It took Zhou Ji some time before he was able to get away from the priest.
And then, he discovered that Xiang Tian had come back and was secretly following the tribesmen, but Xiang Tian’s aura was extremely unstable.
It wasn’t any different from what he had expected. Xiang Tian was currently in a very bad condition. A person like this would collapse at any time; for the Big Bear Tribe, this was a ticking time bomb.
People who were about to die were people who were willing to do anything.
Based on Zhou Ji’s current strength, sneaking out of the tribe was an incredibly easy thing to do.
He left the tribe, then made himself a costume out of plants, including a mask made out of wood.
This kind of costume was really sloppy, and it was even a bit amusing from Zhou Ji’s point of view, but to people in this world, everyone’s clothing was… really difficult to describe simply… but him dressing up like this was already considered pretty good.
There was no need to speak about anything else, even in Xiang Tian’s case… the animal hides that Xiang Tian were wearing were different from the ones in their own tribe. They were of a much higher grade, but to him, it still looked as if he had simply pulled a sack over his body.
Zhou Ji looked at the person in front of him through his mask.
This man looked very similar to him, or rather, very similar to the body he currently owned. What Shi Li had said should be the truth–this man was the father of the original owner of this body.
Otherwise, if a powerhouse like this had suddenly been assigned a false ‘useless’ son, he probably would’ve first slapped him to death, and then followed up by beating Shi Li to death.
After losing the divine fruit, Xiang Tian had gone a little crazy. Now that a mystery man had suddenly appeared before him, he finally calmed down and even managed to gather up the energy that was chaotically leaking out of his body.
After doing so, the energy in the air grew much more peaceful. Zhou Ji looked at him and said, “I was the one who took the fruit in the cave.”
“Who are you?” Xiang Tian stared coldly at Zhou Ji.
“You don’t need to know.” Zhou Ji looked calmly at the other party, “You’re going to die soon.”
Xiang Tian’s expression grew even uglier, and a surge of killing intent spread out from his body.
Zhou Ji ignored all this, “That fruit would have been unable to cure you. The energy within your body is too chaotic. Even if you ate it, it would only cause you to collapse on the spot.”
“Ha!” Xiang Tian sneered. He had thought of this possibility before, but now that this man was saying it, he didn’t believe it.
That fruit had been his only chance at life!
Right now, he only wanted to know who this mystery man was! Could this person be the one who that lion had mentioned, the one who had revealed his identity?
Seeing that Xiang Tian didn’t believe him, Zhou Ji didn’t find it strange at all. His spiritual powers rushed out towards Xiang Tian, and he also used the energy within his body to pressure him.
Xiang Tian spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot, and his expression changed dramatically.
He was considered powerful even compared against the majority of other Beast Kings. Despite having hidden dangers lurking in his body, he remained unafraid of others, but the person in front of him was able to suppress him.
Xiang Tian wanted to say something, but he suddenly felt weak. At the same time, it also felt like some unknown thing had entered his body.
Xiang Tian went pale with fear. He had spent over twenty years in this wild forest believing that it would ultimately be his salvation. He had never thought that this would be his burial place!
This person… Was he going to kill him?
Xiang Tian wanted to fight and resist, but soon realized that something wasn’t right–that mysterious energy that had entered his body wasn’t harming him. Instead, it was putting his broken crystal core back together.
For a while, Xiang Tian was really unable to tell reality from illusion.
A long time later, by the time Xiang Tian came back to his senses, he discovered that his condition was unprecedentedly much better.
The hidden illness in his body hadn’t been cured completely, but the crystal core in his body was in much better condition now than it had been before he found that divine fruit!
If it had been before, Xiang Tian might have hated the man before him to the bone, but at this moment, he no longer dared to hate him.
This man was too powerful, and his methods were incomparably miraculous. A person like this definitely couldn’t be made into an enemy.
While Xiang Tian was thinking, he heard that person say, “Leave the wild forest at once.”
The man disappeared as soon as he finished speaking.
Xiang Tian felt like he had just returned from the gates of death. He felt both respect and fear, but he truly didn’t dare to stay in this place any longer.
He sped away, but after running for a while, he came back and returned to the cave where he had hidden the comatose Shi Li.
Shi Li was still lying there unconscious. He picked up Shi Li, then quickly left the wild forest.
Amidst all this, Shi Li woke up. He seemed to realize his situation and began to struggle, but was slapped back into unconsciousness by Xiang Tian.
Xiang Tian had no way to deal with that mystery man, but he could take out all his anger on Shi Li.
The reason why he hadn’t simply killed Shi Li was because Shi Li could actually absorb the energy from their surroundings on his own.
With that in mind, Xiang Tian glanced back.
He was afraid that this lion might have something to do with that mystery man, and that the man might be chasing behind him, but fortunately, he didn’t see anything.
Xiang Tian’s footsteps sped up even more.
The wild forest was like a barren land. The people from the Beast God Temple had always looked down on the tribes and people here. Who would have thought that there would be such a powerhouse within the wild forest?
Zhou Ji had watched as Xiang Tian took Shi Li away with him.
He had helped Xiang Tian because he was afraid Xiang Tian would go crazy, and also because Xiang Tian was the original host’s father. As for Xiang Tian looking down on him… He could actually understand the reasoning behind it–He might also have looked down on his son if he had turned out to be a fool.
However, he had no intention of helping Shi Li.
Firstly, he didn’t like to involve himself in such boring things. Secondly… He felt that Shi Li was problematic.
It was better to have problematic people simply leave the tribe.
