Amidst the dark night sky dotted with faint specks of light, moonlight shone from above and cascaded into the water of the town canal. The soothing trickle of flowing water echoed peacefully.
Baiyun sat close by and fiddled with various items he bought from the marketplace.
The most expensive item he bought was a small qi lantern and 5 impure qi stones as fuel, at the staggering price of 200 tokens. It was small enough to be hidden in the clasped hand of a grown man and was made of a flimsy tin-like metal with 4 panels of glass slotted in. Some simple formation lines were painted within with metal ink, allowing the lantern to convert qi from items inside into light.
It was sold by the sole artefact shop in the town, that sold only simple household artefacts useful for daily life. Even mortals could make such basic artefacts if they had the blueprint and the right materials.
Baiyun tied 3 hand mirrors around the lantern's side with ropes and took out a paintbrush and a jar of glue. He applied the glue evenly and plastered scraps of cloth on.
As the glue dried, he adjusted the 3 mirrors into a concave angle and fastened the contraption onto the mirror with yet more rope.
It was a crude contraption and perhaps even unsightly, but he was in no position to be picky right now.
Baiyun pointed the modified lantern to the skies and flicked it on. The light reflected off the mirrors and focused into a steady beam that shone several times brighter and illuminated the clouds. He turned it off before it could attract attention and nodded in satisfaction.
With this, he could now search for distant threats even in the darkest of places.
Perhaps he could even shine it in the skies to make sure Fei An wasn't- no, the bright light would pinpoint his location instead.
Baiyun had a sudden thought. Exposing his location was a really bad downside, wasn't it? He frowned and wondered if this contraption was a dud. Such concerns made basic senses such a pain to deal with...
He sighed. At the very least, it would probably be effective at blinding his foes. Though it was somewhat redundant since he already had the onion spray.
Baiyun swept his divine thread around and looked around cautiously, before rushing out of town and following the bull's trampled path.
This time he didn't have any centipedes chasing him that Fei An could mark. But he still couldn't help but feel somewhat paranoid. Every now and then he'd stop and rush backward to sweep his divine sense, but each time, nothing was found.
It took him much longer to arrive at the forest due to those efforts.
Baiyun wrapped the centipede shells around himself before marching into the dense greenery. There were no clear paths and only incoherent messes of vegetation. But he had created a mental map of the forest and was now retracing it.
Snarling from various beasts echoed around him but none approached. Baiyun wiped the sweat off his forehead as he returned to the Blackhorn beetle's clearing where it slumbered as usual.
That complacency would be its downfall.
Baiyun walked around with hushed footsteps and placed his hands on the surrounding trees. Each of the trees were meticulously examined with divine touch as he frowned.
He placed down a stool from his bag and sat, taking out the mortar and pestle he purchased from Qinghe. He pulled down the herb with golden thread essence the Yingtao's bull had been gnawing on with a strange look on his face. To think it would be useful here of all places...
Baiyun ground up a leaf of the golden thread herb with golden fern shoots from Guan Qiang's mountain. There were much better options in the herb pouch, but he had left it with the mole.
He took out a pot and tossed in a pile of ropes, before pouring in the crushed herbs and massaging the paste in. This would give the ropes enhanced strength, but he could not produce such ropes ahead of time as they would grow weaker from essence degradation over days.
The largest tree around was quite the spectacle with a trunk wide enough for 2 grown men to wrap their arms around it. Baiyun took out a firewood axe and chopped away at the trunk for several minutes until it was unsteady.
Grueling work, but it was nothing compared to the Undying Basalt wall.
He carved circular grooves into the surrounding trees and slathered lubricant from a large wooden bucket into the exposed inner bark. When he purchased them from the town's marketplace, he got carried away and bought 20 buckets. The owner looked concerned but didn't ask, noticing Baiyun was from Ying Shi's party.
Finally, he took out the slimy yellow ropes from the pot and tied them to the branches of the almost-fallen tree; he slotted the rest of the rope around the grooves carved into the other trees.
Baiyun held the ends of the rope and tied it into a massive noose as he crept towards the still-slumbering beetle. He had been planning to hide and come back an hour later if the constant chopping alerted it, but the insect was still complacently sleeping.
The preparations were complete.
Baiyun approached the slumbering giant quietly. He opened his mouth and exposed the ring clutched between his teeth and jumped, the barrier striking the ground and launching him high into the air!
He slotted the noose around the beetle's head and pulled as he fell, snapping it taut around its neck from his momentum.
