Chapter 111: Tracking

Chapter 111: Tracking

Pei Jie personally slathered him with mucus three times from head to toe, like he was ready to shave his head bald.

After three rounds, Shang Yunduo felt like he practically reeked as bad as a Sticky Mud Beast, before the scale powder that had accidentally gotten on his skin was finally scrubbed clean. Luckily, it was just a bit—probably picked up when he wasn't paying attention, but he never expected it to eat through his clothes and cling to his skin.

He crouched down to check out the mucus, which was already starting to glimmer with that scale shine, and sighed, "So that's another use for mucus."

Pei Jie said, "It's all we had to work with. Go wash up, and make sure you get clean."

Shang Yunduo took a whiff of himself and bolted.

Pei Jie tore up the spot where he'd stood and burned the floorboards clean. By the time everything was taken care of, it was already dark out, and Pei Jie wouldn't let him go near that lake again.

Shang Yunduo nodded like a bobblehead, thinking that if he got scale powder on him again, Pei Jie might just toss him in swamp mud and leave him soaking for two days.

The next day, he went to the swamp and sure enough, there was a scrawny little Sticky Mud Beast moping in the middle of it. A breeze blew by, and he could even see a tuft of fur on its head fluttering in the wind.

Shang Yunduo was shocked—so they do have fur!

All cleaned up, it was actually pretty cute.

To make up for it, Shang Yunduo flew over and dropped off some fresh fish as a special treat.

After that, Shang Yunduo stayed away from the lake for days. The next time he ran into the Silverwing Butterfly, he was sitting in a tree tracking a Fourth-order Beast, scratching his head over those dots. Suddenly, he spotted a cluster of dots on another tree—super concentrated, super dense, colorful, and shaped like a butterfly.

At first, Shang Yunduo wasn't sure it was a Silverwing Butterfly.

The one he'd met before was a meter long even with its wings closed; this one was only the size of his palm.

After a moment's thought, he stayed put and watched patiently, and saw the little butterfly quietly dusting scale powder around.

Shang Yunduo immediately caught the Silverwing Butterfly's fatal flaw: as long as you stayed upwind and kept your distance, it couldn't get you!

And this time, he was sitting upwind, watching the Silverwing Butterfly—the one even Pei Jie dreaded—silently hunt.

The Silverwing Butterfly's scale powder took a day to sink into skin and flesh, but if it got into the eyes, nose, or mouth, it only took half a day to eat away at those unprotected soft spots.

The Fourth-order Beast, busy chowing down, didn't notice it had become someone else's big meal. Even its food was laced with deadly scale powder. After eating, it lay down under the tree and started rubbing its eyes more and more, inadvertently smearing scale powder from its claws around its eyes. Within half a day, its eyes turned red and swollen, and it clawed them open. The patient Silverwing Butterfly spread more powder, which seeped in through the wounds, and Shang Yunduo watched, a chill running down his spine.

The Fourth-order Beast that had fought him for a day died such a pathetic death.

It barely lasted three days.

On the second day, the feverish beast lay on the ground, gasping for air, while the Silverwing Butterfly perched on it, boldly chowing down on its rotting flesh. This time, it dropped the act and went back to the size Shang Yunduo had seen before.

But when it changed back, the dots on its body spread out a little, only vaguely forming a butterfly shape.

Shang Yunduo realized: these dots were like spiritual energy—they could be compressed but not concealed. The smaller they were compressed, the more concentrated and dense they got. When compressed, they looked to him like glowing neon signs, easy to spot.

When they were concentrated...

Wasn't that exactly what those unreadable Illusion Art characters were?!

What a perfect thing to study!

Shang Yunduo started tailing it.

The Silverwing Butterfly had naturally noticed him long ago, but unlike other beasts, even if spotted, it couldn't escape or fight to the death to outsmart an opponent. It was too slow, couldn't get close, couldn't flee, and couldn't fight—Shang Yunduo could just torch it with a fire. Yet its natural stealth seemed to fail against him; no matter how small it shrank or how well it hid its spiritual energy, it was all for nothing.

