Laying a Solid Foundation

Douluo Calendar 2594, early autumn.

North of Shan Hai Village, on the outskirts of the Old Forest.

Whoosh—!

A faint, almost imperceptible whistle of wind suddenly appeared, hidden amid the rustling leaves all around, concealed and swift!

The next second.

"A'Huang, go—!"

At the soft command, a yellow figure shot out from a pile of withered yellow fallen leaves, chasing in the direction of that earlier whistle of wind.

A few breaths later.

A large dog, about seventy centimeters tall at the shoulder, with goose-yellow fur over his head and back, white fur on his lower belly, and powerful muscles all over, trotted back from the distant woods with a gray Wild Rabbit still struggling in his mouth.

"A'Huang, well done!"

Zhang Lei took the Wild Rabbit A'Huang handed over, rubbed the dog's head with his other hand, and praised him without the slightest stinginess.

Nearly two and a half years had passed. Zhang Lei, who had only just celebrated his Six Years Old Birthday a few days earlier, had grown to a little over 1.3 meters tall. Because his family's circumstances had improved in recent years and he had been well nourished, his small body looked rather round. Yet he was not bloated at all; despite his young age, he surprisingly gave off a sturdy impression.

He weighed the Wild Rabbit in his hand, then glanced at another brown Wild Rabbit behind him that was covered in dead leaves, its limbs bound and unable to move. Zhang Lei nodded in satisfaction and said to A'Huang, "All right, let's go find A Yi—"

"I wonder how his lassos did over there—"

As he spoke, Zhang Lei followed behind A'Huang and headed toward the western side of the Old Forest's outskirts.

More than five hundred meters away, beneath a large brownish-black tree that gave off a faint metallic sheen.

Ling Yi sat casually on the ground with his back against the trunk, his eyes slightly closed, taking a light nap with long, steady breaths.

As Ling Yi's Mouth and Nose, chest, and abdomen rose and fell with his breathing, the stalks of Blue Silver Grass within a radius of more than ten meters around him stirred faintly with their pale-blue leaves, as if responding to him.

Suddenly!

As though stimulated by something, every blade of Blue Silver Grass snapped taut and stood upright, exposing a long, mottled green and withered-yellow figure inside the grass.

It was a Local Viper. Though it was not a Soul Beast, its venom was far from weak. To an Ordinary Person, or even to a Soul Master below Level 10, a bite from it posed a somewhat fatal threat.

Now that its traces had been exposed, the Local Viper no longer continued creeping in concealment. Instead, it moved quickly and directly toward Ling Yi beneath the tree.

Ling Yi, however, seemed completely unaware and still remained with his eyes closed, resting.

When the Local Viper reached a distance of three meters from Ling Yi's side, all it needed was a few more breaths of forward movement plus one leap, and the snake fangs filled with ample venom would pierce Ling Yi's skin and inject the poison into his body.

In the Old Forest north of Shan Hai Village, there had been more than one or two villagers bitten, poisoned, and killed by Local Vipers.

Ling Yi's Eldest Uncle, Ling Changshan, whom he had never met, had ventured deep into this Old Forest more than a decade ago. Aside from possibly encountering Soul Beasts and other fierce beasts, it was also possible that he had died to the mouths of various venomous creatures.

Rustle—!

Like a withered-yellow phantom, the Local Viper's pounce arrived right on time. Its snake jaws opened to their limit, and the fishy stench it carried seemed ready at any moment to arrive together with the venom beneath its fangs...

Yet, very abruptly, a black-iron-like branch appeared in the Local Viper's path. One end of the branch stabbed straight into the Local Viper's mouth, sinking inside along its forked tongue with perfect accuracy, giving it a textbook deep throat.

The other end of the branch was held steadily in a tender white little hand.

At some unknown point, Ling Yi, who had seemed to be sleeping moments before, had opened his eyes. In the tiniest gap of time, he had picked up the branch beside him, raised it, and aimed.

He gave the Local Viper no chance to injure him by mistake as it could neither swallow nor spit out the branch, its tail instinctively coiling and thrashing in struggle. With an expression as still as an ancient well, Ling Yi followed the force of its thrashing and casually tossed the branch in his hand into the distance.

