Chapter 144: Intermediate Lei Kui: Second Skin-Membrane Remolding [Three-in-One]

Crack!

Deep within the Red Wood Ridge, an intermediate Snow-Maned Beast with iron arrows pierced through both eyes was fleeing in panic toward the north. Blinded, it could only crash about based on instinct.

A beast trap dragged from its right hind leg, the area where it was clamped had already been torn open, with fresh red blood constantly seeping out.

Due to the leg injury, although its speed was far from its normal state, its massive body, combined with an intense desire to survive, still allowed it to erupt with extraordinary impact.

In less than a hundred meters, it had already knocked over three or four giant trees.

"Zhao Long and the others, fire from a distance! Xia Chuan, use the white line to bind it! Yuan Cheng, Watching Yue Feng, keep laying traps ahead! Luo Yuan and the rest of you, pull the ropes and control the direction of this beast's flight!"

As Xia Hong's voice rang out from the rear, several white lines suddenly struck from one side of the Snow-Maned Beast. Two figures abruptly accelerated, running along both sides until they were dozens of meters ahead of the beast, then swiftly threw four more beast traps onto the ground, each with a rope still tied to one end.

From the rear, three waves of dozens of arrows were fired, all accurately striking the Snow-Maned Beast's abdomen and the area where the trap was dragging on its leg.

When the abdomen was struck, the wounds were not deep, and the Snow-Maned Beast showed little reaction.

But when the injured leg was struck, it could no longer hold up. With every arrow, it let out a muffled grunt, and its fleeing speed slowed accordingly. Clearly, the compounding injuries were causing it unbearable pain.

As its movements slowed, a group of eight people caught up from behind, each clutching a rope. The end of those ropes was tied to the trap dragging from the beast's right hind leg.

"Almost there, pull!"

Xia Hong roared again. Behind him, Luo Yuan and the seven others gritted their teeth, found the nearest large tree, quickly wrapped the ropes around it several times, then stood firm behind the tree, gripping the ropes with all their might.

Luo Yuan and the others stopped, but the Snow-Maned Beast did not. The rope connected to the trap on its leg snapped taut in mid-air.

Snap!

The rope snapped taut with a sound like a giant whip. Although the Snow-Maned Beast's charging body did not stop immediately, its right leg stumbled violently, and its body shifted slightly to the left.

Click!

It was because of this slight shift that the Snow-Maned Beast's left foreleg stepped exactly onto one of the four traps previously set by Watching Yue Feng and Yuan Cheng.

The trap, over half a meter in diameter, suddenly snapped shut, smashing the bones of the Snow-Maned Beast's left foreleg with a loud crack.

"Roar!"

In pain, the Snow-Maned Beast became even more frantic, the power erupting from its body even greater than before.

Crack!

Although Luo Yuan and the eight others pulling the ropes had used all their strength, they could not hold back the completely crazed beast. They couldn't even hold on for two breaths before being thrown into disarray, and the rope, along with the tree over ten meters in diameter, was snapped clean off.

If the eight of them hadn't reacted quickly enough to let go of the ropes, they would have been dragged dozens of meters by the beast and slammed into the trees in the middle, likely suffering severe injuries.

Puchi!

With both its left foreleg and right hind leg caught in traps, the power erupted by its intense desire to survive only lasted a short while. After running another hundred meters north, its speed slowed visibly.

Meanwhile, Xia Hong, who had been following from the trees and had already reached a position ahead of the beast, saw the timing was right and finally struck!

Bang!

Xia Hong held his hands high above his head, his double-edged giant axe hanging behind him. He leaped from a tree over twenty meters high, his hands suddenly exerting force. The giant axe traced a semi-circle from back to front in mid-air and slammed into the head of the Snow-Maned Beast just as it reached the spot beneath the tree.

The axe blade split the skull; normally, this should have made a cracking sound, but Xia Hong's axe strike actually produced a loud "Bang."

Like a thunderclap on flat ground, it echoed for two or three hundred meters around.

Xia Hong's base strength had already reached over thirty-two thousand jin, and the Long Fist's force-application technique could add twenty percent, plus the acceleration generated from the high fall.

The force of this axe strike was at least over forty thousand jin.

This axe strike shattered the Snow-Maned Beast's skull like dry wood. The seventy-five-centimeter radius fan-shaped axe blade was buried entirely into its head, leaving only the other side exposed.

Boom!

The Snow-Maned Beast's head slammed into the ground with a boom. The terrifying kinetic energy brought by the immense force directly created a circular shockwave, sending the snow within a radius of over ten meters flying high into the air.

"Roar!"

