Marvelous Uses of the Mind

The next day, early morning.

In the Blazing Summer season, even though it was still early, the air already carried a trace of dry heat.

North of Shan Hai Village, Old Forest.

After each having breakfast at home, Ling Yi and Zhang Lei said goodbye to Ling Xiaoshan and Zhang Dahe respectively. Each carried an Iron Birch Slingshot, a cloth pouch of rounded, polished stones, plus sickles, flint, rope, dry rations, and other things. With A'Huang and Meow Meow following them, they stepped into this place that even many adults in the village kept at a respectful distance.

The moment they entered the woods, A'Huang could be seen romping everywhere, full of joy and excitement. Meow Meow, who usually seemed aloof, also leaped and climbed in a few quick bounds, reaching a high branch of a large tree and looking down from above.

Because the canopy overhead spread like a pavilion, blocking out the gradually scorching sunlight, the temperature in Old Forest was at least three to five degrees lower than outside. Ling Yi and Zhang Lei, who had just run over to meet up and had a faint sheen of sweat on their brows, immediately felt much refreshed.

A gust of wind swept through the forest toward them, bringing Ling Yi and Zhang Lei greetings from the Northern Lands of Douluo Continent.

According to what Ling Yi had learned through many inquiries, beyond this forest, which was more than twenty li deep in every direction, the mountain range that stretched on for who knew how far seemed to connect with the Icebound Forest in the north of the Heaven Dou Empire.

As for the Land of Extreme North even farther north, that was impossible to know. Clearly, it lay beyond the scope of understanding of the people Ling Yi could currently come into contact with.

Stepping into the forest, Ling Yi held a sickle in one hand and caught the wooden stick Meow Meow pushed down from a branch overhead with the other. His expression was solemn, his outside relaxed while his inside stayed tense.

Even though this was only the very outer edge of Old Forest, just seven or eight meters away from the sunlit area behind them.

In a forest with such a complex environment, being a little more careful and cautious was never wrong.

The number one unlucky bastard in Star Transformation, Ni Yang Immortal Emperor, had been a dignified eighth-level Mystic Immortal, a renowned existence in the Immortal Realm. He had clearly already obtained a heaven-sent opportunity from the God Realm, yet in the end, because he stepped on a poisonous insect from the God Realm, he was poisoned to death.

Just how much of a what-the-fuck was that?!

That was both a matter of luck and a matter of not being careful enough. As a transmigrator, Ling Yi often kept this in mind and took it as a warning.

It could be said that one "unlucky ghost," Ni Yang Immortal Emperor, and one "Saint of Caution," Li Changshou, were both guiding lights on Ling Yi's path of cultivation.

It was just that one was a negative example, while the other was a positive one.

Holding a black wooden stick about the thickness of a thumb and roughly one point three meters long, Ling Yi occasionally pushed aside the dead branches and fallen leaves in their path, sweeping apart some vines and wild grass that tangled together and blocked the way.

This scene made Zhang Lei, who was a few steps behind him, look on with considerable envy.

Although he also had a wooden stick in his hand, one Meow Meow had just pushed down from a high branch of another large tree.

This one was a little thicker than the one in Ling Yi's hand, roughly the thickness of a small egg, and nearly one point five meters long. It was just that its overall withered-yellow color could not compare in appearance with Ling Yi's jet-black stick, which carried a faint metallic sheen.

"A Yi~"

Zhang Lei moved to one side of Ling Yi ahead of him and swung the wooden stick in his hand toward the diagonal front, not forgetting to glance at the stick in Ling Yi's hand as he said, "Let's go take a look at the Iron Birch Tree today. I want to break off an Iron Birch branch too..."

He lowered his head and glanced at the withered-yellow wooden stick in his hand. Seeing that, at some point, two wormholes and a fine crack had appeared on it, a look of disdain flashed through his eyes.

"Look~" Zhang Lei raised the wooden stick in his hand toward Ling Yi. "It was only on the tree for a few days, and bugs already gnawed two holes in it—"

"Fine~" Ling Yi took a moment to glance at the stick Zhang Lei had raised and nodded to him. "As long as there's one of a suitable size there—"

After saying that, amid Zhang Lei's beaming delight, he adjusted their direction and walked toward the location of that Iron Birch Tree inside Old Forest.

Along the way, Ling Yi focused his mind, constantly paying attention to every movement of the wind and grass around him.

Thanks to his development of Heart Power over the past few years, aside from great progress in Mental Strength, Ling Yi's five senses had also been developed enormously.

As long as he paid careful attention and sensed it, everything within a radius of several dozen meters reflected within his mind.

It was just that the farther away it was, the blurrier it became, and the closer it was to him, the clearer the reflection.

