A True Nest of Snakes and Rats

A True Nest of Snakes and Rats

Next, using the force-generation pattern and process of Bear Mountain Lean as a reference, Wang Wu summarized two more effective attack moves.

One was to slap up, down, left, and right with both forepaws. This suited situations where he had stopped running and no longer had the boost of momentum behind him.

The other was to stand upright and strike downward with both paws. This borrowed the weight of his body for a gravity-assisted blow.

However, this move was also suitable for suddenly leaping up while running at high speed, then striking down from the sky.

In short, he needed to practice more whenever he had time, becoming constantly more proficient before he could master them perfectly.

Wang Wu named these three moves the Bear Bear Three Methods.

Mm, from now on, I'm a little bear with techniques, a legacy, and a foundation. The future patriarch of the Bear School, Bear...

Hahahaha!

Having solved the problems of absorption and release, Wang Wu stopped considering anything else and began wholeheartedly absorbing Ice Spirit Energy.

With his current limit of endurance, he could stay outside for twenty seconds without being affected too badly. After returning to the tunnel, he could dispel the absorbed cold through around five minutes of impact, converting it into Ice Spirit Energy.

The entire process took about six minutes.

To gather one point of Ice Spirit Energy, he needed to accumulate five hundred seconds of exposure to the Cold Air Gale—that was, twenty-five rounds.

It sounded like quite a lot.

At first, Wang Wu had indeed thought so, but he had overlooked a practical condition that constrained him.

That was Satiety.

Constantly slamming into the walls at high speed consumed a huge amount of Satiety.

And the food he had stored was already running low.

In the end, he had no choice but to compromise.

He reduced his food rations while extending the time spent absorbing Ice Spirit Energy.

That was, he would remain outside for twenty seconds, then return and use smaller impacts over a longer period to dispel it. One round took roughly half an hour.

This way, he had to spend at least twelve hours a day to gain one point of Ice Spirit Energy.

He even had to stop training the Bear Bear Three Methods, because the feeling of an empty stomach was truly unbearable.

It was not as if Wang Wu had never considered going out to search for food, but he ultimately gave up on the idea. Outside, the wind and snow seemed to fill the heavens, but who knew how many Sprites were also absorbing Ice Spirit Energy? Who could say there wasn't a Great Demon cultivating Ice Spirit Energy strolling about?

Don't rush. His progress was already quite good.

And so, Wang Wu steadied his mindset. He replenished his food in fixed daily amounts and absorbed only one point of Ice Spirit Energy each day. With surviving the winter safely as his foremost goal and an absolute refusal to go wandering outside, he began his dull daily life.

Still, this peaceful life was actually quite nice.

He did not need to live in constant fear, nor did he need to worry about competition. If life stayed this plain forever, that would not be bad either.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

By then, winter had reached the middle of its third month. The Cold Air Gale outside had noticeably weakened and was no longer so terrifyingly severe.

Wang Wu could now stand outside for over ten minutes in one go before barely absorbing the same amount of cold he had once absorbed in twenty seconds.

The temperature was also slowly rising.

Spring was clearly about to arrive.

And at that moment, Wang Wu's food stores were completely exhausted.

So he immediately stopped absorbing Ice Spirit Energy.

From then on, he could only gnaw snow every day to barely sustain himself.

The good news was that, after working through the winter, he had successfully absorbed thirty-one points of Ice Spirit Energy. Although he had not yet reached the conditions to open his second branch meridian, Wang Wu had basically confirmed that his current control over Ice Spirit Energy had reached the standard of the White-Haired Rats.

One had to know that when he had transmigrated here, it was already the second month of summer. In other words, the White-Haired Rats had started earlier—at least one year and six months earlier.

Perhaps even longer.

After all, White-Haired Rats had evolved from Gray Rat Knights. They might have lived in this valley for years, even over a decade, before achieving such accomplishments.

Otherwise, Wang Wu did not believe that a little rat without the support of a Level 5 Self-Healing Talent could gain ten points of Ice Resistance in a single winter.

This could only have come from small accumulations year after year, inevitably accompanied by massive deaths.

Those five White-Haired Rats might have looked incredibly formidable, but in truth, their original companions may have numbered in the hundreds, or even thousands.

Just like that,

When the twentieth day of winter's third month arrived, the Cold Air Gale completely disappeared.

