Chapter Forty

Cheng Yuan felt that his purpose had been achieved and was about to leave when he suddenly noticed a section on the bookshelf dedicated to supernatural manuals. For some reason, he was reminded of the trouble he had caused himself—he needed knowledge on how to deal with ghosts. This world had already proven the existence of fate, and the man in purple’s manual was something Cheng Yuan believed he would inevitably encounter in the future. After all, as the so-called Lord of Spiritual Perception in that man’s eyes, from a technological perspective, information entanglement had already occurred. No matter what, he needed to be prepared.

Half a day passed. Cheng Yuan sat at his desk, taking a deep breath. Ghosts were not difficult to handle—both the Golden-Striped White Tiger and the Barbaric Marsh Giant Lizard could deal with them. The problem, however, was that dealing with them was not the same as restraining them. There were many natural enemies to ghostly beings, but his little tiger was a Golden-Striped White Tiger, not a Mountain Lord or a tiger breed with ghostly minion skills, so it lacked true suppressive effect. The Marsh Giant Lizard was even less effective in this regard.

Generally, monsters with fire or lightning attributes had the strongest restraining effect on ghosts, followed by light, with other attributes less effective. Cheng Yuan decided that he would seek out monsters with fire or lightning attributes when he had the chance. At home, he retrieved some eggs he’d taken from a dungeon and used an Appraisal skill on each one.

Item: Icefeather Egg
Status: Hatch 0% (Unable to hatch)

He appraised egg after egg until suddenly, new information appeared.

Item: Brocade-Feather Egg
Status: Hatch 0% (Unable to hatch)

Cheng Yuan stroked his chin. The Brocade-Feather Chicken fit the requirements for a fire-type monster and was indeed a nemesis to ghostly beings. It seemed there truly were other types of chickens among the Icefeather flock. With some luck, he might actually obtain a fine monster.

In the week that followed, Cheng Yuan didn’t return to school even once; he spent every day either in a dungeon or on his way to one. Over that week, he discovered that different monsters yielded different training results. For example, training with the Bladed-Claw Skeleton dramatically improved his little tiger’s claw skills—progress so swift that the two monsters seemed to be sparring in a soulslike game, attacking and defending in turn.

In the Icefeather Chicken dungeon, the little tiger’s pounce and bite improved rapidly. For her, as long as she succeeded in the pounce and landed a bite on the neck, it was only a matter of time before victory was decided.

After a week of training, the little tiger’s bite skill was maxed out, granting her the signature skill of felines—Throat Lock. At the same time, her innate Jaw Muscle talent upgraded to Level II, permanently increasing bite force by 20%. Now, the little tiger’s head looked even rounder, and pressing the flesh behind her mouth felt like touching stone. Unfortunately, she was still stuck at level 11.

The bite skill also triggered synergies: combined with Wind Companion, it unlocked a new skill, Storm Fang; with Gold Elemental Enchantment, it unlocked Iron Tooth.

Pounce improved quickly as well, reaching Level 6. Now, even if the little tiger couldn’t bite through an Icefeather Chicken’s neck in one go, it would only take a few minutes to finish the kill—provided the chicken didn’t take flight.

On the other side, the Marsh Giant Lizard maxed out its Water Gun skill and gained a new ability, High-Speed Water Gun, as well as a new talent, Water Storage Pouch, which allowed it to store water. With a steady diet of Icefeather Chicken, its level rose to 9.

Cheng Yuan tried opening the lizard’s mouth and discovered strange black flesh inside its throat. Pressing it gently, water would gush forth—a new organ of sorts, allowing it to spray more water with its Water Gun skill.

The most significant progress was his own breakthrough in meditation, reaching Level 4, which raised his soul strength directly to 40. Continuous use of Appraisal had raised that skill to level 3, and his Disassembly skill to level 2.

If the Marsh Giant Lizard evolved, it would give feedback that further enhanced his soul strength. Cheng Yuan considered waiting for the little tiger to complete her evolution, then gambling on an extreme one-time contract with five new baby monsters. As long as either the Marsh Giant Lizard or the little tiger reached the king tier, a complete combat system could be established.

At that moment, a shrill chicken scream echoed, followed by the little tiger swaggering over, dragging an Icefeather Chicken. Cheng Yuan cast a Collection skill, and feathers scattered everywhere. As he picked up the chicken by its neck and prepared to leave, he suddenly recalled the five animal-engraved offering plates before the Mountain Lord statue.

After a week of eating Icefeather Chickens, his refrigerator was packed. Originally, his plan for the day was to sell some, but he suddenly thought of the five offering plates and became curious about what would happen if he placed a sacrifice on one.

He quickly placed the chicken’s corpse onto the plate carved with a chicken motif. At first, nothing happened. The blood from the neck wound gradually spread, covering the plate. Suddenly, a deafening tiger’s roar erupted, and a fierce, strange wind swept through, making the surrounding trees tremble.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the mountain dungeon Cheng Yuan hadn’t visited, an old man sunning himself in a chair snapped his head up at the sound of the tiger’s roar and saw a flurry of leaves blown from summit to mid-slope. Terror filled his eyes. “It’s back. It’s back—that monster!”

Back in the village, the young and strong reacted in varying ways—some with greed, others with resolve, but underneath it all, everyone was afraid. Only the innocent children, unversed in the ways of the world, watched the strange scene and pestered their parents for answers.

Elsewhere, Cheng Yuan received a quest: “Complete the ritual within one day.” He scoffed dismissively and turned away—none of the remaining four sacrifices would be easy to obtain; was he supposed to deliver himself to danger? As a “traveler from another world,” he gazed at the Icefeather Chicken, now vanished. The plate itself had changed, too—from a battered, rust-black dish to a mysterious dark blue, clearly something extraordinary.

He cast an Appraisal out of habit, and the result surprised him.

Item: Five-Sacrifices—Chicken (Offering Plate)
Status: Offering Placed

He checked the other black plates; the feedback was similar, except their status read: No Offering.

He had a hunch that once all five plates were filled, something extraordinary would happen—perhaps the Mountain Lord would appear?

Cheng Yuan had no intention of completing the quest just yet and was about to leave the dungeon when suddenly, a rumble sounded in the sky and black smoke billowed forth. “???”

He stroked the little tiger’s head, calming her after the earlier roar had made her bristle. Looking down the mountain, he said, “Let’s go take a look.” At first, he thought to follow the smoke directly, but realized that would take him into the Iron-Horned Black Water Buffalo’s territory—an absolute no-go. One glimpse and he’d be sent flying. After several attempts, he realized he was surrounded by the territories of various beasts; the only gap was through the Icefeather Chicken area. Cheng Yuan could only hope he wouldn’t run into any other monsters as he made his detour.