For example, right now, Ling Yi could easily sense the tracks of some insects and ants crawling through the grass several meters around him, while his ears automatically simulated the rustling sound of "shasha~."

There were also the sounds of mosquitoes and flies in the surrounding air as their wings beat at high frequency; inside tree trunks, insects parasitized within, drawing the trees' sap...

Ling Yi did not need to look at these scenes with his eyes at all. They could manifest directly in his mind.

This was the path of spiritual cultivation Ling Yi had imitated and bootlegged, relying on the wild ideas from Star River Great Emperor among the many novels he had read in his previous life, spending several years, and basing it on this world as well as his own talent and aptitude—Deep Sleep, second stage!

Unfortunately, just as that novel had introduced, during Deep Sleep, one could not move. It required absolute quiet. If the body moved even slightly, one would wake up.

As for reaching the third stage, entering deep sleep while in motion, Ling Yi currently only had some guesses, but he had never managed to find the way in.

Before long, Ling Yi and Zhang Lei arrived at their destination.

This place was still within the outer region of Old Forest, but it was already several li deep. The surrounding trees were even taller, and the sunlight filtering down through the forest was much sparser than before.

A clearing roughly thirty meters in radius appeared abruptly amid the dense forest. At the center of the clearing stood a dark "small" tree about twelve or thirteen meters tall.

Compared to the surrounding trees, all of which were over twenty meters tall, this dark tree with a metallic sheen did indeed seem somewhat small.

The Iron Birch Tree was a type of Soul Power plant. Its exact age was unknown. In any case, according to his grandfather Ling Changqing, when his father, Ling Yi's great-grandfather Ling Xu, had been young, this tree had already been growing here.

At the time, this tree had already been more than ten meters tall. After all these years, it probably had not even increased by one meter in height.

As for the name "Iron Birch Tree," even the villagers of remote, backward, and isolated Shan Hai Village did not know how they had come to know it. It seemed that the older generation had already called it that. As for exactly when it had started, even the old people still alive today could not make sense of it. Presumably, it went back even farther~

It was not that no one had ever set their sights on this Soul Power plant. Compared to going to Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a Soul Beast for a Soul Ring, this Iron Birch Tree, which honestly grew in the ground, was far safer.

Unfortunately, Shan Hai Village had not yet produced a Soul Master capable of turning this Iron Birch Tree into a Soul Ring.

Another point was that this Iron Birch Tree was simply too hard!

Several strong adult laborers had taken axes and woodcutting knives to chop at it for half a day. The edges of the blades and axes cracked, their arms went weak and sore, and in the end, they could only leave a few marks on the trunk.

Over the years, the villagers of Shan Hai Village could only pick up a few naturally fallen branches here and there, then Make the Best Use of Everything according to their size, length, and shape. And even those fallen branches possessed toughness and strength comparable to ordinary iron tools, and were not easily eaten by insects or worn down.

Faced with such a tough nut to crack as the "Iron Birch Tree," why had Ling Yi agreed so casually to help Zhang Lei snap off a branch?

Obviously, a life with cheats was just that confident!

For instance, the Iron Birch staff in Ling Yi's hand was one he had climbed the "Iron Birch Tree" last year to take from a branch seven or eight meters above the ground.

Then, just like now.

Zhang Lei's luck was pretty good. Today, they had come specifically for this, unlike before, when every visit had been hurried. After spending just a little effort, they found a side branch on one of the main branches that was about the same size and length as the wooden staff in his hand.

Ling Yi lifted his foot and pushed off against the roots. In an instant, his whole body was like a nimble monkey; using both hands and feet, he climbed up to the middle section of the "Iron Birch Tree" in the blink of an eye and arrived at the branch he had aimed for earlier.

He stepped forward, then lowered himself and sat down, straddling the branch at a point about one-third along its length, the branch roughly fifteen centimeters in diameter.

Clamping the branch tightly with both legs, he gripped it with one hand to steady himself, while his other hand held the sickle. The blade edge pressed against the base of a side branch about a foot in front of him, and he began to grind it away carefully.

Ling Yi mobilized his Mental Strength, sensing the grain at the joint where the branch connected.

At a certain moment, Ling Yi's gaze narrowed slightly. The sickle in his hand, which had somehow lifted a little, chopped down with a swish, then dragged—

"Chi—"

With a faint sound, a branch that seemed cast from black iron snapped off in response and fell toward the ground.

What a pity. Ling Yi straightened where he sat, pressed one hand against the trunk beneath him, and stood up, silently shaking his head. Although by following the logic of Butcher Dismembering an Ox, I can slip what has no thickness into the gaps and move the blade with ease, the windup on this move is too long. For now, it can only be used to cut up materials...

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