Then the temperature abruptly rose by a huge margin. Though the outside world was still a land of ice and snow, bright sunlight and a deep blue sky could already be seen. This was finally the proper, normal appearance of winter.

Many Sprites could not resist coming out.

For example, those Gray Rat Knights.

It was hard to imagine that after suffering such devastating losses last summer, they had managed to multiply and grow strong again in only about half a year.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

"Plop, plop!"

Two squads of Gray Rat Knights were racing across the snowy plain.

They were extremely sturdy, and they were not afraid of the ice and snow in the slightest. A closer look would reveal that each had a few tufts of white fur on its back, more or less.

Yes, that familiar white fur.

They were so proud, so willful, so overbearing, as if heaven and earth had been born for them alone.

Looking at them, Wang Wu seemed to see the shadows of those five White-Haired Rats. If nothing unexpected happened, in a few years, perhaps one or two of these rats would grow into White-Haired Rat Kings...

At that moment, Wang Wu was hiding in a hollow in the snow, watching the two squads of Gray Rat Knights. Oh, they could also be called reserve rat mage apprentices, my lords.

What were they doing? They did not seem to be searching for food. Judging by their sleek, glossy condition, they had clearly not lacked food throughout the winter.

After all, when it came to gathering and storing food, Wang Wu would absolutely be hung up and beaten by these rats.

So, could they be searching for new territory?

Like human adventurers, seeking out a dragon's lair! Then claiming it for themselves, making great contributions to the expansion and development of the rat clan.

Wang Wu thought again of those five White-Haired Rats from last year.

Wait, I'm not going to turn into a White-Haired Bear too, am I?

Wang Wu felt slightly uneasy.

His fur had always been a very light golden gray. In bright light, it leaned more toward golden yellow; in dim light, it appeared dark gray.

Especially when he entered Level 5 Stealth in the grass, it carried quite the flavor of dark camouflage gray.

He thought it looked good. It was very helpful for Stealth.

But if he turned white, that really would be terrible.

The two squads of Gray Rats gradually went farther away. They did not notice Wang Wu, and Wang Wu had no intention of ambushing them either, despite being so hungry that his chest was pressed to his back.

It was not because he was kindhearted. Five Little Red Birds were chasing and playing in the sky above.

It was hard to imagine how they had endured the frigid winter, especially under the assault of the Cold Air Gale. That truly was deadly.

The five Little Red Birds gradually flew away, heading toward the other side of the valley.

Meanwhile, the two squads of Gray Rat Knights charged toward the summit of a low hill to the east. That hill was not far from Wang Wu's cave dwelling, less than two hundred meters away, so he could even hear their squeaking. They sounded proud, and also as though they were calling friends and companions over.

Very soon, the Gray Rat Knights dug through the thick ice and snow and vanished beneath the snowpack.

Wang Wu did not understand what those fellows were doing, but before long, he saw from afar another two squads of Gray Rat Knights come plopping over from the southern side of the valley, charging straight toward that low hill.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

After a while, more than a dozen red birds even began circling above the Gray Rat Knights, as if they were standing watch and providing reconnaissance and warning for them.

Now Wang Wu was even more curious.

He did know this much: last year, he had realized that the Gray Rat Clan and the Little Red Birds had a rather conspiratorial relationship, like a nest of snakes and rats. The Gray Rats even gave berries to the Little Red Birds as protection money.

But then again, ever since he had transmigrated here last year, he had never seen the Little Red Birds and the Gray Rat Clan cooperate so closely.

Even during the period when he and the Gray Rats had slaughtered each other in bloody battle, those Little Red Birds had merely watched from the sky without lifting a claw to help.

Why had they suddenly begun cooperating so deeply at the tail end of winter?

While he was pondering this, he suddenly saw the dozen or so Little Red Birds dive down like sharp arrows. In the blink of an eye, they had actually joined forces to drag out a Great Serpent more than ten meters long.

The Great Serpent was still struggling desperately, but it was clearly hibernating and unable to display its true strength.

Holy shit!

You could do that?

Could it be that, at this stage, clans could already wage large-scale extermination wars against one another?

Repay enmity with enmity, settle grievances with grievances?

Now I remember, now I remember. Even on Earth, snakes and rats were mortal enemies. In summer and autumn, snakes ate rats; in winter and spring, rats ate snakes—and when they ate, they wiped out the whole nest.

Who would have thought that this Cultivation World had the same tradition?