Chapter 28: The Dark Forest

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

There’s wind?

Bai Wushang froze, and then was a little surprised.

A breeze meant that the cave was connected to somewhere, and wasn’t a dead end.

That place might be the true habitat of the Spectral Viper!

Bai Wushang no longer hesitated, keeping himself fully vigilant and going deeper into the cave.

In the darkness, there were strange rustling sounds from time to time, and some bats, rodents, and insects could be vaguely seen, but probably because of the incense bag, these creatures didn’t approach Bai Wushang.

Along the way, Bai Wushang found that the passage had no forks, and was far better to traverse than expected, except that it was too deep and long, and it took 30 or 40 minutes before he saw the exit at the other end.

There was light at the exit, very faint and just like the feeling of a pale moonlight spilling down at two or three in the middle of the night.

Worming out of the cave, Bai Wushang saw a shocking scene.

In front of him was a huge and vast black forest, far more lively than before, with trees commonly exceeding 50 meters in height, their gray and black leaves connecting to hold up the black sky.

Through the gap, the illusory sun hanging in the sky could still be seen, but the trees blocked 99 percent of that sunlight, and only an extremely faint bit was able to shine on the land.

Dim, cold, and damp were the main themes of this place, and the air was also laden with the stench of rotten mud. Bai Wushang was certain that this was the most ideal environment for the Spectral Viper to live in, and it had to have run out from here.

“Suodayo… Suodayo…”

A euphonious singing voice reached his ears, and Bai Wushang poked around for the sound, quickly seeing three or four ghosts.

They were translucent blue bodies with their outlines shaped like two or three year old babies, with eyes tightly closed and another eye open in the middle of the brow. The beautiful song was coming from their throats.

Singing ghosts?

It dawned on Bai Wushang that this ghost-type transcendent creature liked to sing, didn’t possess any attacking ability, and had an extremely timid personality.

Seeing a stranger appear in front of them holding a torch, the singing ghosts screamed in fear and scattered in a flurry, disappearing into the distant darkness.

Without stopping, Bai Wushang continued on his way.

Skeleton Archer, Floating Elf, Spring Wood Demon, Shadow Ladybug…

Along the way, he had seen so many transcendent creatures that it was almost overwhelming.

Bai Wushang clearly noticed that as he gradually penetrated deeper and deeper into this dark forest, the strength of the active transcendent creatures around him rose, and it was almost difficult to see the little ones at the early stage of youth.

Snap…

When his left foot went soft, as if he had stepped on something, Bai Wushang reacted extremely quickly, and immediately jumped backward a step.

The torch hung low, and he saw a pile of mud.

The mud did not exist singularly, but stretched to the left, eventually forming a giant black sunken, unseen mire.

A mire of this size is likely to be inhabited by that kind of creature…

Having a sudden thought, Bai Wushang took out a large piece of snake meat, and threw it onto the mire six or seven meters away.

Mud splattered everywhere as the snake’s flesh embedded in the surface of the soft, rotting mire, sinking inch by inch downward.

Hua, hua, hua…

In the distance, the sound of mud churning suddenly rang out with great commotion.

Bai Wushang held his breath, and quietly leaned behind a section of trees, watching in silence.

The darkness lit up with pair after pair of dull yellow pupils, smaller ones only the size of glass beads, but larger ones as good as light bulbs. They contained the primal cold sheen of beasts.

When the owners of those pupils approached, and began to fight for the right to own the snake’s flesh, Bai Wushang saw their true faces.

It was an amphibious reptilian creature with a flat head, long muzzle, eyes growing on the sides of its head, and a large, narrow mouth littered with sharp teeth.

It had a dark brown body as if clad in a heavy layer of armor and a long, thick tail behind it which could splash a meter or two of roiling mud with a casual fling.

Sure enough, there are swamp crocodiles!

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Bai Wushang picked one of a random size to observe the attributes.

[Name]: Swamp Crocodile (Wild)

[Race]: Demon Beast Realm – Crawling Type – Swamp Crocodile Race

[Life Level]: Peak youth form

[Bloodline Quality]: Mortal Bone level, six stars

[Status]: Hyperactive

[Intelligence]: Low

[Characteristic]: Pathogenic Body/Hardened Skin

[Skills]: Death Roll, Wave Strike, Mud Blast, Whipping Tail

[Gourmet Cell]: 24

Not bad. How can a swamp crocodile with a 6-star Mortal Bone level and peak youth form achieve my expectation of 80 points…

Bai Wushang’s thoughts stirred as he silently assessed the creature.

Two major characteristics of the swamp crocodile, one of which, Pathogenic Body, is central to its survival in a hostile environment like a mire, so if scratched and bitten by a Swamp Crocodile, one must seek prompt medical attention to avoid being infected by germs…

Secondly, Hardened Skin, the armor-like carapace of the swamp crocodile, has a strong defense and is strong in its own right, able to resist and fight. It’s a nightmarish existence…

Overall evaluation, Swamp Crocodile is positioned as a meaty tank-type creature with high damage output and even some long-range spell attacks. It has a natural evolutionary chain of a mature form Black Swamp Crocodile and a complete form Sawtooth Swamp Crocodile with superior abilities and potential…

…However, its flaws are equally obvious. Part of the Swamp Crocodile’s strength depends on the environment. Fighting in a mire, it’s often able to kill higher-level transcendent creatures… but if it goes to land, its combat power drops by at least a third, and its slow speed is a shortcoming attribute that it cannot avoid…

Bai Wushang weighed the options in his mind, and did not make a hasty choice. It’s better to explore deeper. If I can’t encounter a higher-quality transcendent creature after that, I’ll return here and find a way to contract the Swamp Crocodile…

The first one or two pets that a master contracted would be with them for a long, long time, and were so important that no amount of caution could be overstated.

Bai Wushang decided to include the Swamp Crocodile as a backup option, noting down the location here first.

He began to circle the mire, carving cross marks into the trees around it. This was his usual way of marking, perhaps not as safe and useful, but convenient enough.

“Huh…”

In passing, Bai Wushang noticed that there were footprints left by humans on the rotten ground on the other side of the mire.

Upon closer inspection, the footprints were large and small, and there appeared to be more than one person.

It looks like several people have stopped here, and there are many students in this dark forest…

Bai Wushang thought about it, and noted this information.

Keep going deeper… Hopefully, there will be surprises…

With a look of anticipation, Bai Wushang held a torch in his left hand and a dagger in his right, a dimensional backpack slung across the side of his chest and a long backpack on his back. He turned and walked deeper into the darkness.