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 was only one conclusion: he could not understand it.

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

Lin Yi cursed inwardly as he withdrew from cultivation.

Those gilded Divine Markings were as complete as they were profound, yet right now, he was like an elementary school student who had just learned addition and subtraction being handed a copy of 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 thinking too much. The road had to be walked one step at a time, and meals had to be eaten one bite at a time.

Breaking through to the Dragonlike Realm had strengthened his brain considerably.

But his realm was what it was. Although his comprehension improved every day, he was still a hundred thousand miles away from gnawing through those Gilded Divine Markings.

"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 a tenth had been copied.

This time, at least, he was not completely driven to despair.

Though the red patterns were terribly incomplete, he could still barely find a thread of understanding in several of their more basic structures.

Lin Yi lowered his head and worked through them bit by bit, beginning to deduce from the directions of those simplest lines. Every tiny step was exceptionally difficult.

He ground away at it for the entire night.

By the time the morning light at the cave entrance had fully brightened, Lin Yi opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a mouthful of stale air.

"One night... and I only comprehended one-tenth."

He rubbed his face helplessly.

Advancing by a tenth in one night was already thanks to the Super Brain, but Lin Yi still felt it was too slow. Still, there was no use being anxious.

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

Cang Lan directed his people to tie up the beastskin rolls and weapons and bury the campfire with earth. Their movements were swift and practiced; one look told Lin Yi 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 cupped his hands toward the village chief from afar, and the group headed onward along the mountain path.

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

Lin Yi understood the village chief's reasoning.

If the two tribes traveled too close together, their target would be too large. If they ran into some powerful Ferocious Beast and a commotion broke out, no one would be able to escape.

The people of Bluestone Tribe leisurely finished their dried rations, rested for another quarter-hour, then packed up and set out 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 comprehension speed was too slow. At the root of it, his comprehension was not high enough. And if he wanted to improve it, he needed the Super Brain to absorb more spiritual energy.

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

"Sigh..."

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 to get my hands on something good at this Tribal Exchange Gathering."

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

Don't protagonists in novels always run into great opportunities at gatherings without even trying...? I'm a transmigrator, at least show me some respect, will you?

As he let his thoughts run wild, his Spirit Eyes habitually swept the surroundings. This 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 around two miles ahead, more than twenty blue-gray figures were scattered across the hillside, leisurely chewing grass. Their coats gleamed with oil-like luster, and their manes shone with a faint blue sheen beneath the morning sunlight.

"A Bluemane Horse herd."

Lin Yi blurted it out.

The entire group behind him stopped at the same time.

Mang was the first to come over. He followed Lin Yi's gaze toward the distance, but his eyesight was inferior to the Spirit Eyes, and he could only vaguely make out those blue-gray shadows on the slope.

But their outlines alone were enough for him to recognize them.

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

The eyes of several Hunting Team members beside him 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 attuned to people once tamed.

Their only flaw was that they ran too fast. Ordinary people could not catch them at all, 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 have the chance to touch one of their manes.

The village chief hurried forward, his old eyes shining as he stared at the hillside for a long while before turning to Lin Yi.

"Boy Lin, among all of us, only you can catch them. Bluemane Horses are merely Ferocious Beasts of the Tidal Surge Realm, but they're far faster than even the quickest hunter in the Hunting Team."

The village chief was right. Although the Hunting Team members had already trained their control over their blood and qi well, they had not yet fully mastered 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 a horse's tail.

"Leave it to me."

Lin Yi grinned and rolled his wrists.

Honestly, these past two days of trudging along had nearly stifled him. Now that he had finally encountered a herd that could run and jump, it was the perfect chance to stretch his limbs.

He took a deep breath and stamped his foot. The first level of Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow activated instantly, turning him into a blurry afterimage as he shot straight 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 exceptionally tall stallion, the blue mane on its neck nearly hanging down to its front knees. Its physique was robust, and blood and qi surged through its body like a 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're the one."

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

With a flicker, he appeared at the side of the leading stallion. Lin Yi did not use the Savage Bull Diagram. He simply gathered the hundred-thousand-jin strength of his Dragonlike Realm body into his fist and struck while carefully controlling his force.

Bang!

The neither-light-nor-heavy punch landed squarely on the side of the horse's neck, its force precisely transmitting through fur and flesh into its brain. The leading stallion's legs gave way. Without even making a sound, it fell stiffly to the ground.

The blue-gray herd scattered explosively in every direction, their hooves rumbling like thunder.

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

The second level of Flowing Light, Fleeting Shadow—Fleeting Shadow—erupted in an instant. His speed increased fourfold as he darted back and forth across the slope.

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

Of the more than twenty Bluemane Horses, not a single one escaped.

In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Bluemane Horses lay strewn all over the slope, every one of them knocked unconscious.

A few that woke quickly had barely begun struggling to rise before Lin Yi gave them another kick and knocked them out again.

"Done—!"

Lin Yi straightened up, dusted off 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 in the middle of the herd with his hands on his hips, wearing an expression that said, "Well? Isn't your brother handsome?"

Mang stood frozen for a long moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.

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

"Of course." Lin Yi lifted his chin. "In a while, we'll keep whichever ones we like, and as for the rest..."

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