Chapter 409: Heading into the Deep Forest

On the other side, after bidding farewell to the people of the Flying Eagle Tribe, Wu Yue brought Tongzi and headed into the deep forest.

Before, when coming to the deep forest, there was always protection from the tribe's beastman warriors; I never expected walking through the deep forest on foot to be this difficult.

The undergrowth and branches in the deep forest are tangled, making it impossible to pass through.

"Tongzi, at our current pace, I fear Yuan Lang and the others have already returned to the tribe; we won't get far."

Wu Yue looked ahead at the thorns and felt that her whole body was off.

Tongzi squatted on the damp ground, shifting uncomfortably: "If I had known earlier, I should have found a stronger beast's body; now I'm like this and there's nothing I can do."

He clenched his claws with a hint of regret.

Looking at Tongzi, who wasn't even as tall as her shin, Wu Yue's mouth twitched; she had never placed any hope in this Tongzi who could only act cute.

Suddenly, she seemed to think of something, turned her head to Tongzi: "Let's walk along the edge first; feel where the beast aura is stronger, and we'll go there."

"Strong beasts?"

Tongzi's fur bristled as he looked at the dog host beside him: "We two are such weaklings; why go looking for excitement?"

Wu Yue: "..."

She just felt offended.

"When I leveled up last time, didn't the system give me a beast-taming ring?"

"We definitely can't keep walking on foot now; we have to find a stronger mount."

Tongzi didn't expect his host to come up with such an idea, and for a moment he was dazed.

"But host, that's an intermediate beast-taming ring; it can handle the powerful beasts inside the deep forest. Using it to catch a low-level beast outside the deep forest would be a waste."

"That thing's price in the system store is super high; even if he sold it, he couldn't afford to replace it."

"Although saying this is harsh, he's not worth that much."

"You're now in beast form, with some danger sense; where it's dangerous, we'll go there."

Wu Yue tossed her head and looked at the furball at her feet; so reality taught them how to be human—this deep forest truly isn't a place for those like them who lack claws and strong combat power.

Tongzi shook his fur and reluctantly said: "Well then."

"Let's just pick a direction and go; it's too far now, and I really can't sense any danger."

The person and beast proceeded along the forest edge where the path was easy, stopping to gather precious medicinal herbs when they saw them.

Wu Yue tossed all the uncommon herbs to the system, exchanging them for points.

Although the quantity was small, the herbs here are extremely precious, so they still made a little profit.

"Host, I sense a very dangerous aura ahead."

Wu Yue was bending over to dig up a medicinal herb when Tongzi ahead suddenly bristled and ran over, his small body still trembling.

Wu Yue: "..."

Looking at your carefree attitude, I feel like bringing you along is just bringing a comfort—utterly useless.

After thoroughly despising it, she kicked it aside, picked up her basket, and headed in the direction Tongzi had mentioned.

As they approached, even Wu Yue felt waves of pressure and ground tremors ahead.

Wu Yue couldn't help but frown; looking at this, it's clearly two beasts fighting ahead.

"Tongzi, even these two little shrimps—if we go over now, aren't we just delivering ourselves as food?"

After Wu Yue's words fell silent for a moment, Tongzi's voice never came; she couldn't help but turn her head in confusion.

"..."

Damn it, this carefree creature had already climbed up a big tree long ago, curling up into a trembling ball.

With such meager prospects, he still has the nerve to say he came out with me; his earlier promise to protect me really...

Indeed, Tongzi's mouth is a lying ghost.

She could feel that the battle ahead was intense, so she didn't foolishly rush over; instead, she followed Tongzi's example, climbing a large tree and sitting on the topmost trunk.

The saying "climb high to look far" is no exaggeration.

As the two beasts fought, they involved many trees, actually causing a large patch of warm sunlight to fall on the deep forest floor, which rarely sees sunlight.

Thanks to those two beasts, Wu Yue finally saw the two giant beasts fighting ahead.

"Host, don't be carefree—just go for it!"

Tongzi lay on the trunk of the rear tree, his four claws gripping tightly, his tail tucked between his buttocks.

Wu Yue looked at the two giant beasts fighting ahead, then lowered her gaze to her tiny frame, and gave a dry laugh...