The Silverwing Butterfly was so terrified it didn't dare hunt, bolting at the sight of Shang Yunduo. But the more scared it got, the more forms it shifted into, and the more interested and excited Shang Yunduo got. He even got brave enough to circle downwind and watch for a bit. Sure enough, the Silverwing Butterfly's scale powder wasn't unlimited—it needed time to recharge after use!

Eager and excited, Shang Yunduo reported in and didn't even go home at night, tracking it to see if the dots on its body changed at different times.

With no other choice, the Silverwing Butterfly had to fly nonstop, only shaking him off when it reached a Sixth-order Beast's territory.

Shang Yunduo crouched nearby for days, but that Silverwing Butterfly refused to come out. He had to reluctantly head back, continuing to study the Illusion Art. Maybe it was from watching the Silverwing Butterfly's size changes so much, but as he looked at those dots, his imagination suddenly exploded, and he could actually connect dots into lines, then picture different beasts and animals in his mind.

He could even imagine how those connected dots moved—running, jumping, flying, swimming—and they looked more and more real.

Shang Yunduo, who thought his artistic talent was all in music with little in fine arts, was stunned himself. At night, he dreamed of dot-people and dot-beasts coming to life, bouncing around in an animated show—this was way more ridiculous than people connecting stars to imagine constellations.

But even with all this imagining, he couldn't see any moves like those in the Body Tempering Art from those dots. Shang Yunduo was baffled again, hitting a new bottleneck, so he set it aside and kept practicing other things.

The Silverwing Butterfly avoiding him wasn't all bad. Besides indirectly saving many nearby beasts, at least he could go back to the lake to practice the Seven Baleful Fire Art in peace.

This lake was in the middle of two Fourth-order Beasts' territories. Last year, he didn't dare come much, but after a few fights, those two beasts gradually ignored this two-legged creature trespassing into their territory, just turning away when they saw him, letting him do whatever he wanted.

It was big and deep enough that he could set fires freely without drying up the water, and even the biggest fire couldn't cover the whole lake. He could compress fireballs to throw into the water, practicing blasting rocks at the bottom. Shang Yunduo immediately abandoned the Sticky Mud Beast swamp, where the bones were almost dug out and the water level had dropped from his roasting—this was the perfect training spot!

At first, his fire was hot but couldn't reach the bottom; it just boiled the water and put out the fire, all for nothing. But with the Seven Baleful Fire Art and Pei Jie's teaching, he could now control the flame to maintain its heat, and when it hit the bottom, it would explode. But he could only handle simple paths, not yet able to use fireballs to chase fish in the water.

Today, something strange happened. Shang Yunduo was trying to keep the flame the size of an arrowhead, controlling its surface temperature so it wouldn't boil the surrounding water, but he hadn't succeeded yet. A stupid fish was attracted by occasional bubbles, mistook the flame arrowhead for bait, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Shang Yunduo was dumbfounded, his fire temperature went out of control, and with a *whoosh*, a roasted fish with a white belly floated up from the bottom, steaming hot, surrounded by boiling bubbles that cooked it again.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

He laughed for a while before pulling the fish out, muttering, "Are you a roasted fish or a boiled fish? I'm wondering if eating you would make me stupid... better give it to the Sticky Mud Beasts!"

He checked the sky—time to head home. He could also pick some flowers nearby to dry for tea.

It wasn't far, so he skipped the flying ship and walked along the river upstream. But before he reached the flowers, he suddenly sensed someone's presence approaching.

Shang Yunduo focused and looked closely—it was actually people!

And a team of Foundation Establishment stage human cultivators.

But how did human cultivators get here?

Were they here to catch Spirit Beasts?

He'd once seen a Golden Core cultivator chasing a Spirit Beast past here, but besides that panicked beast, Shang Yunduo was sure there were only beasts, not Spirit Beasts, nearby.

Beasts were much harder to tame than Spirit Beasts. Even if caught, ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't raise them, so it was cheaper to buy Spirit Beasts with spirit stones.

Or were they here for Spiritual Plants or ores?

That didn't fit either—same logic: it was too dangerous for Foundation Establishment cultivators to come here. Better to gather a team and go into the mountains than to buy at high prices from places like Wuyou City.

Or... was there a spirit stone mine nearby?