The Snow-Maned Beast, its skull nearly split in two, had not yet completely lost its ferocity. Lying on the ground, it let out a desperate, hoarse roar, its blood-colored pupils slightly raised, squinting at Xia Hong above, and suddenly contracted.

"Everyone, gather around, quickly!"

Xia Hong, noticing this, shouted sternly to the group.

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and the rest, including the three Zhao Long brothers who were trailing behind firing arrows, moved at the sound and quickly ran toward the Snow-Maned Beast.

The fourteen of them gathered around the Snow-Maned Beast in less than three breaths, then all dove beneath its belly. Xia Hong, who had warned them first, had already dove to the position under the beast's chin.

Swish... swish... swish...

The barbs covering the Snow-Maned Beast's back, just like the previous time, shot out in all directions indiscriminately. One could tell how powerful these barbs were from the dozen or so trees nearby that had been riddled with holes.

Unfortunately, Xia Hong and the fourteen members of the hunting team were all hiding under its belly. No matter how strong the barbs on its back were, it was impossible for it to turn around and fire them at that position.

"Hahaha, this Snow-Maned Beast probably never imagined that by using its own body, we could crack its ultimate trump card..."

After three or four breaths, as the barbs on its back were all spent and the Snow-Maned Beast collapsed to the ground with a whimper, Yuan Cheng was the first to laugh out loud, his laughter filled with excitement and pride.

Although the others didn't speak, looking at the massive prey on the ground, their faces also showed excitement.

However, in the end, seeing the double-edged giant axe still stuck in the top of the Snow-Maned Beast's skull, the group turned their gaze toward Xia Hong at the front, their faces filled with reverence.

"Is that intermediate cold beast blood really that strong? The leader has only used it once, and the change in strength is so great. No, I must hurry and reach the thirty-thousand-jin limit..."

Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and everyone else had this thought flash through their minds.

Xia Hong's transformation was simply too great.

Everyone remembered that when they hunted that intermediate Snow-Maned Beast before, Xia Hong had to use that long ceremonial blade to strike from the face or eyes to injure the beast's skull. Only a few days had passed, and he was already able to use a giant axe to split the Snow-Maned Beast's skull directly.

Click!

Xia Hong was unaware of the thoughts in everyone's minds. He pulled the double-edged giant axe from the Snow-Maned Beast's head, a hint of excitement on his face.

It had only been three hours, and an intermediate Snow-Maned Beast was already in hand.

Tonight's hunting process was much smoother than imagined!

The strength of the Snow-Maned Beast's skin-membrane and skull should both be around forty thousand jin.

No wonder that Director Yu Wen Tao he saw last time, when facing the Demon Sheep, could leave so many wounds on it with a broadsword.

The reason this hunt was so smooth was largely due to his own increase in strength, but it also benefited from his familiarity with the intermediate Snow-Maned Beast and the tacit cooperation of the hunting team.

"As long as you hide under the Snow-Maned Beast's belly, its barb trump card is basically useless. However, the only thing to watch out for with this method is that you must seize the gap when it is dying and losing strength. If you dive under its belly too early, it's not hiding from the barbs, but courting death!"

Last time, when Zhu Shun and Zou Yuankai were severely injured, Xia Hong had been thinking about how to avoid the Snow-Maned Beast's back-barb trump card. After much thought, this was the only method he could come up with.

Judging by the speed and power of the barbs shooting from the Snow-Maned Beast's back, and the range they could reach, running to the periphery was definitely a path to death. Lying flat on the ground was a method, but it still couldn't guarantee one hundred percent avoidance.

When hunting the first Snow-Maned Beast, Xia Hong had led everyone to jump off the trees and lie on the ground to avoid the barbs as it shot them before dying.

But in the end, Zou Yuankai and Zhu Shun were still hit.

Running away was too late, and lying on the ground couldn't guarantee one hundred percent avoidance.

Then there was only one way: close-quarters.

Tonight was the first attempt, and the results proved that this method was effective for now; it just required a very high level of timing.

"Alright, that's it for tonight."

"It's over? Leader, we can continue!"

"We haven't suffered any injuries, we can definitely continue. Leader, take us to hunt one more before we go back?"

"Arrows are sufficient, weapons are intact, and only three hours have passed. There's no need to go back so early. Leader, let's continue!"

"That's right, it's still early, Leader."

Hearing Xia Hong announce the end of the hunt, the group immediately spoke up to dissuade him.

Xia Chuan finally spoke in a deep voice: "Leader, didn't you say that breaking through to the Cold-Resistant Realm requires a lot of cold beast blood? This is only one. We have plenty of strength left. Let's hide this prey and continue, shall we?"

