Foraging in Peril

Chapter 20: Foraging in Peril

A month passed quietly just like that.

Throughout that month, Luo Mu absorbed one Snake Eye Fruit each day as usual. The process was unbearably painful, but fortunately, Luo Mu had astonishing willpower and persevered.

All his efforts paid off yesterday morning, when he successfully advanced to the third layer of the Qi Refining Stage! He had gone from the second layer to the third in just one month—a pace that even shocked Luo Mu himself!

His success filled Luo Mu with even greater confidence in his cultivation. But what left him deeply frustrated was that today he suddenly discovered the Snake Eye Fruit that had helped him advance to the third layer had lost its original effect. It no longer seemed nearly as potent as before.

In the end, Luo Mu had no choice but to admit that as his cultivation improved, his dantian required more and more Poison Spirit Power. Although the Snake Eye Fruit was a high-grade poisonous fruit and provided him with a fair amount of Poison Spirit Power, Luo Mu had tasted the thrill of rapid advancement and was no longer satisfied with the status quo.

Over the past month, Luo Mu had used up more than half the Snake Eye Fruits, counting both the ones he had eaten himself and those devoured by the three Octagonal Spikes. Only about twenty remained.

Luo Mu had felt that letting the Octagonal Spikes eat Ink Crow Grass was too wasteful, so he had switched them to the same Snake Eye Fruits he ate himself and stored the Ink Crow Grass away. Now that the Snake Eye Fruits no longer did much for him, Luo Mu turned his thoughts without hesitation to the Ink Crow Grass in his Storage Bag.

Luo Mu was just about to take out some Ink Crow Grass and test its effects when his brow suddenly furrowed. The corner of his mouth twitched, and at last he gave a bitter smile.

His right hand quickly slapped the two Spirit Beast Bags. Two flashes of green light passed, and the three Octagonal Spikes and five White Jade Ants appeared before him. The little creatures immediately scurried about in front of him, their moods seeming somewhat unsettled.

Luo Mu sighed and, with a pained expression, took out three Snake Eye Fruits and placed one before each Octagonal Spike. Then he pulled several large chunks of meat from his Storage Bag and tossed them out.

It turned out that Luo Mu had just sensed the little creatures fidgeting inside the Spirit Beast Bags. Knowing their habits well, he immediately realized they must be hungry. That was what had led to the scene just now.

Each of the three Octagonal Spikes claimed a Snake Eye Fruit and gobbled it down. They must have been starving. The five White Jade Ants were even more astonishing: in the blink of an eye, they had swallowed several large chunks of meat.

It seemed the five White Jade Ants were just as ravenous as the three Octagonal Spikes. The Octagonal Spikes had at least fared a little better. Although they had never eaten their fill, Luo Mu had fed them poisonous fruits of a certain grade, and after a month, the three little creatures had grown just a tiny bit.

The five White Jade Ants, however, were in a much worse state. After their first-day meal of spirit-infused monster meat, they had never again had the good fortune to taste it. Luo Mu simply had no means, time, or money to find monsters to feed them.

All he had was the more common wild game found in the mountains. Since he had been busy absorbing the poison in the Snake Eye Fruits, Luo Mu had hardly gone out at all. The meat came from wild animals he had bought in town with spirit stones.

Every time he bought a large quantity of wild game, the meat seller was utterly astonished. But Luo Mu was too tied up with cultivation to hunt the animals himself. When the townsfolk asked questions, he could only stammer out some excuse.

As a result, life in Luo Mu's care had not been especially happy for the five White Jade Ants.

Looking at the five scrawny White Jade Ants before him, Luo Mu suddenly felt guilty. At the same time, he couldn't help reflecting that without spirit stones, it was indeed hard to keep spirit insects alive.

"Forget it. I won't bother with the Ink Crow Grass today. I'll take these little guys out for a feast first!" After saying this, Luo Mu returned the little creatures to their respective Spirit Beast Bags, then patted the third Spirit Beast Bag and muttered to himself.

That third Spirit Beast Bag held thirteen young Plum Blossom Snakes!

The Plum Blossom Snakes were of a lower grade and couldn't compare with the White Jade Ants or Octagonal Spikes. Under the Blood Pact Formation, however, all thirteen had hatched successfully in just three days.

Fortunately, the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes were young and not as voracious as the White Jade Ants. Although they were the most numerous, they had the smallest appetites of the three kinds of spirit insects. All thirteen little creatures together couldn't eat as much as a single White Jade Ant. This only strengthened Luo Mu's belief that the five White Jade Ants were bottomless pits!

Shaking his head, Luo Mu sighed to himself about how difficult it was to raise spirit insects and walked out of the clinic.

