Chapter 2: Mammoths and Mastodons

  Everyone come and vote for Wang Yi a ticket, like brothers and sisters remember to collect ah!

  The dense and ancient forest, every step deeper into it adds a bit more danger, the continuous great mountains, lush and verdant, with eagles soaring in the sky, their eyes sharp as torches, searching for prey on the ground.

  After advancing twenty miles, Xiao Yi returned from the front.

  "Xiao Gege!" Shi Lei exclaimed in surprise, "As long as you're fine, that's all that matters."

  "He actually didn't die." Shi Qian said in surprise, then fell silent.

  A moment later, Xiao Yi's heart slightly stirred. It turned out that his movements in the front were too fast, causing Shi Lei and the others to suspect him, but no one guessed what was on his head.

  At this moment, looking far ahead, there is an ancient mountain in front of us. The ancient mountain is hundreds of feet high, towering into the clouds, with a dark green body, emitting threads of eerie aura, dense forests, almost blocking out sunlight, and from time to time, a mournful beast roar echoes through the mountains.

  "Everyone be careful, ahead is the Dark Mountain. Although I didn't find any mid-tier desolate beasts when I passed by before, I can assure you that this mountain is not ordinary." Shi Lei said, his expression serious as he warned, "In the records of our ancestors within the clan, it's mentioned that there's something hidden in this mountain, warning later generations not to linger here."

  Shi Yuan nodded: "The senior's handwritten note will not be wrong, we'll be careful, after entering the mountain, let's not separate, wait until we cross this dark mountain, Xiao Yi you go ahead and scout the road."

  At this time, Xiao Yi did not leave alone again. The six of them looked around and quickened their pace, entering the dark mountainous area.

  After half a cup of tea, four green shadows appeared in the position where Xiao Yi and the six others were originally standing, with cold laughter echoing.

  Dark ancient forest.

  A thousand-year-old ancient tree with twisted and tangled trunks, covering the entire sky, ink-black tree trunks, dark green branches and leaves, not a single ray of sunlight, everywhere can be seen bottomless swamps, human-head-sized poisonous spiders, only fingernail-sized poisonous scorpions, water bucket-thick black pythons hanging from the treetops, snake pupils like black jade flashing.

  These were not enough to stop Xiao Yi's advance, whether it was Shi Yuan or Li Yue, both were strong enough, Li Yue's purple mist arrow had a power of nearly thirty jun for each arrow, any wild beast, as long as it showed hostility, could not enter the range of thirty zhang and would be killed by one arrow.

  The corpse of the ferocious beast was left behind, just in case. None of them went to refine the Qi and blood within it, not even Xiao Yi. He faintly felt a sense of unease, as if something unusual was hidden in this dark mountain, giving him a sense of crisis. Compared to the vast and endless ancient forest, his cultivation was still too low, and he couldn't cope with most variables.

  But fortunately, the six of them traveled safely and arrived at the top of the mountain in less than half a time. The wind was blowing gently on the mountaintop, with sparse ancient trees that were not as dense as those in the mountains. Through the branches and leaves, they could see the sky, where a bright moon hung high, its yellowish light shining like flowing water and gauze, illuminating the top of the mountain and landing on a protruding boulder.

  The mountain top was not calm, the heavenly wind passed through the gaps of the ancient tree branches and leaves, making a sound like a ghost crying, but compared to this, Shi Lei stared at that piece of dark green giant stone which was about 4 or 5 zhang high.

  "No, this rock was absolutely not here a month ago!"

  Xiao Yi's energy and blood were surging, he didn't know why, but facing this giant stone, his calm heart was actually a bit restless, and he even discovered the anomaly earlier than Shi Lei.

  "Wait, the moonlight has been sucked in!" Shi Qianchen shouted.

  On the surface of that dark greenish-black boulder, there were irregular wrinkles, like the bark of an old tree. At this moment, only a faint moonlight was being absorbed by those wrinkles, making the dark greenish-black even deeper.

  It seems that Shi Yuan thought of something, and a hint of shock flashed in his eyes. He said in a low voice: "Everyone be careful, this is a Mid-Rank Desolate Beast. Apart from devouring Blood Essence, it can also use the weak Solar Essence in the moonlight to temper its body."

  Mediocre beast!

  Even Yun Shan, with his straightforward and honest nature, changed color. The middle-ranking wild beast was comparable to the human tribe's Wu Chang level of power, among which the peak ones even approached the Baifu Chang level of power. Relying on their powerful physical bodies, it would be difficult for humans to gain the upper hand even if they had battle techniques, unless they were killed by archery. However, without sufficient archery skills, it would also be difficult to cause harm to them.

  Rumble!

  At this moment, the mountain peak began to shake, and the top of the mountain, which was less than fifty feet in diameter, had palm-sized rocks falling down. The dark green giant stone started to rise from the ground, and a thick momentum rose with it. Except for Shi Yu and Shi Qian, even Li Yue's face turned slightly pale. This was the pressure from the spiritual realm. On the ground, piece by piece of gravel floated up and then shattered.

  After a deep breath, this massive creature finally revealed its true form: a five-zhang-tall giant elephant with dark greenish-black skin, a long and powerful trunk like a dark greenish-black iron whip, two tusks like sharp swords curved like a full moon, and similarly dark greenish-black eyes gleaming with cold light, exuding an aura of ferocity.

  "This is a Mammoth Giant Elephant, the strong among the middle-ranking wild beasts, with boundless strength, likes to lie in wait at the mountain top, and temper its elephant skin with the heavenly wind!" Shi Qian said in a deep voice, "However, this one should still be in its growth period. A fully grown Mammoth Giant Elephant can reach up to ten zhang in height, and its power is almost close to 100 jin. This is their physical innate talent. This young elephant's strength has at least reached 40 jin!"

