Chapter 28: Satellite Scout

The four of them found an empty spot in the camp and set up a tent.

Cang Luo discovered this camp was not only a temporary resting place for Xuantian Sect disciples, but also a trading ground.

Many disciples had laid out ground stalls in front of their tents, selling items gathered from the Beast Forest—herbs and other materials.

Cang Luo decided to take a look later; maybe he’d stumble upon something valuable, like a ring containing an old grandpa.

After setting up the tent, the four were about to enter the Beast Forest when a Xuantian Sect outer disciple ran toward them, shouting “Zang Senior Brother!” and holding a plant.

Li Zhan stared at the newcomer and said proudly, “He’s definitely here to ask about the rank of that herb.”

Sure enough, no sooner had Li Zhan spoken than the disciple reached Zang Feng.

He pointed to the herb with purple-red buds and asked, “Zang Senior Brother, what kind of spirit herb is this?”

Zang Feng didn’t take it, glanced once, and said, “It’s a Level Two spirit herb—Blood Essence Rose. Applied externally, it heals wounds; refined into an elixir, it treats internal injuries.”

“Too bad yours isn’t mature yet; otherwise, you could trade it for a low-grade yuan stone.”

“Thank you, Zang Senior Brother,” the disciple said with a satisfied smile and left.

Soon after, several more disciples came with spirit herbs to ask Zang Feng, who answered each one in turn.

Cang Luo admired him and said, “Zang Senior Brother, so many disciples come to the Beast Forest every day to gather herbs and hunt beasts—doesn’t that deplete the plants and animals, disrupting the ecological balance?”

“Ecological balance?”

Zang Feng looked at Cang Luo in surprise, savoring the term. “You underestimate the Beast Forest. Haven’t you noticed the yuan force here is denser than in the Xuantian Sect?”

Hearing this, Cang Luo quieted his mind and sensed carefully—indeed, the yuan force here was denser than in the Xuantian Sect.

The absorption efficiency was at least ten percent higher; inside the Beast Forest, it must be even denser.

Cang Luo nodded. “Yes, you’re right—I never noticed until you mentioned it. But what does that have to do with anything?”

Zang Feng explained, “The denser the yuan force, the faster spirit herbs and beasts grow and reproduce.

There’s a natural balance at work—human cultivators cannot disrupt the Beast Forest’s… ecological balance.”

“I see…” Cang Luo stared deeply at Zang Feng, thinking this fifteen-year-old boy knew too much.

There must be a secret!

After a while, seeing no more disciples approach, Zang Feng led the group into the Beast Forest…

Stretching endlessly before them stood towering trees, impossibly vast.

The short ones were ten or so meters tall; the tallest reached two or three hundred meters, with trunks ranging from dozens of centimeters to two or three meters in diameter.

Zang Feng told Cang Luo these giants were called Giant Cedars, and half the trees in the entire Beast Forest were of this kind.

Though numerous, they had no medicinal value—useful only for building houses.

Cang Luo stared at the Giant Cedars and thought of Africa’s tropical rainforests. He walked up to one, slapped its trunk, and heard a solid “biabia”—it was incredibly hard.

Wow! If only I could bring one back to Earth.

Not even counting its research value—just carving beads or making a tea table would make me rich for life.

At that moment, Zang Feng suddenly said, “Stay alert—we’ve entered the territory of Level One beasts. Liu Xuande, take the rear.”

Zang Feng, the strongest among them, led the way as team leader; Cang Luo and Li Zhan, with lower cultivation bases, walked in the middle.

After about ten minutes of marching, they heard beast sounds but saw no beasts—though they found plenty of droppings, proving beasts were active nearby.

Another half hour passed, still no sign of beasts.

Cang Luo’s iron sword, eager for blood, idly slashed at branches along the path.

Liu Xuande said, “Cang Junior Brother, don’t rush. Level One beasts roam over a thousand li. We’ve barely walked a fraction.

Don’t worry—so long as luck holds, we’ll find a few today. All the beast cores you get will be yours.”

Cang Luo sheathed his sword, embarrassed. “I got too eager. What’s a beast core?”

Liu Xuande glanced at him in confusion, then said, “A beast core is the energy core of a beast, storing vast amounts of yuan force.

It’s used to refine elixirs, or can be consumed directly to boost cultivation—but it’s far less effective than when refined.”

Cang Luo nodded. So that’s it. For low-tier disciples wanting to rapidly increase their cultivation, the only way was to brave the Beast Forest.

Not only did it raise power—it also yielded beast cores.

Another half hour passed. Li Zhan grew impatient. “If only we had a flying beast companion as a scout, finding beasts would be so much easier.”

The speaker meant nothing; the listener took it to heart. Cang Luo froze.

Scout? Recon?

Cang Luo smacked his forehead, cursing himself a fool.

I’ve got a satellite!

The satellite is a natural scout!

After successfully connecting to the satellite’s camera, Cang Luo found it automatically centered its surveillance on his current location.

A user-friendly feature—it saved him time searching for himself.

