Bluemane Horse Herd

Lin Yi sat cross-legged in a corner against the inner wall of the cave. On the surface, he appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but in truth, he had spent most of the night turning the Gilded Divine Mark Diagram over and over in his mind.

There were only three words in his conclusion: he couldn't understand it.

"...Damn it, I completely can't understand it."

Lin Yi cursed inwardly as he ended his cultivation.

The complete Gilded Divine Markings were as mysterious as a heavenly tome. Complete they might have been, profound they might have been, but right now, he was like an elementary school student who had just learned addition and subtraction being handed an Introduction to Advanced Mathematics.

He had originally thought that, since Little Flame's Divine Markings were concentrated around its eyes, comprehending them might let his Spirit Eyes rise another level.

Now, it seemed he had been overthinking it. The road had to be walked one step at a time, and meals had to be eaten one bite at a time.

His breakthrough into the Dragonlike Realm had indeed strengthened his brain considerably.

But his realm was what it was. Although his comprehension improved every day, he was still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from chewing through the Gilded Divine Mark Diagram.

"Forget it. I'll switch to another one."

Lin Yi decisively changed his train of thought and turned his attention to the incomplete Divine Mark Diagram of the Lava Giant Ape, of which only ten percent had been copied.

This time, at least, it did not leave him in complete despair.

Though the red patterns were badly incomplete, he could barely grasp a few clues from several of the more fundamental structures.

Lin Yi bent over and gnawed through them bit by bit, starting from the direction of the simplest lines and deducing onward. Every tiny step was exceptionally difficult.

He ground away at it for the entire night.

When the morning light at the cave entrance finally brightened completely, Lin Yi opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

"One night... and I only comprehended ten percent."

He rubbed his face helplessly.

Advancing by ten percent in one night was already thanks to the Super Brain, but Lin Yi still felt it was too slow. Still, there was no use rushing.

After steadying himself, he looked up and found that the people of the Gray Wolf Tribe in the other half of the cave were already packing their things.

Cang Lan directed his men to bundle up their beast-hide rolls and weapons, then covered the campfire with dirt. Their movements were brisk and practiced; one look was enough to tell that they were veterans of traveling through the Great Wilderness.

Before long, the dozen or so people of the Gray Wolf Tribe filed out of the cave. Cang Lan clasped his hands toward the village chief from afar, and the group set off along the mountain path ahead.

The village chief watched them disappear into the distance before turning to his own people. "No rush. Let's eat breakfast first. We'll set out once they've gone a little farther."

Lin Yi understood the village chief's reasoning.

If two tribes traveled too close together, they would make too large a target. Should they run into some powerful ferocious beast, once a commotion broke out, no one would be able to escape.

The people of the Bluestone Tribe slowly finished their dried provisions, rested for another quarter of an hour, then packed up and set off again.

Lin Yi walked near the front of the group, but his mind was not idle. He was still repeatedly pondering the Lava Divine Mark Diagram.

His speed of comprehension was too slow. At its root, his comprehension was insufficient. And if he wanted to improve it, he had to let the Super Brain absorb more spiritual energy.

But he could not yet absorb spiritual energy on his own. Though spiritual energy was abundant in the Great Wilderness, relying on natural absorption was a slow grind.

"Ah..."

Lin Yi sighed inwardly. No matter how he thought about it, there was no shortcut. He could only pile up time.

"Looks like I'll have to hope this Tribal Exchange Gathering turns up something good."

He muttered softly, and that little expectation of a protagonist stumbling upon overlooked treasure began bubbling up again.

"Don't protagonists in novels always run into great opportunities whenever they attend a gathering? ...I'm a transmigrator, at least give me some face, will you?"

As he let his thoughts wander, his Spirit Eyes habitually swept the surroundings. It was a habit he had developed over the past few days—keeping his Spirit Eyes open while walking to scan the area and spot danger in advance.

On an open slope roughly two miles ahead, more than twenty blue-gray figures were leisurely scattered across the hillside, grazing on grass. Their coats gleamed with oil, while their manes shone with a faint bluish luster beneath the morning sunlight.

"A Bluemane Horse herd."

Lin Yi blurted it out.

The entire group behind him stopped at once.

