Chapter 24: The Missing Technique

Li Yi and the others arrived at the designated location.

In the danger zone, there was a long-abandoned zoo. No one had set foot here for a full ten years. The zoo was overgrown with weeds and wild trees, and the various cartoon animal statues on both sides of the paths had long since become mottled and faded. The various amusement facilities were even more aged and damaged.

However, what was mind-boggling was that various animals were still locked in the cages of the zoo, only the animals in the cages were slightly different from the animals people were familiar with in the past.

In the garden where the tigers were kept, a strange tiger was slowly pacing. This tiger had a hunched back and was as thin as a rail. Its bright and beautiful fur had long since faded, becoming sparse, black, and white. However, what made one feel uneasy was that in the dark night, the eyes of this evil tiger emitted a gloomy green light, and its two fangs were extremely thick, actually growing out from the tiger's mouth, much like the long-extinct saber-toothed tiger.

"Roar!"

The evil tiger let out a low roar, its greenish eyes staring fixedly through the yellowed tempered glass window at a direction in the darkness, while its thin, hungry body gradually retreated, as if it sensed the approach of some kind of danger.

A faint glimmer of light appeared in the depths of the darkness.

It was two pairs of eyes.

One pair of eyes was crystal clear and extremely miraculous, while the other pair of eyes glowed cyan in the darkness, like a demon.

Just by approaching, the evil tiger, which used to be at the top of the food chain, seemed to have been reduced to prey, and could only retreat.

Yang Yi Long and Qin Qing stepped into this dangerous abandoned zoo together at this moment.

Although they seemed to be few and weak, as cultivators, after undergoing evolution and transformation time and time again, they were now the most dangerous existences here.

"A mutated evil tiger?" Yang Yi Long saw the beast locked in the garden. He paused slightly, his brows furrowed: "No, that's not right. Although it looks very similar, this thing is definitely not a tiger."

"That should be the legendary... Biao."

Qin Qing, standing to the side, had her cyan vertical pupils rotate slightly: "There is a saying that out of ten tigers, one Biao is born. Where there is a Biao, the tigers must have died out. But it's very strange, why is this Biao locked here? The zoo has been abandoned for ten years. If the animals inside couldn't get out, they should have starved to death long ago."

"And to raise a Biao, you need a sufficient number of tigers... unless something took over this place after it was abandoned and continued to feed the animals."

"Yang Yi Long, do you think that thing did it?"

Yang Yi Long said: "The intelligence of that thing is no less than that of a human. The possibility of it keeping animals is not zero. However, looking at it like this, it doesn't seem to be keeping animals for food. If it were just for food, there would be no need to go to the trouble of raising a Biao."

"Let's keep looking."

The two continued to move forward in the darkness. As for the Biao locked in the tiger garden, they ignored it. For them, the goal of this trip was the most important; some strange beasts were not worth their time.

They continued forward.

When they passed the place where the monkeys were kept, they saw a human-like figure standing on the artificial hill of the zoo. That thing was covered in hair, looking like an unevolved savage, or like an ape, but it possessed a human face. This contrast between savagery and civilization gave one an inexplicable sense of horror.

The ape with a human face stared at the passing Yang Yi Long and Qin Qing without moving, its expression slightly strange.

"That is the evil ghost of the mountain... a mountain demon?" Qin Qing sensed the strange gaze in the darkness, her face turned to the side, her cyan vertical pupils cold and dangerous.

Their eyes met.

Round pupils met vertical pupils.

At this moment, the position of the food chain seemed to be confirmed. The mountain demon's human face standing on the artificial hill suddenly revealed an expression of horror. Then, with a slight sound of 'whoosh', its traces disappeared instantly, its movements agile to an unbelievable degree.

With just one glance, Qin Qing scared it away.

"There are really quite a few dangers in this place. If we don't deal with them early, in a few years, whether it's that Biao or the mountain demon just now, I'm afraid they will all become powerful. There is a saying: humans cultivate to become immortals, animals cultivate to become demons. They are already passively absorbing cosmic energy. As their intelligence gets higher and higher, it is only a matter of time before these strange beasts become demons."

Qin Qing withdrew her gaze and then made a suggestion.

"Now I understand what that thing really wants to do." Yang Yi Long's mouth revealed a smile at this moment: "It really has great ambition. It is cultivating subordinates, wanting to become a king. Unfortunately, it is unlucky to have met me today, so its beautiful dream can only end here."

"After I kill that thing, I will come back to deal with these things. We can't make a move first, lest we alert the enemy. Although I have set up many sentries, if that thing really wants to run, a Spirit Medium Realm cultivator has no way to stop it. I don't have time to go chasing it again."

"Okay." Qin Qing nodded.

The two continued to search in the zoo.

I don't know how much time passed, perhaps ten minutes, perhaps twenty minutes, until a strange cry like that of a baby sounded, which completely broke the tranquility in the dark night.

Subsequently, a huge commotion came from a corner of the zoo.

