Chapter 384: Chapter 218: Valley (2)
Seeing this, he put away his binoculars and turned to go down for a look.
’As for jumping? He clearly didn’t have the ability to survive a fall of several hundred meters.’
On the way down, Cheng Zongyang also encountered Fierce Beasts like tigers, leopards, and giant pythons.
But this situation made Cheng Zongyang a little suspicious.
’What about their territories?’
’Can tigers and leopards just wander into each other’s space like this? Don’t they have any territorial instincts?’
But when those tigers and leopards saw Cheng Zongyang, they seemed to sense a strange Energy. They knew he was not to be trifled with and fled the moment they saw him from a distance.
This was a shame in Cheng Zongyang’s eyes. ’Tiger Bone and Tiger Whip are both excellent Medicinal Materials.’
The Collection Hunting Teams in the Wilderness World had hunted quite a few creatures. Zhang Jinquan used their materials to brew a good deal of medicinal wine for Martial Artists. However, they hadn’t hunted many Exotic Beasts, and the few they did get were used by Zhang Jinquan to cultivate things like the Red Jade Ganoderma.
As the sun was setting, Cheng Zongyang reached the foot of the mountain.
But when he arrived at the valley, he found it was filled with a massive number of animal skeletons.
From the summit, he hadn’t been able to see what was under the trees, so he hadn’t noticed. He never expected to find something so eerie.
Cheng Zongyang frowned, held his breath, and, relying on the power of his Geomagnetic Stone, slowly entered the valley.
Cheng Zongyang wasn’t in a rush. He took his time, observing the skeletons to see if he could determine a cause of death.
Many creatures were little more than skin, and most were already bleached white, making them unidentifiable. After all, once a tiger or leopard is reduced to bone, only a professional could tell the difference.
However, he could still identify some of the creatures by their teeth.
’They all seem to have died naturally?’
Cheng Zongyang examined the remaining animal hides but found nothing abnormal. Some of the fur was just too decomposed to offer any clues.
As he ventured deeper toward the center of the valley, he spotted the skeleton of a giant python. Its skin was still present, not fully decomposed, but it was tattered and had large sections missing.
Inside its ribcage was another animal skeleton, about the size of a normal wolf. It must have been something the python had eaten.
But at the head of the great python’s skeleton, he discovered that its skull was shattered.
This clearly wasn’t from natural decay.
’These cracks... Was it struck by some external force?’
Squatting beside it, Cheng Zongyang stared at the cracks in the skull and immediately formed a guess.
’A python this big... it’s about the same size as that Exotic Beast, the Flame Mist Python, I killed near the village.’
’Was this the work of a person, or some other creature? Or perhaps it was caused when that fireball landed?’
Filled with questions, Cheng Zongyang continued onward.
After a while, he suddenly turned and looked back the way he came, noticing that most of the skeletons were pointing away from the center of the valley.
Only a few were different.
’Did they die while trying to flee?’
A glint appeared in Cheng Zongyang’s eyes as he immediately headed for the center of the area.
Based on the decomposition of the skeletons, he estimated that the fireball was likely the cause.
Thanks to the Geomagnetic Stone, none of the living creatures in the valley dared to approach him.
Using his Body Technique, he soon arrived near the center of the valley.
He didn’t approach rashly. Instead, he landed in a tree, took out his binoculars, and peered at the large, weed-covered crater in the center of the area.
After scanning the area and confirming there were no creatures around, he dropped to the ground and walked to the crater’s edge.
’This crater must be over fifty meters in diameter,’ Cheng Zongyang estimated, then drew his Tang Blade and headed for the bottom.
’I wonder if the Fire Spirit Stone is still here,’ Cheng Zongyang thought.
’That monkey had a Fire Spirit Stone, which means other animals should be able to sense them too. They’d know it was something valuable.’
’It’s just that the crater and the area around it are completely overgrown. Finding a Fire Spirit Stone under all these weeds will be difficult.’
’Unless I mobilize a large team to search and clear out all these weeds... It’s obviously impossible for me to do it alone.’
In the end, after some thought, he shook his head and gave up on searching for now. It would be too time-consuming.
’This valley is a pretty good spot. And all these skeletons could serve as a perfect misdirection.’
