The Secret Was Exposed

Night fell, and the valley grew lively once more, as if the disaster as devastating as a natural calamity brought by the Giant Eagle during the day had never happened.

The slaughter between clans rose and fell, as commonplace as daily meals.

Wang Wu hid in a crack between the rocks and barely managed to finish eating the Black Snake Assassin's corpse. This time, not even bone scraps remained, because it was unexpectedly delicious.

It was hard to imagine; it even briefly reminded him of the delicacies of the human world.

This was simply incomparable to the meat of Wandering Mantis Swordsmen or Gray Rat Knights—springy, firm, fragrant, rich without being greasy. Though it weighed only about a pound, eating all of it directly gave him 300 points of Satiety, along with a full 5 points of Spiritual Essence.

That brought his remaining Spiritual Essence to exactly 9.9 points.

"So don't blame that fellow for dealing such terrifying damage with one bite. It was already a Sprite with some cultivation."

Wang Wu clicked his tongue in amazement. Then a wave of drowsiness swept over him, and he quickly drifted into sleep. It was beyond his control; this body of his was still in its infant stage. Being able to stay awake through the entire day already showed how strong his willpower was.

Fortunately, the Level 1 Self-Healing talent was quite good. As long as he had Satiety, he could slowly recover.

When Wang Wu woke again, dawn was already breaking. He had slept soundly through the night and had not even been disturbed by an ambush.

He was not particularly surprised by that.

The reason was simple: nighttime was when the Sprites of the various valley clans fought and killed for territory.

The Black Snake Clan occupied the best cliffside territory and was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

During the day, the other clans did not dare act rashly, so the Black Snake Clan's pressure was actually much lower.

But at night, the Gray Rat Clan and the Flame Scorpion Clan seized every chance they could to attack. How could the Black Snake Clan have time—or troops—to patrol everywhere?

And honestly, while he remained in this rock crevice, Wang Wu was not afraid of anyone except Black Snake Assassins.

"Another new day. I can smell the bloody winds of war."

Inside the rock crevice, Wang Wu stretched lazily. As expected, his Satiety had been cleared again. In exchange, his Growth Rate had risen to 0.5%. Adding that to his previous Growth Rate, his total Growth Rate had now reached 2%. Not bad, not bad. If he could maintain this rate every day, then in just three more months, he could grow into the next stage.

It was equivalent to growing from a human infant into a young child.

But today's main task was still basking in sunlight, absorbing Golden Particles, and obtaining Spiritual Essence.

After waiting a little longer, as the daylight brightened and the valley buzzed with activity, countless Sprites charged out from the shrubs. At the same time, Wang Wu dashed out of the rock crevice.

But this time, he had learned his lesson. He absolutely would not stray too far from the crevice. Even if that meant receiving fewer Golden Particles, he had to hold onto this stronghold.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

Several Gray Rat Knights spotted Wang Wu and immediately began shrieking. Their hateful gazes were like arrows shot from bows, as though they wished they could skin him alive and tear his bones apart.

There was nothing to be done about it. The secret was out.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

Farther away, even more Gray Rat Knights began squeaking as well, communicating with one another. Taking advantage of the gap while it was still Violet Gold Three Minutes, they swiftly gathered a small legion of roughly thirty Gray Rat Knights. They came smacking in from every direction to encircle him, their majestic bearing and resolute little eyes giving them quite the air of medieval heavy knights charging into battle.

Naturally, Wang Wu knew better than for a hero to suffer an immediate loss. With a whoosh, he turned and burrowed back into the rock crevice. This was Black Snake Clan territory—were they really going to be this arrogant without asking the Black Snake Sentinels first?

Sure enough, such a disturbance stirred up the Black Snake Clan atop the cliff. They were furious and grief-stricken. What, their own leader had met an unfortunate end, and now these rats were addicted to bullying them? More than twenty Black Snake Sentinels immediately slithered down at speed and confronted the Gray Rat Knights.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

"Hiss hiss hiss!"

Both sides continued cursing nonstop, though perhaps they were communicating.

Wang Wu also felt a headache coming on. These Sprites that had already grasped some intelligence were truly troublesome. If things went badly, he might have to become a wandering Bear Warrior again today.

