Chapter 60: A Bountiful Harvest
“Scorpion-Lion, I only said I didn’t want the materials from the Wyvern, not that I didn’t want the materials from the other Ferocious Beasts.”
Although the Scorpion-Lion’s spatial storage equipment had shocked him greatly, upon seeing his spoils being taken away, Zhou Ming immediately shifted his attention away from the storage device.
“You think the corpse of a high-tier Ferocious Beast is enough to exchange for a low-tier Meditation Technique? And half of it still belongs to me.”
“This is a Sub-Dragon.”
“It doesn’t have a Dragon Crystal.”
“If it weren’t for me, you would’ve wasted your trump card. Your loss would’ve been even greater.”
Faced with the three most valuable Ferocious Beast corpses, Zhou Ming completely forgot that the other person was his dearest companion.
“It doesn’t have a Dragon Crystal.”
Against Zhou Ming’s numerous arguments, the Scorpion-Lion gave a blunt response, cutting off any room for negotiation.
“You…”
Zhou Ming was so furious that he was left speechless, glaring at the Scorpion-Lion with resentment.
The Scorpion-Lion ignored him. Now that the Wyvern was in his hands, he mounted his own contracted beast and prepared to leave.
“Wait, we’ve gone through life and death together. You’re also my dearest friend—shouldn’t you at least leave a contact number?”
Having suffered a loss, Zhou Ming wasn’t willing to let the Scorpion-Lion off so easily, so he immediately played the emotional card.
“Fine, but you have to answer one question for me.”
“Go ahead.”
“The thing in your backpack—was it really a grenade?”
Seeing that his secret had been seen through, Zhou Ming didn’t panic. After all, having known the Scorpion-Lion for some time, he understood that the man wasn’t the type to go back on his word.
“Smoke bomb. There was only one grenade. If you want, I’ll bring a few more next time.”
“You…”
Although he had suspected it, hearing Zhou Ming confirm it still made the Scorpion-Lion feel like he’d been played.
Nevertheless, being a man of his word, he directly recited his phone number aloud.
“135…”
After saying that, he turned and left without caring whether Zhou Ming remembered it or not.
“Guess I’ve made a like-minded friend?”
Watching the departing figure, Zhou Ming’s expression returned to calm, and he murmured softly.
Although he had met people like Xiao Yun and Wang Yan after coming to this world, Zhou Ming still felt surrounded by loneliness.
Now, having met a true friend in such an unusual way, he suddenly felt that this world wasn’t so unfamiliar after all.
However, if the departing Scorpion-Lion knew what Zhou Ming was thinking, he would definitely assume that Zhou Ming was eyeing his valuable possessions.
“This harvest is already more than enough.”
After glancing at the scroll in his hand, Zhou Ming decided not to continue gathering resources. Instead, he planned to replenish his Ironthread Snake swarm and enhance their overall strength.
Although his ordinary Ironthread Snakes didn’t contribute much in direct combat, the importance of the Radar Sensory Domain they formed was second only to Inkband and Vermilion Jade.
This time, due to a reduction in their numbers, the range of his Radar Sensory Domain had shortened significantly, nearly allowing someone to ambush him successfully.
Therefore, his first priority now was to replenish his Ironthread Snake numbers and use the corpses of Ferocious Beasts to strengthen his contracted beasts.
After properly storing the scroll, Zhou Ming relied on his strong physique, honed by the Mad Python Martial Way, to gather all the surrounding Ferocious Beast corpses to the spot where the Wyvern had fallen.
He sprinkled some powder around to mask the scent of blood, then left behind commands for his beasts to devour the flesh before departing with Inkband and Vermilion Jade to search for Ironthread Snakes.
Over the next several days, with the help of Inkband and Vermilion Jade leading the way, Zhou Ming continuously located and captured Ironthread Snakes.
Fortunately, this was within the Green Mist Jungle—a place most suitable for venomous creatures. Even the Ironthread Snakes of the Serpent Valley couldn’t compare to the numbers here.
And after the deaths of the Wyvern and a group of strong low-tier Ferocious Beasts, the mutated animals and lesser beasts that had previously fled began to return to the forest.
But faced with these weaker Ferocious Beasts, Zhou Ming handled them easily. The corpses of those he hunted were brought back to the mountain hollow for his snake swarm to feast on.
Soon, the hollow where the snakes fed was filled with the aura of death—no mutated creature or beast dared to come near.
When there are no tigers in the mountains, the monkeys proclaim themselves kings.
These were Zhou Ming’s most comfortable days in the Green Mist Jungle—collecting Ironthread Snakes and strengthening his swarm, simple yet fulfilling.
Half a month later, at the site where the Wyvern had fallen—
“Hiss, hiss, hiss…”
A dense chorus of hissing filled the air, so overwhelming that an ordinary person would have long been unable to bear the sound.
In Zhou Ming’s vision, the hundreds of Ironthread Snakes before him represented his half-month’s harvest.
To gather this many, Zhou Ming had traversed nearly the entire area within several miles.
As long as it was an Ironthread Snake—young, old, strong, or crippled—he captured them all without discrimination, nearly wiping out the local population.
Fortunately, with ample Ferocious Beast corpses and the Wyvern’s residual flesh and dragon blood, the strength of the swarm hadn’t suffered despite the lack of selection.
Now, each Ironthread Snake had reached its natural limit. Only through further mutation could they potentially advance to a pseudo–Ferocious Beast level.
By then, with the toxicity of their venom, they could already threaten ordinary Ferocious Beasts, and with such numbers, even a frontal confrontation wouldn’t be frightening.
As the price of this growth, the area where the swarm resided was now covered in bones—there wasn’t even a drop of blood left on the ground that the snakes hadn’t consumed.
“Four hundred seventy-three Ironthread Snakes at their peak, two at the Ferocious Beast level… together with my martial techniques and marksmanship, I’m already among the strongest of Apprentices.”
Recalling his nearly two years of effort, Zhou Ming felt quite satisfied with his progress.
His achievements were nearly all earned by his own hands—though he hadn’t forgotten that the Spiritual Seed his predecessor had traded his life for was the foundation of it all.
After a brief moment of reflection, Zhou Ming commanded his snake swarm to move toward the Qinshan Base. Vermilion Jade and Inkband coiled once again around his sleeves, standing guard like loyal sentinels.
On the journey back, Zhou Ming didn’t leave immediately. He still needed to gather some valuable medicinal herbs—after all, he was always short on Alliance Coins.
Since his backpack wasn’t full, he focused on smaller yet high-value herbs.
As for Ferocious Beast materials, Zhou Ming didn’t want to waste his pack space.
For instance, from the Jade Scorpion he had obtained earlier, Zhou Ming had removed the venom sac to feed Inkband. Not only from the Jade Scorpion—any toxic essence from other Ferocious Beasts was given to Inkband, while Vermilion Jade fed on the essence blood of their hearts.
For his main combat beasts, Zhou Ming naturally prioritized their growth—his true strength lay with Inkband and Vermilion Jade.
Once his backpack was filled with herbs, Zhou Ming began his journey back home.