Chapter 41: Hunting the Snakes of the Cavern - (II)
Everything continued moving according to plan, and five minutes later, Tan Mu put three hypersonic arrows through the last of the four pythons that had exited the cavern. He effortlessly ended the creature before stowing its corpse into the star orb storage space.
I wonder how many origin essence crystals I will be able to get after Little Green processes the corpses of all these rank-one beasts.
Optimistic thoughts flashed through Tang Mu's mind after he concealed his body in the shadows some three hundred meters away from the snake cavern's entrance.
During his past adventures in the painting world, he had only hunted pseudo-rank-one metaphysical beings due to his limited abilities at the time. But even then, he had constantly reaped a bountiful harvest of seven red-tier origin essence crystals for each beast he slayed.
As for his current adventure, everything was much better. He had already hunted five true-blue rank-one metaphysical beings at levels much stronger than the pseudo-rank-ones. Tang Mu speculated that he could reap twice or thrice the number of origin essence crystals he had previously gotten for each beast corpse Little Green processed.
Well, the harvest is good. But I still have to continue my hunt until I get my hands on the psionic crystals within the snake cavern.
That's my only shortcut to gaining some wealth.
Tang Mu's eyes sparkled with determination. He had long contemplated the matters concerning the star orb. He had also discussed with Little Green to understand what he could and couldn't do while owning the Star God Pagoda.
He knew he couldn't sell the red-tier origin essence crystals since their potent and wondrous uses could easily attract the attention of many powerhouses. If his luck was terrible, such resources that Little Green claimed to be very scarce in the entire universe might even expose the secret of the Star God Pagoda. And if the mightiest races of the multiverse got wind of this, his carelessness might lead to the destruction of the whole human race.
Such were the warnings he received from Little Green when he asked about the prospect of gifting his friends some of the red-tier origin essence crystals. As such, he had been careful not to expose the secret of the star orb through some careless transactions. He had chosen to swallow his sorrows and remain wallowing in poverty while secretly growing stronger.
But now, after setting his eyes on the sights within the snake cavern, his mindset had changed. He knew that psionic crystals were sought-out resources in the federation. But they were not as rare and wonderous as the origin essence crystals processed by Little Green.
With some caution, he could successfully exchange them for money or other resources without drawing much attention. He could then escape the hell that was poverty while gaining more perks that could quicken and ease his training.
Tang Mu popped a red-tier origin essence crystal into his mouth to sate his hunger as he continued monitoring the cave. The night darkness and bestial sounds within the dimension didn't faze him much as he could still get a clear handle on everything around him with his spiritual sense. He calmly maintained his stealth while waiting patiently for more giant serpents to exit their den.
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About two hours later, just after Tang Mu had popped another crystal of origin essence into his mouth, his spiritual sense detected something. He activated his perception and noticed a group comprising three cobras and two black mambas exiting the cavern. Like their counterparts from before, they soon dispersed into the surroundings and started hunting.
Tang Mu immediately got into action. He relied on his perception and overpowered hypersonic arrows to finish them off, one at a time. Of course, he didn't forget to retrieve the arrows and stow the corpses into the star orb storage space before returning to his hiding place in the tree shadow just three hundred or so meters away from the cavern.
His eyes glowed with pride and contentment as he activated the shadow veil array to hide his presence in the tree shadow again. He had already killed nine of the fourteen serpents occupying the niche closest to the cave opening. If he could kill the remaining five without alarming the more powerful snakes deep in the cavern, he could start mining a few of the psionic crystals.
Tang Mu's hopes soared. He popped another crystal of red-tier origin essence into his mouth and patiently waited for another group of serpents to send themselves to his butcher hand. He remained in place while monitoring the cave entrance for an indeterminate time until something terrifyingly dangerous triggered his spiritual sense.
Tang Mu didn't know why. But he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Without a moment to waste, he activated his spiritual sense and moved to examine the dangerous creature that had caused him to tremble in fear just after sensing its aura.
His eyes widened in alarm when he noticed a serpentine beast as long as sixty meters and as wide as a drum slithering out of the cave entrance.
It was the same petrifying serpent he had perceived in the deepest ends of the cavern. It was the same peak rank one creature that was only a step away from being enlightened and breaking through to rank two. And it was clearly a metaphysical being that he couldn't take on with his current abilities.
At that moment, the mammoth of a snake seemed to have sensed something. It stopped in its tracks, raised its enormous and pitch-black serpentine body, and started sweeping its scorching gaze around its surroundings. Aside from that, its long, forked tongue continued moving in and out of its mouth as if to sense if there was any abnormality in its vicinity.
On noticing the snake's behavior, Tang Mu felt a rising panic. His heart started pounding hard and fast as if it was about to burst out of his chest. He was so frightened. He felt like running or using his shadow teleportation abilities to escape the place.
Fortunately, he was a strong-willed individual who had already experienced death once. He relied on his abnormally tenacious mental fortitude to suppress his fear while maintaining his stealth in the shadows. He also closed his eyes and used his enhanced fitness to stop his body from making even the slightest of movements.
Everything about him instantly became as motionless as a king's mummy in a catacomb, the only exception being his spiritual sense that was still monitoring the peak rank one boss in the distance.
What followed seemed like years to Tang Mu.
He remained in a state of complete stillness for an indeterminate amount while waiting for the peak rank one to depart. He felt like his heart and lungs were about to burst from stress as he monitored the colossal serpent, which was clearly still searching its surroundings with its gaze and tongue. He feared that the creature would find him the next moment.
Luckily, the worst-case scenario didn't occur. The sixty-meter-long serpent eventually gave up its pointless search and slowly started slithering away into the distance. It moved with a bestial grand majesty down the slopes as it headed for the savanna grasslands below the mountain.
Tang Mu was still monitoring its departure through his spiritual sense. He remained in a state of complete stillness until he perceived that its body had left the one-kilometer-scope of his spiritual sense. He let out a long, drawn-out breath as his eyes glinted with a mysterious light.
This could be a chance.
A few considerations flashed through his head within an instant, and he turned his gaze towards the snake cavern. Since the big boss had left for some business, maybe Tang Mu could try robbing its home.
But he had to move fast before the boss could return. He also had to escape the notice of the other beings in the cave while harvesting what he could from the deepest ends of the snake cavern.