Finally, the creature roused. A furious bellow echoed as it vibrated its wings! But Baiyun knew the beetle wouldn't move from its spot. He ran around it and reached into his bag, leaping over bushes and weaving between trees.
The huge insect was confused, not understanding why it was being circled. But suddenly, a bucket of lubricant struck its back with a clack! From every angle, the buckets clattered against its shell and tumbled to the ground, covering the grass in a thick coating of oily liquid.
"Hrrrrr!"
Once more, it shook its wings and sent the oily substance flying in every direction. But Baiyun quickly summoned his barrier and deflected it harmlessly, before rushing towards the unsteady tree.
He braced himself against the ground and gave it a mighty kick! A loud crackle filled the air as the tree shook and groaned, beginning to topple. The ropes tied to its branches grew taut, snapping tightly around the grooves of the surrounding trees.
Baiyun watched with bated breath as the beetle finally realised something was wrong. As the rope pulled at its neck, it tried to claw at the grass but it only lathered more of the oil onto itself.
The falling tree hung midair at an awkward angle as it and the mighty beast played tug of rope. Smoke began to rise from the immense friction and the trees groaned as it snapped taut between their many grooves, but Baiyun's alchemic solution made it hold on somehow.
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A statement! Baiyun had chosen the direction where the ground sloped most to maximise the strength of the falling tree, but it still wasn't enough. Tsk. If only there were a little more force...
Baiyun suddenly narrowed his eyes. He knew he couldn't wait longer; if the rope snapped, all his efforts would be for naught.
He rushed around the beetle as it struggled and barrier jumped towards it, slamming into it from behind! A small force compared to the might of the falling tree, but at last...
It was a small movement at first, but more and more oil soaked into the underside of the beetle as it flailed. Until finally, it spun across the soil and slid down the subtle slope, crashing into the trees and sending a shower of leaves into the air!
Only then did the fallen tree hit the ground, relieved of its duty at last.
Baiyun quickly activated another barrier jump as he fell back to the ground, splashing off the lubricant soaked grass. It would be a disaster if it soaked into his shoes.
The patch of mud beneath the beetle had been revealed, exposed to fresh air again for the first time in years. In its midst was a large tangle of fleshy roots that were black as night.
As Baiyun fell, he reached into his bag and slotted a stool beneath his shoes as he squatted. Its legs sunk cleanly into the soil as it struck the ground with him, the impact violently slamming into his legs.
"Whoa!"
He lurched forward and was nearly launched off, but he quickly grabbed the edges of the seat with all his might, barely stopping himself from being launched off. Phew. He really did not want to land face first in a pile of mud.
The beetle struggled in the distance, but the rope around its neck and its lubricated legs halted it.
Baiyun reached into the soil and yanked the roots out of the soil, holding them high in the air. He could not help but laugh; to think his ridiculous plan to use lubricant actually worked! It was an idea he thought up on a spur when he saw it on sale in a general store.
It had caught his attention back then because he was surprised by how cheap it was despite its large composition of oil.
He could feel the roots compress in his hands as they drooped, their texture a strange mix of rubber and flesh. How ironic for a herb brimming with vital earth essences to lack the firmness of earth.
Baiyun quickly rinsed off as much mud as he could with a water gourd before barrier leaping away and leaving the stool behind. Unfortunate. He had owned it for more than half of this life.
He wrapped the roots around his neck, a strange addition to the already grotesque centipede scarfs. Muddied water seeped into his robes and he grimaced.
There was no choice. Regular spatial artefacts would destabilise and degrade complicated compound essences found in high quality ingredients like the Blackhorn root.
Qinghe's pouch was an example of a specialised herb storage artefact but it was presently with the mole and was currently full.
"Hrrr... Hr! Hr! Hr!"
The ground trembled as the beetle grew more and more agitated. Time and time again would it try to get up, only to slip and crash sideways into the ground over and over again. But with every tumble, more dirt caked its shell and diluted the lubricant.
Thumps echoed through the forest each time the beetle tugged at the ropes, raising and slamming the fallen tree into the ground repeated. More and more frays appeared in the rope as they grew black and charred from the friction; smoke and embers billowing from the grooves cut into the surrounding trees.
A loud snap echoed through the forest as the rope finally broke, the beetle finally getting onto its feet. It shook its wings violently and sent a violent hail of muddied lubricant flying everywhere!
