little did she expect that in just a few short days, news seemed to spread throughout Qingmeng Mountain, attracting an ever-growing variety of animals to the slope outside.
There were even many strange-looking protected species that Nan Zhi had only ever seen on legal educational TV shows.
A group of protected species did absolutely nothing every day except sprawl out on the ground in a lazy slouch, letting anyone pet, hug, or stroke them. If wildlife protection organizations saw this, they would probably go mute on the spot.
“Ooo-wa-wa-wa! Ooo-ga-ga-ga!”
A few macaques lined up at the very front of the queue, craning their necks toward the bear cave and letting out respectful, low chattering sounds.
Before long, there was movement inside the cave.
The golden-furred treasure-seeking mouse darted out like the wind, twitching its nose as it leaned over the herbs to sniff repeatedly. Satisfied, it finally nodded at the macaques:
“Squeak squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!”
“Ooo-ga-ga-ga! Ooo-ga-ga!”
As if granted approval, the macaques immediately bounded off, leaping over the beast pack outside the cave to claim a spot beneath the tree where the big python usually coiled.
The second to pay “tribute” were two clouded leopards, one large and one small. The mother leopard's fur was messy, looking as though she had fought with some beast, while the cub could barely walk straight, stumbling alongside her legs.
“Woo...”
The mother leopard lowered her head, staring at the golden rat on the ground for a moment before spitting out half an earthen lump from her mouth and nudging it with her forepaw:
“Woo-woo-woo.”
Corn felt a bit disgusted by the mother leopard's saliva, but still pointed at an open spot near the bear cave and called out twice with great vigor:
“Squeak squeak squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!”
A flash of joy glinted in the mother leopard's eyes. She picked up her cub by the scruff of its neck, slowly paced over to that spot to lie down, placed her cub against her chest, and unhurriedly began grooming its fur.
After the clouded leopards came a smaller yellow weasel with vibrant yellow fur and round, beady black eyes, looking more like an adorable creature than a wild beast.
“Squeak squeak squeak!”
Seeing Corn, who was half its size, it hurriedly spat out a palm-sized gold nugget and gestured frantically with its two dark paws:
“Squeak squeak! Squeak squeak squeak!”
It seemed to be venting about all its hardships.
Corn didn't even raise its tiny head, merely pointing a paw toward the back.
A pack of fierce beasts was being bossed around by a single golden-furred rat.
In ancient times, the fox borrowed the tiger's might; today, the rat borrowed the tiger's might.
Nan Zhi really felt like giving Corn a round of applause.
The moment her feet touched the ground, the fur of every surrounding beast bristled. They all flattened themselves against the earth in complete submission, and even the falcons and golden eagles in the treetops instinctively buried their heads in their feathers, silent as winter cicadas.
Nan Zhi knew full well the reason for this.
Though the white tiger was dead, the baleful aura on its skin had not dissipated.
Making no extra moves, she simply strode toward the cave. The milky-white mist at the entrance parted automatically as if alive, revealing the bare bear cave inside.
Long after the white tiger woman's shadow had vanished, the beasts outside finally dared to slowly raise their heads, crawling along the ground to move toward the spots where they could absorb spiritual energy.
Over a thousand fierce beasts, yet not a single one dared to utter a sound.
“Squeak squeak squeak!”
What cowards.
Corn shook off the mist clinging to its fur, cast a disdainful look worthy of a king, and trotted on tiptoes into the bear cave.
—Completely forgetting which creature had been terrified out of its skin back then.
...
Nan Zhi finally had time to check her kill rewards.
【Congratulations, cultivator, on killing the Level 17 red-named monster "Monster Catfish of the Lake"! Obtained Upgrade EXP × 200, Spiritual Energy Cluster (Small) × 2, Monster Catfish Spirit × 1, Qi-Augmenting Pill × 5, Rejuvenation Pill × 5】
“As expected, killing monsters in reality yields experience and rewards as well. That was close—the authorities almost stole the kill on that giant catfish.
“Qi-Augmenting Pills and Rejuvenation Pills are like advanced versions of Qi-Supplementing Pills and Blood Supplementing Pills. On the other hand, this 'Monster Catfish Spirit' and 'Spiritual Energy Cluster' are rewards I haven't seen before.”
Nan Zhi took out the two items to examine them closely.
The former was a crimson glass orb the size of a pigeon egg, enclosing a miniaturized fat catfish inside. Giving it a gentle shake caused the fat catfish to swim about following the motion.
The latter was an ethereal orb of light. Holding it in hand, it felt completely weightless, looking utterly ordinary and unremarkable.
【Monster Catfish Spirit: A spirit orb formed after the death of a monster catfish that lived at river bottoms and devoured human souls. Can be used to refine 'Evil Soul Pills' and 'Soul-Absorbing Fans'. (This seems to be usable as a type of food.)】
【Spiritual Energy Cluster (Small): A cluster formed from condensed spiritual energy. Can be used in alchemy and artifact crafting. Using it during cultivation increases the surrounding spiritual energy concentration, improving cultivation efficiency.
(Single-use consumable, exclusive kill drop from real-world red-named monsters.)】
“The purity of spiritual energy absorbed during meditation and breathing exercises is limited. But with a sizeable number of Spiritual Energy Clusters to soak in continuously, even a pig's cultivation could advance by leaps and bounds, couldn't it?
Why didn't you drop good stuff like this in the game?”
Nan Zhi couldn't help clicking her tongue:
“As for this catfish spirit, after eating so much human flesh, using it to refine pills or artifacts feels a bit...”
Seeing the hint in parentheses, an idea suddenly struck her.
Rate on N.U.
