One Step Ahead (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

## Chapter 44: One Step Ahead (Please Follow)

[Water Spirit Snake]

[Water Element Spirit Beast]

[Lifespan: 23/60]

[Realm: Fetal Breath 8th Layer]

[Abilities: Water Gun Technique, Concealment]

A water snake with its head chewed off lay on the ground.

"Not bad. This snake's skin is tough—good for leather armor. The spirit meat will fill our bellies too."

Yang Shi chuckled lightly and bowed toward the sky.

"Thank you for the guidance, Old Ancestor."

Yang Genshuo and Yang Shi had worked together for so many years that a single subtle gesture was enough for him to understand.

If they had stopped here to rest and eat without noticing the Water Spirit Snake, they would definitely have been ambushed and injured. Even if they reacted in time, they'd have been caught off guard and wasted many Defensive Talismans.

"Under my God's Perspective, no evil can hide!"

Yang Genshuo was a little smug.

As Huzi began skinning the Water Spirit Snake with his big blade, the Iron Spine Azure Wolf wagged its tail beside him, its eyes burning with intense longing.

This water snake was about the size of a small python, with plenty of meat. Huzi cut off a chunk of spirit meat and tossed it to the Azure Wolf.

The wolf opened its wide mouth and gobbled it down noisily.

A faint white spiritual light flickered across its body. Its fur grew sleeker, and its frame visibly strengthened.

Yang Shi thought for a moment, then realization dawned.

"So the Azure Wolf needs to eat spirit meat to advance its realm! No wonder its strength hasn't changed in years. Since there's so much spirit meat, let Little Fire have some too."

Little Fire approached, sniffed the meat, then turned away in disgust.

"Fire and water don't mix. Little Fire, do you not like the taste of its meat?"

Little Fire rubbed against Jiang Xiaobai's clothes in a human-like gesture, as if to say its master understood it best.

"Then it's all for the Azure Wolf."

The group rested on the spot, lit a fire, and roasted the Water Spirit Snake meat. Eating it warmed them from head to toe.

Yang Shi and Huzi felt a slight increase in their physical strength. After Jiang Xiaobai ate, his spiritual power surged significantly. He sat cross-legged and cultivated the "Spring Wood Longevity Technique" for a while to digest it.

"One hour of cultivation here equals a whole week of my usual practice."

"Water Generates Wood. This water snake meat greatly benefits my technique."

Huzi, hearing this, stopped feeding the Azure Wolf.

"Huh? Then should we... take the rest back?"

Jiang Xiaobai waved his hand. "No need, Brother Hu. The spirit beast's spiritual power is rapidly dissipating after death. We have no way to preserve it. Eat as much as we can."

Yang Shi nodded. "If we can't finish it, throw it away. Otherwise, the scent of blood will attract other beasts."

The Iron Spine Azure Wolf ate until its belly was round and taut before reluctantly stopping.

It hadn't eaten spirit meat in years. After this meal, it really wanted to cry.

After their feast, they tossed the leftover spirit meat into the lake beneath the waterfall, took the intact Spirit Snake Skin, and left.

Now they had fully entered the Demon Wind Forest. Towering trees blocked out the sky, cutting off most of the light. The surroundings grew dim and eerie.

Though the two rogue cultivators had said this route was safe, they were still deep in the Demon Wind Forest. Spirit beasts were not scarce. Occasionally, they encountered one or two. As long as they showed no aggression, Yang Shi left them alone.

In an unfamiliar environment, wasting stamina and spiritual power on random fights was extremely unwise.

Thanks to Yang Genshuo's advance guidance, they stayed one step ahead in unavoidable battles and suffered no real damage.

After advancing cautiously for two hours, they finally reached the Spirit Field location the rogue cultivator had mentioned.

The place seemed to have been trimmed. There were no sky-obscuring trees here, and sunlight once again spilled into this area.

At the center of this sunlit zone lay a natural lake. Around the lake grew dense spirit trees, and beneath those trees stood quite a few houses.

Smoke rose from around the houses.

"There are people?"

Yang Shi and the others watched from 150 meters away. Yang Genshuo had already spotted the... Niggas in the houses.

"Huh? Aren't those Black Ghosts? There's a village of them here?"

Huzi felt his whip hand grow warm.

He always wanted to whip something.

"So these are the legendary Black-skinned Ogres?" Yang Shi had no idea where the rumor came from, but it had scared plenty of Qi Refinement rogue cultivators half to death.

Yang Genshuo opened a few of the Niggas' Character Cards and looked them over.