That wouldn't be for Foundation Establishment cultivators either—they couldn't mine it.

Or maybe they were here to trade with demon cultivators?

This was close to the central line of the Dividing Mountain Range, so a half-and-half deal was fair. But they didn't look like demonic cultivators, nor like the bold merchants who dared go into beast territory.

Then what are they doing here?

They can’t possibly be treasure hunting, right?

The more Shang Yunduo thought about it, the more curious he became. He quickly draped himself in the Mirage Lizard Gauze, concealed his aura, and hid on a nearby hillside.

After a while, a group of eight people appeared in his field of vision.

“Did we take the wrong path?”

“Yes—there’s a lake just ahead. I can already feel the moisture in the air… See! Told you so—look, isn’t that a lake?”

The group rounded the mountain and caught sight of the lake Shang Yunduo had just left. One of them wrinkled his nose. “Why do I smell grilled fish?”

“Grilled fish?”

“Haha! Are you so hungry you’re hallucinating? There’s not a soul around—where would grilled fish even come from?”

“Brother Zhang must be starving. Why don’t we catch a few fish later and roast them?”

The leading middle-aged man cautioned, “Better stay alert. Since Daoist Zhang detected something, everyone keep watch for signs of fire.”

Beside him, the man holding the map added, “He’s right. We’re deep inside the Boundary Range now—plenty of demonic beasts dwell here, some even fire-attribute. Stay vigilant.”

Yet they flew over the entire lake on their swords without spotting a single trace of flame.

The tall man surnamed Zhang sniffed again. “The scent’s gone now. Strange—my nose is usually sharp.”

“Haha.”

The others assumed he’d imagined it and, sensing no danger, relaxed and teased him. “I knew Brother Zhang was rough around the edges but sharp-minded and well-versed in ancient texts—I never knew he had such a keen nose!”

“Brother Ou, you didn’t know? Brother Zhang is a true foodie!”

Zhang You laughed heartily. “If I weren’t such a foodie—always on the lookout for delicious meals—I’d never have pored over so many ancient texts.”

“When we find it, we’ll treat you to a feast!”

Zhang You: “Now *that’s* what I like to hear!”

Shang Yunduo was stunned. So there really *is* a treasure?

He’d been here nearly a year and never seen a single clue about any treasure.

What kind of treasure could it be? Unable to contain his curiosity, Shang Yunduo instinctively edged closer—but the group had already stopped talking about it.

He tailed them a little longer, until dusk fell and they decided to find a place to rest. Only then did he head home.

Mountain life was peaceful and laid-back—but utterly uneventful. Finally witnessing some action, yet missing the full story, left Shang Yunduo itching with curiosity. The moment he got home, he passed along the half-baked gossip to Pei Jie.

Pei Jie: “…”

Shang Yunduo: “If they keep heading west, they’ll fly straight into the territory of a Sixth-order Beast. Further west lies the midline—and beyond that, demon cultivator lands.”

Even with contract restrictions, demon cultivators were far less rule-abiding than human cultivators. They frequently hunted within the Boundary Range. Any demon cultivator bold enough to enter the central region would be exceptionally formidable. If this group ran into one, they’d be in serious trouble—possibly even killed.

Pei Jie: “Got curious?”

Shang Yunduo nodded. He planned to eavesdrop again the next day—and return once they entered the Sixth-order Beast’s territory. “I’ll give you a blow-by-blow tomorrow!”

The next morning, he set off early.

The group remained in the same spot. The night watch had changed, and the new guard asked, “Anything unusual?”

“No—just a few wild animals passed by during the night.”

Shang Yunduo, concealed beneath his Mirage Lizard Gauze in the grass, shook his head and chuckled quietly.

Nothing unusual? He’d been crouching here for nearly half an hour. These people had zero situational awareness. Even if no demon cultivator showed up, a few stealthy demonic beasts could easily ambush them.

Author’s Note:

The true tyrant (~~strikethrough~~) jungle king of this region—

A: Highest rank—Sixth-order Beast

B: Silent killer—Silverwing Butterfly

C: Wandering biped—Shang Yunduo

D: Others

Choose your tyrant (~~strikethrough~~) king! [Dog face]