Baiyun quickly activated a barrier jump and leapt away over the lubricated grass. But just as he landed, the barrier struck a clot of oily mud and slid across the ground before fading, his shoes sinking into it.
Tsk! He quickly barrier jumped again and tossed his shoes away.
Running with such slippery shoes was suicide and if he stashed them into his bag, they would get all over his items. The only option was to discard them.
Baiyun could only run barefoot with all his might, enduring the pain of rocks and branches digging into his soles and wedging themselves between his toenails. A trail of red was left from the bloodied cuts he sustained.
Meanwhile, a thunderous buzz echoed through the air, accompanied by the sound of blade-like wings slashing through the air. He did not need to turn his head. His divine thread told him the beetle had soared into the skies.
"Hrrrr!"
The beetle suddenly tilted its body downwards, blurring as it shot forward with tremendous speed! Baiyun widened his eyes and barrier jumped upwards.
A gust of wind rushed beneath him as the beetle shot past, a deafening boom echoing as it sliced the forest asunder horn-first. What was once a vibrant patch of forest was instantly reduced into a muddy ditch of smothering crushed wood.
It appeared dazed for a moment, but it shook the gunk off its head and slowly rotated itself to face Baiyun.
Sudden acceleration rivalling that of an arrow... another trait the wildlife guide failed to cover. Baiyun began to sweat and wondered why he trusted in it so much.
But he couldn't blame the guide's author. Who would expect a sedentary Qi Gathering beast that slept all year to have such absurd speed and destructive power? He thought the enraged beetle would be slow and easy to outrun because of how armoured it was!
He quickly pulled out his mirror lantern and shut his eyes as he flicked the switch.
"HHHHRRRR!"
The beetle let out a cry of fury and turned its head away as the immense light shot straight into its right eye. But with how its eyes were on the sides of its head, he couldn't blind its other eye.
Baiyun turned and ran deeper into the forest. It was risky, but with how enraged the beetle was, it would likely chase him all the way back to town.
Ying Shi's team would be able to take it down, but at this hour, they were asleep. The casualties would be immense if the beetle plowed its way through the buildings!
He needed to find another beast to tackle it.
Once again, he had thrown himself into a dangerous situation, despite his promise to be more cautious.
Baiyun shook his head in self-deprecation.
Cries of terror from various beasts echoed through the forest. Birds took off into the skies, some even desperately carrying their nests. The patter of paws striking grass echoed as land-dwelling beasts fled.
There was no longer a need for the centipede scarf. Without the warding property, it was nothing but an uncomfortable hazard that could get caught in branches. Baiyun pulled it off his neck and stuffed it into his bag.
Even beasts with Foundational cultivation fled. It seemed almost absurd; after all, these beetles grew Blackhorn roots in preparation for their foundational breakthrough. How could a mere Qi Gathering insect scare away hundreds of beasts, even some above its realm?
The answer was simple. There was more to strength than cultivation stages.
It was like a comparison between a rat and an elephant. Even if the rat had flesh 50 times stronger than the elephant’s, a stomp from the elephant would still crush it into blood paste. And in this case, the colossal beetle had the superior body cultivation on top of that!
Size was power. It was why powerful spirit beasts would often grow to ludicrous sizes like that of a mountain. From its sheer mass, this beetle was a threat even to Foundational cultivators.
Baiyun leapt away with his barrier again as the beetle rose into the air and charged once more. Again and again they did their deadly dance, each time another scar added to the forest. Hundreds of trees had been destroyed by the rampage of the beetle; from above, one could see the countless gashes cut into the once pristine sea of vibrant green.
"Hrrr…"
The beetle shook its head again, as it trudged back to face Baiyun.
Hundreds of scratches scarred its once pristine shell, even on its armoured eyes. Its movements felt slower and more fatigued than before, but even then, it was still determined to slaughter him!
But Baiyun was in worse condition.
From all his running, his feet were covered in horrible wounds and caked in bloodied mud. His entire body screamed for him to rest, but he could not patch his muscles. His entire soul was focused on exterminating the deadly microbes entering his wounds from the exposed soil, limiting his ability to patch his muscles.
His vision was spotty and his head spun. Barrier jumps took their toll on this frail body.
Baiyun had entered the dangerous depths of the forest Fei An warned about and the charges of the Thousand Wills ring had dwindled to half their capacity. If it fully ran out, his fate was sealed!
He panted as he limped into yet another clearing. In its midst was a crude hut, a mess of sticks and branches held together by mud that had hardened into stone.