Seeing everyone nod heavily after hearing Xia Chuan's words,

A wave of warmth suddenly washed over Xia Hong's heart.

Clearly, Xia Chuan's last words were their true thoughts.

"Fine, then let's continue, but we can only look for Snow Manes; other intermediate cold beasts are out of the question for now."

Xia Hong pondered for only a moment before agreeing to the group's proposal, but he placed strict restrictions on the choice of prey: only intermediate Snow-Maned Beasts.

Everyone nodded and immediately divided the work, lifting the massive Snow-Maned Beast together and moving it to a spot directly above a large tree, even deliberately posing it as if it were resting.

After everyone had finished cleaning up and marking the prey, Xia Hong led the team to continue searching northward.

"The depth here should be 1300 meters. We've searched almost everywhere from south to north. Aside from the Cloud-Mist Tengjiao, we don't see any other prey. Let's go a bit deeper!"

Everyone nodded. Although they had accidentally ventured within four kilometers of the Red Wood Ridge when hunting the first intermediate Snow-Maned Beast, the feeling of being watched by a powerful cold beast at that time was indeed unpleasant and extremely dangerous.

Before their strength was sufficient, the search range had to be strictly controlled.

"Let's go another 200 meters in and see if there are any new discoveries!"

"Hey, look over there..."

Just as Xia Hong made the decision to go another 200 meters deeper, Zhao Long in the crowd let out an exclamation, pointing north to signal everyone to look.

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and was stunned.

Although no one had lit a fire, because the ground and trees of the Red Wood Ridge were covered in snow, the dense forest was not pitch black, but presented a miserable grayish-white.

Amidst this vast grayish-white, over a hundred meters to the north, around a sturdy Ice-Shuo tree, a faint golden light was actually radiating.

Not only that, but in the sky directly above that Ice-Shuo tree, several bolts of lightning flashed from time to time, evolving into thunder that struck straight down, landing exactly on the ground around the Ice-Shuo tree.

"That Ice-Shuo tree, is it the one we encountered last time?"

Xia Hong prompted, and everyone immediately remembered.

"That's right, it's that one. I remember that Ice-Shuo tree was very large, and the ground around it was fluid, like a golden swamp."

"I remember too. The crystal fruit on that Ice-Shuo tree weighed at least ten or twenty thousand jin. The leader even tried to dig the ground at the time and found he couldn't."

"Let's go over and take a look first!"

Hearing the group's words, Xia Hong confirmed that it was indeed the giant Ice-Shuo tree they had discovered last time. Without hesitation, he led the group over.

Boom-crack!

As the distance closed, the sound of the thunder became clearer and clearer.

Everyone, including Xia Hong, felt a slight palpitation.

This had nothing to do with courage; deep down, humans held awe for natural phenomena like thunder and lightning, especially when they were only dozens of meters away.

"Climb the tree first and see what's going on!" Until they were less than forty meters away from the Ice-Shuo tree, Xia Hong felt something was wrong, stopped, and then signaled everyone to follow him and climb a nearby large tree.

At the top of the large tree, about fifty or sixty meters high, Xia Hong, who had climbed up first, looked toward the edge of the Ice-Shuo tree. At this look, he was instantly stunned.

Those who climbed up afterward were the same as him; after looking into the distance, their expressions were all blank.

In the swampy ground beside that Ice-Shuo tree, a huge cold beast, about ten meters long and resembling a rhinoceros, was coiled.

The beast's body was pale gold, its two huge eyes were like lanterns, and on top of its head grew a dark, sky-pointing horn over three meters long.

Although its limbs were in a lying position, one could estimate their diameter to be over a meter. They were incredibly sturdy, with knotted muscles; even just looking at them, one could feel the terrifying power contained within.

The thunder in the sky above the Ice-Shuo tree was not landing on the swamp at all, but on the horn atop the beast's head.

Crack!

Every time a bolt of thunder fell, the beast's horn would flash with an arc of lightning. The arc would spread from the tip to the back, flowing across all the skin on its body.

Its skin was already pale gold, and as the arc flowed over it, the color became increasingly textured, and the color became deeper and deeper, clearly evolving toward pure gold.

=9+Shu_Ba

"Golden-Armored Kui Ox?"

"Golden-Armored Kui Ox?"

Seeing the appearance of the cold beast clearly, the hunting team let out several exclamations. Clearly, they all recognized the beast.

"Low-level Kui Oxen have yellowish skin and aren't this big. This should be an intermediate Kui Ox. I didn't expect that we haven't even hunted a low-level Kui Ox yet, and we've already encountered an intermediate one."