Dust was stirred up there, figures shuttled back and forth, thick trees fell one after another, and the overflowing aura even frightened the animals in the entire zoo, causing them to let out bursts of strange cries.

In a dark corner of the zoo, a battle between an extraordinary creature and cultivators took place.

But all of this had nothing to do with Li Yi.

He and Zhang Gao, led by Brother Tao, were squatting on the top floor of an abandoned building, patrolling the surroundings.

"Everything is normal, at least there is nothing unusual on our side. This is very good. Keep it like this. Once dawn breaks, we can leave." Brother Tao withdrew his gaze at this moment. He dared not patrol too much, because in the danger zone, he dared not stare into the distance for too long, fearing that some things would capture his gaze and come looking for him.

Li Yi asked at this moment: "Brother Tao, the knife in your hand just now is very special? Do you practice blade techniques?"

"This knife is nothing special, it's made of special steel, just a bit expensive. I bought it just for self-defense." Brother Tao sat down again and chatted: "I don't know any blade techniques, I just rely on strength and accuracy to swing and slash."

"You don't know blade techniques? Then what means do cultivators usually rely on to deal with enemies?" Li Yi asked in surprise.

Brother Tao laughed: "You newcomer really don't understand anything. Let me ask you, what are the so-called blade techniques and fist techniques of our world used for?"

"Fighting, killing people." Li Yi thought for a moment and replied immediately.

Brother Tao nodded and said: "Not bad. The foundation of martial arts is something evolved for mutual fighting between people. Do you think this set of things is suitable for cultivators? The strength, speed, reaction, and even vitality of cultivators far exceed those of normal people. In ancient times, we cultivators were cultivating to become immortals."

"Human martial arts are simply ridiculous when used on immortal cultivators, just like the evolution of war. Ancient wars relied on cold weapons, so a series of weapons such as knives, spears, swords, and halberds were derived. Modern wars rely on thermal weapons, so there are various firearms, missiles, and other weapons."

"If in modern war, someone still trains blade soldiers and archers to let them go to the battlefield, wouldn't that make the enemy laugh to death? The same logic applies. Cultivators cannot spend a lot of time learning those ordinary martial arts. If you can deduce martial arts to the realm of 'technique', then I have nothing to say. But now, I haven't heard of anyone who can do this."

Brother Tao laughed as he spoke.

"However, there is one exception, and that is that they are not practicing the martial arts of this world, but the high-level martial arts passed down from another world."

But then, Brother Tao's smile faded, and he continued: "Li Yi, I know what you want to say, it's nothing more than that our world doesn't have techniques that match cultivators. In fact, this problem is not just something you thought of, all cultivators have thought of it, because the Heaven Tilting Incident has only passed for ten years."

"In ten years, our world is not enough to evolve mature techniques. I said before that I bought this knife just for self-defense. After all, most cultivators' bodies have not yet evolved to the point of being harder than the blade of this knife, and this thing is easy to buy. If I had the connections, I would rather use firearms."

"What kind of cultivator are you if you have a gun and don't use it?"

"If I were carrying a Gatling gun just now, I could have turned that spider monster into a sieve. How could I have let that thing run away."

"But whether it's a knife or a gun, they are just a transition and cannot fully adapt to our world, because no matter how good a knife is in our world, it cannot split the scales of extraordinary creatures, and no matter how fierce guns and artillery are, they cannot kill terrifying evil ghosts. Some extraordinary creatures even carry their own energy fields, and can destroy a city just by passing by."

"Then aren't cultivators very incompetent?" Zhang Gao asked curiously.

"No, our cultivators have infinite possibilities."

Brother Tao continued to smoke and said: "I heard Yang Yi Long say that cultivators in our world can adapt to any kind of 'technique' and can bring the power of the technique to the extreme, but we lack 'techniques'. To use a line from a Wu Xia novel, we are all masters with profound internal energy, but none of us know martial arts."

"So we can only explore and create on our own?" Li Yi asked curiously.

"Not bad. For example, 'Eyewitness' is a technique created by our Spirit Medium Realm cultivators, and then it spread rapidly. After all, the number of Spirit Medium Realm cultivators is the largest, and there are always some people who can come up with some new tricks in this realm. But the further you go, the fewer the number of evolvers, so the fewer techniques are bred."

Brother Tao frowned and smoked, lecturing Li Yi and Zhang Gao while bored.

"By the way, speaking of Yang Yi Long just now, I heard from other cultivators that Yang Yi Long obtained some of the latest research results of cultivators, and then, inspired by myths and legends, using ancient artifacts as prototypes, explored a technique of his own."

Suddenly, Brother Tao remembered something and mentioned it.

"What kind of technique is that?" Li Yi asked.

Brother Tao laughed and said: "How would I know? I just heard about it. A Spirit Medium Realm cultivator named He Jun accidentally bumped into Yang Yi Long's practice in the underground training ground of the previous building. Of course, he didn't just tell me, many people know, but Yang Yi Long didn't care, after all, this matter couldn't be hidden." *** ### Chapter 25: Extraordinary Creatures