Beast Tamer

This truly was not the place for him to study a secret manual. Leaving aside the possibility that Dawson might come looking for him at any moment, staying behind at the very place where one had found a treasure while holding that treasure was undoubtedly the stupidest thing imaginable.

So Zhang Tie left quickly. After exiting the cave, he examined the direction of the secluded valley. The valley roughly ran east to west, and it seemed either direction would do, but thinking of Dawson, Zhang Tie asked himself a question: if Dawson came down to look for him, which way would he go?

The question circled in his mind for two seconds. Recalling the rough terrain of the valley as he had seen it from above during his fall, Zhang Tie realized that the mountain ranges on either side rose higher in the west and dipped lower in the east. If Dawson came down, he would definitely choose to approach from the east. To avoid running into Dawson again, heading west would be a good choice.

Having figured that out, Zhang Tie sprinted west without hesitation.

Zhang Tie did not know these paths. He merely followed his instincts. In such a narrow valley, all he needed to do was keep running forward. Before long, he had put more than six or seven kilometers between himself and that cave. At this distance, life had returned to the valley. Vegetation grew thick everywhere, no longer like the area around that cave, where the Demon Rats had nested and left every place but a few pools utterly barren.

After moving swiftly through the valley for an hour and traveling some forty or fifty kilometers from the cave, the sky gradually darkened. Zhang Tie spotted a large patch of vines on the cliff ahead,