Being wanted by the valley's two greatest Sprite clans at once was an honor in itself.

Fortunately, as Violet Gold Three Minutes came to an end and Golden Three Minutes was about to begin, the Black Snake Sentinels and Gray Rat Knights were ultimately unwilling to miss their daily chance to seek the Dao and cultivate. They quickly dispersed, each claiming an advantageous spot.

Taking advantage of the chance, Wang Wu slipped out again. After hesitating for a moment, he still left this cliff and sneaked off to one side.

Because today, he had a feeling that the Black Snake Clan would most likely focus on dealing with him.

When that time came, forget one Black Snake Assassin—even several Black Snake Sentinels would be more than he could handle.

Today was destined to be a journey of escape, so he needed to accumulate more Spiritual Essence to level up.

Besides, he was not planning to abandon that rock crevice. When night came, he would still return there...

In short, the main strategy was hide-and-seek.

By the time Wang Wu rounded the cliff, Golden Three Minutes had already begun. Golden sunlight danced through the air, and those mysterious Golden Particles were visible even to the naked eye.

At this moment, even the Gray Rat Knights had no time to bother with him. However, many Rogue Mantis Warriors and Rogue Dung Ball Sorcerers were highly wary of him. When he approached, they would even yield a patch of space.

What kind little Sprites.

Wang Wu also revealed a kind smile and squatted in the lowest Silver position. He had Level 1 Spiritual Essence; based on the experience from the day before yesterday, even during Silver Three Minutes, he could absorb at least 18 points of Spiritual Essence. Added to the 9.9 points he already had, that was more than enough for another level-up.

It was coming, it was coming!

Silver Three Minutes finally arrived. When the warm, golden sunlight shone upon him, a golden curtain of light instantly formed around his body, as if he had donned a golden cape. It was indeed dazzling and flashy.

Such an effect basically only appeared on Sprites in the Violet Gold Three Minutes stage, such as the Black Snake Leader carried away yesterday, that Flame Scorpion, that giant centipede, and those five White-Haired Rats with the immortal bearing of Daoist sages.

This meant Wang Wu's starting point had caught up with theirs, so it was no wonder they were so hostile toward him.

As Wang Wu pondered, he also calculated. On average, he could absorb 60 Golden Particles per minute, synthesizing 6 points of Spiritual Essence.

Thus, just as the second minute arrived, he successfully gathered 20 points of Spiritual Essence. Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Wu turned and ran.

Although Silver Three Minutes still had over a minute left before ending, it would be too late to run if he waited until then.

As he ran, he quickly invested those 20 points of Spiritual Essence into his Stealth talent, successfully raising it to Level 3 Stealth.

Then he plunged headlong into the shrubs and followed yesterday's route to the creek first. He drank his fill, gaining 50 points of Satiety. Water was absolutely indispensable; going without it was far too miserable.

After that, he headed straight for the berry bushes on the creek plain. The fruit there was somewhat sparse today, perhaps affected by yesterday's Giant Eagle attack.

But it did not matter. There was enough for him to eat.

As for whether this would cause some sort of famine among the Gray Rat Clan, what the hell did that have to do with him?

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The four Gray Rat Knights guarding the berry bushes let out tragic cries and even wanted to charge forward, but Wang Wu truly did not fear them. If one rushed in, he would swat it to death with a single claw.

After killing two in succession, the remaining two Gray Rat Knights no longer dared move. They could only watch venomously from afar as Wang Wu ate with great gusto.

Of course, Wang Wu did not actually dare go too far.

Yesterday, he had three minutes. Today, he only had around one minute.

So after raising his Satiety to 150 points in one go, he decisively gave up and ran deeper into the shrubs. At the edge of the shrubbery, the distinctive smacking sounds of a Gray Rat Heavy Cavalry mass charge had already begun to ring out. It was like a thousand riders rolling like clouds, sweeping across the hills in a grand cinematic spectacle.

Too dangerous, too dangerous.

After charging some distance away, he dove straight into a patch of dense grass. After three seconds of silence, his Level 3 Stealth talent took effect.

"Because you have remained motionless for over three seconds, you have activated Level 3 Passive Concealment. The vast majority of insects and most beasts will turn a blind eye to you unless they are extremely close."