Chapter 22: Chapter Twenty-One: Unexpected Fortune

Night on Mount Beilong differed from Qianluo Mountain; here, apart from the chirping of unnamed insects in the grass, Ding Huan heard not a single beast roar.

This made Ding Huan even more cautious—he knew the ferocious beasts here were more treacherous than those on Qianluo Mountain.

In less than ten kilometers of travel, he had been ambushed by various gene-altered ferocious beasts over ten times.

Ding Huan took out a headlamp from his backpack; the herbs he sought were all very common items.

With his current eyesight, even at night, finding these herbs shouldn't be too difficult.

Perhaps sensing Ding Huan's arrogance, not a single ferocious beast came to ambush him when he actually turned on the light to search.

After two hours of searching, Ding Huan was only ambushed once by a gene-altered bloodsucking vine—something that required only one slash from Dahan Yi Dao.

In two hours, Ding Huan found three plants: Guangming Sha, Gongtong, and Yuansong. The remaining Bayou and Fu Kui—he only needed to find Bayou.

As for Fu Kui, Ding Huan had already seen it during the day in Anhe County.

Fu Kui was silver fir; many households liked to plant it at their gates.

As if playing a joke on him, for the next several hours, Ding Huan could not find Bayou at all—yet the Fu Kui he wasn't even looking for turned up.

The only thing that made him feel slightly less frustrated was that no ferocious beasts or mutated plants had attacked him—had they learned of his strength?

As dawn neared, Ding Huan decided that if he still couldn't find it, he would return to Anhe and ask Seeing Qu Yi to wait for him a day.

Sometimes, the more anxious you are, the more things go against your wishes.

Just as Ding Huan had decided to return directly to Anhe County without finding it, he spotted a Bayou plant—and it was thriving exceptionally well.

Under the headlamp's glow, this Bayou plant seemed edged in silver, appearing especially beautiful.

This was no ordinary Bayou—it was a gene-altered Bayou, the very gene-altered herb the men in the hotel had mentioned earlier.

Even if Ding Huan didn't use it to refine Spirit Root genes, its value was still extraordinary.

Ding Huan stepped quickly toward the Bayou; before he could act, a dark shadow lunged at him.

Ding Huan had been wary all along and sidestepped the instant the shadow lunged.

He hadn't encountered a single gene-altered ferocious beast all night—and now, just as he was about to leave, he met one?

Failing to hit Ding Huan the first time, the ferocious beast let out a low, muffled growl and lunged again.

Was this a White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape?

In an instant, Ding Huan confirmed: this wasn't just a White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape—it was a gene-altered White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape.

In fact, it could no longer be called a White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape—it was a Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape, for its face bore faint golden threads.

Had Ding Huan not been a Level One Gene Cultivator, he might not have noticed the faint gold at all.

Being ambushed face-on by a White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape at night was undeniably eerie—after all, this creature had a white face and jet-black body; anyone seeing it would be chilled to the bone.

But Ding Huan grew excited—this mutated ferocious beast, the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape, he absolutely could not miss.

If there was anything on Earth that could treat all poisons as nothing, it was undoubtedly the White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape.

Even veteran poison-resistant creatures like the Honey Badger or the Mongooses weren't necessarily stronger than the White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape.

But one thing the Honey Badger excelled at was resisting neurotoxins.

Should he also obtain the Honey Badger's poison-resistance gene and fuse it with the White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape's?

This idea was immediately discarded by Ding Huan.

The creature before him was no ordinary White-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape—it was a Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape.

Moreover, since his gene system had begun to take shape, he had set himself a grand goal.

That goal was: if the various alien genes he fused improved alongside his cultivation level, would he one day truly uncover the secrets of immortals and gods?

Otherwise, when he reached Advanced Gene Cultivator, would he have to fuse even higher-level skill genes again?

If so, his path of gene cultivation would already be half-failed.

After dodging two powerful lunges from the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape, the beast seemed enraged—its fur bristled, and with a low, guttural roar, it lunged a third time at Ding Huan.

Ding Huan held his knife in one hand and reached into his pack with the other, grabbing a glass vial.

He had tossed his headlamp aside, but carefully—its light still illuminated the area. Combined with the faintly whitening sky, Ding Huan could still see clearly.

In this place, if he lost sight, he'd have to run.

As the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape lunged toward him, Ding Huan sidestepped and slashed with his knife.

Ding Huan felt his blade strike something as hard as iron, even feeling a rebounding force.

He had planned to wound the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape with one slash, then casually collect some blood in the glass vial.

With just this one strike, Ding Huan realized how delusional he'd been—this mutated Thick-Tailed Ape was far beyond his capability.

All the gene-altered ferocious beasts he'd encountered before were nothing compared to this Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape.

