Chapter 667: Pursuing into the Mountains

Each egg is the size of a water bucket; of course, compared to the size of a Thunder-Qing Beast, they are quite petite. The surface of the eggshells is covered in blue and green snowflake patterns, though unfortunately, they are now coated in sand and dust, obscuring their brilliant beauty. This is the target for which the Wu Beasts spared no effort to mobilize!

They somehow got news that the giant Thunder-Qing Beast had laid eggs and rushed over to rob them.

The Wu Beast that died inside the belly of the young Thunder-Qing Beast had likely disguised itself as a Thunder-Qing Beast to sneak into the nest, stolen an egg, and was caught in the act and executed on the spot.

Unfortunately, the egg it stole shattered right then and there.

The remaining two eggs are the reason both sides are still locked in a life-and-death struggle.

He He Lingchuan keenly sensed that both sides were exhausted.

The Wu Beasts are far inferior to the Thunder-Qing Beasts in number, and their individual combat power is not as strong as the Thunder-Qing Beast Lord. Therefore, they drove the beast tide and used sandstorms to consume and weaken the strength of the Thunder-Qing clan, intending to drag their opponents down to their own level before defeating them with their rich experience.

No, that's not right; the goal of the Wu Beasts is not to defeat the giant Thunder-Qing Beasts, but merely to steal the eggs.

However, the tenacity and resilience of the Thunder-Qing Beasts were unexpected; even after the beast tide charged through the rock formation, they had not yet been crushed.

The beast tide and the sandstorm—the two great trump cards of the Wu Beasts—have both vanished; now is the time to speak with raw strength.

However, the Thunder-Qing Beasts' defense of the nest remains tight. The Wu Beasts circled back and forth, probing many times, but were beaten back each time.

Just then, two whirlwinds swept past, signaling that the wind direction had changed again.

The giant Thunder-Qing Beast, which had been roaring at the Wu Beasts, suddenly turned its head.

He He Lingchuan followed its gaze and saw only the Jin family's team.

The giant Thunder-Qing Beast's small eyes were bloodshot as it let out a roar.

Seven or eight Thunder-Qing Beasts behind it received the order, turned their heads, and charged wildly toward those few people.

The Jin family's team was happily harvesting beast corpses and were stunned when they heard the roar. However, most of the hunters reacted quickly and turned to run.

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror clicked its tongue: "Yo, yo, what's going on here?"

It was gloating, while He He Lingchuan's mind raced.

What had the Jin family's team done to make the giant Thunder-Qing Beast, which was focused on its enemies, suddenly turn hostile toward them?

The hunters naturally scattered in all directions, but the Thunder-Qing Beasts kept their eyes locked on one person.

No matter how he turned or climbed, it was useless.

These few Thunder-Qing Beasts were chasing only him, very single-mindedly.

He He Lingchuan recognized at a glance that this guy was the hunter who had been cutting up the Wu Beast corpse, wasn't he? What heaven-defying, beast-angering thing had he done just now? But with this interlude, the number of Thunder-Qing Beasts guarding the nest dropped by seven or eight, creating a gap in the defensive circle.

The Wu Beasts immediately seized this opportunity; their leader let out a hiss, and two subordinates immediately attacked the gap.

The Thunder-Qing Beasts intercepted urgently, but they were stretched thin; blocking here left a hole over there.

Two more Wu Beasts specifically attacked the young Thunder-Qing Beast to divert the attention of the other adult opponents.

They frequently spat frost to slow down the Thunder-Qing Beasts, though the effect was not very good.

Afterward, the Wu Beast leader made its move.

It led two subordinates and personally launched an attack from the east side.

All the Thunder-Qing Beasts, including the Lord, focused their defense on the east side, leaving a gap in the rear.

At this moment, the fastest Wu Beast suddenly emerged from behind a pile of corpses, darted into the beast nest, grabbed an egg, and ran!