He mentally noted the valley’s location and stopped his search.
His purpose was simply to find a suitable location for misdirection; it didn’t need to be anything too special.
He then turned and used his Body Technique to rush back toward the small waterfall. He planned to wait there for the Mole Beast’s return before entering the Wilderness World to take care of other business.
As for this valley, he would make arrangements for it in the future, after Ma Yue brought back the Soul Gathering Stele.
Traveling through the night, Cheng Zongyang wasn’t worried about getting lost. By midnight, he had used his Body Technique to swiftly return to the small waterfall, and from there, he entered the Wilderness World.
At this hour, Luo Dingran and the others were already asleep. Cheng Zongyang didn’t disturb them, heading straight for the private area on the Third Level of the market cottage and entering his personal villa estate.
「Early the next morning.」
When Cheng Zongyang emerged, he saw Luo Dingran and the others already hard at work. He also spotted Ma San at the entrance to the Preservation Warehouse, holding a large wicker basket.
"Sir!"
Seeing Cheng Zongyang emerge from the cottage, they all hurried to greet him with cupped fists. Ma San quickly set down his basket as well.
Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly. He knew Ma San was the leader of the first team Luo Dingran had established.
According to Luo Dingran’s previous report, the five Collection Hunting Teams had a total of twenty members, with four people per team. He had also granted the five team captains permission to establish Teleport Anchor Points.
"What’s the status of the exploration? Have the other four teams returned yet?" Cheng Zongyang asked Luo Dingran.
Luo Dingran answered, "Sir, the exploration is ongoing. Ma San, the leader of the first team, teleported back with resources last night. He’s about to head out with more supplies to stock the supply station, where his other three team members are resting. The other four captains should be in the process of building the second supply stations along their routes."
Cheng Zongyang nodded.
The introduction of the Teleport Anchor Point function had truly made things much more convenient for the members of the Collection Hunting Teams.
Traveling back and forth and transporting resources was no longer such a difficult task. Luo Dingran’s plan was to establish a supply station every ten kilometers.
Otherwise, it would take more than four hours just to travel ten kilometers on these mountain trails.
Cheng Zongyang had no objection. If they needed to make changes in the future, they could simply place the new supply stations farther apart. It wasn’t worth worrying about for now.
Ten kilometers was a suitable distance. Their territory had currently expanded to seventy kilometers, so by that logic, each route would have six supply stations (as the first ten kilometers didn’t require one).
But he also knew that of the five teams, the fifth wasn’t a Collection Hunting Team. Instead, its purpose was to explore and search for potential ruins, lairs, and other such locations. That meant building supply stations was a job for the other four teams.
Cheng Zongyang said, "Starting today, I’m going to begin marking and filling out the map. Tell me the locations of the Anchor Points later so I can add them."
"Yes, Sir," Luo Dingran replied with a cupped-fist salute.
Cheng Zongyang turned to Ma San. "Go on, get back to your work."
"Yes, Sir. I’ll take my leave," Ma San replied with a cupped-fist salute. He then picked up his basket of supplies, walked into the market cottage, and muttered, ’Teleport to Route One, Supply Station Two.’ In an instant, both he and the basket vanished.
At the same time, a notification popped up in front of Cheng Zongyang: "Teleportation: -10 Points".
The market cottage served as one of the fixed anchor points. As long as a second Teleport Anchor Point was established, you could teleport between them after a deduction of Points.
The market cottage also acted as a central hub.
If Ma San was at Supply Station Two and wanted to get to Station One, he would first have to teleport back to the market cottage and then on to Station One.
In other words, it cost an extra teleportation fee in Points!
This was part of the market cottage’s clever design—it collected an extra fee in Points.
On the other hand, it also streamlined the teleportation process, preventing the network from becoming messy and complicated as more supply stations were built in the future.
He walked into the market cottage and took the Wilderness Map down from the wall.
——
[Wilderness Map] (Partial)
Description: A blank map of the Wilderness World. Upon use, it will reveal all map information within a five-kilometer radius of the user’s current position.
Restrictions: Cannot be altered after use. Usable only in the Wilderness World.
Center: Market Cottage
Diameter: 10 kilometers
Note: The map can be expanded using Points. The cost of each expansion is variable.
——
