An ancient warning said: enter no forest, cross no water. It meant that entering woods and crossing water both carried considerable danger.
Though the saying was mostly used in military strategy, it was also advice worth its weight in gold for Li Chen at this moment.
He did not plunge rashly into the forest. Instead, he sent a reconnaissance Flying Disc equipped with an Eye Crystal over the treetops toward the small hill beside the Imperial Road.
Everywhere along its route, weeds flourished and brambles tangled together, leaving no path at all.
Only farther up, on a ridge where tall trees stood, did some bare earth finally appear.
Above the Flying Disc, four wheel-like rotors spun at high speed. He carefully controlled its direction and the Eye Crystal's angle, taking in the surrounding terrain without missing a thing.
Fortunately, Li Chen discovered that the shaded side of the hill had far fewer weeds and brambles. He only needed to circle around from the Imperial Road a little over a li away.
Through mental interaction and remote mana control, he guided the reconnaissance Flying Disc around the branches and headed that way alongside it.
Before long, riding the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast, Li Chen charged up a low slope in one burst and finally set foot in the true wilderness.
"Coo, coo-coo-coo-coo..."
A strange cry, birdlike yet not quite a bird's, drifted from the forest at some unknown distance. Li Chen had no interest in investigating it. Instead, he sent the Flying Disc scouting ahead, avoiding steep slopes and brambles that would be difficult to cross.
As the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast ventured deeper, the vegetation before him gradually grew more orderly. The different species also began to occupy clearly distinct patches rather than crowding together.
This was the Spiritual Tendency Phenomenon of this world, similar to the tendency to seek light or water.
All plants grew in accordance with the courses of earth veins and spiritual energy. Strong species claimed more spiritual nourishment, while weaker ones could only absorb the scraps left over. As a result, places like this had tall trees and clean forest floors, with even the weeds becoming sparse.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that what grew here was no longer ordinary weeds.
Several li farther in, the deep forest became even cleaner and tidier, beginning to resemble a snowy forest in a cold, high-altitude region-only without the covering of snow.
Among the unfamiliar trees, Li Chen spotted some wild vegetables and mushrooms. Women and children often gathered such things near the outskirts of town, but the work took time and effort. Cultivators who could venture farther afield disdained it and were also too embarrassed to steal that livelihood from them.
Before long, Li Chen reached a clearing and crouched to examine the soil.
He had lived two lives, but back in White Rock Ward, he had often climbed trees to catch birds and waded into rivers to catch fish with his young companions, so as not to appear too unusual. That was where he had gained his basic wilderness survival experience.
"It should be a beast like a Black You. From the looks of it, a lone hound traveling by itself."
Li Chen soon identified signs of beast activity nearby. They belonged to a You Hound, a small-to-medium-sized creature somewhere between a wild dog and a wolf.
A little later, beneath a nearby tree root, he found a pile of You Hound droppings covered with dead twigs, fallen leaves, and soil, though not buried very deeply. He went over and prodded it with a twig, finding that it actually seemed quite fresh.
"Looks like its home is somewhere nearby."
Li Chen parked the Flying Disc in the tree above his head and surveyed the surrounding terrain from overhead.
He found that this was a small hollow flanked by gentle slopes. You Hounds were only average jumpers and could only advance or retreat along the hollow, making it a good place for an ambush.
These beasts were cautious by nature and would not readily leave familiar territory unless necessary. It was worth spending a little effort to gamble that this one had not moved on.
Seeing the lush vegetation around him, which looked capable of supporting small animals, Li Chen felt about halfway confident. The other half would have to depend on heaven's will.
Li Chen had already settled on his strategy before coming. He took a wooden rabbit he had made a few days earlier from his storage pouch. Clad in its painted skin, it looked remarkably lifelike and even carried something of a real wild rabbit's presence, something other Skin-Painting Arts could scarcely match.
Azure glow gathered in Li Chen's palm. He peeled away the painted skin and used a small knife to hollow out the wooden rabbit's belly on the spot. Then he inserted a fist-sized, spring-loaded spherical housing and drilled tiny holes through the rabbit's shell, each aligned with a hole in the housing.
This was a vicious mechanism that could shoot spikes outward from within, turning the wooden rabbit into a hedgehog.
As long as a beast bit down on the disguised wooden rabbit, he was confident he could hook its mouth and catch it like a fish. It would practically work better than using a real wild rabbit as bait.
Once the mechanism was installed, Li Chen slipped the painted skin back on, leaving it flawless once more.
He wound a tough, specially made steel wire around the wooden rabbit and placed it beside a large tree, then secured the wire around a root to hold it firm.
Next, he buried the steel wire, put away the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast, and climbed another large tree more than ten zhang away to wait patiently.
This kind of hunting-waiting by a tree stump for a rabbit to come along-was dull and tedious. With the reconnaissance Flying Disc stationed nearby, Li Chen did not need to divide his attention much, so he took out his small knife and began some woodworking.
He had several dozen wooden rabbits like this on hand. He had made them to practice Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting and had not had time to work on them individually. Now that he was waiting, he could not let the time go to waste.
Meanwhile, he did not forget to summon another reconnaissance Flying Disc to watch his surroundings and ensure his safety.
Here, Li Chen employed image recognition and motion comparison techniques, allowing it to intelligently identify whether anything was happening.
Low-level Puppet Masters in this world had to actively operate their spiritual sense and maintain constant attention. Only at higher levels could they use more powerful methods of aura detection and intuitive danger sensing. He, however, did not need to go to all that trouble.
It could be said that many techniques from Earth remained extremely useful at lower levels. They might even be combined with "the jade of this mountain" to pioneer a different Dao Path.
More than half a day slipped by in a flash. Li Chen had already finished a dozen or so mechanical rabbits up in the tree, yet there was still no sign of the You Hound he expected. Instead, several flocks of birds came in succession, cooing and cawing incessantly in the nearby trees.
Alerted by warnings sent back from the reconnaissance Flying Disc, Li Chen glanced at them several times. They were all crow-like birds, exceptionally alert and not necessarily good to eat, so naturally, he did not rashly hunt them.
Fortunately, effort did not betray the determined. Just as Li Chen himself was beginning to think he might return empty-handed today, a powerful-looking beast appeared near the trap. It resembled a wild dog, but the markings on its back looked like a tiger's.
It was a Yellow Azure Beast. Li Chen's earlier judgment had been slightly mistaken, but the outcome was much the same. Drawn to the mechanical wooden rabbit, he leaped forward and bit down, only to be hooked by the long needles that sprang out inside his mouth.
The Yellow Azure Beast growled furiously in pain, but Li Chen approached without hurry. He released the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast to knock him down, then ended his life with a single thrust of his knife.