Merger

Having entered Journey Survival for nearly twenty days, I finally possessed a true offensive skill.

No longer would I have to gore people with my tusks; the sensation of blood filling my mouth was truly unpleasant.

Nauseating!

Zhu Jiusi charged left and right, testing his attack two or three times in the mountain forest, and was quite satisfied with the power of his horn.

Given his physique and strength, a simple charge was already nearly invincible. The horn's assault also carried a destructive property; upon slamming into a tree trunk, his spiritual power would erupt, detonating instantly.

Barbaric, brutal, and devoid of any fancy tricks.

Zhu Jiusi quite liked this method of attack.

Night fell.

Today was the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, the night of the Mid-Autumn full moon. Yet, thick clouds blanketed the sky, so dark one couldn't even see their own trotters.

In such an environment of total darkness, even a wild boar's night vision was restricted. Seeing things was like a human trying to look through a heavily overcast day.

Zhu Jiusi had placed his lair in the deep forest by the roadside.

The Mid-Autumn winds were strong, and the dense trees provided relatively good shelter.

A Rain Canopy was propped up, barely covering the lair.

Without hands, everything was inconvenient; Zhu Jiusi had spent a great deal of effort to set it up, and it still looked wrinkled and messy.

The weather in Journey Survival changed too rapidly, with no gradual transition.

It wasn't a matter of clouds gathering, thunder rolling, or a light drizzle. One moment the sun was scorching, and the next, a torrential downpour would begin. There was simply no process to it.

Perhaps it was instinct, but under the cloudy sky, Zhu Jiusi still felt the urge to set up the Rain Canopy.

Even if just to block the wind and keep warm, it was worth it.

He nudged the Rain Canopy open and crawled into the lair, which was lined with leather and felt quite comfortable.

In truth, the Rain Canopy wasn't designed for a beast's lair, but for human vehicles.

The Rain Canopy for a human vehicle could be fixed directly to the outside of the carriage.

For a lair, it would be best to find components on the road that could be modified and reinforced to fit.

It was already mid-August; such parts should be discovered by people one after another soon.

With money in hand, one doesn't panic about the coming winter. As long as someone unboxed them, he could buy them.

Lost in these wandering thoughts, Zhu Jiusi gradually drifted off to sleep.

Last night, there had been three nuisances, and he hadn't slept at all. Tonight, he needed to get some proper rest.

Within moments, snoring erupted; the wild boar was sleeping soundly.

Perhaps it was the psychological strength brought about by several decisive victories in battle?

Over the past few days, Zhu Jiusi had noticed that his sleep quality was far better than before.

When one has no fear, everything follows one's heart.

This sleep was also exceptionally comfortable, with small hands still pressing and kneading his boar head.

The effects of the Moon Essence Dew had not yet faded, slowly nourishing his brain.

He slept soundly through the night, until blinding sunlight shone through the Rain Canopy into the lair.

Zhu Jiusi shook his head to wake himself up.

Intelligence +1

That feeling of being refreshed, with a clear mind, returned once more.

His Intelligence had already reached 8.

Very good!

Zhu Jiusi crawled out of the lair, stretched, and rubbed his itchy body hard against a tree trunk.

Turning his head, he discovered circles of wolf claw marks around the lair.

A rough count suggested that while he slept, at least eight or nine wolves had circled his lair, only failing to break through its defenses. He hadn't even noticed!

There was even a puddle of emerald-green, snot-like liquid on a nearby tree branch.

This pack of wolves was no ordinary group; they were true monsters.

Zhu Jiusi shook his head vigorously, letting his boar ears slap against his face like a few hard self-inflicted smacks.

This wasn't right!

How had his vigilance dropped so completely?

Was it a side effect of the Moon Essence Dew?

Fortunately, it was only monsters that had come; if it had been other Path Seekers, wouldn't he have been in danger?

Zhu Jiusi let out a long breath to snap himself awake, then dragged the Rain Canopy into the lair, bundled it up, shrunk the lair to carry on his back, and set off once again.

Along the way, he split his focus three ways: traveling, absorbing spiritual energy, and scavenging for food.

The entire day that followed, his luck was exceptionally good; within thirty miles, he encountered six Gourd, all of which were bronze.

Yet, they only yielded one monster: a Green-Haired Zombie.

The moment it hit the ground, Zhu Jiusi lunged forward, his single horn piercing directly into the zombie's chest before he slammed it to the side, shattering its entire torso into pieces.

