While I'm At It

Zhuang Hong did not take the matter of the trolls heading south to heart. He simply went about his own business.

He traveled while continuing his warrior training, occasionally taking a pleasant little nap.

That day, he lay beneath the shade of a tree, covering his face with his notebook and using his backpack as a pillow.

Xiao Bai quietly approached, circled Zhuang Hong twice, picked out a nice spot on his thigh, and was just about to bite down.

But it suddenly stopped, its nose twitching a few times. It immediately ran aside, bared its teeth at the empty space, and began barking wildly.

"Woof woof woof!"

Zhuang Hong instantly woke from his sleep and flipped to his feet.

Generally speaking, whenever Xiao Bai made such a fierce sound, it meant a Void Spirit was attacking.

Sure enough, the moment Zhuang Hong sprang up, he sensed a Void Spirit slowly approaching directly ahead of Xiao Bai.

He stepped forward, grabbed Xiao Bai by the scruff, and casually tossed it behind him.

Then he reached behind his back and drew the Dragon Tendon Sword. Dark Red Armor surged over his body, covering him from head to toe.

Zhuang Hong's entire body tensed, and his expression turned grave. The Void Spirit attacking him gave off a deep blue Source Power glow.

"A Core Combination Beast—and one of the stronger ones at that!"

Soon, the Core Combination Beast traveled through from another space and appeared not far in front of Zhuang Hong.

This Core Combination Beast was not particularly large, only somewhat bigger and longer than a motorcycle. Its body was slender, and four wings fluttered behind it, keeping it steadily aloft. Six arm-thick claws extended from beneath its body. They had a metallic sheen and were densely covered in tiny, sharp hooks, like six scythes of death.

Overall, it looked like a giant mosquito, so Zhuang Hong casually gave it a name—the Flying Lian Monster.

This was Zhuang Hong's first time encountering this type of Void Spirit. Judging by its unhurried manner, it was clearly not easy to deal with. Still, Zhuang Hong planned to test it first before deciding what to do next.

While observing it, he secretly created numerous Fine Silk threads that quietly surrounded the Flying Lian Monster.

Seeing that the time was right, Zhuang Hong grabbed with his left hand.

Whoosh! A large number of Fine Silk threads suddenly sprang up and wrapped toward the Flying Lian Monster.

Bzzz!

With a single buzz, all of Zhuang Hong's Fine Silk threads missed their target, while the Flying Lian Monster vanished from before his eyes.

"So fast!"

Zhuang Hong's pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively leaped to one side.

Screech—

Yet he was still too slow. The Flying Lian Monster, which had circled around to his side, raked its claws across his shoulder.

Zhuang Hong tilted his head to look at his rear shoulder and found a long claw mark there.

"Good thing it didn't break through my armor!"

With a thought, he repaired the damaged area, then turned and raised his hand.

Ejection!

Pfft pfft pfft!

A large number of armored bullets connected to threads shot from Zhuang Hong's hand like rifle fire. The bullets and threads formed a web around the Flying Lian Monster.

He intended to use this method to limit the Flying Lian Monster's speed.

Bzzz!

Another buzz rang out, and the Flying Lian Monster accelerated once more. The bullet threads Zhuang Hong had fired snapped apart one after another.

Behind me!

Zhuang Hong gripped the Dragon Tendon Sword and spun around with a slash, but the Flying Lian Monster evaded it.

He frowned. He hated opponents with this kind of speed.

Zhuang Hong tried many more times. Whether he lured it in, laid down nets, or waited motionlessly for an opening, whenever he finally launched an attack, the Flying Lian Monster always evaded it. Every time, he came within a hair of killing it, only to watch it continue flying around.

Even his most confident Ejection acceleration technique could not touch so much as the Flying Lian Monster's tail. Instead, it left many scratches across his body.

The entire battle could only be described as a one-sided beating.

If his armor had not been strong enough, he would likely have been splattered with blood and killed by now.

Zhuang Hong's Source Power surged madly into the Dragon Tendon Sword, transforming it into the Dragon Tendon Whip before shooting it forward.

This strike was fast and fierce. Even Zhuang Hong himself believed he would not have been able to dodge it, yet the Flying Lian Monster avoided it again with a flashy maneuver.

Zhuang Hong stared darkly at the Flying Lian Monster as it twisted smugly in the air. Slowly, he turned the Dragon Tendon Whip back into the Dragon Tendon Sword and sheathed it.

"You forced me to do this~!"

With a thought, part of the warrior aura within him split off and flowed through different routes into every part of his body.

"Gurgle~"

"Gurgle~"

Zhuang Hong's muscles began to wriggle wildly. His body rapidly expanded and grew taller like an inflated balloon, while a thick layer of armor covered every part of him.

With a pop, a tail covered in dark red scales grew from his tailbone. At its tip was a sharp diamond-shaped spike.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a nimble long-tailed giant nearly five meters tall.

Zhuang Hong clenched his fists and freely stretched his body. The azure Source Power Orb began releasing Source Power throughout every corner of his body, and a powerful aura surged out of him.

Zhuang Hong let out a long moan. "Power is surging up from inside my body."