Before the Local Viper, with the branch stabbed deeply into it, could land and continue flailing, a gray-dominant Li Hua Cat descended from the sky. With her two forelimbs pressing and slashing, her sharp claws easily cut through the tough snake skin and smoothly hooked out the gallbladder, heart, and other organs inside.

After lowering her head and swallowing the organs in a few bites, Meow Meow stuck out her tongue and licked the corners of her mouth a few times. Then she rubbed her sharp claws against the blades of Blue Silver Grass on the ground, walked with a standard cat's gait, light and elegant, to Ling Yi's side, skillfully rested her cat head on Ling Yi's leg, and curled up on the spot.

Ling Yi lifted his head and glanced at the large tree branch Meow Meow had just jumped down from. His gaze swept over the three wild chickens with broken necks on it, then he lowered his head. As he stroked the cat's head with one hand, he secretly pondered:

Ever since early last year, when I used self-hypnosis to enter Deep Sleep and my Mental Strength first awakened, until now, when I can project my Mental Strength outward and perceive the world around me—

But... Ling Yi's eyes shone brightly, as though light flickered within them. It's still not enough—!

His left hand continued stroking the cat. Amid Meow Meow's comfortable humming, he raised his right hand and clenched it slightly, sensing the strength contained within, but he was not very satisfied in his heart.

In Star River Great Emperor, the path of spiritual cultivation began with Deep Sleep.

In the first stage, one needed a long period of meditation, breathing, and guidance before they could enter Deep Sleep.

Ling Yi had spent a full More Than a Year before he finally borrowed the spiritual talent brought by his rebirth in this life, along with the easily sleeping physical state of childhood, to successfully subdue his lively, restless monkey mind and let himself enter Deep Sleep.

After that, he spent nearly another year groping his way forward and created Crystal Meditation Method 1.0, preliminarily reaching the second stage, where he could enter Deep Sleep anytime and anywhere, and maintain it for even longer!

Ever since he successfully grasped Deep Sleep, Ling Yi often needed only one hour of Deep Sleep to obtain the resting effect of what had once been eight full hours of ordinary sleep, and his body developed even better!

Ling Yi, who was now still half a year away from turning four, was already as tall as the six- and seven-year-old children in the same village. He was only a little shorter than his cousin Zhang Lei, and with his skin snowy-white and delicate, he was very much favored by the young maidens and married women throughout the nearby Ten Miles and Eight Villages.

Although he was still young, because the Ling Family's living conditions had entered a modest prosperity in recent years and they had become an upper-tier household in Shan Hai Village, the number of people now coming to propose childhood betrothals for him was in no way fewer than those for his cousin Zhang Lei!

In the forest, beneath an Iron Birch Tree so thick it took one person to wrap their arms around it.

Ling Yi, whose entire being gave off an aura of peace and tranquility, transmitted that aura from himself at close range to Meow Meow, who lay prone before his knees, through the act of stroking her.

And as Ling Yi's tender white little hand stroked her from head to tail, Meow Meow comfortably narrowed her eyes and felt drowsy. Her nostrils moved faintly, making a sound similar to purring.

Meow Meow's chest and belly rose and fell with it, while her stomach let out rhythmic "gurgling" sounds, like an engine rumbling softly, uniquely steady and rhythmic.

"A Yi—!!"

A loud shout rang out from not far away.

Meow Meow, half asleep and half awake, was startled sharply awake. The little thing sprang up on all fours by instinct as if frightened, her fur bristling!

At that moment, she arched her back, her spine seeming like a great dragon as her sinews and bones naturally stretched, once again giving off bursts of ringing vibrations!

All of this was clearly sensed by Ling Yi, whose palm happened to be resting over her back, and then reflected into his Sea of Consciousness!

The corners of Ling Yi's mouth lifted slightly. Tiger and leopard... thunderous sound... huh—

He gently stroked the smooth fur along Meow Meow's back a few times to soothe her, then turned his gaze toward the direction the voice had come from. Looking at the two figures who had arrived before him, he asked with a smile:

"Lei Ge, A'Huang, how was the haul?"