This sneak attack was exceptionally agile; before the Thunder-Qing Beasts could react, one egg was gone, and the thief was already over ten feet away, as if its feet weren't touching the ground.

He He Lingchuan almost wanted to applaud it.

The giant Thunder-Qing Beast also realized it had been tricked and turned around with a roar.

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from mid-air, hitting the egg thief with precision! This bolt of lightning was large and thick, with a diameter greater than the Wu Beast itself. When it struck the unlucky creature, He He Lingchuan saw blue and white sparks crackling all over its body before it turned charred.

The wrath of the Lord is not so easy to endure.

But the Wu Beast leader also seized the opportunity to take a bite out of the giant Thunder-Qing Beast's leg.

It had used a great deal of force, tearing off a large chunk of skin and flesh.

The giant Thunder-Qing Beast was forced to turn to deal with it, and the Wu Beast leader shook its head, tossing the piece of skin and flesh aside.

This was not what it wanted to eat most.

But as luck would have it, this piece of Thunder-Qing Beast skin flew thirty feet away and landed seven feet in front of He He Lingchuan.

A gift from heaven; he accepted it with a smile without hesitation.

The giant beast's skin was stiff, feeling like stone to the touch, only slightly elastic.

He casually tucked it into his storage ring.

The egg thief fell to the ground, twitching, but still held the egg in its arms tightly. Seeing several Thunder-Qing Beasts chasing after it, it scrambled up and continued to flee.

Huh? It wasn't shocked into unconsciousness?

The onlookers were a bit surprised, as that bolt of lightning was clearly of unparalleled power.

However, He He Lingchuan noticed that the surface of the egg was still flickering with electric light; could it be that the power of that lightning strike had been mostly absorbed by the round egg?

As expected of a cub of the giant Thunder-Qing Beast.

The egg thief scurried away, but twitched every few steps; clearly, the power of the lightning had not yet worn off.

He He Lingchuan was not far from it; at this moment, he flicked his hand and threw a small object, which accurately hit the thief and shattered.

But it caused no damage.

One companion turned to follow and provide cover, while the remaining few Wu Beasts continued to besiege the Thunder-Qing Beast nest.

The division of labor was very clear, and their minds were quite sober.

If they retreated, the giant Thunder-Qing Beast would certainly pursue; but if the Wu Beast leader stayed, the giant Thunder-Qing Beast had to protect the last egg in the nest, leaving it unable to spare any effort.

He He Lingchuan even saw a trace of greed in the eyes of the Wu Beast leader.

It wanted to steal the very last egg as well!

In He He Lingchuan's view, this was not a good idea.

The giant Thunder-Qing Beast seemed to see this too; after its initial extreme rage, it became smarter and roared toward the back. A female beast received the order, slipped back into the nest, and lay down on the last round egg.

This was the standard egg-incubation posture.

But hunters familiar with Thunder-Qing Beasts knew that the female beast did not brood over eggs like a hen; the incubation of the eggs relied mainly on the adults spitting out thunder every three hours. After persisting like this for half a month, the young beast would break out of its shell.

But in the current situation, this brooding form was undoubtedly the best defensive posture. For the remaining Wu Beasts to steal the egg, they would have to drag away the thousands-of-pounds-heavy female beast and dig for the egg from under its belly.

He He Lingchuan glanced at the battlefield, determined that there was no opportunity there for the time being, and then shrank back, using the rocks and the mountain of corpses as cover to pursue the two fleeing Wu Beasts.

He kept his goal of obtaining a Frost Bead firmly in mind.

He hoped that these things could also be produced from the Wu Beasts.

The biggest problem was that the two Wu Beasts were fleeing toward the southwest, which was the direction the sandstorm and the beast tide were advancing.

Therefore, He He Lingchuan had only taken two steps when a teammate's soft call came from behind: "Lord He, you cannot go that way!"