Even though it took only seconds, its importance became clear in emergencies.

As Zang Feng said, half the trees in the Beast Forest were Giant Cedars—sparse at the edges, denser toward the interior.

As the satellite’s view penetrated deeper, Cang Luo realized its surveillance function grew increasingly useless.

The Giant Cedars’ canopies spanned over ten meters, thick and dense, nearly blocking the satellite’s camera entirely.

Cang Luo thought—if only the satellite had infrared thermal imaging, the trees wouldn’t matter. Too bad it didn’t.

Still, monitoring the outer edges of the Beast Forest was easy. Through the sparse trees, Cang Luo could even see ants crawling on the grass.

Cang Luo raised the view to survey the surroundings and saw countless small teams of three or four people exploring the forest’s edge.

These teams included not only Xuantian Sect disciples but also warriors from other factions.

The deeper they went, the fewer people there were; occasionally, massive beasts darted past.

After watching for a few minutes, Cang Luo fixed the surveillance range to a hundred-meter radius centered on himself.

He followed behind Li Zhan, carefully scanning for beasts.

Persistence paid off—a patch of shrubbery dozens of meters away caught his eye; something moved inside.

Cang Luo immediately zoomed in. Three black, hook-shaped unknown creatures wriggled restlessly within the shrubbery.

Cang Luo estimated each hook was over three meters long—were they serpent beasts? Or giant pythons?

Cang Luo’s heart jumped. Even the exposed parts were three meters—how massive was the body hidden inside?

And there were three of them. Could our four warriors handle this?

Cang Luo suddenly stopped and pointed nervously at the shrubbery. “There’s movement over there—I saw something slither in.”

“Where?”

The three followed his finger—but saw nothing unusual. Their viewing angle differed from his.

He was looking down—few obstructions.

They were looking straight—trees and shrubs blocked their view.

“Where? Did you just panic and imagine it?” Li Zhan didn’t believe Cang Luo could spot a beast before Zang Feng.

In his eyes, Zang Senior Brother was omnipotent—if Zang Feng hadn’t noticed it, how could Cang Luo?

Cang Luo didn’t know how to explain. He couldn’t say, “I saw it with my heavenly eye.”

After hesitating, he picked up a stone and crept quietly toward the shrubbery.

The three exchanged glances—either Cang Luo was overreacting, or it was just a small animal.

Still, they followed behind him, ready to assist if anything happened.

Cang Luo gripped the stone, tiptoed closer, and when ten meters from the target, hurled it hard—then retreated swiftly.

The stone struck the shrubbery with only a faint rustling sound—no other reaction.

“See? I told you—you imagined it. Let’s go. We just follow Zang Senior Brother.”

Li Zhan grumbled. More than an hour had passed without a beast—his patience was wearing thin.

Then, suddenly, a sickening “ssss” echoed from the distant shrubbery—like a venomous snake hissing, raising the hairs on their necks.

The next instant, a black monster with three hook-shaped tails burst from the shrubbery.

“Scorpion? Scorpion?”

Cang Luo stared, dumbfounded by the creature before him.

Its body stood over half a meter tall, with three tails each three meters long—a six-meter-long black giant scorpion glared at them, its front pincers clutching the corpse of some unknown beast.

Liu Xuande and Li Zhan jumped back in shock—they hadn’t believed Cang Luo, but now they turned to Zang Feng.

Zang Feng remained calm and immediately ordered, “Spread out! Hide behind the Giant Cedars—use them to restrict its movement.”

No sooner had he spoken than Liu Xuande and Li Zhan dashed behind separate Giant Cedars, waiting for his next command.

Cang Luo found a Giant Cedar one meter thick as cover, gripped his iron sword tightly, heart pounding, too afraid to turn around.

But thank heaven for the satellite—every move of the giant scorpion was under his surveillance.

Cang Luo was stunned. How could scorpions on the Yuanwu Continent grow this large? This was a beast?

And it had three tails—one strike would kill or cripple.

What level was this beast? Run or fight?

Cang Luo checked Zang Feng through the satellite—he remained calm. Cang Luo exhaled in relief.

Then he turned his gaze to the scorpion. Its terrifying mouthparts kept hissing, swaying left and right, eyeing Li Zhan, then Cang Luo—clearly deciding whom to strike first.

As if it knew Cang Luo and Li Zhan were the weakest—targeting the softest prey.

At that moment, Zang Feng spoke calmly: “Don’t panic. This is a Level One beast—the Three-Tailed Giant Scorpion. It has two weaknesses.

One is its belly—but it’s heavily guarded. The other is its anal vent beneath the tail.

I’ll draw its attention from the front—you two circle around and strike its anal vent. Watch out for its tail—it’s venomous.”

But don’t worry, its tail can’t reach targets behind it—just watch your positioning.

Liu and Li exchanged a glance after hearing Cang Luo’s words, each seeing in the other’s eyes trust and admiration for Cang Luo.

Cang Luo suddenly felt this was like playing an online game, a top player leading three juniors to fight a boss...