The purple mists around the valley clouded the things they concealed. It had been another two months since Wang Lin consumed the 100,000-year-old Bright Light deer.

The withered vegetation made way for new plants that thrived in the poisonous environment. He enriched the surrounding poison concentration by releasing showers of poison into the air—a feat he couldn’t have achieved a few months ago. But now, with his higher cultivation, he could release large amounts of potent poison.

The pond and its surroundings hosted poisonous insects like centipedes, scorpions, and other venomous creatures. In a matter of months, Wang Lin had transformed a normal pond in the Star Duo forest into a paradise for poison-attributed creatures. However, for any weaker creature, leaving the poison valley alive would be a rare feat.

On Hook Panel:

* Name: Wang Lin

* Attribute: Poison

* Age: 60,053 years

* Grids Available: 6

* Items: Spirit Ginseng (120k years), Ghost Wolf (96k years), Man-Faced Demon Spider (66k years), Jade Phosphorus Flower (60k years), Nine-Segment Jade Snake (60k years), Nightmare Piranha Flower (30k years)

Wang Lin slithered through the trees with his enormous body. He frequently ventured outside the valley to collect spirit beasts with poison attributes. This new need for poison-attributed beasts arose due to an incident a couple of weeks prior.

The Ghost Wolf he had reached 100,000 years, followed by the Man-Faced Demon Spider, which reached 90,000 years. In his eagerness for quick gains, he consumed both of them. However, the Light-attributed energy from the Bright Light deer and the Dark-attributed energy from both the Ghost Wolf and the Man-Faced Demon Spider violently clashed.

The opposing energies wreaked havoc within Wang Lin’s body, rupturing his internal organs and inflicting severe injuries. He was only able to heal himself thanks to the abundant blood energy provided by the Spirit Ginseng.

This experience taught Wang Lin a vital lesson: not to consume spirit beasts with opposing attributes. With his growing cultivation, he could use his inner sense to identify the most compatible path, which turned out to be poison. However, poison alone wasn’t enough to counter energy-based attacks, so, in addition to poison-attributed beasts, he hunted spirit beasts with darkness attributes.

His frequent hunts reduced the beast population around the valley, forcing him to venture further into the forest. The passage of two months afforded him two more positions for items, so he scouted for unique herbs and spirit beasts for his collection.

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His hunting spree was not without reward; it sharpened his combat experience, even though most of the beasts he hunted were weaker than him.

Like after every hunt, Wang Lin entered the valley through an entrance he had to widen due to his increased size, then moved near the pond. While admiring his majestic reflection, a spirit beast suddenly swooped down from the sky, aiming to pierce its claws into his skull.

Before it could reach him, Wang Lin reacted by whipping his body, striking the bird with his head and sending it flying over the poison pond and into the trees. The impact broke its wings, making escape impossible. Wang Lin slithered toward it leisurely, then sank his deadly fangs into the Emerald Demon Bird, ignoring its pleading cries as he put it out of its misery.

Wang Lin didn’t even know what kind of beast he had killed. Otherwise, he would have been quite surprised—the Emerald Demon Bird was one of the most fearsome creatures of the skies, bold enough to attack dragons without hesitation.

Though it seemed unfair, he had used his advanced cultivation of 60,000 years to kill a 20,000-year-old beast. It was still an impressive feat, given the limitations of the Datura snake species in attacks.

After storing the Emerald Demon Bird, Wang Lin returned to his routine of resting in the pond and hunting beyond the valley. The cycle of day and night passed swiftly as he settled into this rhythm, and another three months elapsed without his noticing.

He gained three additional slots for storage in the system space. The speed at which he was gaining new slots was making it hard for him to find spirit beast and plants that were compatible with him.

It was another hunting day for him, with the area he hunted in now farther from the poison valley, as each hunt depleted the local population of beasts.

He was trailing a white tiger spirit beast when he stumbled upon a group of humans and spirit beasts locked in battle.

Some members of the human party materialized weapons like spears out of thin air, others transformed into humanoid-beast hybrids, while others launched energy attacks. All the humans shared a common feature: floating rings of light encircling them. They were fighting against a mother Dark Gold Fear Claw Bear spirit beast that was protecting her cub.

The mother Dark Gold Fear Claw Bear appeared to be around 20,000 years old, and the human party was struggling under her fierce onslaught. However, with their versatile attacks and coordinated teamwork, they soon gained the upper hand.

Wang Lin’s past encounter with humans had left him with bitter memories that he couldn’t shake. So, upon encountering another human entourage, he intended to turn away. But seeing the human group bullying the mother bear reminded him of the time he had been attacked while helpless, left on the verge of death.

He released a beastly roar into the air, alerting both the bear and the human spirit masters.

Moving swiftly toward them, he alarmed the spirit masters, who were on the verge of killing the mother Dark Gold Fear Claw Bear, but Wang Lin’s arrival foiled their plan. After quickly gauging Wang Lin's age and cultivation, they decided to retreat, realizing that to fight him would be to court death.

The human spirit masters vanished, leaving only Wang Lin and the mother bear, who stood on guard, protectively shielding her cub and watching him warily.

Wang Lin tossed a corpse from the system toward the injured mother Dark Gold Fear Claw Bear, then slithered back toward the poison valley, ending his hunt for the day.