Xia Chuan took a scroll of beast skin from his bosom, with the words "Does Does Da Xia Cold Beast Records" engraved on the cover. After flipping to the page for the Golden-Armored Kui Ox and comparing it with the beast before them, he immediately made a judgment.

The Does Does Da Xia Cold Beast Records were compiled based on the cold beast scrolls left by Luo Ming. The total number of cold beast species currently recorded was actually not many, only seven: Bone-Spiked Frost Wolf, Long-Tongued Snow-Maned Beast, Golden-Eyed Demon Sheep, Blue Moon Essence, Cloud-Mist Tengjiao, Golden-Armored Lei Kui, and Long-Tailed Gnawing Rat.

These seven types of cold beasts certainly all had intermediate forms, but the ones Does Does Da Xia had successfully hunted so far were only the intermediate Snow-Maned Beast; they had dealt with the intermediate Gnawing Rat, and had seen the intermediate Tengjiao and Demon Sheep with their own eyes;

Only this Kui Ox, they hadn't successfully hunted a low-level one yet.

Today was also the first time they had seen an intermediate one.

Xia Chuan's compilation work for the Cold Beast Records was very strict; he would only add them after successfully hunting them and gaining a precise understanding of the cold beast's weaknesses and habits. Therefore, as of now, the Does Does Da Xia Cold Beast Records only recorded these seven types; adding the intermediate Snow-Maned Beast, it was only eight.

"Should we try?"

"I think we can. This Kui Ox's skin-membrane looks very sturdy, even resisting thunder. It looks like a defensive cold beast, its attack power might not be strong."

"That pale golden beast skin could probably be used as armor. We happen to be lacking armor, so we can try."

"I also think we should try!"

"What kind of spring and autumn dreams are you all having? We haven't even hunted a low-level Kui Ox, and you're already thinking about an intermediate one. Everyone, wake up! Let's go, keep looking for Snow-Maned Beasts. We'll talk about this Kui Ox in a while!"

Xia Hong interrupted the group's instigation and immediately shook his head.

This was what they called "the weaker you are, the more ignorant you are." Even when hunting intermediate Snow-Maned Beasts, he couldn't guarantee a one hundred percent success rate now. Not to mention this Kui Ox that could draw down thunder.

This Kui Ox was clearly using thunder to temper its body.

This scene alone proved that its strength was definitely above that of the Snow-Maned Beast.

Not only that, using thunder to temper its body, even the Demon Sheep probably couldn't compare to it.

These people didn't even know the situation with low-level Lei Kui, yet they were going after an intermediate one. It was clearly a path to death.

It seemed that the hunting had been too smooth lately, and this group of people in the hunting team was starting to get a bit carried away!

Xia Hong turned his head and glanced at the Lei Kui, his brow slightly furrowed.

The swamp beside the large tree was likely the Lei Kui's habitat. The reason it appeared as a golden fluid was likely due to the Lei Kui's long-term presence.

When he came last time, he had tried to dig the swamp ground. He knew that his base strength at that time had already reached the thirty-thousand-jin limit, but no matter how hard he tried, that piece of ground remained completely unmoved.

And this Lei Kui could not only move freely in the golden swamp but could even bury its body completely inside it.

Just this point alone showed that this Lei Kui's strength was not simple.

"When you go out hunting on your own later, hunt a few low-level ones first, figure out the Lei Kui's habits and methods, tell me, and then I'll consider it!"

Although Xia Chuan and the others were a bit disappointed, they knew Xia Hong's method was safer, so they all nodded.

The density of cold beasts in the Red Wood Ridge was indeed very high.

Xia Hong led the group two hundred meters deeper, and in less than an hour, they found another intermediate Snow-Maned Beast.

This was just while looking for Snow-Maned Beasts alone. If there were more hunting choices, Tengjiao, Lei Kui, Frost Wolves—there were really quite a few intermediate cold beasts within the 1500-meter range.

Once is a stranger, twice is familiar, and the third time, it was already smooth sailing.

Fourteen ten-thousand-jin iron-fetal bows, five beast traps, Xia Chuan's white lines, plus the double-edged giant axe in Xia Hong's hand, and the tacit cooperation of the group.

This Snow-Maned Beast only lasted for a little over an hour before it collapsed in hatred.

Two intermediate Snow-Maned Beasts were in hand, and over six hours had passed. Although only a small part of the night had passed, the group's bodies were about at their limit.

Successfully harvesting two intermediate prey in one night, whether it was Xia Hong or the others, they were all satisfied.

