41: Chapter 41 Spirits and Monsters

The three father and sons continued walking towards the deep mountains; Hei Feng had a keen sense of smell and could quickly lead them to find some large wild beasts.

Ye Jing naturally did not fall behind, vying with his two sons to battle these wild beasts. Through long periods of life-and-death struggle with fierce beasts, the Blood Qi of the three of them had improved quite a bit.

The tacit understanding between Ye Xuan and Ye Yi also grew increasingly higher.

In particular, Ye Jing felt signs of his internal Blood Qi surging, which signaled that he had reached the peak of a Third-Stage Martial Artist and would soon be able to achieve a Breakthrough to become a Second-Stage Martial Artist.

For an ordinary person, it would take at least five years to train to become a Second-Stage Martial Artist, yet now, the two brothers were about to become Second-Stage Martial Artists in less than a year.

If this were to spread, it would surely astonish the world; the efficacy of that golden spirit rice was truly terrifying.

But this was also inseparable from the continuous attacks and trekking, which had tempered their physical stamina; this was far stronger than simply standing in a horse stance at home.

They had been walking in the mountains for seven days. The wild beasts in the mountains seemed to have realized their prowess and began to fear them, refusing to fight and fleeing immediately upon seeing them approach.

Seeing this, Ye Jing thought that the fierce beasts in the mountains were almost afraid of them, and continuing to search might yield nothing.

They arrived at a forest filled with dark green miasma, and Ye Jing stopped here: "Stop, we should leave this place."

"Dad, are we not going to continue deeper?" Ye Yi asked in confusion.

Ye Jing looked up at the foggy deep mountains before him and shook his head decisively: "Going further in is very dangerous; the animals inside are not something we can handle, and the miasma poison inside is also very thick."

The Qinling Mountains are so vast; apart from the hunting grounds marked off by the Tang Family and some small hilltops, the rest of the area can be called a forbidden zone.

It is said that not even a First-Stage Martial Artist dares to easily set foot in here; what's more, there have been top-tier First-Stage Martial Artists who ventured deep inside and ultimately ended up with not even their bones remaining.

Ye Jing had hunted in his early years and naturally had heard of the terrifying rumors about the Qinling Forbidden Zone. The things lurking deep in the miasma were a hundred times more terrifying than the fierce beasts they had encountered before.

Ye Yi frowned, his tone carrying a bit of unwillingness: "Dad, our Blood Qi just had a Breakthrough these past few days. If we could encounter another powerful prey, perhaps Big Brother and I could reach a higher level!"

His hunting knife was currently stained with the faint, fishy scent of beast blood. The fighting over these past few days had made his eyes increasingly sharp, and his desire for strength had become even stronger.

Ye Jing patted his shoulder, his eyes serious: "Yier, on the path of the Dao of Martial Arts, one must avoid being overly eager for quick success. Our goal for entering the mountains this time has already been achieved."

Before he had finished speaking, his gaze swept across the rolling dark green miasma before him. From within the miasma, a few strange roars could be vaguely heard; the sound did not resemble that of ordinary wild beasts and carried a heart-palpitating sense of oppression.

"Listen, the things in this dense forest are not something we can provoke right now."

Hei Feng also became restless at this moment, growling in a low voice towards the depths of the miasma, its fur standing on end and its limbs tensed; it was clearly feeling a fatal threat.

It had been rampaging unchecked in the forest these past few days, not even afraid when encountering fierce tigers and black bears, yet at this moment, it dared not even approach the edge of the miasma, only daring to guard tightly behind the three of them, Ye Jing and his sons.

Seeing this, Ye Yi also put away the curiosity in his heart and nodded: "Dad, I understand. I will listen to you."

Ye Xuan also agreed.

The strange roar from the forest just now had also sent a chill through his heart.

Ye Jing nodded and hurriedly led his two sons back the way they came.

After they had walked for more than an hour, they could finally no longer see that terrifying dense forest.

At this time, the sky had gradually grown dark.

The day was growing late, and the mountain paths were difficult to walk.

The three of them built a fire on an open, flat piece of land, preparing to take a short rest.

That night, Ye Jing's mind was still on the Essence Spirit hidden deep in the dense forest. That Essence Spirit had made them feel so heart-palpitating with just a single roar; it seemed the Qinling Forbidden Zone was not famous without reason.

