Night fell, and the valley grew lively once more, as if the calamity that Giant Eagle had brought during the day, like a natural disaster descending from heaven, had never happened.
The slaughter between clans rose and fell without end, as commonplace as daily meals.
Wang Wu hid within a crack in the rocks and barely managed to finish eating the Black Snake Assassin's corpse. This time, not even a scrap of bone remained, because it was unexpectedly delicious.
It was hard to imagine; it even made him briefly recall the delicacies of the human world.
This was simply incomparable to the flesh of Rogue Mantis Swordsmen or Gray Rat Knights—bouncy, firm, fragrant, rich without being greasy. Though it weighed only around a pound, eating all of it directly gave him 300 Satiety, along with a full 5 points of Spiritual Qi.
This brought his remaining Spiritual Qi to exactly 9.9 points.
"So don't blame it for dealing such terrifying damage with a single bite. This was already a Sprite with a bit of cultivation."
Wang Wu clicked his tongue in amazement. Then a wave of drowsiness swept over him, and he swiftly drifted into dreams. There was no controlling it; this body of his was still juvenile. Being able to stay awake through the entire day already showed how resolute his will 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 somehow not been harassed by any sneak attacks.
He was not particularly surprised by that.
The reason was simple: nighttime was when the Sprites of the valley's various clans slaughtered one another to fight for territory.
The Black Snake Clan occupied the best territory on the cliffs, 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 quite low.
At night, however, the Gray Rat Clan and Flame Scorpion Clan were both waiting for opportunities to attack. Where would the Black Snake Clan find the time or manpower to patrol everywhere?
And honestly, within this rock crevice, as long as it was not a Black Snake Assassin, Wang Wu was not afraid of anyone else.
"Another new day. I can smell the reek of blood and war."
Inside the rock crevice, Wang Wu stretched himself lazily. Just as expected, his Satiety had been cleared to zero 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.
That was equivalent to growing from a human infant into a young child.
But today's main task was still to bask in sunlight, absorb Golden Particles, and obtain Spiritual Qi.
After waiting a little longer, as the sky brightened and the valley began to buzz, with large numbers of Sprites rushing out from the bushes, Wang Wu also charged out from the rock crevice.
This time, however, he had learned his lesson. He absolutely would not go too far from this rock crevice. Even if that meant obtaining fewer Golden Particles, he had to hold on to this foothold.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
Several Gray Rat Knights spotted Wang Wu and immediately cried out. Their hateful gazes were like arrows shot from bows, as if they wished they could skin him alive and tear his bones apart.
There was nothing to be done about it. The truth was out.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
Farther away, even more Gray Rat Knights began crying out as well, contacting 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 squelching in from every direction to encircle him. With their imposing bearing and determined little eyes, they truly carried the air of medieval heavy knights charging into battle.
Naturally, Wang Wu knew better than to fight when the odds were against him. With a whoosh, he turned and darted back into the rock crevice. This was Black Snake Clan territory. Acting so arrogantly here—had they asked the Black Snake Sentinels?
Sure enough, such a commotion stirred up unrest among the Black Snake Clan above the cliff. They were furious and grief-stricken. What, their own leader had unfortunately fallen, and now these enemies were addicted to bullying them? More than twenty Black Snake Sentinels immediately slithered down at high speed and confronted the Gray Rat Knights.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
"Hiss hiss hiss!"
The two sides cursed at each other without pause, though perhaps they were actually communicating.
Wang Wu also felt a headache coming on. These Sprites that had grasped some intelligence were truly troublesome. If things went badly, he might have to become a wandering Bear Warrior again today.
Being wanted by two of the valley's major Sprite clans at the same time was an honor of sorts.
Fortunately, as Violet Gold Three Minutes ended and Golden Three Minutes was about to arrive, the Black Snake Sentinels and Gray Rat Knights ultimately could not bear to give up their daily opportunity to seek the Dao and cultivate. They swiftly scattered, each claiming a favorable position.
Wang Wu took the opportunity to crawl out again. After hesitating briefly, he still left this cliff and slipped 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—he could not handle even a few Black Snake Sentinels.
Today was destined to be a journey of escape, so he needed to accumulate more Spiritual Qi to level up.
Besides, he was not giving up on that rock crevice. When night came, he would still return...
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. Yet many Rogue Mantis Warriors and Rogue Dung Ball Sorcerers watched him warily. When he approached, they even gave up a patch of space for him.
What kind little Sprites.
Wang Wu also showed a kind smile and crouched in the lowest, silver-tier position. He had Level 1 Spiritual Essence. Based on his experience from the day before yesterday, even during Silver Three Minutes, he could absorb at least 18 points of Spiritual Qi. Added to the 9.9 points he already had, that was more than enough for another level-up.
It was here, it was here!
Silver Three Minutes finally arrived. When that warm, golden sunlight shone upon him, a golden curtain of light instantly formed around his body, as though he had donned a golden cloak. It was indeed dazzling and stylish.
Such an effect basically appeared only on Sprites during the Violet Gold Three Minutes stage. For example, the Black Snake Leader carried away yesterday, that Flame Scorpion, that giant centipede, and those five White-Haired Rats with the bearing of immortals and the bones of Daoists.
This meant Wang Wu had caught up to them right from the start, so it was no wonder they hated him so much.
As Wang Wu pondered and calculated, he found that he could absorb an average of sixty Golden Particles per minute, synthesizing 6 points of Spiritual Qi.
Thus, only by the second minute, he had successfully gathered 20 points of Spiritual Qi. Then, without the slightest hesitation, Wang Wu turned and ran.
Although Silver Three Minutes still had more than a minute left before ending, if he waited until then to run, it would already be too late.
As he ran, he rapidly invested those 20 points of Spiritual Qi into his Stealth Talent, successfully raising it to Level 3 Stealth.
Then he plunged headlong into the bushes. Following yesterday's route, he first went to the stream, drank his fill, and gained 50 Satiety. Water was absolutely indispensable; going without it was far too unbearable.
Afterward, he headed straight for the berry bushes on Brook Plain. The fruit here was somewhat scarce today, perhaps affected by Giant Eagle's attack yesterday.
But it did not matter. There was enough for him to eat.
As for whether this would cause some kind 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 at him, he would slap it dead with one claw.
After he slapped two of them dead in succession, the remaining two Gray Rat Knights no longer dared move. They could only glare venomously from afar, watching Wang Wu gorge himself.
Of course, Wang Wu did not actually dare go too far.
Yesterday, he had three minutes. Today, he had only around one minute.
Thus, once he had raised his Satiety to 150 points in one go, he decisively gave up and ran deeper into the bushes. At the edge of the brush, the distinctive squelching sounds of a Gray Rat Heavy Cavalry mass charge had already begun ringing out. It truly felt like a thousand riders beneath clouds, sweeping over the hills in a vast tide.
He could not afford to provoke them, could not afford to provoke them.
After running some distance, he dove directly into a dense patch of 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 you are extremely close to them."
Before you continue