Harvest and a New Goal
After everyone finished eating, they set off again.
Keeping their original formation, the exploration team reached the summit beside the sinkhole and gazed down from the cliff. The earth-vein qi in the sinkhole mingled with the water vapor rising from underground, and the vapor carried the earth-vein qi surging north and south.
The mountainsides above the sinkhole's cliffs were mostly black, hard, and damp.
The Avatar gave Liu Tingquan a special reminder. "Take a few more photos. We need a detailed record of this place, including the height of the trees and the slope of the mountainside."
The others were also drawn to the spectacular sinkhole. They gazed at it in silence, feeling the mist-laden wind surging up from its depths. The sheer walls surrounding it were black, and the adjoining forest was tall and dense. The cliff-ringed sinkhole looked like a giant maw that had burst from the earth, ready to swallow heaven and devour the land.
The exploration team stopped there for half an hour. Only after Liu Tingquan had finished recording everything did they resume their journey.
As they continued, the mountain forest grew denser and denser, with hardly any passable paths. The Avatar and Chen Yanshan had to take turns clearing the way, and the exploration team slowed down.
At three in the afternoon, while everyone was resting, Mo Yuemei looked up at the blue sky, seemingly lost in thought.
"Look! What a huge eagle!"
The others all looked up and saw a giant eagle with a wingspan of two or three meters soaring through the sky.
The Avatar took out binoculars and looked. It was a serpent eagle, with seven white spots and a large, prominent crest of black feathers on the back of its head. It was much larger than an ordinary serpent eagle, and its talons and beak gleamed with a metallic luster.
It seemed to spot something. Folding its wings, it swooped down onto a flat stretch of grass ahead of them. When it took flight again, a two-meter-long venomous snake was already struggling in its talons.
High in the sky, the serpent eagle let out a long cry, shrill and piercing, ringing through the clouds and mountain forest as though proclaiming its might. The birds that had been chirping in the forest fell silent at once.
Only when it gradually vanished from sight did everyone reluctantly look away from the majestic serpent eagle.
Looking at the flat grassland where the serpent eagle had just hunted, the Avatar decided that everyone would spend the night there. With a top predator active in the area, they would be a little safer. This was their second night in Mount Huaiyu, and they still arranged a night watch, taking turns to rest. Mm.
On the third day, a somewhat angry voice roused everyone from sleep.
"Holy shit, what ate my food?"
Liu Tingquan's face was red with anger as he hacked through the grass with a machete, searching for something.
The Avatar immediately came out of the tent and walked over to him, only to see that a hole had been gnawed in Liu Qingquan's tent. Compressed biscuit wrappers and other food remnants were scattered everywhere.
Two meals' worth of Liu Tingquan's food had been eaten. Though that wasn't much, and everyone could spare a little of their own rations to make up almost enough, a loss like this was always irritating.
After carefully examining the gnawed opening and some other traces, the Avatar judged that the bite marks might have been made by a rodent. But creatures like that were the most common in the forest, and there was no way to find it even if they looked.
The Avatar took a Five Fulfillments Nourishing Pill from the space through the backpack and gave it to Liu Qingquan. "This is a special super-nutritious pill I made. One is enough to feed you for a whole day. Remember to boil it in water before eating it, or you won't be able to digest it."
Liu Qingquan still seemed hesitant. After all, anyone could tell at a glance that something like this was valuable.
The Avatar said, "I made these as emergency rations. There are enough for us."
Only then did Liu Qingquan accept the Five Fulfillments Nourishing Pill wrapped in tinfoil and put it away carefully.
Chen Yanshan came over with interest. Something like this was very convenient for someone who frequently went into the mountains like him. He rubbed his hands like a fly, wearing a fawning expression. "Captain, do you have any more? I'd like to buy one and try it."
"I can sell you one for 1,000. But let me warn you first: this puts a heavy burden on your stomachs, so try not to eat it unless it's an emergency. If you don't open the wrapping, it'll keep for about two months."
The others had little interest in it. After all, to people from Hua Country, with its abundance of delicious food, something made purely to replenish energy had no soul.
"Everyone should learn from this. Luckily, not much was eaten this time. When you sleep, try to put your food in your backpacks and sleep with your backpacks in your arms."
Everyone packed their gear, gathered their things, and set off again.
They had only arrived here yesterday and had yet to explore the mountain hollows on either side.
At the foot of the mountain to the left, they found a meteorite crater. Unfortunately, it had already been used, but the Avatar collected the meteorite. They continued searching, and that afternoon they found another Class Change Stone on the other side, near the summit of Four Corners Flat. This one had not been used.
Whenever someone found a Class Change Stone, they called the Avatar over to collect it, so no one used one or successfully changed class.
The Avatar had said that meteorites like these basically all contained trace amounts of radiation. Although the damage to the human body would heal in a few days, hardly anyone wanted to touch them.
By that count, over the past few days they had found four Class Change Stones in total, along with three that had already been used.
Standing on the summit, everyone could already see Four Corners Flat to the southeast. There were no more tall mountain ranges in that direction, only rolling hills a few dozen meters high, along with some plains and forests that stretched as far as the eye could see.
On the third night, around eight or nine, all kinds of sounds rang out from outside. No one had really fallen into a deep sleep yet. Just then, a series of wild boar squeals came from afar, waking several people, who went back to sleep with expressions of anticipation and concern.
Early on the fourth morning, the Avatar gathered everyone and gave them a warning.
"You should have heard the wild boars yesterday. There were quite a few of them. From here on, we must be careful. Once we've finished exploring around Four Corners Flat, we'll head back along another mountain range."
But was the exploration team's luck good or bad?
At nine in the morning, instead of running into a herd of wild boars, they encountered a lone male boar weighing over 1,000 jin.
It was fat and powerfully built, with tusks curving outward. When it rooted in the earth, its snout went in like a shovel, and a turn of its head sent a great spray of soil flying. Like a small bulldozer, it pushed aside weeds to expose the plump roots and stems beneath. Its body was coated in a hardened mixture of pine resin and mud, draped over it like thick armor, and the bristles on its back stood up like steel needles.
Even though the exploration team now had four additional sources of firepower, they still had to be cautious. The Avatar gathered the four archery coaches to discuss a plan.