Just as they lit the fire, the usually docile Hei Feng suddenly let out a howl towards the distance; the sound was extremely urgent.

"What is it?!" Ye Yi was greatly alarmed and hurriedly picked up his knife.

Ye Jing also looked at Hei Feng, and saw a fiery red figure appear in the darkness, getting closer and closer to them.

Very quickly, Ye Jing saw clearly that it was a fox with a completely crimson body; its fur was bristling, its eyes were crimson, and it was staring fixedly at Ye Jing and the others.

It was a size larger than an average fox, its fur was blood-red, and there was a white spot on its forehead; it looked like no ordinary creature.

"This is..." Ye Jing looked at this fierce, unusual fox, and his mind immediately raced to recognize this fox; it was the Essence Spirit fox that had escaped from the fox den.

He hurriedly said to his two sons: "Be careful! This fox is a Essence Spirit!"

The two sons' eyes widened in shock. A Essence Spirit?!

"Dad! Could this fox be the one we encountered before?!"

Ye Xuan asked hurriedly.

Ye Jing looked at its resentful appearance: "It should be. It seems to have come to take revenge on us!"

"Roar!" The Red Fox let out a loud cry and flew towards Ye Jing; its target was very clear—it wanted to attack Ye Jing.

It had been tracking Ye Jing for so long and had never found an opportunity to ambush him. Now, seeing the three of them about to leave, it was naturally very anxious and sprang out, intending to attack Ye Jing.

Ye Jing immediately used his hunting knife to block. The fox looked small, but its strength was immense, and its speed was extremely fast.

"Clang!" The crisp sound of metal colliding suddenly exploded, and the hunting knife in Ye Jing's hand was actually forced to sink by half an inch under the Red Fox's pounce.

Ye Jing immediately used the ability of the Immortal Willow, wanting to check if he could handle this fox. He saw golden text appear above the fox's head.

"Low-level Essence Spirit in the mountains, extraordinary Bloodline, Red Fox, untamed. After taming, can be domesticated by spending fifty Immortal Light."

Fifty Immortal Light?

Ye Jing was extremely surprised; he did not expect that this Red Fox would require so much Immortal Light to be domesticated, and there were conditions.

It seems that the reason he was able to successfully domesticate Hei Feng and the Mountain Delicacy Chicken previously was because they had already submitted to him.

But what made Ye Jing even more tempted was that it was also written that it had an extraordinary Bloodline; it might be a powerful fellow, perhaps he could try to domesticate it!

And it was also a low-level Essence Spirit; he should be able to try to take it down.

Seeing his two sons coming to help, Ye Jing immediately called out: "Don't come over yet! I will deal with it!"

So, he turned his hunting knife and slapped the fox onto the ground. The Red Fox quickly jumped to the side, its eyes full of killing intent, and charged up again.

But it was only a low-level Essence Spirit now; although its attacks were fast, Ye Jing, a Third-Stage Martial Artist, still had the ability to block its attacks.

Seeing that Ye Jing's hunting knife could block its attacks and that it couldn't break through his defense after so long, it turned around and prepared to run.

Ye Jing's eyes narrowed; this fox was quite clever and would not fight a protracted battle. Before, when facing the siege of the villagers catching foxes, it also knew to run when it saw the situation was unfavorable.

But Ye Jing would not let it go so easily, and ordered Hei Feng: "Catch it!"

Hei Feng immediately stepped forward, opened its mouth, and bit the fox's tail, intending to drag it back. The Red Fox, in pain, wanted to pounce and attack Hei Feng's eyes.

Ye Jing immediately raised the back of his axe and fiercely struck the Red Fox's head.

"Awoo!" This strike was full of force, directly knocking the struggling Red Fox unconscious.

"Xuaner, come here and tie up this Red Fox," Ye Jing said calmly.

Ye Xuan approached, puzzled, and asked: "Dad, why aren't you killing this demon fox?"

Ye Jing smiled: "I want to try to see if I can domesticate it to guard our house."

"Domesticate it? But it's a Essence Spirit," Ye Yi said, confused.

"Rest assured, I have my reasons. When we get home later, prepare a sturdy iron cage and just lock it up for now," Ye Jing said with a chuckle.

What he wanted was a Essence Spirit!

If he could domesticate it, that meant their family would have another powerful combat force. He really wanted to see just how powerful this fox would become in the future!