Damn, with my puny size, those giant beasts wouldn't even need me to fill a tooth gap.

"Don't give me any more ideas; if I charge up, I'm still not even as big as their toe."

"That's basically asking to be killed in an instant, right?"

While the two were secretly watching, the two giant beasts each let out a huge roar and then charged at each other.

After hearing a "hong" sound, the two beasts, each the size of a house, actually collapsed simultaneously.

Blood instantly spread across this deep forest territory.

Damn, after waiting half a day for an opportunity, they ended up waiting for nothing.

"Host, I really think you're not suited for waiting by a stump for a rabbit; now these two look like they're about to die—what do we do?"

Wu Yue's face darkened; "What to do? Toss them in a cold salad?"

"Let's go down and look; if any are still alive, maybe we can heal them and make use of them."

Because the pressure from these two beasts' bodies is much stronger than that of the smooth apes Wu Yue had seen before.

The two, panting, had just climbed down the tree when the sound of beasts appeared again ahead.

The two stiffened—was this getting too close?

They hurriedly performed a frog-leg kicking motion and scrambled back up.

Maybe the bloody smell on the open ground was too strong, actually attracting quite a few ferocious beasts from around.

Seeing the two ferocious beasts on the ground, with food so scarce, all the beasts swarmed up and began fighting over the carcasses of several wild animals.

As the two wild beasts' bodies were torn open, the bloody smell around grew even stronger, and Wu Yue couldn't help but frown.

Wuyue: Tongzi, let's change places, this is too dangerous, the smell of blood is so strong, it will definitely attract many many ferocious beasts.

With our current strength, we can barely handle one; too many...

Tongzi looked at her: 'What do you mean, too many?'

'Today next year will be the anniversary of our death.'

Tongzi: '...'

What a jinx.

'Roar!'

'Howl!'

'Screech!'

After a series of noisy clashes over the corpses, they began fighting again, and Wu Yue, with her keen eyesight, instantly spotted the crystal core in the beasts' bodies below.

The beasts that came this time seemed about as strong as the previous two, but perhaps their brains were sharper, so a few of them were surprisingly cunning, circling around.

In the end, only a single huge, ferocious lizard beast remained on the open ground.

Wuyue: Tongzi, having such a mount isn't really good, is it?

Good grief, it's also too ugly!

"Dog host, I'm not saying this to you, but we've sunk this low and still complain about its ugliness.

'Raising this mount and pet will be fine; maybe later you'll find this lizard beast especially pleasing to the eye.'

Wuyue: '...'

I've been slighted.

But the situation really doesn't allow them to be picky again; they glanced once more at the lizard beast below, so ugly it makes gods and men resent it.

Wu Yue gritted her teeth, aimed, and threw the Beast Taming Ring in her hand.

The air was very still, without a ripple.

Wu Yue stared dumbfounded at the white furball ahead, wagging its tail and holding her Beast Taming Ring in its mouth, feeling that something was terribly wrong.

I'm busy with important matters, I don't have time to play with you.

The little guy's tail wagged happily, his gaze toward Wu Yue in the tree burning with eagerness.

Clutching the Beast Taming Ring, it scurried up the tree with a swoosh and placed the ring before Wu Yue.

'Whoo!'

His jet-black little eyes were full of excitement, raring to go.

Wuyue: '...'

Suddenly she felt like she was playing fetch with her own dog.

Grabbing the Beast Taming Ring back in front of her, Wu Yue looked helplessly at the small beast tilting its head, looking a bit dejected: 'Let me finish my business tonight and then play with you.'

The little beast, not knowing if it understood, obediently sat squatting on the tree trunk beside Wu Yue, blinking its jet-black little eyes at her.

Wu Yue, thinking she had soothed the little beast, once again aimed and threw the Beast Taming Ring in her hand.

As the Beast Taming Ring was about to strike the giant beast's neck, a white little figure flashed instantly before the beast, lifted its head, and gave Wu Yue a smug little look.

It whooped and leapt up, ready to catch the Beast Taming Ring again.

But...

The giant beast that had been feeding behind the little beast was finally startled by the person and beast here; its scarlet, violent eyes locked onto them at once, and it kept issuing threatening low growls from its mouth.

