Chapter 21

Lu Zhangsheng carefully examined his surroundings; everywhere was lush and green, with abundant grass and trees.

This place was the outer periphery of the Cangyun Mountain 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 underground soil quality here was much harder than that of Little Cloud Mountain, filled with giant rocks everywhere; it was almost impossible to dig out an underground space.

However, compared to Little Cloud Mountain, this mountain must have many more spirit medicines; as long as he dug out a portion, it would be enough to greatly increase his strength.

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

"Rustle..."

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

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

Half an hour later.

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

Suddenly, a fragrance came from ahead, making his spirit shake.

"There's a situation."

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

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

"There are other wild beasts active underground here."

Seeing this situation, Lu Zhangsheng's heart tightened.

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

Since traces of wild beasts could be found here, then the entire Cangyun Mountain Range probably had the other party's footprints.

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

Lu Zhangsheng carefully traveled forward, and before long, he arrived in front of that strange fragrance.

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

And the area around the spirit medicine was very clean, clearly cleaned by wild beasts often.

"This is an item with an owner."

Lu Zhangsheng couldn't care about thinking too much, quickly came to the ginseng, and pressed his claws on it.

"Detected a hundred-year-old ginseng. Time to collect?"

At this time, a crisp prompt sounded.

"Collect."

Lu Zhangsheng nodded.

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

Being so smooth made him happy in his heart.

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

Just as Lu Zhangsheng was about to change direction again and go explore, a sudden change occurred.

"Squeak..."

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

Lu Zhangsheng 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 catching up to his own by twenty percent, and its claws emitted a dark luster, very sharp.

"Buzz..."

Before Lu Zhangsheng could make a move, the ground rat rushed towards him quickly.

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

Lu Zhangsheng's expression turned cold, and his claws swung forward fiercely.

After the burrowing enhancement, his claws had evolved once and became very sharp.

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

"Clatter..."

In an instant, the two sides collided.

"Sizzle..."

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

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

He guessed that the other party might be the guardian of this spirit medicine, and there was probably an extremely huge ground rat group here, perhaps even a rat king.

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

This made him even more careful and cautious.

For the next few hours, Lu Zhangsheng was exploring in the underground space.

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

Lu Zhangsheng was quietly leaning 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 were crazily killing towards Lu Zhangsheng, their eyes carrying strands of blood red. These three ground rats were clearly a size larger than the ones he met last time, clearly elite members of the tribe.

Truly haunting.

Killing intent flashed through Lu Zhangsheng's eyes; he had already been very careful to avoid the other party.

He didn't expect to be discovered anyway.

He didn't hesitate anymore and darted out fiercely.

"Crack!"

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

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

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

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

A harsh screeching sound came, and Lu Zhangsheng only felt some numbness on his back, with no pain at all.

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

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

The great battle broke out in the depths of the ground in an instant.

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

It's just that the continuous battle made him somewhat tired.

Lu Zhangsheng didn't hesitate, immediately opened the panel.

Then he clicked towards 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 to be full of vitality.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin.

Quality: White.

Level: 2.

Skills: Armor Enhancement 【Excellent】, Burrowing 【Excellent】.

Source Energy Points: 6.

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

The sharp edge of the claws was beginning to show, emitting a dark light.

He discovered that adding points to the exotic beast this time could not only improve strength but also restore his own energy, which gave him some new plans.

This exotic beast clone, as the main force for searching for spirit medicines, must be improved.

He prepared to take advantage of the resources of the Cangyun Mountain Range next to cultivate the exotic beast well, and after his strength was strong, he would search for more spirit medicines to supply his own martial arts breakthrough.

Only then could a good cycle be formed.

A moment later, Lu Zhangsheng clicked to add points to the level again, and clicked three times in a row.

"Buzz..."

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

Strands of pure blood essence were flowing endlessly in his body.

After a few breaths, the transformation phenomenon stopped.

Bound Exotic Beast: Pangolin.

Level: 5.

Source Energy Points: 3.

Lu Zhangsheng carefully felt his own changes; compared to before the breakthrough, his strength was more than twice as strong.

And the scales all over his body were arranged more closely, 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 become much thicker, and presumably, the digging speed would also be greatly improved.

"It seems that every five levels is a small transformation."

Lu Zhangsheng thought to himself.

This improvement was completely incomparable to before.

He didn't plan 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 towards the depths of the Cangyun Mountain Range.

"Click, click..."

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

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

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

In the early stage, focus on levels; after improving to a certain level, then strengthen skills, so as to maximize one's own benefits.

(End of chapter)