Even the Flying Lian Monster was frightened enough to fly farther away, secretly assessing Zhuang Hong's true strength.

Xiao Bai was scared out of its wits as well. Its short little legs carried it swiftly away until it hid behind a tree, poking its head out to watch.

Zhuang Hong slowly swayed his tail behind him, fixed his eyes on the Flying Lian Monster, and grinned. "Do you think backing away makes you safe? Now, it's my turn."

Zhuang Hong stomped his foot.

Boom!

With an explosive blast, a huge crater appeared in the ground, sending dirt and rocks flying.

Zhuang Hong's massive figure had already vanished from where he stood. When he appeared again, he was right beside the Flying Lian Monster.

Bzzz!

The Flying Lian Monster was greatly alarmed and instinctively beat its wings to flee.

But Zhuang Hong's arm shot out and grabbed hard.

Splat!

The Flying Lian Monster was caught in Zhuang Hong's hand. With a vicious squeeze, he crushed it into two pieces. Blue-purple fluid burst from its body and splashed all over him.

Zhuang Hong looked down at the Flying Lian Monster as it fell limply to the ground and muttered softly, "Weren't you fast?"

The physical body awakened after unlocking the hidden treasure, combined with powerful Source Power, could unleash strength this overwhelming.

Zhuang Hong returned to human form and began enjoying his meal.

Seeing this, Xiao Bai ran out from behind the tree with its tail wagging, circling around Zhuang Hong.

"Woof woof woof!"

As Zhuang Hong happily absorbed and devoured the Flying Lian Monster, he laughed. "You want some too? You did well warning me this time, so you can have one leg."

As he spoke, he broke off one of the Flying Lian Monster's claws, casually crushed its shell, and tossed it to Xiao Bai.

Xiao Bai's tail wagged furiously as it pounced on the food and began wolfing it down.

Aside from drinking some water, Xiao Bai rarely ate anything else. Zhuang Hong had thought it only needed to absorb the essence of the sun and moon to grow. He had not expected Void Spirits to be on its menu.

A Void Spirit eating Void Spirits—nothing wrong with that~

Although the Flying Lian Monster was a blue Core Combination Beast, it truly did not have much meat. Before long, Zhuang Hong and Xiao Bai had finished dividing it between themselves.

After casually burying the Flying Lian Monster's remaining dried corpse, Zhuang Hong patted Xiao Bai on the head. "Let's go. We're not far from what I'm looking for."

With that, he picked up his notebook, stuffed it into his backpack, and strode away.

Xiao Bai wagged its tail as it happily followed behind the food. Whenever it got close to Zhuang Hong's feet, Zhuang Hong casually flicked it away with his foot, yet it never grew tired of the game.

This area was already part of the vast, sparsely populated, bitterly cold northern lands. Signs of human habitation were rare, but human armies and supply convoys could occasionally be seen heading north. Of course, there were also warriors voluntarily heading north in hopes of taking Ge Mu's head.

Based on what Zhuang Hong had observed along the way, a great war between humans and trolls would break out before long.

If the opportunity arose, he did not mind killing a few more trolls and lending a hand. But an individual's strength was far too limited in a war, and he might not be able to make much difference.

Besides, his primary goal was not to help humanity of this world defeat the trolls completely. It was to find his Other Self in this world, absorb it, gain greater power, and use that power to fight even more dangerous Void Spirits.

To be honest, as a Heavenly Material Treasure in the eyes of Void Spirits, his current situation was not particularly good. He already had enough to worry about.

"No matter what, I'll get my Other Self first. Besides, the human warriors in this world are so strong that they don't need me at all."

Zhuang Hong was that kind of person. He had never believed the world would stop turning without him...

The only thing he wanted now was to grow stronger, survive, and then get a good night's sleep.

"Wooooo—"

As Zhuang Hong walked while lost in thought, a long and unusual cry came from the distance. He could not help turning his head toward it.

He saw five strange humanoid creatures riding giant wolves, howling excitedly as they charged toward him.

The wolf-riding humanoids were tall, easily over two and a half meters, with exceptionally muscular builds. Their exposed skin gave off a dull blue sheen, while two fangs protruded upward from their lower jaws in a fearsome display.

They also wore necklaces strung together from savage beast fangs. The necklaces clattered as they ran, seemingly representing not only decoration but also their past feats of bravery.

Most eye-catching of all were the bloody human heads hanging from the wolves' backs, swinging violently as the giant wolves ran.

Clearly, these heads were their trophies as well.

Zhuang Hong turned around and muttered, "So these are trolls? Looks like a vanguard."

The five trolls waved various weapons seized from humans as they drove their giant wolves closer to Zhuang Hong. Their narrow eyes widened slightly, gleaming with bloodthirsty Green Light.

They looked very happy to have encountered Zhuang Hong.

Zhuang Hong raised his Right Hand slightly, then gave it a sharp pull when they drew close.

Whoosh!

Pfft pfft pfft!

Ten heads—troll and giant wolf alike—suddenly flew into the air. Bright red blood sprayed out as the high-speed bodies lost control, crashed to the ground, and rolled until they barely stopped in front of Zhuang Hong.

Zhuang Hong lowered his hand and muttered, "Killing trolls is pretty easy, too."