36: Chapter 36 The Pangolin's Warning

The thirteenth day in the canyon.

Lin Xuan traveled through a strange Stone Forest. This place was unlike any area he had seen before—towering grayish-black rock pillars stood everywhere, their surfaces covered in charred burn marks and spiderweb-like cracks, as if they had been repeatedly struck by countless lightning bolts.

The air was filled with a thick, lingering scent of thunder and fire, mixed with the peculiar smell of rocks scorched by high heat.

The "Thunder Gathering" talent was exceptionally active here.

Lin Xuan could clearly perceive that the concentration of free-roaming thunder Spiritual Qi in the surrounding air was at least three times higher than in other parts of the canyon.

Although violent and chaotic, for him, it was a rare treasure trove to Cultivate.

He slowed his pace, extending his Earth Listening Technique to the limit, while his right hand remained resting lightly on the hilt of his qingyun sword.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse trotted at his feet, its dark purple fur nearly invisible in the dim light, with only the tuft of purple hair at the tip of its tail occasionally flashing with a faint glimmer.

Suddenly, the Herb-Seeking Mouse stopped, ears perked up, and let out a series of urgent "squeaks" toward a pile of collapsed rubble to his front right.

Lin Xuan immediately lowered his body and quietly approached.

Around the pile of rubble, traces of battle were evident.

Several stone pillars had been severed at the waist, their cross-sections smooth and flat, lingering with a sharp metallic aura—it was the handiwork of a Sword Cultivator from Sharp Metal Peak.

Scattered on the ground were some charred black beast hairs, coarse and hard as needles, carrying a faint lingering trace of lightning.

Not far away were a few dried, blackened bloodstains, splattered in shape, belonging to a human.

"A team of at least three people fought a thunder-attribute Yao Beast here." Lin Xuan squatted down, picked up a piece of beast hair, and examined it carefully. "The Yao Beast is quite large, with hard scales... it seems to be of the Pangolin variety?"

He looked into the depths of the Stone Forest. The Herb-Seeking Mouse could no longer contain itself, trotting a few steps in one direction before looking back at him, its black bean-like eyes filled with urgency.

There was a cave entrance there, half-concealed by a few collapsed boulders, about the size of a water bucket, with fresh soil and claw marks on the edges.

Lin Xuan did not enter immediately. He first circled to a higher position on the side to carefully observe the area around the cave entrance.

The digging marks were very fresh, the soil was moist, and there were several deep claw marks on the rocks at the edge of the entrance, stained with dark red blood.

From within the cave came the faint, painful sound of heavy breathing, along with the extremely subtle, unstable "zizzing" sound of electric currents.

It was injured, and not lightly.

Lin Xuan pondered for a moment, then took out the stone golem puppet from his Storage Pouch, injected Spiritual Qi to activate it, ordered it to guard three zhang outside the cave entrance, and set the command to "Guard and Alert."

Only then did he use the Breath Concealment Technique, his figure gliding into the cave silently like a feather.

The entrance of the cave was narrow, only wide enough for one person to crawl through, but after going in about a zhang, it suddenly opened up into a natural Stone Chamber about two zhang square.

In the corner of the Stone Chamber, a grayish-brown figure was curled up.

Lin Xuan's pupils constricted slightly.

It was a Pangolin, but its size far exceeded the ordinary—it was the size of a calf!

Its entire body was covered in layers of grayish-brown scales, and each scale naturally bore dark golden, lightning-shaped patterns.

At this moment, many of these scales were shattered and curled, revealing the bloodied wounds beneath. The deepest cut ran diagonally from its left shoulder to its abdomen, almost reaching the bone, and it was still slowly oozing blood.

Sensing that someone had entered, it suddenly raised its head, a pair of dark golden vertical pupils staring fixedly at Lin Xuan, while a low, hoarse, threatening growl rumbled in its throat.

The lightning patterns on its body flickered, attempting to condense electric light, but soon dissipated—it was struggling even to maintain its defense.

Lin Xuan stood where he was, not moving, and observed it carefully.

"Thunder-Patterned Pangolin... earth and thunder dual-attribute, potential Tier 2, strength Tier 1 Medium Grade Early Stage, equivalent to Qi Refining Level 4." A record from the appendix of the "introduction to hundreds of herbs" flashed through his mind. "Skilled at digging, defense, hard scales, and can release short-range lightning strikes. Temperament is relatively gentle, but extremely fierce when guarding its nest."

Judging by these injuries, it was clearly the loser of the previous battle. Being able to escape from the siege of that team of Cultivator was already no small feat.

Seeing that he did not attack immediately, the Pangolin's threatening low growl softened slightly, but the vigilance in its dark golden vertical pupils did not diminish in the slightest.

It tried to move its body, but doing so tugged at its wounds, causing it to tremble in pain, and its breathing became heavier.

