The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

Sacrifice was a Divine Nest Hunter's everyday bread and butter.

Zhang Yuan had played "Phantom Traces" for ten years in his previous life. The class he had played most often and understood most deeply was Divine Nest Hunter, so he was naturally incomparably familiar and proficient with it.

But reality was not a game. It was not something that could be easily handled by tapping a keyboard and clicking a mouse.

This was also Zhang Yuan's first real sacrifice!

The fingertips of Zhang Yuan's left hand touched the Wild Boar's resilient flesh, and a strange sensation immediately welled up within him.

At the same time, an ancient incantation blossomed soundlessly upon his tongue.

The next moment, the Divine Nest Emblem on the back of his left hand appeared, radiating a faint glow.

The Wild Boar flesh beneath Zhang Yuan's fingers rapidly lost its color at an astonishing speed. Within a few breaths, it decayed and rotted away, like flowers with their wilting sped up a thousandfold.

In the blink of an eye, all that remained on the ground was a pile of gray-black powder!

A message then popped up in Zhang Yuan's vision.

Source Essence +0.7

Sacrificing this half of the Wild Boar to the Divine Nest had yielded 0.7 points of Source Essence.

It was not much, but it was not all that little either.

Zhang Yuan felt somewhat regretful—if he had sacrificed an entire large Wild Boar, he would have gained at least 1.5 Source Essence!

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately poured all of the Source Essence into the First Nest Chamber.

Source Essence could be used to feed the host within a Nest Chamber, accelerating its growth and enabling it to upgrade.

It could also be fed directly to the Divine Nest itself, driving its evolution.

After the Divine Nest Upgrade, not only would the number of Nest Chambers increase, but the hosts' abilities would also be enhanced.

But for the current Zhang Yuan, feeding the precious Source Essence to the host was clearly more important.

Because he urgently needed to increase his strength.

Zhang Yuan glanced at the Divine Nest Panel, then closed it.

After Source Essence was invested, the host still needed time to grow. It could not be achieved in a single leap.

But he could sense the stirring of the formerly dormant Black Giant Ant within the Nest Chamber.

It was growing!

Zhang Yuan packed up his Hunting Bow and Firewood Knife, then hoisted the other half of the Wild Boar onto his shoulder.

It was the height of summer, and the weather was scorching. If he did not hurry home with his spoils to deal with them, they would rot and stink, becoming unsellable.

He turned to the Crow Spirit, which was still wolfing down its meal, and said, "I'm heading back. Could I trouble you once more?"

The route he had taken earlier was like a forest labyrinth, and Zhang Yuan was not confident he could find the right way home.

So he still had to politely ask this Crow Spirit for help.

The Crow Spirit did not lift its head. It suddenly spread its left wing, and a black feather shot out.

It instantly hovered before Zhang Yuan, then drifted lightly toward the woods ahead.

"Thank you!"

Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up at once, and he hurried after the feather.

Carrying more than a hundred pounds of Wild Boar meat, Zhang Yuan followed the Crow Feather through the dense forest. He struggled onward all the way, drenched in sweat, and finally emerged from Thousand Peak Mountain before nightfall.

Interestingly, that Crow Feather actually accompanied him all the way to the Mountain Path Entrance.

"Thank you!"

Zhang Yuan sincerely expressed his gratitude to it.

With the feather's guidance, the journey back had certainly been arduous, but he had not taken a single wrong step.

What Zhang Yuan had not expected was that the moment his words fell, the Crow Feather flashed away and flew into the bushes more than ten paces off.

"Ah!"

A startled cry suddenly rang out. A man in coarse clothes leaped up with terror written all over his face, clutching a Firewood Knife in his hand.

Zhang Yuan was instantly taken aback.

He recognized the man at a glance. He was Chen San, the notorious idler from Chen Family Village!

Chen San's parents had both died, and because his family had spoiled him since childhood, he had developed the bad habit of idling away his days.

He did no proper work, and often joined several disreputable friends in stealing chickens and dogs. Most villagers detested him.

