Chapter 26 Gains

Chapter 26: Gains

Now wasn't the time to hesitate—Wang Yanfeng knew this too well. Carrying the Borage plant, his escape seemed more crucial anyway. He hurriedly slapped a few Lightness Talismans onto himself and sped away rapidly.

The tiger-type beast was enraged further, letting out a series of roars and sending several wind blades attacking the fleeing Wang Yanfeng. Wang Hao drew his Gale Sword to intercept them, shouting loudly, "Kitty cat... don't get distracted... your opponent is me!"

Wang Hao threw a single fireball. Unfortunately, the tiger was agile; it easily leaped aside, dodging the attack range. It gave a contemptuous glance towards him, seemingly mocking his overconfidence. It didn't attack immediately, just staring down condescendingly as if saying: "Show me what you got, hurry up!"

Hah, since it isn't attacking, that's fine by me. I'm buying time for Eighth Uncle to get farther away.

However, moments later, the tiger grew impatient and suddenly pounced, attacking directly. Wang Hao activated his Light Body Technique, dodging swiftly and circling around the tiger while running, launching fireballs continuously.

A ring of fireballs shot towards the tiger demon. Though none were direct hits, the shockwaves from the explosions still reached it, slightly igniting its fur.

The tiger demon was furious and began attacking with full force. Even though Wang Hao's Light Body Technique was perfected, after a few exchanges, he still got clawed, leaving several wounds from the tiger's paws.

But the tiger didn't gain much advantage either—Wang Hao traded injury for injury, landing a solid slash on its front leg with his sword strike.

After a dozen exchanges between man and tiger, he had only managed to hit the tiger three times. All were superficial wounds that barely scratched the surface.

By now, the battle had drained his already limited Qi reserves to dangerously low levels, making him feel extremely fatigued. The tiger, on the other hand, relied purely on physical strength, barely consuming any spiritual energy.

With a Tier 2 demonic beast's physique, relying solely on physical combat, even high-intensity fighting could last a day or two easily—something impossible for Wang Hao to withstand.

Plus, they were located in the Duan Yuan Mountain Range, surrounded by other Tier 2 beasts. He had to find a way to escape somehow.

Taking a bottle of Spirit Recovery Pills from his storage bag without checking the count, he swallowed the whole thing, feeling some recovery in his weary body.

But the tiger wasn't stupid. Seeing him consume pills, it attacked immediately. A slight dodge was insufficient; his protective shield dimmed significantly, and his whole body was sent flying by the impact.

After landing, he felt chest discomfort and violently coughed up a mouthful of congested blood.

"No choice, I must use this..."

He took out a talisman. In the center was depicted a tiny golden sword. It was precisely the prize obtained earlier—a Tier 2 Golden Sword Talisman.

"Go!"

With no time for heartache over the cost, he activated the Golden Sword Talisman towards the tiger while simultaneously activating his Light Body Technique to flee quickly into the distance.

The tiger wanted to chase desperately, but the Golden Sword Talisman locked onto it with immense power. Sensing the danger, it had to concentrate on dealing with the threat first!

The timing was chosen well. In the other direction, beasts were approaching soon. These Tier 2 beasts held no alliances; upon meeting, they would fight each other fiercely, giving him a chance to slip away safely.

Sure enough, after escaping a far distance, he heard multiple beast roars. Glancing at the map, three skull icons had collided together. He couldn't help laughing aloud. "Beasts will always be beasts!"

His Earth Escape Technique was perfected and faster than Wang Yanfeng's. He traveled over fifty li deep into an unknown region and caught up, seeing his uncle safe. This brought relief and surprise to Wang Yanfeng.

"Hao'er... what about the white tiger?"

Damn, couldn't you ask about my safety first?

"Not sure. Probably fighting other beasts. I released a Tier 2 talisman and didn't dare stay longer!" Looking around at the dense forest terrain, Wang Hao asked, "Where exactly is here?"

"No idea either, but heading east should exit the Duan Yuan Mountain Range eventually..." Yanfeng replied, stating an obvious fact that was utterly useless currently, since the east was blocked by beasts earlier. Dare they go there?!