As for how Shi Li might be tortured into confessing something or whatever by Xiang Tian… It was Shi Li who had taken the initiative to provoke Xiang Tian, and it had nothing to do with him.
He only wanted the Big Bear Tribe to prosper, and he only wanted Xiong Ye to live well.
In order to deal with Xiang Tian, Zhou Ji had used a combination of his spiritual powers and a type of plant powder that would make people’s bodies go soft and powerless. In fact, he wasn’t as powerful as Xiang Tian had believed, and it hadn’t been easy to give Xiang Tian treatment either.
He didn’t have the ability to restore Xiang Tian’s crystal core completely, so he had only helped guide Xiang Tian roughly in a general direction. If nothing unexpected occurred, Xiang Tian should be able to live on for another ten or so years.
What happened after that was not his business.
After dealing with Xiang Tian, Zhou Ji was actually very tired–His spiritual strength had been exhausted…
Zhou Ji rubbed his forehead, intending to go back to the place where the energy spike had been sent out last night.
He didn’t know what the forest there looked like after his original host’s father had tossed about there.
Although there was nothing in that stretch of forest other than trees and insects, Zhou Ji quite liked the forest that was full of trees over hundreds of years old.
While Zhou Ji was out driving Xiang Tian away, Xiong Ye who had gone out hunting, encountered an arthropleura.
Xiong Ye had gone out hunting together with Xiong Qi. Ever since he had somehow cured Xiong Qi’s injuries, Xiong Qi had always been overly enthusiastic towards him.
Although it made Xiong Ye uncomfortable sometimes, he also had to admit that having someone like Xiong Qi help with the hunting was a good thing.
They both knew each other very well, and their cooperation was quite tacit.
As the two of them walked, they kept an eye on their surroundings. Along the way, a huge, five or six meter long arthropleura suddenly burst out of the mud next to them and pounced right at them.
Xiong Qi and Xiong Ye were both experienced fighters and instantly shifted into their animal forms, but this arthropleura was not easy to deal with. The two of them ended up in dangerous situations countless times–It was difficult for them to break through the arthropleura’s hard shell, but the millipede was able to attack them despite their fur.
If they had more people, and there was someone to attract the millipede’s attention, everyone else could attempt to attack the joints between the arthropleura’s armor, but right now, it was just the two of them.
This arthropleura was much, much bigger than the one Xiong He and the others had encountered before!
Xiong Ye was a little careless and ended up getting wounded by the arthropleura a good few times. He had a gaping wound on his chest.
Previously, when Xiong He had caught that first arthropleura, Xiong Ye had been very excited about catching one himself. Now, however, he felt regretful, but he had no choice but to fight and couldn’t retreat.
This arthropleura was obviously full of hatred towards them!
This could also be considered Xiong Ye’s bad luck. The millipedes had always eaten nothing but rotting, dead leaves and normally wouldn’t attack people out of the blue, but when Xiang Tian had gone mad in the forest earlier, he had killed quite a few millipedes and stirred up a lot of hatred and anger.
An ordinary arthropleura was about three meters long. This arthropleura had in fact evolved. It was more intelligent, and after it had developed a hatred towards human beings, it would definitely make a move against Xiong Qi and Xiong Ye.
Xiong Qi and Xiong Ye’s animal forms were very large, but the arthropleura didn’t lose out by much. The wrestling and fighting between the two sides continued.
“Roar!” Xiong Qi called out. He was telling his companion to quickly run away.
However, Xiong Ye knew clearly that as soon as he left, Xiong Qi would be left to die. On the other hand, if the two of them cooperated…
Xiong Ye caught the millipede on the abdomen with a paw and managed to leave a slash on the millipede’s body. However, his grip wasn’t steady enough, and he ended up being flipped over once again.
It was at this time that Xiong Ye suddenly noticed his animal hide skirt that had fallen to the ground when he turned into his animal form.
Zhou Ji often prepared some weapons for him. This time, he had even prepared him some poison. In the past, Xiong Ye had never used these things.
He liked to fight in his animal form and was also very willing to hone his own fighting ability.
Now, however…
Xiong Ye grabbed his animal hide skirt and tossed it towards the arthropleura’s gaping mouth.
The arthropleura swallowed the animal hide skirt with one gulp.
And then, the millipede continued it’s attack and went for Xiong Ye…
At this moment, Xiong Ye didn’t even have time for regret. He could only prepare to continue fighting. As a result, just when he and Xiong Qi were covered in wounds and had reached the end of their rope, the arthropleura suddenly left off attacking them and began to flip and roll about on the ground.
The surrounding shrubs were destroyed, and even some smaller trees were knocked over as the arthropleura curled into a ball, smashing around everywhere.
The brown bear and polar bear that were both bad at climbing trees were confused, rolling and running far, far away. By the time they returned, they discovered that the arthropleura had already died.
Xiong Qi changed back into his human form. He was still in shock, “What did you give him to eat?”
Xiong Ye also changed back into his human form. “Poison.”
Xiong Qi sucked in a deep breath, then immediately said, “Xiong Ye, you’re so smart…”
“Stop talking. Let’s hurry up and go.” Xiong Ye said.
In the past, they would have chosen to take their prey back to the tribe at this time. But now, he and Xiong Qi were both seriously injured… Bringing their prey along with them would only cause them to become someone else’s prey, so the wisest choice was to abandon their prey and return to the tribe as quickly as they could.
This logic was something that Xiong Qi understood as well. The two of them dealt with their wounds in a simple fashion, then turned around and prepared to leave.
×××××××××××××
Juurensha: Well, good riddance Shi Li, although I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of him….
xiin: bye, bye, Shi Li… you and your big mouth deserved that.