This fellow had actually been lying in ambush at the mountain exit, armed with a weapon. One look was enough to tell that he harbored ill intent.

"Hand over the Wild Boar!"

Still shaken from the scare, Chen San saw Zhang Yuan staring at him and realized his scheme had been exposed. He immediately snarled viciously, "Otherwise, don't blame me for getting rough!"

So it really was a robbery!

Zhang Yuan was not surprised in the slightest. This fellow had likely been hiding by the roadside, waiting for him all along.

Now that his ambush had failed, he was resorting to outright robbery!

Without a word, Zhang Yuan threw down the Wild Boar, drew his Firewood Knife, and charged at Chen San.

If the Crow Feather had not warned him just now, he might already have become a dead soul beneath the other man's blade.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Yuan saw no need whatsoever to negotiate with Chen San.

When enemies met on a narrow road, the brave won!

Chen San never imagined that Zhang Yuan would charge straight at him without the slightest fear or hesitation.

Startled, he hurriedly raised the weapon in his hand.

But Zhang Yuan was fast. In the blink of an eye, he rushed before Chen San, raised his Firewood Knife, and hacked heavily at his head.

This strike was almost exactly the same as the first strike Zhang Yuan had used to kill the Male Wild Boar!

In truth, Zhang Yuan had not swung this blade recklessly. There was method to it.

Over the past three years, although Hunter Gao had never taught Zhang Yuan any martial skills, Zhang Yuan had often glimpsed him practicing fist techniques and blade forms.

He had been secretly imitating and learning from him all along.

Though such furtive learning could never truly let him enter the gate.

Yet through day after day, year after year of practice, Zhang Yuan had gained not only a stronger body, but also a few "killing moves."

This one strike alone, he had practiced tens of thousands of times, honing it to the peak of familiarity.

But to avoid Hunter Gao discovering it, Zhang Yuan had never demonstrated it before others.

Now that he used it again, its speed, power, and precision had all reached his own limits.

Most importantly, the feat of killing the Male Wild Boar had given Zhang Yuan sufficient confidence and blood-soaked courage!

Chen San was older than Zhang Yuan and larger and sturdier in build, but the Crow Feather's surprise had already blunted his edge. On top of that, he had not expected Zhang Yuan to erupt into attack. His tragedy had been sealed.

Facing Zhang Yuan's all-out strike, Chen San instinctively tried to block it with the Firewood Knife in his hand.

Clang!

The two nearly identical weapons collided viciously. Zhang Yuan's Firewood Knife stalled for only an instant before crashing down onto Chen San's face.

The blade sank deeply into the center of his brow.

Chen San's entire body jolted, his eyes filled with disbelief.

When Zhang Yuan forcefully pulled back his Firewood Knife, the hooligan idler collapsed to the ground like a dead dog whose spine had been ripped out.

He no longer drew a single breath.

Zhang Yuan held his knife in hand, blood still dripping from its tip.

His heart was strangely calm.

In both his past and present lives, this was Zhang Yuan's first time killing someone. He had never had such an experience before.

Yet he felt not the slightest discomfort, much less any guilt or regret.

Because this world tolerated not a shred of weakness. Otherwise, one would only become another's meat and fish, laid upon the chopping block to be carved at will.

Chen San had committed evil first. Zhang Yuan's counterattack was only natural and right. How could he possibly feel guilty or uneasy over it?

Clap! Clap! Clap!

At that moment, crisp applause suddenly came from behind Zhang Yuan.

He was startled and immediately turned around.

More than ten paces away, there was now a man dressed in fitted martial attire.

The man applauded as he laughed. "Splendid, splendid—truly splendid! Who would have thought that such a tiny mountain village would have a talent like you?"

Zhang Yuan's heart sank.

The mantis stalked the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?

Because he had already recognized the man. He was the Chen Family Guard who had come to Zhang Yuan's home with the Weasel-faced Advisor two days ago to cause trouble.

There was a ninety percent chance that this man was a martial artist!