Aside from getting a noseful of the stench, Zhu Jiusi suffered no damage at all.

Seven or eight days ago, when he had first entered the Secret Realm, Zhu Jiusi had to be extremely cautious even when dealing with a white-haired one.

He couldn't have won a head-on collision against a green-haired one back then, but seven or eight days later, fighting a green-haired one posed no problem at all.

In terms of pure strength, this green-haired one was no match for him.

The feeling of watching himself grow stronger day by day was fantastic!

In high spirits, his travel speed increased by two parts, and by the afternoon, he had already completed his daily quota.

After a brief rest to eat something, Zhu Jiusi took out his basic supplies, consumed them, and set off at a sprint.

Since he could no longer travel at night, the daylight hours were especially precious.

He ran until dusk, at which point the bloated sensation in his body finally subsided.

Life +1

Zhu Jiusi stood on the mountain path, tilting his head in contemplation.

This time, the bloated sensation was much weaker than before.

It wasn't that the quality of the Mountain Master's enhancement had declined; he had a strange feeling that his control over his body had become increasingly subtle.

The increase in Nature had brought about a stronger mastery over his physical form.

In his previous life, his spellcraft was far superior to his physical body, and when he fought others, it was always through magic or sword control; he had never experienced the sensation of having an overly powerful body.

However, if this was the case, the Mountain Master could steadily improve his physical body, so he would need to use every means possible to improve his Nature.

Time passed day by day, spent absorbing spiritual energy and consuming basic resources.

The Moon Essence Dew was extremely effective, allowing him to increase his Nature by 1 point almost every other day.

Until August 20th, when the final point of Nature was gained.

Nature 10.

Zhu Jiusi could feel that the Moon Essence Dew within his body had been completely exhausted.

It was time to consume the next bottle.

After a day of traveling, the sun set, and the sky instantly turned to night.

Zhu Jiusi stretched his body and contacted Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword to ask for her help in opening the stopper of the Moon Essence Dew bottle.

Just then, the Scroll suddenly flared with brilliant light.

As the light faded, a moon appeared.

"Yo! Young Path Seekers. Congratulations on surviving your first district merger. More functions of the Scroll have been unlocked."

Everyone's gaze shifted upward to see that the header of the Scroll had changed.

Journey Survival, 66th Dao-Seeking District of the Immortal Seeking Realm, Population: 12708

The districts had merged, retaining the district number of the 66th.

The chat area instantly became noisy. With the population doubled, the refresh rate of the chat board soared.

Bachelor No. 3: "Less than thirteen thousand people? Doesn't that mean the 66th District only had five thousand-plus people left?"

Before the merger, only 5,434 people remained in the 66th District.

Bachelor No. 4: "With so few people, their overall strength is still a cut above ours? How did they get so strong?"

Barefoot Great Physician: "They struck it rich, obviously! The rankings are out, just take a look."

Since the first ranking, the leaderboard had remained hung on the Scroll, accessible at any time.

With the two districts merged, the two leaderboards had naturally fused and were displayed there.

The top three were actually still from the original 66th District.

Rank 1: Master of Cloud Stack Cave

Rank 2: Monkey Has Iron Rod

Rank 3: Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword

Rank 4: Mist Collector

Rank 5: River Suppressing Marquis

This leaderboard was quite interesting. The top three were still from the original 66th District, but the fourth through ninth places were all from the 33rd District.

It wasn't until the tenth place that the two districts began to appear in an alternating, staggered pattern.

River Suppressing Marquis: "The top three big shots in our district carry such heavy prestige! Is the gap between them and the rest of the pack really that massive?"

Cloud Traveler: "We've already seen the district-wide announcements for Master of Cloud Stack Cave and this Sword Seven. Who is this Monkey big shot? Could someone introduce him?"

The two from District 33 were the first to speak, but their words immediately left a sour taste in everyone's mouths.

No Bottle: "@River Suppressing Marquis, @Cloud Traveler, stop acting like civilized people, you bastards. You're trying to pit the big shots from District 66 against everyone else from the very first sentence. Trying to pull the same old tricks again, aren't you? @everyone, watch out for these pieces of trash who act all high and mighty. The top-ranked player in District 33 was killed by their underhanded schemes! These people have no bottom line!"

"@Master of Cloud Stack Cave, be careful, big shot! They've mentioned you more than once back in their original district!"