After watching the bull horns fall into the gray energy, Wang Cheng noticed that no energy was released. Instead, a slightly thicker pair of horns than before dropped to the ground.
Seeing this, Wang Cheng couldn't help but smile with delight and quickly examined them.
"The quality improved. This pair of horns is definitely a grade higher than the ones from the Hard-Skinned Ironhorn Bull leader. Could they be from a fifth-level apprentice-grade bull?"
This made Wang Cheng quite excited. Though he wasn't very familiar with Hard-Skinned Ironhorn Bull materials, this pair was clearly much more valuable than the ones he'd obtained from the fourth-level apprentice bull he had killed earlier.
"Could this gray energy refine materials for me? Not only refine, but also fuse them? I wonder if the shape can be changed too… If it can, then wouldn't I be able to easily create all sorts of weapons and armor?"
But he didn't have enough materials on hand to experiment with, so he put the thought aside for now.
Once he was rested, he opened the map index on his wristwatch.
"Huh, less than a hundred kilometers from here, there's a lake—and it's swarming with monsters. Unless you're a war general-level team or extremely confident in your strength, you wouldn't usually hunt there. It's said to be as dangerous as the inner region. I'm a mental-type practitioner, and my physical strength is already at the fifth-level apprentice. Even though my physical durability and reflexes haven't caught up, I should still be able to go check it out."
After packing up, he left the brushwood area, found his bearings, and headed toward the lake marked on the map—Youshui Lake.
This time, Wang Cheng didn't use any special techniques to travel. Instead, he took the opportunity to practice his newly acquired micro-level movement technique.
In just over ten minutes, he reached a large patch of shrubbery—the forest surrounding the lake.
Wang Cheng didn't dare let his guard down here. Compared to other outer regions, the forest around the lake often harbored mid-level apprentice monsters. Fortunately, there were no high-level ones. If there were, the humans would've swiftly taken care of them, since such monsters were essentially walking resource points.
Wang Cheng didn't enter the dense forest paths right away. He stood still, feeling the breeze carry a moist, bloody scent.
Water is the source of life—even monsters need it. A natural lake like this could be seen as a breeding ground, and the number of monsters within it was easy to imagine.
He cautiously readied his shield on his left arm and pulled out his materials-harvesting dagger. His long blade wasn't useful for probing the situation right now.
His dagger, forged from seventh-level apprentice-grade materials, had hardness and sharpness that even sixth-level apprentice monsters couldn't withstand.
Wang Cheng walked softly. Though not completely silent like a monster, his entire body was covered in mental energy, making his steps almost imperceptible on the forest floor.
Just as he was being cautious, a branch-like withered twig from above suddenly shot toward his neck like lightning.
But Wang Cheng's dagger was faster. In the blink of an eye, he pierced through it.
"A Withered Branding Snake—and a fourth-level apprentice at that. Heh, definitely dangerous, but this guy is worth a lot."
He didn't extract materials right away but stored the snake in his internal space, lessening the blood scent in the area.
Encountering a mid-level monster right at the entrance made him even more vigilant. He advanced several hundred meters with shield in hand before the forest opened up.
In front of him appeared a naturally formed lake spanning several dozen kilometers. Gentle ripples danced on the surface, giving the waters a mysterious and dangerous feel.
"So that Withered Branding Snake must've been the lord of this several-hundred-meter patch of forest. Makes sense—with venom and stealth, few monsters of the same rank could match it."
Although the lake wasn't vast, many monsters came to rest here, especially since a beast tide was approaching.
Wang Cheng often saw groups of low-level monsters approaching to drink water, only to be dragged into the lake by monsters hidden beneath the surface.
No matter how strong or smart monsters are, the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest—remains unchanging.
From his hiding spot in the trees, Wang Cheng scanned the lakeside and roughly estimated that there were hundreds of monsters along the shore.
This quickly extinguished his earlier idea of honing his movement technique. With so many monsters—and potential hidden mid-level ones—it would be foolish to charge in.
He would rely on his mental energy to hunt. Hopefully, he could collect enough rewards here to break through from fifth-level to sixth-level apprentice, or even reach seventh-level.
Dense forests might be unfriendly to martial artists, but for mental-type practitioners like Wang Cheng, they were natural hunting grounds.
With mental detection, he already had the upper hand over most monsters.
Take that Withered Branding Snake—most fourth-level apprentice fighters would've struggled to dodge its ambush. A single bite would mean death or permanent injury.
But Wang Cheng killed it effortlessly. That's the difference.
As time passed, the monsters near the shore grew restless.
The forest's bloody scent had grown stronger than usual.
Not just the low-level apprentice monsters—mid-level ones were also getting nervous, desperately trying to conceal themselves.
But to Wang Cheng, their presence was as obvious as torches in the night.
Unconsciously, he had already cleared a circular zone nearly 100 kilometers wide. Even with occasional energy reinforcements, the effort left him exhausted.
Yet thinking of his spoils, a smile crept onto his face.
He cleared an open space and released his portable shelter. Once it was fully deployed, he entered, sealed the entrance, and activated its camouflage.
Inside, Wang Cheng collapsed on the folding bed.
"Ugh… I'm dead tired!"
His consciousness instantly entered his internal space.
Inside, piles of monster corpses formed a small mountain.
They were almost all mid-level apprentice monsters—after all, only strong ones could survive in the forest.
Every few hundred meters, a mid-level monster had claimed a territory.
Some areas even had entire families of monsters living together. As a result, over two hundred mid-level monster corpses were now stacked into a ten-meter-high mound in his internal space.
(End of Chapter)