Chapter 124: A Preliminary Taste

In the misty zone, Chu Tianfeng sat cross-legged on the ground, healing his injuries in peace.

He had been struck into the mist by the old monk, but his injuries were not severe. The old monk had acted with mercy and had not unleashed his full power. Furthermore, Chu Tianfeng had been prepared; he had utilized the momentum from the old monk's true energy to propel himself into the secret realm.

After entering the valley, he ran only a few hundred meters before stopping. It was not that he did not want to continue, but his internal organs were aching, and the true energy in his dantian was in disarray. He needed to stabilize his condition.

As for Wang Caizhang and Mo Wannian, who were trailing behind, he was not worried in the slightest. The thick fog in the valley limited visibility to a mere two or three meters. Since the two men were only at the early stage of the Yuan Tian realm, their spiritual sense could only extend about three or four meters—barely further than their naked eyes. Thus, Chu Tianfeng sat down openly to cultivate and heal.

As soon as he began his cultivation technique, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that the ambient spiritual energy in the valley was incredibly dense, dozens of times stronger than in the outside world. While it still could not compare to Blue Moon Planet, Chu Tianfeng was more than satisfied.

As he cycled his energy, the spiritual essence swirled above his head, gradually forming a vortex over ten meters in diameter. The energy poured into his body, was rapidly refined into true energy, stored in his dantian, and then channeled to his internal organs to mend his wounds.

Before long, Wang and Mo indeed passed by him, hurrying into the depths of the valley. Since they did not bother him, Chu Tianfeng certainly had no intention of provoking them.

After about half an hour of cultivation, his injuries were mostly healed. He leaped to his feet, intending to follow the two men to explore the deeper parts of the valley. However, just as he had traveled a short distance, a warning from Xiyazi echoed in his sea of consciousness: "Careful, there are wolves ahead!"

Chu Tianfeng remained nonchalant, laughing, "Are they male or female?" With his current cultivation at the late stage of Qi Refining, he was not afraid of a few mere wolves.

"Hehe, your luck is in. There is one male wolf and twelve females," Xiyazi chuckled. "It looks like you could be serenaded every night."

Chu Tianfeng rolled his eyes and retorted, "It’s been a long time since I’ve had wild game. I’ll break my fast with them today!"

A few minutes later, Chu Tianfeng stopped. Before him were indeed several... black wolves. These were clearly not ordinary animals; their fur was pitch black, and they were twice the size of standard wolves. A brief sweep of his spiritual sense revealed that their levels were quite high. The male, the alpha, was at the late second stage—equivalent to the late stage of Foundation Establishment. The females were not far behind, ranging from the late first stage to the early second stage.

This was his second encounter with demonic beasts on Earth. The first was at the bottom of Thousand Bird Lake, where he had struggled to defeat an injured, early second-stage python while he was only at the second level of Qi Refining. Now, his cultivation had improved significantly, but the opposition was entirely different in both number and strength.

Not wanting to engage in a head-on clash while his injuries were not fully healed, Chu Tianfeng quietly drew his pistol and crept toward the pack. To his surprise, the wolves’ vision did not seem hindered by the fog; they detected him while he was still seventy or eighty meters away.

Awoooo!

The alpha let out a howl, and the others lifted their heads, fixing fierce gazes upon him.

"Howl all you want, you bastards!" Chu Tianfeng cursed.

*Whoosh!* The alpha charged at him! The females followed suit, snarling as they lunged.

"Good!" Chu Tianfeng didn't hesitate. He disengaged the safety and aimed at the leading alpha.

Eighty meters. Seventy meters. The wolf drew closer; Chu Tianfeng could practically smell the blood on its breath.

Twenty meters!

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Bullets streaked from the muzzle toward the pack. The alpha took the lead, dodging the first shot, but it failed to avoid the second. A bullet tore into its neck, and blood sprayed.

*Aroo!* The alpha let out a sharp cry of pain. However, as a second-stage beast, a single handgun bullet was not enough to put it down. It continued to charge ferociously, as did the two females behind it that had also been struck.

"Dammit!" Chu Tianfeng flicked his wrist, firing again. The bullets cut white streaks through the mist. The alpha was hit again, as were the females.

As they closed in, Chu Tianfeng had no desire to fight them in close quarters. He executed a movement technique, transforming into a gust of wind to put distance between himself and the pack. While moving, he swiftly swapped magazines and unleashed another hail of bullets.

The wolves fell one by one, their cries echoing through the valley. Yet, they were fearless, continuing their pursuit. Chu Tianfeng kept running, firing steadily behind him. Finally, the pack could no longer sustain the assault; the early-stage females fell first, followed by the others. Even the alpha, drenched in its own blood, finally realized that this human was far too cunning and powerful.

"Run!" The alpha, having lost the will to fight, turned and fled, followed by the remaining three females.

Chu Tianfeng, having finally encountered demonic beasts, would not let them escape so easily. He reloaded and gave chase. The remaining wolves were soon mowed down. Eventually, only the alpha remained. Chu Tianfeng pursued it relentlessly, firing bullets into its back and legs. The alpha’s cries grew weaker until it finally collapsed.

Chu Tianfeng finished it off with a few shots to the head. He gathered the carcasses, tossing the first-stage wolves into his storage ring as future rations. He dissected the second-stage wolves, extracting eight demonic cores. These cores contained pure spiritual energy, equivalent to roughly 160 low-grade spirit stones. Chu Tianfeng was overjoyed; with these, combined with the dense spiritual energy of the valley, he was certain he could break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining in no time.

"Hehe! Your luck today is truly incredible. It seems another thousand female wolves have come to visit you!" Xiyazi’s bell-like laughter echoed in his mind.

Chu Tianfeng nearly stumbled. A thousand? If even a hundred came, he would be forced to flee for his life! He only had a few hundred rounds of ammunition left.

"This is a valley; both sides should be cliffs. If you climb high enough, you'll be safe," Xiyazi suggested.

Just as he turned to run, she added, "I forgot to tell you, there’s a large pack of female wolves to the left."

Chu Tianfeng turned and sprinted to the right. Minutes later, he reached a cliff. It was not too steep, and he climbed dozens of meters in less than a minute. Finding a wide ledge, he sat down and prepared to roast a wolf leg for a meal.

"Put that away!" Xiyazi shouted.

"Why?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the wolves in this mist have an incredibly keen sense of smell. Those thousand wolves were likely drawn by the scent of blood," she explained.

Chu Tianfeng thought she made a fair point, but grumbled, "I'm up this high; they can't climb up, can they?"

"Suit yourself," Xiyazi giggled. "I know how much you love being surrounded by a pack of female wolves."

Rolling his eyes, Chu Tianfeng packed away his cooking gear. He had brought plenty of rice, enough to last him half a year even if he found no other food. After eating and chatting with Xiyazi, he took out the demonic cores and began his cultivation.

In the outside world, his progress had been slow due to the lack of spiritual energy and resources. Here, with the dense ambient energy and the demonic cores, he could feel his cultivation surging. He recalled the old monk mentioning that time here flowed differently—three months outside was a full year within the valley.

With a year of time, such rich energy, and the constant influx of demonic beasts, Chu Tianfeng was confident he could reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Once he found the herbs needed for the Foundation Establishment Pill, his path to advancement would be wide open.