Returning to the location of the first prey, the group happily took the two prey and returned directly to the valley camp.

Once back at the camp, without Xia Hong needing to give orders, Xia Chuan immediately instructed the people at the camp supply station to start bleeding the two Snow-Maned Beasts.

Xia Hong only waited in his room for a few minutes before a large basin of cold beast blood was carried in by Shi Ping and a few others.

"Leader, the two Snow-Maned Beasts yielded a total of 130 jin of blood, all here."

"Alright, you all go out!"

After Shi Ping and the others left, Xia Hong stood up and walked to the basin. Smelling the rich bloody scent overflowing from the basin, his expression flashed with excitement.

"130 jin, the amount is quite large. Let's see how much it can help me improve!"

The process of remolding the skin-membrane was certainly painful, but as long as one could endure this period, the subsequent increase in skin-membrane strength and the leap-forward growth in base strength were things that, I believe, no one could refuse after experiencing them once.

【Resources: Wood 12590, Coal 580, Iron 1220, Silver 0, Gold 0】

In just this half-night, the wood had increased by over 1300 points, which showed the enthusiasm for logging in the camp.

The entire hunting team had gone out with him, so coal and iron naturally hadn't increased at all.

Looking at the resources remaining in the system, Xia Hong fell into thought.

Last time, to resist the immense pain brought by the hundred jin of cold beast blood, he had used up almost all the resources in his system.

At that time, there was nearly a hundred thousand wood, over five thousand iron, and over eight thousand coal.

Although he didn't know the specific rules of consumption, this time, with so few resources, he definitely couldn't jump into the wooden basin directly again.

"Try slowly first!"

Xia Hong took off his top, took out a one-jin large wooden spoon he had prepared, scooped out a spoonful of blood, and then slowly applied it to his body.

The first jin only had a slight pain;

The second jin, the pain intensified, but it was within an acceptable range;

The third jin... the fourth jin... the fifth jin...

"Hiss..."

When he applied it to the tenth time, which was the ten-jin amount, the pain was so severe that Xia Hong started hissing.

But the system still didn't give any prompts. It seemed it was still within the acceptable range.

Xia Hong gritted his teeth and persisted, continuing to apply the cold beast blood to his body.

The fifteenth jin... the twentieth jin... the thirtieth jin...

"Ah..."

Xia Hong started to scream. The skin on his body began to show large areas of burns, and smoke was rising from it. His flesh and blood began to blur again.

But the system still didn't give any prompts.

"Ah..."

Xia Hong's screams intensified, his pupils began to show a hazy color, and the severe pain made him start to feel dizzy. Only his remaining will was still waiting for the system to give a prompt.

"Still... not... giving a prompt... this..."

Xia Hong's pupils began to congest and turn red, his body began to lose strength, and the hand holding the wooden spoon was trembling uncontrollably, but he just couldn't wait for the system's prompt.

The process of skin-membrane remolding was painful, and it would not diminish.

This process could not be stopped.

In other words, as long as the system didn't prompt, Xia Hong would continue to endure such pain. Whether he added more or not, it was the same.

Xia Hong looked at the wooden basin, gritted his teeth, used the wooden spoon in his hand to quickly scoop out blood from inside, and kept pouring it on his body.

Thirty-five, thirty-six... forty-one... forty-two...

【Detected that the host's nerves have reached the limit of endurance, can consume system resources to offset part of the nerve pressure】

"Finally..."

Forty-two times, which was forty-two jin, the system prompt finally came.

The first to be consumed was wood, 1000 at a time. It only dropped thirteen times before it was all empty;

Then it was coal, 50 at a time. It dropped eleven times and was also empty:

Finally, it was iron, also 50 at a time. It dropped twenty-four times and was empty.

【Resources: Wood 0, Coal 0, Iron 0, Silver 0, Gold 0】

At the moment the resources were cleared, Xia Hong was surprised to find that the pain he was enduring hadn't diminished in the slightest; it was exactly the same as before.

"Ah..."

Xia Hong screamed and fainted directly beside the wooden basin.

At the moment before he fainted, he also realized:

Consuming resources only helped him offset the nerve pressure that was stacking up. In other words, the intensity of the pain he endured was always at the moment of his own will limit.

"If this process continues a few times, the limit I can endure should get higher and higher, and the resources consumed should also slowly decrease. Good thing, this is a good thing..."

Before fainting, this thought flashed through Xia Hong's mind. The pain on his face seemed to have dissipated a lot, and he even showed a little smile.

Of course, this smile, appearing with a face of extreme pain, was destined to be a bit twisted.

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 145 =====