No wonder the areas outside Anhe County were dangerous—even half the villages beyond Anhe County had been wiped out by gene-altered ferocious beasts.

With such a terrifying gene-altered ferocious beast present, it was only natural.

He was, after all, a Level One Gene Cultivator with immense combat experience—and yet he couldn't handle a single mutated Thick-Tailed Ape.

This mutated Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape was likely also a Level One gene-altered ferocious beast, but Ding Huan had only just entered the Level One Gene Cultivator rank; his foundation was far inferior to this mutated beast before him.

Ding Huan slowly exhaled, staring at the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape. The sky was gradually brightening—he could clearly see the ferocity in the beast's eyes.

No matter what, today he would obtain the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape's poison-resistance gene.

Such an opportunity wouldn't come often.

Though his slash hadn't wounded the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape, a faint trace of blood had appeared.

The Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape grew furious; this time it didn't lunge, but fixed its gaze on Ding Huan, waiting for any movement, any opening, to strike again.

Ding Huan returned the glass vial to his pack and slowly retreated to the side of the Bayou.

This gene-altered Bayou was a precious item—he suspected this mutated Bayou was of great importance to the Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape, which was why the beast guarded it here.

The Golden-Faced Thick-Tailed Ape kept its eyes locked on Ding Huan; as he neared the Bayou, it let out a series of low growls, its eyes blazing with fiercer malice.

Ding Huan reached toward the Bayou and yanked hard—the plant snapped off in one piece.

This action utterly enraged the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape; it no longer cared to wait for an opportunity and charged toward Ding Huan.

Learning from the lessons of its two previous leaps that gained it nothing, this time the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape did not leap.

The Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape's movement had already been anticipated by Ding Huan; as it rushed close, he twisted his waist again and swung his short blade downward.

But this time Ding Huan's evasion angle was insufficient; after striking, he was slammed in the side of his chest by the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape.

A terrifying force surged through him; he lost all control of his body and was flung backward, convinced one of his ribs had broken.

As Ding Huan was thrown through the air, the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape let out a shriek of pain—Ding Huan's blade had severed a section of its tail.

Before Ding Huan even hit the ground, he sensed a chilling breath behind his spine; without hesitation, he thrust his elbow hard backward.

Intense pain flared, then Ding Huan saw a gray shadow dart away swiftly.

Ding Huan broke into a cold sweat—he had forgotten about this gray lynx; this thing truly held a grudge. Not only that, it possessed remarkable patience.

If he hadn't sensed something amiss and preemptively shoved his elbow back, the lynx's bite would have severely wounded him.

After this failed strike, the lynx immediately fled—truly decisive and ruthless.

Ding Huan had no time to deal with the lynx; before the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape could turn and come at him, he gritted his teeth, seized the severed half of its tail, and fled wildly.

The Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape chased after Ding Huan in a frenzy, clearly driven into a rage by his actions.

Fortunately, the sky had fully brightened; Ding Huan could at least make out the general direction.

Around him, smaller gene-fanged beasts sensed the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape's aura and scattered in both directions as Ding Huan dashed past.

The Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape moved with incredible speed and agility.

Ding Huan was no weakling—a Level One Gene Cultivator who knew how to use terrain to escape.

Because he had to use terrain to flee, Ding Huan emerged from Mount Beilong already past eight in the morning.

At this point, Ding Huan's entire body was torn and shredded by thorns.

The only advantage was that the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape had not followed him out.

Ding Huan stopped to gasp for breath and checked his body; fortunately, none of his ribs were broken.

But his backward elbow had struck squarely into the lynx's open mouth, leaving his elbow wounded by its teeth.

After resting for several minutes, he repackaged the half-severed tail fragment from his pack.

He had come out seeking fire lizards; he never expected the unexpected bounty of a mutated Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape.

In terms of value, Ding Huan felt this mutated Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape was even more valuable than a fire lizard.

If he could synthesize a gene antidote from the Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape, then after fusion, he would become immune to all poisons.

Ding Huan remembered a European company called Tonghe Gene Company—they had developed the Hundred-Toxin Gene Antidote, the Non-Zero Gene Antidote.

Their advertising claimed Non-Zero Gene could ignore all toxins.

Ding Huan was certain Non-Zero Gene had numerous limitations—it could not possibly ignore all toxins.

Even if they fused the poison resistance gene of the Head-Basher, they still wouldn't achieve immunity to all toxins.

Because he believed only Ding Huan himself could accomplish this.

Not only that, he intended to develop a gene antidote surpassing even the mutated Golden-Faced Long-Tailed Ape's—just who else could do it?

Or perhaps the elder who wrote the hide scroll could do it—but that elder surely no longer needed to research such gene antidotes.

As long as he never revealed his gene antidote to others, no one else could possess the same ability as him.