Mang was the first to come over. Following Lin Yi's line of sight, he peered into the distance. His eyesight could not compare to Spirit Eyes, and he could only vaguely make out the blue-gray shadows on the slope.

But even from their outlines alone, he had already recognized them.

"Bluemane Horses?!" Mang's voice abruptly rose.

The eyes of several nearby hunting team members lit up as well.

Bluemane Horses! They were the finest mounts at the edge of the Great Wilderness—fast, enduring, and though wild by nature, exceptionally intelligent once tamed.

Their only flaw was that they ran too fast. Ordinary people could not even catch up to them, much less capture and tame them.

In the Great Wilderness, Bluemane Horses could only be seen in those large tribes. Ordinary fringe tribes did not even get the chance to touch one of their manes.

The village chief strode forward, his old eyes shining as he stared at the slope for quite some time before turning to Lin Yi.

"Boy Lin, among all of us, only you can catch them. Bluemane Horses may only be ferocious beasts of the Tidal Surge Realm, but they're a great deal faster than even the quickest hunter in the hunting team."

The village chief was right. Though the hunting team members had become fairly skilled at controlling their blood and qi, they had yet to fully master either the Savage Bull Diagram or Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow.

If they tried to surround and hunt the Bluemane Horse herd, they would most likely not even be able to touch their tails.

"Leave it to me."

Lin Yi grinned and flexed his wrists.

To be honest, traveling with his head down these past two days had really stifled him. Now that he had run into a herd that could run and jump, it was the perfect chance to loosen his muscles.

He took a deep breath and stomped down. The first layer of Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow activated instantly, and his body transformed into a blurred afterimage that shot directly toward the slope two miles away.

"Wait here!" By the time his voice drifted back from ahead, he was already dozens of yards away.

The Bluemane Horse herd quickly noticed him. Leading them was an especially large stallion, the bluish mane on its neck nearly hanging to its front knees. Its physique was sturdy, and blood and qi surged through its body like the tide.

Seeing a human figure rapidly approaching, it let out a long neigh and pawed at the ground. Rather than fleeing immediately, it lowered its head slightly and assumed an attacking stance.

Lin Yi grinned.

"You'll do."

With the enhancement of Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow, his speed far exceeded the Bluemane Horse's limit of reaction.

His figure flashed, and he appeared at the leading stallion's side. Lin Yi did not use the Savage Bull Diagram. He merely gathered the hundred-thousand-jin strength of his Dragonlike Realm body into his fist, carefully controlling the force as he struck.

Bang!

The neither-too-light-nor-too-heavy punch landed squarely on the side of the horse's neck. Its force passed precisely through fur and hide, jolting into its brain. The leading stallion's legs went limp, and without even a grunt, it fell stiffly to the ground.

The blue-gray herd exploded outward in every direction, their hooves rumbling like thunder.

"Trying to run?" Lin Yi chuckled. "If I let even one of you get away today, I'll write my name backward."

The second layer of Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow—Fleeting Shadow—erupted instantly. His speed quadrupled as he darted back and forth across the slope.

As he ran, he picked out the largest and finest-looking Bluemane Horses one by one. Each time he drew close to one, he delivered a neither-too-light-nor-too-heavy burst of fist force, knocking it out with precision.

There were more than twenty Bluemane Horses, and not a single one escaped.

In less than the time it took to burn half an incense stick, Bluemane Horses lay scattered all over the slope, every one of them knocked unconscious.

A few that woke quickly struggled to get up, only for Lin Yi to kick them and knock them out again.

"Done—!"

Lin Yi straightened up, dusted the dirt from his hands, and shouted toward the distance, "Village Chief! Brother Mang! Come over!"

When the village chief led everyone over, the sight before them left them all stunned.

More than twenty Bluemane Horses lay neatly across the slope. Lin Yi stood amid the herd with his hands on his hips, wearing an expression that said, Well? Isn't your brother handsome?

Mang stood stunned for a long while, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha! We were still guessing which one you'd tame, kid! Good heavens, you knocked every last one of them down!"

"Of course." Lin Yi raised his chin. "In a bit, we can keep whichever ones we like. As for the rest..."

Lin Yi chuckled. "We'll take them to the Tribal Exchange Gathering and sell them."