  In the wild beast, there are some innate talents, even if the boundary is not reached, they can take a step forward in strength.

  Is the Dark Mountains the habitat of the Mammoth? In Shi Lei's cognition, ordinary middle-ranking wild beasts rarely appear within a hundred miles of the tribe. Only in the depths of the ancient forest within a hundred miles would higher-ranking wild beasts appear one after another, and now they have only ventured less than thirty miles deep.

  But now they couldn't afford to think about that much, the mammoths were extremely ferocious, if they weren't careful for a moment, all of them would die here today.

  Shi Yuan's expression turned grave, and a cyan iron knife slowly emerged from behind his back. On his body, a sharp aura rose up, like an invisible wind blade, which held off the momentum of the Mammoth Elephant, giving Li Yue and others a chance to catch their breath. However, compared to the mature and heavy momentum of the Mammoth Elephant, Shi Yuan's newly comprehended momentum seemed somewhat rough and slightly weaker in quantity, almost falling at a disadvantage in an instant.

  "Shi Yuan big brother, I'm here to help you!"

  Behind him, Shi Qian took a step forward, and a momentum rose up, this momentum was like the howling of wind and thunder, carrying Shi Qian's spiritual will, instantly relieving Shi Yuan of half the pressure. However, due to the great disparity in strength, the momentum lacking in power quickly dissipated when facing the ferocious giant elephant, Shi Qian's face turned pale, feeling an enormous pressure.

  "The magnitude of spiritual power determines the magnitude of strength, and the stronger one's will is, the more powerful their spiritual energy. The two are interdependent, just like how a larger strength can also temper the container for spiritual energy, allowing it to become even more concentrated. Although Shi Qian had already tempered his ordinary middle-grade will ahead of time, giving him his own momentum, he lacked sufficient strength to temper it further, so although his momentum was strong, it wasn't refined enough. The momentum of the giant elephant may not be much stronger than his in terms of spiritual willpower alone, but its refinement is far superior.

  Xiao Yi's gaze was piercing as he gained a deeper understanding of spiritual energy and strength through Shi Qian's guidance and his own contemplation of the Elephant's Will. At this moment, he saw right through Shi Qian's weakness with just one glance."

  Wow!

  At this moment, Yue stepped out, the purple bow hummed, and the purple arrowhead ejected a three-foot-long arrow gas. The long arrow broke through the air, like a purple light flow, and a transparent air wave spread out, becoming a howling strong wind.

  Boom!

  The mammoth's trunk swung like an iron whip, swift as a whirlwind, the air whistling in response. The purple arrow light was shattered instantly, turning into tiny fragments that shot towards Shi Yu and Shi Qian.

  "Fēng Yún Dāo's first move: Wind Rises and Clouds Surge!"

  With a loud shout, Shi Yun's cyan iron sword left its scabbard. The pale blue light of the sword was like a flying dragon, as if clouds and fog were surging, a hurricane rising from the ground, chopping down towards the mammoth elephant's head.

  This knife was sharp as the wind, its light splitting the air, and the fragments that shot out were twisted by the knife's light, instantly turning into powder. The mammoth elephant didn't dare to be careless, it let out a loud trumpet, its trunk sweeping horizontally, with immense force crushing down, its trunk raised a faint black mist, colliding with the cyan iron knife.

  Clang!

  It was as if metal had clashed, a large spark flew out, and Shi Yuan was shocked to fly out. The tiger's mouth was greatly shaken, and both arms seemed to have lost their senses for an instant. Despite this, he still caught a glimpse of that black mane, although it was very faint, but there was no doubt. Then, a look of shock appeared in his eyes.

  "No good! It's a Star Beast, this giant mammoth has the bloodline of a one-star Savage Beast!"

  What!

  Several people were shocked at the same time, what is Xiangli, they had also vaguely heard of it, that was the power belonging to the Xiang tribe among the wild beasts. Generally speaking, the wild beasts only accumulated power and condensed the first wild star before they could derive their own original power, just like the human tribe's bloodline derived from war energy. However, this young mammoth elephant in front of them was still in its youth, so there was only one possibility, that was one of its parents had condensed a wild star and passed down a thread of Xiangli to it through their bloodline.

  Condensing the desolate beast of the desolate star, what kind of existence is it, far surpassing the upper desolate beast, even if it's the weakest one-star desolate beast, it possesses power comparable to the Human Tribe's Blood Refining Great Perfection. If you go to the Bloodstone Tribe, except for the Tribal Chief Shi Zhenxuan, no one can match up.

  "Run!"

  Almost without thinking, Shi Yuan let out a loud roar. This mammoth elephant's power was too great, and it also possessed a hint of elephant strength. It was a formidable existence even among the mid-ranking Wild Beasts. With his initial entry into the Wu Long level, he was fundamentally unable to resist. Adding on Li Yue and the others, even if they managed to barely hold their ground in battle, they would still suffer heavy casualties, and it was very possible that they would all fall here.

  Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

  The six of them immediately rushed towards the other side of the dark mountain, crossing over the dark mountain. As long as they entered the desolate ancient forest, with ancient trees standing tall, even if the giant mammoth elephant was fast, it couldn't catch up to them.

  Wow!

  Mammoth elephants trumpet, elephant legs as thick as millstones tread, and countless gravel rolls down wherever they pass, like an earthquake. Everyone come to vote for the emperor, brothers and sisters who like it remember to collect it!