Chapter 52: Movements of All Parties

However, in the short term, with him digesting so frantically, perhaps the Ice Frost power within his body will recover even faster, and the rate of its strengthening may also accelerate.

After all, staying all day in an environment of high-grade energy is simply heaven for a power like it that needs energy.

However, if he wants to change the current situation and return to a state of internal balance,

the best method is to find ways to raise his consumption capacity.

That is, to increase the strength of the stomach acid within his body, making it easier to digest food.

Because his digestion really can't keep up with his absorption.

"How the tables have turned — in the past it was always absorption that couldn't keep up with digestion."

Baichuan sighed with some vexation.

But if he were asked to give up just like that, he would absolutely be unwilling.

He could only be half vexed, half happy.

Perhaps this is what they call the troubles of happiness?

Beneath the shade of a tree, a snake-like, dragon-like monster raised its slender neck and gazed at the heavens.

……

Two days later, in a certain cave.

Accompanied by a cracking sound, a mouse whose body had grown considerably and whose fur was glossy and shining walked out of an eggshell-like hard object.

The whole mouse was somehow unlike ordinary mice — its hind legs were extraordinarily thick, filled with strong, resilient muscle.

Most astonishing of all, it actually used its hind legs to support its entire body and walked upright.

Before it had even taken a clear look at its surroundings upon emerging, a pair of black, glossy, bright, Spirit-filled mouse eyes darted about ceaselessly, as if searching for something.

Unfortunately, the place had long since been abandoned, leaving only an empty, desolate cave for it.

Upon finding that it could not locate the target it sought, it lowered its head in disappointment and let out a few soft calls.

Suddenly its nose twitched several times, as if it had caught a familiar scent; a flash of delight crossed its eyes, and it bent its body and swiftly departed.

Worth mentioning is that as it left, it seemed to have misjudged its own speed — with a sudden dash it turned into a Grey Shadow invisible to the naked eye and crashed into the wall.

……

At the same time, in a certain forest.

Boom!

"Who is it? Who is it? Who exactly broke my Tracking Technique? Ah!!"

Accompanied by the sound of a great tree toppling, a furious, unrestrained roar rang out.

At this moment, a bald, scarred-headed brute with a gleaming pate was venting against a great tree, roaring as he did so.

His tone was full of unwillingness, yet carried a thread of despair he could not conceal.

This man was none other than Zhang Dadan, who just a few days ago had been smugly pleased with himself for having schemed to trap a large group of people.

The present him was no longer the confident, triumphant man of before — on a face marked by hardship, a pair of extremely bloodshot eyes made it clear he had not rested for many days.

This was already the second day his Compass tracking had failed. Since yesterday, when for some unknown reason his Compass had suddenly malfunctioned and lost the trail, he had lost his target in this boundless forest, with no idea which way to go.

Coupled with the torment those remnant Spirits inflicted on his reason, and the ever-ticking countdown of his life, he was steadily slipping deeper into madness.

Who could it be? Who could possibly have removed his tracking measures?

One must understand that the tracking measures he had laid were not living creatures like gu worms, but rather the result of feeding day and night, so that a faint scent had been steeped into the target's very flesh and blood.

What manner of being could have purged away an aura that permeated even the target's entire flesh and blood?

And how had they done it?

He could not figure it out!

Under such circumstances, to erase it, one would either have to burn the entire target completely to ash and scatter it into water to hide the scent, or destroy the Compass in his hand — there was no other way.

But as things stood now?

The Compass was still here, yet the target's scent had vanished.

Could it be that whoever took it could forcibly suppress that Ice Silkworm?

But even an Ice Silkworm in a withered state — without a suppressor, the Seven Limits absolutely could not hold it down.

What manner of power was this? Someone from the royal family? Or a being above the Eight Limits?

Neither was someone he could afford to provoke in his current state.

The more Zhang Dadan thought, the more desperate he grew; he smashed another fist into a great tree, and at once a deep hole appeared.

"Ah!!!"

In impotent rage he wantonly vented by smashing the trees.

And his actions seemed to have startled the animals in the nearby forest into panicked flight in all directions.

An unlucky male sika deer ran the wrong way, heading straight for him.

This movement happened to be heard by Zhang Dadan in the midst of his venting; he stopped what he was doing, raised his head, and his face was now covered in black patterns that seemed to breathe.

A face covered in living, writhing black patterns, together with a pair of bloodshot eyes like a demon's and a ferocious expression with bared gums, made him look less like a human and more like a malevolent ghost of the deep forest.

"Come right in!"

He bared his lips in a savage grin, as if he had found a living target for his venting; a pair of thick, powerful hands reached out, and amid the sika deer's terrified cries, slowly dragged it into the darkness.

After a long while, amid heavy, ragged breathing, a wretched, terror-stricken scream rang out through the deep, dense forest, echoing on and on without end.

It frightened the nearby animals into never daring to approach again.

After a long while, he emerged with disheveled clothes and a thread of blood at the corner of his mouth; at this point a trace of clarity had finally returned to his bloodshot eyes.

He gazed at the sky and muttered to himself: "Looks like now I can only hurry on to Daze ahead of time and see if I can intercept them."

……

At the same time, after fermenting for so many days.

Without Baichuan's knowledge, his former dwelling had long since been thoroughly tracked down by a large group of people conducting a carpet search.

"As expected, even if this Strange Beast isn't a Dragon Species, it's no ordinary creature — it actually knows how to conceal itself and has even constructed such a perfect lair."

An old woman crouched on the ground, continuously running her hands over the various traces inside the cave, exclaiming without pause: "Perfect and concealed ventilation passages, winding detours around all the key spots, an entrance and exit designed to keep surface water from seeping into the lair, and the interior of the lair divided into perfect chambers for storing food, excrement and waste, and resting."

She paused, then stood up and reached toward the inner wall on the side, which had been pressed densely and firmly together.

"Add to that the inner wall, trimmed so neatly that there's no risk of collapse at all — this thing should possess the most basic intelligence and know how to think."

"She Po, is it really as exaggerated as you say?"

A young man beside her asked, his face full of puzzlement and doubt — he truly couldn't understand how feeling these traces alone could reveal so much.

"That's where you're out of your depth." The old woman glanced at him and said: "I've dealt with snakes and all manner of venomous creatures for the better part of my life, and I've never seen such a perfect cave. Tell me — would any ordinary creature sort its own excrement, food, and resting area into separate categories?"

"Look — it even placed a shell-shaped object at the food storage spot to hold the food and keep it from being tainted by dirt and sand… wait, a shell-shaped object?"

(End of Chapter)