Zhang Chen quickly crushed that thought in his mind and muttered to himself, This thought is too dangerous. If it gets out, I'm afraid I'll die a horrible death!
Thinking of this, Zhang Chen scratched his head. His eyes followed the two swaggering stewards as they departed, a contemplative look appearing in his gaze. "The annual rent has risen to five taels of silver. This is simply outrageous! Many people can hunt in the mountains for an entire year and still fail to earn three taels of silver. How are they supposed to live? This is forcing the common people to erupt!"
If the common people could no longer survive, who would care about all that?
Zhang Chen carried the Luoyang Shovel, his face full of displeasure, and headed into the mountains with it slung over his shoulder.
"Damn Rich Man Li, he truly is Li the Skinflint! And those two stewards as well—they're utterly hateful! Every last one of them uses their master's power to lord it over others, arrogant and overbearing. I truly wish I could pull out their tendons, strip their skin, and kill them." Zhang Chen walked through the mountains with the Luoyang Shovel on his shoulder when the sound of beating wings suddenly rang out. Then, a large hornet flew past him.
"It's a large hornet. Today, I was planning to find a hornet nest and raise an army of large hornets. At the very least, I'd have the strength to protect myself in the small village. Even if I truly encountered danger, the large hornets could buy me time, enough for me to flee into the deep mountains and ancient forests." Zhang Chen watched the hornet's flight path, and a thought stirred in his heart as he followed it.
Zhang Chen roughly knew where the hornets nested in the mountains. After all, he had hunted in the deep mountains and ancient forests for years. He knew where hornets could be found and had a general direction in mind.
Zhang Chen followed it for five li through the mountains before suddenly stopping. His eyes fixed on an ancient pine tree whose age was impossible to tell.
There was no hive on the pine tree. Instead, beneath the roots of the old pine, there was an egg-sized hole in the soil, with hornets constantly flying in and out of it.
That was right—the large hornets did not build their nests in trees. They built them in the earth.
Zhang Chen closed his eyes and activated his beast-taming skill to sense them. The next moment, countless living beings appeared within his mind.
"So many large hornets. There must be seven or eight hundred of them! This is an enormous hive!" Zhang Chen sensed the densely packed hornets beneath the soil, and a wary look appeared in his eyes.
Strangely enough, Dragon Qi circulated through his body at that moment. Facing the large hornets before him, he felt an inexplicable closeness rather than fear. It was as though, somewhere in the unseen, he had an intuition that the large hornets would never harm him.
At that moment, several large hornets noticed Zhang Chen and buzzed out of the nest on beating wings. They circled around him but did not dare approach. Zhang Chen did not know why, but he sensed a trace of goodwill from them. He cautiously extended his hand, and the large hornets actually landed lightly on it, happily crawling back and forth and making his heart itch.
"Eh, interesting! Interesting! This is rather amusing!" Zhang Chen looked at the large hornets. They were huge, each as large as a baby's finger, and looked immensely intimidating. Yet as they lay in his palm, they were like obedient little babies.
"I have Dragon Qi on me, so I can draw close to the beasts of heaven and earth? That makes sense. Dragons are the kings of all beasts. Even if I possess only a wisp of Dragon Qi, I still carry Dragon Might." Thoughts flickered through Zhang Chen's mind. He gently pinched a large hornet between his fingers, lifted it before his eyes, and examined it. "If an ordinary person gets stung by a large hornet, the swelling will take at least seven or eight days to subside. Large hornets are small and swift; without preparing some net-like tool beforehand, there's simply no way to defend against them."
More and more large hornets flew from the nest, pouncing toward Zhang Chen like little children. They crawled all over him, constantly playing.
"Later, when I inspect the traps in the mountains, I'll bring back some meat to feed you. I'll make sure to raise you all plump and white." Zhang Chen plucked the large hornets off one by one, but they clung to him and refused to leave. He could only shake his sleeves in a shooing motion, driving them off before turning toward the traps deeper in the mountains.
Today's traps had yielded two pheasants and one wild duck.
Looking at the bound prey, Zhang Chen did not seem especially happy. Instead, he was filled with an indescribable helplessness. "Pheasants and wild ducks aren't worth much. Wanting to gather enough rent money with these little things is nothing but a fool's dream. Only by hunting large prey can I sell it for a good price."
Zhang Chen carried the pheasants and wild duck all the way into the tomb chamber. Then he looked toward the Stone Tablet and, sure enough, Experience Points had fallen from it again. However, there were fewer today—only one red ball of light, marked with '+100'.
"Though it's little, victory lies in numbers!" Zhang Chen looked at the ball of light beneath the Stone Tablet and collected the Experience Points without hesitation.
Name: Zhang Chen 1 Skill (Second Tier): Light of the Righteous God (0/5000) 2 Skill (Unranked): Dragon Qi (0/2000) Points: 2850
"Soon! It'll be soon this time!" Zhang Chen looked at his Experience Points, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. Today, his Experience Points would certainly break three thousand. He was not far from the five thousand needed to level up.
"Interesting." Zhang Chen looked into the distance, delight appearing in his eyes. The next moment, he was filled with energy. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work, slaughtering the chickens and duck first before directly using their blood to water the Stone Tablet. As Zhang Chen drenched it in blood, the Stone Tablet was like a bloodsucking sponge, absorbing every drop cleanly.
"Could this Stone Tablet be some great demon? Or perhaps the Stone Tablet itself is a great demon? If I keep watering it like this, will I release a demon? Or raise one? But I need Experience Points right now!" Zhang Chen muttered under his breath, but his hands did not slow.
Who cared what kind of demon it was? Could it possibly level up faster than he could by accumulating Experience Points?
Even if it was a demon, so what? As long as it could provide him with an endless stream of Experience Points, Zhang Chen would dare to raise a demon.
After feeding the Stone Tablet, Zhang Chen inspected it from top to bottom. Only after finding no harm in it did he turn around in satisfaction, pick up his chisel, and begin the great cause of chiseling Frozen Soil.
The chisel rang out with constant clanging, shaking Zhang Chen's palms until they went numb. He could not help cursing, "The deeper I dig, the harder it gets. It's even harder than chiseling stone! At this rate, what year of the monkey and month of the horse will it take for me to break open this damned tomb? But the more it is like this, the more it proves this great tomb is extraordinary. There are good things inside."
Chill filled the cave as the clanging continued without pause. Who knew how long he had dug before Zhang Chen had excavated only half a basket of soil. His body was frozen numb, and he could only put the soil away and go outside to bask in the sun.
Experience Points +6 Experience Points +55
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