Lin Xuan quickly weighed the situation in his mind.

This Pangolin was extremely severely injured, had lost too much blood, and its Spiritual Qi was exhausted; it was in its weakest state.

It fully met the conditions for the spirit control tower "slave" contract.

Moreover, it possessed the rare earth and thunder dual-attribute, and its talent was likely related to the earth or digging—this was of immense value for finding mineral veins and exploring underground ruins.

But... Lin Xuan did not act immediately.

He slowly retreated half a step to show he was harmless. Then, he took a small leather pouch from his bosom, poured out some light green hemostatic ointment and half a pill of Qi-Returning Powder, placed them on a clean leaf, and gently set it on the ground about five feet away from the Pangolin.

After doing this, he retreated to the vicinity of the cave entrance, sat down with his back against the rock wall, and stopped looking at it.

The Stone Chamber fell into silence, with only the heavy, ragged breathing of the Pangolin.

Time passed bit by bit.

The Pangolin's vertical pupils darted back and forth between Lin Xuan and the pile of medicine. Its survival instinct and vigilance against humans were clashing fiercely.

Finally, it moved.

Extremely slowly, it stretched out its neck, its tongue cautiously licking toward the medicine.

After testing it once and finding nothing unusual, it quickly rolled the hemostatic ointment and Qi-Returning Powder into its mouth.

The medicinal power took effect quickly. The hemostatic ointment significantly slowed the bleeding from its wounds, and the Qi-Returning Powder provided a faint trace of Spiritual Qi, allowing it to perk up slightly.

The hostility in its eyes when looking at Lin Xuan diminished slightly, but the caution remained.

Lin Xuan knew this was the best opportunity.

He communicated with the spirit control tower in his Sea of Consciousness, locking his mental intent onto this weak Pangolin.

"Slave contract, sign!"

A dark golden radiance flowed through the bottom layer of the spirit control tower, and a formless power of contract traversed space, descending upon the Pangolin's Soul!

"Roar—!"

The Pangolin's entire body shook violently! Its dark golden vertical pupils constricted sharply, instinctively wanting to resist! The lightning patterns on its body flashed frantically, attempting to condense power!

But it was too weak. Severely injured and having lost blood, with its Spiritual Qi exhausted, that bit of resistance was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of the spirit control tower's great power.

The contract mark was forcibly branded!

In an instant, the connection was established.

Lin Xuan clearly perceived the Pangolin's state at this moment: intense pain, weakness, confusion, and a hint of perplexity regarding the new connection and... forced obedience.

At the same time, information feedback:

[Thunder-Patterned Pangolin (Sub-adult)]

Rank: Tier 1 Medium Grade Early Stage

Status: Severely injured (multiple deep lacerations reaching the bone, excessive blood loss, exhausted Spiritual Qi), extremely weak

Talent:

[Earth Perception (Elementary)]—Can perceive the structure, voids, and distribution of mineral veins within ten zhang underground through vibrations.

[Thunder-Patterned Armor (Damaged)]—The scales naturally contain lightning power, significantly enhancing physical and energy defense, and causing weak lightning counter-damage to close-range attackers (Current talent effect is significantly reduced due to severe damage to the scales).

Characteristics: Earth and thunder dual-attribute, skilled at digging and traversing underground, temperament relatively gentle but fierce when guarding the nest, omnivorous, likes to eat roots and insects rich in minerals or Spiritual Qi.

"Earth Perception!" A sharp glint flashed in Lin Xuan's eyes.

This was exactly the auxiliary talent he needed! With this, finding underground mineral veins and exploring ruins would yield twice the result with half the effort!

He did not delay; with a thought, he brought the severely injured Pangolin into the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

Inside the space, beside the thunder-attracting vine.

The Pangolin appeared abruptly, startling the Thunder-Light Bug that was resting on a vine leaf. The little guy flapped its wings and flew high, curiously observing this new, big fellow.

The Pangolin first looked around this strange space in bewilderment, but when it felt the gentle thunder Spiritual Qi in the air, and the vitality emitted by the thunder-attracting vine that made its Soul feel comfortable, its tense body gradually relaxed.

It instinctively moved toward the thunder-attracting vine—every movement tugged at its wounds, causing it to grimace in pain, but it still persisted in crawling to the vicinity of the vine's roots, where it curled up.

The Thunder-Light Bug circled a few times, seemingly realizing that this big fellow posed no threat, and then landed back on the leaf.

The "Thunder Gathering" aura emitted from its body began to spontaneously guide the thunder Spiritual Qi within the space, gathering it around the Pangolin.

The vitality of the thunder-attracting vine was also slowly nourishing the Pangolin's wounds.

Although the recovery was slow, at least it would not die.

Lin Xuan exited his inner vision and let out a sigh of relief.

Only then did he have the leisure to carefully examine this Stone Chamber.