That low growl startled the little beast in front, and the Beast Taming Ring it had been about to bite instead struck its forehead.

Wu Yue's face turned green.

Sure enough, the next moment, the Beast Taming Ring turned into a white circle of light that fastened around the little beast's neck.

The little beast looked dazed, glanced at its snowy white fur, and could faintly see a stream of energy slowly seeping into its body around its neck.

That comfortable feeling made it feel light as if floating toward immortality.

Even the giant beast behind, which had wanted to attack the little beast, froze for a moment, then let out a threatening roar and swung its huge claw at the little beast.

Wu Yue, her face greenish, felt bitter inside: everyone else's pet is awesome, why is hers so puny—who does she look down on?

But since she had caught it with her own Beast Taming Ring, she couldn't just watch it die; besides, the little fluffy white ball was still quite cute.

But what she didn't expect was that the giant beast's huge claw, before it even touched the little beast's body, was bounced away by a burst of white light.

I'm knocked!

The Beast Taming Ring has this function too; if I'd known, I'd have used it.

Tongzi, who had unintentionally glimpsed his host's hidden thoughts: '...'

Does the dog host have some misunderstanding about himself?

You're a person, can't we do some proper work?

After the white light deflected the giant beast's attack, it gradually subsided and slowly seeped into the little beast's neck.

Moments later, the little beast's eyes snapped open, a pair of round, more spirited eyes fixed unblinkingly on Wu Yue, and with a whoosh it lunged at her.

Like a little cannonball, it shot into Wu Yue's arms and began crying 'whoo whoo whoo'.

Feeling the little beast's joy, Wu Yue's regret also eased a bit.

It seems she really has no affinity for a mighty, domineering mount.

'Roar!!!'

The giant beast's claw was deflected, and after a moment of stunned silence it became furiously angry.

A little beast that hasn't even reached the size of its own droppings actually dares to resist—it simply doesn't take the beast seriously.

Its scarlet, fierce eyes turned to the one person and two beasts crouched in the tree, and with a roar it charged over.

And without the slightest fear of the big tree they were hiding in, it slammed into it with a boom.

The strong impact directly threw Wu Yue and Xiao Shou, who had nothing to hold onto, off the tree.

I'm screwed!!!

The thick trunk was as wide as several people could embrace, and her two arms simply couldn't hold her in place.

All I could do was stare at the ground below, covered in rotting sap and branches; Beast God, considering how much I've done for your people, could you at least give me a little protection?

Just as her prayer ended, the little beast that had been howling in her arms jumped out of her embrace.

Wu Yue was startled, at such a height...

But the next second, thinking of how the little beast had just moved freely between tree and ground, she couldn't help but give a wry smile.

I still despised Tongzi and the little beast, yet I turned out to be the weakest.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain to come, but...

This tree doesn't seem that tall, so why have I been falling for so long and still not hit the bottom?

Moreover, the beast-skin clothing on my back is a bit tight, giving me the feeling that my fate is being choked at the neck.

I slowly opened my eyes, only to find myself still at the same height as the tree trunk where I had been squatting.

But...

I quietly stretched my feet, and good, I didn't feel the ground...

There was nowhere to land around, so she must have already kicked the bucket, her soul leaving her body?

But soon she tossed that idea to the back of her mind.

Just because of that continual wet, hot sensation sweeping across the back of her neck—good grief, something must definitely be breathing behind her.

She stiffly turned... turned...

Damn, she couldn't turn...

"Tongzi, are you still alive?"

Only then did Wu Yue react, realizing she might be snatched by some ferocious beast, and she felt a little panicked.

"Host, don't be afraid, we're safe now."

Tongzi's voice carried a little excitement, but Wu Yue couldn't get excited at all.

"You're safe, but I'm not; could you help me see what's holding me, could we discuss it, and first put me down?"

"If it keeps choking me like this, I'm afraid I'll die right here."

She wasn't lying; it's truly because the ferocious beast behind her is gripping her beast-skin clothing, and the front collar has slowly tightened to her throat.

If this continues, she'll be sent off before the tree‑colliding ferocious beast below even arrives.

As soon as Wu Yue's words fell, she felt the beast behind her turn direction with her in its mouth and fly toward a large tree behind her.