Going toward the southwest, the possibility of finding a Frost Bead was minimal; how was that any different from seeking death? "The Wu Beasts might have what I need," He He Lingchuan said, taking out a Frost Bead and holding it in his mouth. "You all pick for another quarter of an hour and then leave; don't wait for me."

"This..." The teammate hesitated for a moment, took a bag from his bosom, and poured out three Frost Beads for him. "Lord He, take these; they can save your life at a critical moment!"

Three beads meant three quarter-hours of life. He He Lingchuan was moved as he accepted them and said solemnly, "Many thanks. Your name is Dylan, right?"

The teammate nodded. "Good luck to you. I'm leaving now; see you at our southern camp or in the human world!"

"Take care!" He He Lingchuan high-fived him, and then they parted ways.

Advancing toward the southwest meant bidding farewell to the plains and entering the mountainous region.

The terrain gradually rose, and He He Lingchuan darted between the mountain ranges, never forgetting to regulate his breathing to conserve his physical strength.

He also tucked an elixir under his tongue, letting its medicinal power slowly disperse.

In the Fu Realm, Frost Beads, elixirs, and water are the three essentials that visitors from the human world rely on to survive.

After running less than two miles, He He Lingchuan seemed to think of something and his footsteps faltered.

The mirror asked curiously, "What is it?" Weren't you in a hurry? He He Lingchuan started running again, while taking off the leather armor he was wearing, looking at it over and over in his hands, and even bringing it close to his nose to sniff it a few times.

He asked the mirror, "That man surnamed Hu made contact with me, do you remember?"

"Contact? You mean, physical contact?" It was a mirror with an excellent memory; how could it not remember? "When we left the camp earlier! Yes, yes, I remember, he patted you on the shoulder."

"The shoulder?" He He Lingchuan brought the shoulder of the leather armor close and sniffed it twice, but didn't smell anything special. Sigh, human sense of smell has its limitations after all; if only Fu Fu Shanyue were here.

At the very least, Jiao Yu would do too.

The mirror saw his actions and caught on: "You suspect he did something to you?"

"Otherwise, why did that Wu Beast leader come straight for me earlier?" He He Lingchuan kept thinking back on the matter. "Most likely there is something on me that can attract it. Fortunately, it was smart and wasn't completely blinded by its sense of smell."

"It's possible he also used some tracking methods at the same time; otherwise, how could it always appear around me?" He put the leather armor into his storage ring and continued walking forward: "These Danube Beasts have an excellent sense of smell. I think the Thunder-Qing Beasts suddenly went to chase the unlucky guy from the Jin family's team because he stepped on egg fluid. He really should have taken off his shoes before running away."

Running all the way and leaving a trail of scent like that, the Thunder-Qing Beasts wouldn't let him go.

"That man won't have a good end."

In normal times, he would find a place nearby to hide and see if Hu Bin would follow him.

But right now, time is the most precious thing; he cannot waste time on such experiments.

The limited number of Frost Beads is a sharp sword hanging over everyone's head.

Those two Wu Beasts are very cunning, always choosing the most difficult routes, presumably to shake off the Thunder-Qing Beasts. The bulky build of those giant beasts is not suitable for climbing high peaks.

He He Lingchuan followed behind, and the distance between the two sides kept shrinking.

Although the Wu Beasts were agile, his movements were not slow, especially after he had basically adapted to the gravity conditions of the Fu Realm.

Many cultivators from Between Beijia enter the Fu Realm; their goal is not entirely Floating Stones, but also to temper their physiques with the harsh environment here.

This also counts as passive cultivation for him.

He needs suitable terrain for an ambush; it's not easy to fight on the plains.

After tracking like this for more than two quarter-hours, the distance between him and the Wu Beasts was only a little over a hundred feet.

Earlier, he had crushed a tracking bee pupa on the Wu Beast, and since then, he had been using a compass to search for his prey, saving time and effort and avoiding detours.

(End of chapter)