Noisy in the Forest

The morning swamp was shrouded in a thin green mist, the foul stench rising from the mire spreading upward along the wild-growing vines.

In this soft terrain, scavenging demonic beasts could dig up rotting leaves and stones from the old sediment, find the carcasses of various monsters, and sometimes even a slime would quietly poke its head out from within, peering at the whole world of mud and giant trees.

Looking out at the twisted oaks growing in the swamp, they were too numerous to count. Deep in the mist, oaks contested by Stinger Bees and Digger Beetles were not uncommon in the Swamp Forest, only growing somewhat taller.

In the swamp beneath the oak tree, a pitch-black carapace surfaced. Chen Yu patrolled the Stinger Bee territory as usual.

He swept his gaze around, finally landing on the clear footprints in the leaf-littered ground.

Two rows of footprints, dog-like plum-blossom-shaped marks.

Those demihumans again?

"What are they trying to do, venturing deep into the Swamp Forest?"

Chen Yu's jelly-like brain churned with doubt.

Don't underestimate these small-looking demonic beasts in the Swamp Forest. They seemed harmless, but they truly had lethal means.

Not to mention the Stinger Bee's venomous sting, even the acid sprayed by a Moss Monster was hard for ordinary creatures to guard against.

Let alone the even more terrifying demonic beasts deeper in the Swamp Forest.

Were the demihumans so bored they came to stroll through the Swamp Forest?

They couldn't be that stupid.

Chen Yu guessed either that after winter, the demihumans faced food shortages and came out to hunt as spring began, or they were searching for something in the forest.

Moreover, they often appeared at dawn, possibly possessing "Dark Vision," which happened to be out of sync with his schedule. That's why he had yet to see the true faces of the demihumans entering the forest.

"Forget it."

Since he'd confirmed the demihumans appeared at dawn, if he lay in ambush in the swamp, he should have a chance to see them.

As for now, he planned to test the power of the Lesser Arrow Technique he'd just learned.

--

Race: Acid Slime

Level: Black Iron Lv.2 [EXP: 13/20]

Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Lv.3 [Spiritual Power: 5/30]

Health Status: Healthy [HP: 80/80]

Racial Talent: Devour and Digest Lv.2

Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.2

Skill List: Kaiyuan Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Technique Lv.3, Lesser Arrow Technique Lv.1, Sound Transmission Technique Lv.1

Prestige Title: Slime Warrior (A fledgling slime)

--

Whether it was his good comprehension or the Lesser Arrow Technique being easy to learn, he'd mastered it in four days and even picked up the gifted Sound Transmission Technique to a rough degree.

The attribute panel might have played a role too.

But going forward, whether skills or talents, leveling up would only get harder.

Don't be fooled that upgrading from Black Iron Lv.2 to Lv.3 only required 20 EXP, just twice that of Lv.1 to Lv.2—the difficulty of gaining experience was on a completely different level.

The same went for skills and talents: they required more eating and practice.

Still, overall, it was faster than ordinary cultivators and demonic beasts.

For Chen Yu, a lazybones, this was both a blessing and a torment.

He wanted to slack off, but the clear progress from practicing Dao techniques made him unable to stop.

Often, he'd sit in front of his thatched hut all day, and even Shao Qingsong had to come close and call out to wake him.

He scanned the shore for a target and soon locked onto a Moss Monster leisurely nibbling on moss.

You're it.

Chen Yu focused his mind, silently recited the method, and began seeking the elusive opportunity.

Dao techniques had multiple casting methods, the most typical being the Decree, Hand Seal, and True Word.

Among them, the "Decree" was the most convenient and quick, but also the easiest to see through. Simply put, it meant directly shouting the technique's name.

If a grand cultivator of the Righteous Path used a Decree to cast, it could even intimidate petty villains.

But the young cultivators of Xuxuantian, often called the fallen generation, unanimously agreed that casting with a Decree was not only cringey but also quite embarrassing, unsuitable for thin-skinned cultivators.