Within the dense forest, a truly helpless realization struck hard. Never leaving home, he had been unaware of how limited his methods were. If he had a scouting spirit beast or insect, it would be useful indeed!

The crappy map system remained as unreliable as ever. Unless he reached a core node, it wouldn't display the entire region map, making it basically useless. Plus, it displayed only beasts ranked at least Tier 1. Yet the mountains teemed with ordinary animals, poisonous insects, and snakes. Though unranked, their vast numbers meant that if he was bitten and left untreated, even a cultivator could die!

Sitting cross-legged, he began restoring his spiritual energy and said firmly, "Can't go deeper. Who knows what we'll encounter? Let's wait here instead!"

"Wait?" Puzzled, Wang Yanfeng questioned, "Wait for those beasts to finish fighting and come after us? Is that a good outcome?"

Wang Hao snorted derisively and replied, "If they fight each other, even the survivor will lose some skin. Maybe we uncle-nephew pair can scavenge some Tier 2 materials. Eighth Uncle, Tier 2 beast materials are worth quite a lot!"

If it possessed a Demon Core, a single Tier 2 core was worth at least five hundred Spirit Stones. Additionally, claws, teeth, bones, and tendons were excellent crafting materials. Similarly valuable were hides; besides crafting defensive artifacts, they could be used for drawing talismans, and the blood for making ink. The meat price per unit wasn't high—two jin sold for one Spirit Stone—but Tier 2 beasts were huge. Some weighed thousands of jin. A low-Tier 2 white tiger like that was estimated around fifteen hundred jin. Excluding valuable parts like claws and hide, plus offal and worthless parts, it would still yield eight or nine hundred jin of pure meat—another four hundred Spirit Stones. Overall, the combined corpse could sell for two or three thousand Spirit Stones easily.

Wang Yanfeng was tempted. Stationed in the market town for years, he had only accumulated a few hundred Spirit Stones. If they killed one Tier 2 beast and split thousands...

He gritted his teeth, determined, and said, "Alright, I'll listen to you. We wait a bit. But not here—it's best to dig an underground hideout to conceal ourselves. Wait for the commotion to cease, then check the situation..."

Wang Hao nodded in agreement. His wilderness survival experience was indeed inferior compared to Wang Yanfeng's rich experience in the field.

Thus, the duo started working. Moments later, thirty meters underground, they excavated a temporary cave a hundred square meters in size. Both sat meditating and resting while monitoring outside movements. Actually, Wang Hao just needed to watch the skull icons on the map. Currently, three were gathered together, still fighting. They definitely weren't drinking tea together, right?

"Oh right, I also need to tally the gains..." Wang Hao hastily collected Jiang Chao's trio of storage bags. Earlier there was no time to inspect them properly; now was the opportunity.

Taking the three storage bags, he expended a little effort erasing the original owner's imprints. He opened them and poured the contents onto the floor, creating a pile of miscellaneous items.

"Sigh, truly poor..." Looking at the scattered pile, he saw mostly daily necessities. Worthless. Rogue cultivators typically carried their entire belongings on their person anyway.

He discarded useless pots, pans, and bowls aside and sorted the valuable items into categories neatly. This attracted Wang Yanfeng's attention. Noticing over eight hundred Spirit Stones, he curled his lip, remarking, "Seven hundred of those are just what I gave him earlier..."

Damn, what are you implying? Wanting the seven hundred back?

Wang Hao advised persuasively, "Eighth Uncle... we already retrieved the Borage plant. Those seven hundred naturally count as Jiang Chao's property now that he is deceased. Splitting evenly, four hundred each... nice, isn't it?"

Hearing these words, Wang Yanfeng was stunned momentarily. He wasn't a selfless saint either. Cultivation is a struggle for resources. Gaining a free four hundred Spirit Stones—why not? Plus, he had secured the Borage, so the family's interests weren't harmed.

He nodded in agreement. "Fine. The rest of the items are yours, since you killed them yourself."