He shut the door, hung up a sign saying the clinic was temporarily closed, and headed out of town. Along the way, he greeted the residents he encountered with a friendly smile. When someone asked where he was going, Luo Mu cheerfully said he was going up the mountain to gather herbs.

But seeing that Luo Mu hadn't even brought a herb basket, the residents couldn't help feeling puzzled. They didn't press him, though.

Once he had gone a fair distance from Dragon Gate Town, Luo Mu took out his Flying Artifact and rode the Giant Sword deep into the mountains. That was where the wild animals were most plentiful.

As soon as he reached the mountains, Luo Mu released his spiritual sense. Seeing no humans nearby, he finally relaxed. Listening to the faint roars of beasts coming from all around, he smiled.

He slapped the three Spirit Beast Bags in succession. The five White Jade Ants, three Octagonal Spikes, and thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes appeared one after another before him.

The main purpose of this trip was to let the White Jade Ants and Plum Blossom Snakes eat their fill. As for why he had released the Octagonal Spikes, it was simply to let them stretch their legs.

After ordering the three Octagonal Spikes to roam freely, Luo Mu sent the five White Jade Ants and the Plum Blossom Snakes ahead to clear the way, then followed close behind.

A little while later, Luo Mu finally spotted the first prey of the trip: two large black bears. He was delighted that he had found prey so quickly. But before he could order the White Jade Ants and Plum Blossom Snakes to attack, the starving little creatures had already pounced.

The five White Jade Ants were especially fast, leaving Luo Mu utterly dumbfounded. Their bodies blurred into streaks, and in an instant, they were on one of the black bears.

The bear hadn't even realized what was happening before an excruciating pain tore through its body. At the same time, the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes bit into the other black bear one after another, injecting the venom from their Poison Fangs into its body.

Although the two black bears looked fearsomely powerful, they were only wild animals. How could they compare to monsters? Cries of agony rang from their mouths. One bear was poisoned to death by the Plum Blossom Snakes, black, filthy blood pouring from its nose and mouth. It died a gruesome death.

Compared with the other bear, though, the one that died of poison could be considered lucky. The five starving White Jade Ants devoured their bear in mere moments, reducing it to a heap of scraps. Not even its bones remained; the ants had swallowed everything. The sight made Luo Mu's scalp crawl.

Sensing the five White Jade Ants' message that they still weren't full, Luo Mu's mouth twitched.

The Plum Blossom Snakes had poisoned their black bear to death but couldn't swallow it. Seeing the ants still unsatisfied, the White Jade Ants had just rushed over to help the Plum Blossom Snakes deal with the carcass. But the moment they sensed the faint poison emanating from the bear, the five little creatures actually fought down their hunger and stopped in their tracks.

Only then did Luo Mu realize that White Jade Ants didn't eat poisonous things. This wasn't mentioned in the Insect Control Technique, so he made a mental note of it.

After watching the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes fail to deal with the black bear's carcass for quite some time, Luo Mu lost patience. He gave the Plum Blossom Snakes the order to hunt freely as well, then sent the five excited White Jade Ants to continue clearing the way and followed close behind them.

After all, the main task today was to give these five perpetually hungry little creatures a proper feast. The food might not be very good, but since meat was meat, Luo Mu could only let them make do.

By the time the sun was setting in the west that afternoon, the five White Jade Ants still didn't seem full, which gave Luo Mu a major headache. Along the way, wherever the White Jade Ants went, not a trace of life remained. Every wild animal with flesh and blood had inevitably become a meal for the ants.

Even so, the five tiny White Jade Ants still weren't full. Looking at their unchanged bodies, Luo Mu began to wonder whether the wild animals had really gone into their stomachs at all. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.

There was nothing he could do if they still weren't full. It was getting late, so Luo Mu decided to return first and bring the little creatures out to forage again tomorrow.

He had just begun to call back the Octagonal Spikes and Plum Blossom Snakes so they could head home when his brow suddenly furrowed. A cold expression came over his face. With a wave of his hand, Luo Mu put the five White Jade Ants away inside his sleeve. Then he stepped onto his Flying Artifact and sped off in one direction.

Just moments earlier, as Luo Mu had prepared to call back the Octagonal Spikes and Plum Blossom Snakes, a distress signal from one of the Octagonal Spikes had suddenly reached him. Shocked and furious, Luo Mu immediately sensed its location. In his haste, he didn't stop to think and rushed toward it on his Flying Artifact.

These little creatures were all precious to Luo Mu, especially the three Octagonal Spikes. They had devoured quite a few of his poisonous fruits, and he couldn't bear to see anything happen to them and have all his efforts go to waste.