Chen Yu would have loved to shout "Lesser Arrow Technique" and take a Stinger Bee's head from ten paces away, since no cultivator from Xuxuantian was here to see.

But unfortunately, slimes had no vocal organs. It wasn't that he didn't want to; he just didn't have the factory settings.

The other casting method, "Hand Seal," required hands to form various mystical mudras.

Did a slime have hands?

Sort of.

He could barely spend half a day shaping his gel body into the form of a hand, but twisting his fingers to form seals was far too difficult for him.

So for him, the only casting method left was the slowest one—"True Word."

"True Word" required the caster to silently recite the technique, seeking an opportunity for the Dao to cast the spell. No matter how skilled, it took at least three to four seconds.

It was also a casting method rarely used by cultivators.

And Lesser Arrow Technique Lv.1 took roughly six to eight seconds to cast; only at Lv.2 could it hope to drop to four seconds.

Cultivators of Xuxuantian divided Dao techniques into five realms: First Glimpse, Enter the Hall, Pure Fire, Subtle Application, and Mind Control.

It was quite troublesome to remember, but in fact, it corresponded directly to the skill list's Lv.1 through Lv.5.

Once a Dao technique reached Pure Fire, that was Lv.3, and the cultivator could try using a higher-level casting method—"Heart Move."

That is, moving with the heart; when the heart moves, the technique emerges.

A Lv.3 Dao technique could compress casting time to two to three seconds, Lv.4 to one to two seconds, and Lv.5's Mind Control was the true heart-move, achieving instant casting.

Of course, the myriad Dao techniques varied; they didn't all strictly follow this pattern, and different levels often meant differences in casting range and power.

In short, the higher the Dao technique level, the better.

Chen Yu was using a Slime body to cast Lesser Arrow Technique for the first time and wasn't very skilled yet. Before he finished reciting the technique, a bubble gurgled up from the swamp beside him, and in his distraction, the water ball condensing in front of him burst along with that bubble.

He heard a pop.

Uh...

An accident, just an accident.

Again.

Chen Yu aimed at the Moss Monster three meters away on the shore, silently reciting the technique to cast.

A clump of clear water the size of a baby's fist gradually condensed and stretched before him, forming the shape of an arrow.

As soon as he finished reciting, the water arrow shot out, arriving in an instant before that Moss Monster.

Boom... moss and earth flew everywhere. That Moss Monster over three meters away was actually blasted flying, and when it hit the ground, only a layer of skin remained.

"Such terrifying power." Chen Yu was amazed.

If Lesser Arrow Technique had this kind of power, it was hard to imagine what the more fearsome and harder-to-learn Water Arrow Technique would be like.

"Buzz..."

The Stinger Bee's vibrating wings caught Chen Yu's attention. He saw that the commotion from the water arrow had startled the Stinger Bees and Digger Beetles in the trees. The two sides locked eyes, each thinking the other had made the move, and ended up fighting again in the early morning.

For a moment, a rain of stingers fell around the oak tree. The pitch-black beetles wobbled as they climbed up the tree, only to be knocked down by the stingers, then flipped over and kept climbing, stubbornly locked in their struggle.

Chen Yu lurked in the swamp, secretly watching the show, thinking of fishing in troubled waters by circling behind the Digger Beetles to ambush them.

At the thought of that delicious bug meat, the acid in his gel bubbled up with a gurgle.

He admitted it—he was craving it.

But no foodie could refuse such a delicacy, no exceptions.

And it was a good chance to test the power of Lesser Arrow Technique.

He was swimming to the side, but before he could get close to that group of beetles, he seemed to hear some noisy sounds from deep in the forest.

Hasty, chaotic footsteps, the sound of clubs swinging, some calls he couldn't understand...

"Are those Demihumans?"

They had turned back, chasing something.

Was it prey?

Chen Yu stopped his plan to ambush the beetles, hiding behind a rock, and cautiously poked his head out to observe the commotion in the distance.

He saw several blurry silhouettes, faintly appearing in the thick morning mist, followed by the hoarse, urgent snarling of a beast, suddenly tearing through the silence!