Most of them share a few common traits.

[Fear the strong, bully the weak, lazy, brawny.]

Their overall strength surpasses those working at the Yang Family Manor, but only by a slim margin.

In any case, not a single Innate Grandmaster was spotted.

Yang Genshuo felt that with Yang Shi wielding the Flowing Water Sword, none of these black ghosts could last a single exchange.

But what surprised Yang Genshuo a bit was that among these black ghosts, there was actually a Four-Spirit-Root young black ghost.

His intelligence was clearly much higher than that of his uncivilized barbarian brethren.

However, he hadn't cultivated and was still at the Body Tempering Realm like the other black ghosts.

After scouting around and finding no threats beyond their capabilities, Yang Genshuo let Yang Shi do as he pleased.

"The Old Ancestor wants us to subdue these black ghosts first."

Huzi grinned viciously: "Then I'll have to treat them to my big whip."

Jiang Xiaobai said with a reluctant heart: "I can't bear to whip these poor barbarians. At most, I'll tie them up with the Entangle Technique and let Little Fire roast them with flames."

"Xiaobai is still kind-hearted," Yang Shi sighed.

For Yang Shi and Huzi, who had thoroughly studied how to deal with black ghosts from "Login Bonus 100 Draws," it was as simple as eating and drinking.

The few of them rode their spirit beasts into the black ghost tribe.

These black ghosts howled and charged over, ferocious and unusual, looking like they often fought with wild beasts.

But after Yang Shi coldly killed two, the Cang Wolf bit one to death, Little Fire roasted three to medium-rare, and Huzi whipped down five, the entire black tribe calmed down.

Their trait of fearing the strong and bullying the weak made them tremble in fear. Finally, after a round of high-pressure whipping, these forty-two black ghosts outwardly submitted for the time being.

As for their hearts, that would have to be slowly whipped into shape.

Yang Shi looked at this Spirit Field that had fallen so easily into their hands, a bit incredulous.

"Just got it this easily? That adds up to about five or six mu of Spirit Field, right?"

Yang Genshuo wasn't surprised at all.

This was called an information gap.

The Demon Wind Forest had a notorious reputation. Ordinary Rogue Cultivators would avoid it, never thinking to come inside and look for uncultivated Spirit Fields. Instead, these barbarians, who had migrated from who knows where, had occupied a treasure land.

Every day, they leisurely ate Spirit Fruits and hunted beasts, living quite comfortably.

If it weren't for the news from the Fat and Thin Demon Cultivators, they wouldn't have so easily obtained such a feng shui treasure.

Yang Genshuo observed the entire Spirit Field and found that the source was all from the lake at the center.

The Spiritual Energy Concentration was as high as 5 points!

For comparison, the Spirit Field at Tiger Leopard Forest only had a Spiritual Energy Concentration of 2 points.

The land around the lake was all Spirit Fields, and the farther away, the lower the concentration, gradually decreasing from 3 points to 1 point.

Right now, these Spirit Fields were overgrown with uneven fruit trees of various kinds.

Jiang Xiaobai said with a pained heart: "None of it is cultivated! What a waste! Huzi, whip them a few times for wasting nature's gifts!"

Black ghosts: "???"

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

The unpredictable temperaments of these few made the black ghosts even more obedient.

Following the Old Ancestor's instructions, Yang Shi found a young black ghost squatting with his head down among the crowd.

"You, get up. From today on, you are my servant, and you will manage the entire tribe."

"Huh? Me?"

The young black ghost's eyes were clearly different from the others, very shrewd, but he obviously didn't like the identity of a servant. His eyes were full of rejection and humiliation.

"That's right. As long as you help me manage the tribe well, I can teach you a cultivation technique."

"Master above, please accept Hash's bow!"

When he stood beside Yang Shi and turned to look at his tribesmen again, his eyes showed a look of superiority.

Heh~ A bunch of muscle-bound, brainless black ghosts.

"Master, what do we do next? Farm?"

"No. Next, you will maintain your current life as it is and wait quietly."

"Wait for what?"

"Wait for a person."

Yang Shi took out a large number of Formation Stones from his pack.

Time flowed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

Xiang Pichi returned from Daina City, his face beaming as he walked out the door with a map in hand.

The gatekeeper asked routinely: "Lord Chi, where are you going? Do you need us to follow?"

"I'm just going for a stroll. No need to follow."

Xiang Pichi sneered inwardly.

I'll keep this place to myself. The family doesn't need to know.