Amid the silent mountain woods, a figure appeared, swinging a broadsword and occasionally hacking aside the vines and tangled grass blocking his path.
That person was naturally Shen Xiu, who had been heading east all along.
After several consecutive days, Shen Xiu no longer looked like he had when he first entered the forest.
His clothes, unwashed for so long, were filthy. Unknown broken twigs and shredded leaves clung everywhere, along with patches of mud and dust in varying shades.
Even his handsome, heroic face was grimy and indistinct, hiding its original appearance. The only thing unchanged was his calm, gleaming gaze.
As he traveled, the surroundings changed. He had not encountered any Ranked Demonic Beasts, but he had run into quite a few fierce beasts that wanted to make him their meal.
Yet the outcome was always the same. They failed to catch their prey and instead became rations for Shen Xiu and the Golden Cicada.
However, the flesh of these fierce beasts was of little use. Despite all the killing during this journey, the Golden Cicada's satiety had remained at 7.6%.
Compared to before, this progress was slow beyond slow, creeping along like a snail.
Back when the Golden Cicada had completed its first metamorphosis, the blood and vitality of a demonic beast around the first rank could still replenish roughly 10% of its satiety.
But now—
Not long ago, he had passed through a mountain hollow and killed a lone Black Demon Bear. Even after feeding the entire thing to the Golden Cicada, its satiety had only increased by a little over 2%.
With the same food, the energy needed to raise satiety from the first metamorphosis to the second had multiplied severalfold.
At this rate, if he wanted to remain in the outer forests of the