Chapter 21

Lu Changsheng carefully examined his surroundings; everywhere was lush and green, with abundant vegetation.

This place was on the outskirts of the Cangyun Shan Range, hundreds of miles away from Changping County.

He controlled the exotic beast pangolin and only arrived here after several days of trekking.

And he also discovered that the soil quality here was much harder than that of Xiao Yun Mountain, filled with giant rocks everywhere; it was almost impossible to dig out an underground space.

However, compared to Xiao Yun Mountain, this mountain must have many more spiritual herbs; as long as he could dig up a portion, it would be enough to greatly increase his strength.

Lu Changsheng didn't hesitate, burrowed into the ground, and began to dig slowly forward.

"Rustle..."

He waved his claws, forcefully digging away the rocks and grass roots blocking his path.

The surroundings were very quiet, with only the sound of his digging.

Half an hour later.

Lu Changsheng arrived at an underground space at the foot of the mountain.

Suddenly, a fresh fragrance came from ahead, making his spirit stir.

"Something's up."

He hurriedly dug toward the address where the fragrance came from.

However, after digging only ten meters or so, a small passage suddenly appeared ahead, with a smell of urine all around, and some kind of feces everywhere on the ground.

"There are other wild beasts active underground here."

Seeing this, Lu Changsheng's heart tightened.

He had long guessed that the trip to the Cangyun Shan Range wouldn't be smooth sailing, but he hadn't expected the variables to come so quickly.

If traces of wild beasts could be found here, then the entire Cangyun Shan Range probably had their footprints.

If they were in groups, it would be a bit troublesome.

Lu Changsheng carefully moved forward, and before long, he arrived in front of the strange fragrance.

He saw a huge ginseng growing in the soil, its roots very plump, and bursts of fragrance wafting toward him.

Moreover, the area around the spiritual herb was very clean, clearly cleaned by wild beasts frequently.

"This is an item with an owner."

Lu Changsheng couldn't care less, quickly arrived in front of the ginseng, and pressed his claw onto it.

"Detected a hundred-year-old ginseng, do you want to collect it?"

At this moment, a crisp prompt sound rang out.

"Collect."

Lu Changsheng nodded.

In just a few breaths, this hundred-year-old ginseng was lying in his system space.

Such smoothness made him happy inwardly.

Having this good start also brought a lot of confidence to the subsequent exploration journey.

Just as Lu Changsheng was about to change direction again to explore, a sudden change occurred.

"Squeak..."

A black figure suddenly darted out from the passage ahead, its speed quite shocking.

Lu Changsheng looked closely.

A huge ground rat appeared not far ahead, its eyes blood-red, staring fixedly at him.

This ground rat's physique was almost two-tenths of his own, its claws radiating a black luster, very sharp.

"Buzz..."

Before Lu Changsheng could make a move, the ground rat rushed toward him quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of him, opened its mouth, and bit down fiercely.

Lu Changsheng's expression turned cold, and he swung his claws forward suddenly.

After the Drill Earth reinforcement, his claws had evolved once, becoming very sharp.

Several claws were like daggers, and they were arranged closely together.

"Clatter..."

In an instant, the two sides collided.

"Sizzle..."

With a scream, the ground rat's head was directly sliced in half, and blood sprayed out, staining a small piece of the mud space red.

After killing this ground rat, Lu Changsheng continued to explore to the side.

He guessed that the other party might be the guardian of this spiritual herb, and there might be an extremely huge ground rat colony here, perhaps even a rat king.

With his strength, it would be difficult to handle a rat tide.

This made him even more careful and cautious.

For the next few hours, Lu Changsheng explored the underground space.

This mountain range was rich in spiritual herbs; in less than half a day, he had harvested four more medicinal herbs of about fifty years.

Lu Changsheng leaned quietly against a giant rock to rest; just as he was about to leave, movement suddenly came from the darkness in the distance.

"Buzz, buzz..."

Three ground rats rushed toward Lu Changsheng crazily, their eyes carrying streaks of blood red. These three ground rats were clearly a size larger than the ones he had encountered last time, clearly elite members of the clan.

Truly haunting.

A flash of killing intent crossed Lu Changsheng's eyes; he had been very careful to avoid the other party.

He hadn't expected to be discovered anyway.

He didn't hesitate and darted out suddenly.

"Crack!"

His sharp claws easily sliced open the head of the ground rat in the middle.

Blood sprayed out immediately; with the other party's skin membrane, it couldn't block his sharp claw attack at all.

At the same time, the remaining two bit directly onto Lu Changsheng's back.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

A harsh screeching sound came, and Lu Changsheng only felt a bit of numbness on his back, with no pain at all.

The defense of the scales after Armor Reinforcement was still quite good; these elite ground rats couldn't break through his defense.

After dealing with one elite ground rat, Lu Changsheng killed again.

A great battle broke out deep underground in an instant.

Relying on his sharp claws and scales, Lu Changsheng soon killed the two elite ground rats.

It was just that the continuous battle made him a bit tired.

Lu Changsheng didn't hesitate and immediately opened the panel.

Then he clicked on the plus sign behind the level.

"Hmm..."

As a warm current flowed through his whole body, his spirit was instantly boosted, and the previous fatigue was swept away.

His whole body seemed full of vitality.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin.

Quality: White.

Level: 2.

Skills: Armor Reinforcement 【Excellent】, Drill Earth 【Excellent】.

Source Energy Points: 6.

His own exotic beast level had become Level 2; not only was the armor strength increased by several percent, but even his sharp claws had grown by more than an inch.

The sharpness of the claw tips was beginning to show, radiating a black light.

He discovered that adding points to the exotic beast this time not only improved strength but also restored his own energy, which gave him some new ideas.

This exotic beast clone, as the main force for searching for spiritual herbs, had to be improved.

He planned to use the resources of the Cangyun Shan Range to cultivate the exotic beast well, and after its strength was powerful, he would search for more spiritual herbs to supply his own martial arts breakthrough.

Only then could a good cycle be formed.

A moment later, Lu Changsheng clicked on the level plus sign again, and clicked it three times in a row.

"Buzz..."

Lu Changsheng felt his whole body's bones and muscles as if they were congested, and they began to expand rapidly.

Pure blood essence flowed endlessly in his body.

After a few breaths, the metamorphosis phenomenon stopped.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin.

Level: 5.

Source Energy Points: 3.

Lu Changsheng carefully felt his own changes; compared to before the breakthrough, his strength was more than double.

And the scales all over his body were arranged more tightly, and his defense was increased by a large margin again.

The attack level of those ground rats just now probably couldn't even be counted as scratching an itch.

Not only that, the two sharp claws had also thickened a lot, and presumably, the digging speed would also be greatly improved.

"It seems that every five levels is a minor metamorphosis."

Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

This improvement was completely incomparable to the previous one.

He didn't intend to consume all the remaining Source Energy Points, leaving them to save his life at critical moments.

Then, he put away his thoughts and dug toward the depths of the Cangyun Shan Range.

"Click, click..."

With a slight effort, the hard soil layer ahead was dug away by him.

Sure enough, as he expected, after the level improved, the digging speed would also be greatly improved.

This also gave Lu Changsheng a new understanding of the relationship between skills and levels.

In the early stage, focus on levels, and after reaching a certain level, then strengthen skills, so as to maximize his own benefits.

(End of chapter)