Spending the night in the forest was significantly more dangerous than in the cave.
Although it was a long walk back to the cave, the benefits were obvious. Zi Di also approved of this proposal.
Thus, by evening the couple returned to the cave once again.
The cave was warm so the two didn’t light a fire.
They drank a little water and ate a lot of rousong.
Their water reserves were running low, it was an important resource for survival so the couple saved it as much as possible. But there was plenty of rousong, so there was no need to worry.
The two wanted to avoid starving.
Starvation was very dangerous and being starved for long periods of time could lead to a deficiency of physical strength. With danger lurking at every side
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on this island, lacking physical strength would land them in mortal danger.
Within the cave, the couple ate in silence.
Glancing at the familiar cave walls, Zhen Jin laughed bitterly.
Not long ago, he had a conversation with Zi Di and began to understand his circumstances. It was only then that he realised how much work he had to do!
Previously, he thought his life would be in his hands if he could simply escape from this strange island without any accidents.
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But now he realized: fleeing alone, or with Zi Di would still end in defeat! He needed to compete for ownership of White Sand City, revitalize his clan, cooperate with Zi Di further, and preserve the remnants of the Wisteria Merchant Alliance.
So, while he was still on this island, he needed to do his best to recruit and gather any remaining manpower, saving anybody he could.
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Especially Jia Sha.
If Jia Sha survived, helping him would create a more favorable impression.
In short, he needed subordinates.
Without the help of subordinates, he and Zi Di would walk a lonely path. Even if they reached White Sand City, it would be impossible to be its master.
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So, when they set off early in the morning, the youngster’s mind
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held many grand aspirations and long term plans.
Unexpectedly their day of exploration bore no results.
There was no satisfactory progress at all, so they returned back to the cave.
Reality was always cruel.
The two ate dinner and began to sort through their equipment.
The spears had been used a lot and many of them needed to be repaired. If such crude and simple equipment wasn’t repaired in time, its power would deteriorate.
After all, even swords needed to be polished and maintained often.
Needless to say, compared to swords, the wooden spears needed to be repaired far more often and were far less durable.
Zhen Jin first used the potion Zi Di gave him to soften the spear. Afterwards, he used the dagger to sharpen the spear tip.
He started to multitask
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as he repaired the spears while reviewing his experiences that day.
“My strength is growing.”
Zhen Jin thought back to how he killed iron feather birds over and over again.
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At the time, he felt it was simple and comfortable, but when he looked back at it now he found he had done it with skill and ease.
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This level of skill and performance would have been impossible for him before, but now he had really achieved it.
“Is it because I recovered some of my memories and mastered the Hundred Needle Wind battle art?”
After recovering some of his memories, Zhen Jin discovered he had a special fondness for stabbing and found using it very convenient and easy.
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Unlike the previous battle against the fire-poison bee swarm, where he purely improvised using his newly emerged memory.
These past days in the cave, he practiced the Hundred Needle Wind battle technique many times and became very skilled in it. Not only did the speed of this thrust improve, but what was even more remarkable was that every thrust was stable.
Naturally, the quality of the equipment was very important.
Last time he used a long sword. Although the blade was sharp, it was difficult and even painful to use.
In contrast, a spear was more compatible with a technique like the Hundred Needle wind technique than the long sword.
A spear was lighter than a long sword and it was more piercing when it was used to thrust.
“But this Hundred Needle Wind battle art still needs battle qi to display its true power.”
Thinking till here, Zhen Jin was faced with a question.
“When will I be able to use my battle qi?”
Zhen Jin was unable to answer this question in even the slightest.
Battle qi.
Battle qi!
This was extremely important.
Without battle qi and only the human body, Zhen Jin had no armour, no claws and no sharp fangs, making it hard to fight even iron level magic beasts. And if there were enough bronze level magic beasts, Zhen Jin could only run away.
If Battle qi could be used, Zhen Jin’s battle strength would surpass any iron level magic beast. Battle qi could also create an amplification in defense, agility, and other attributes. All of which would be of great help in surviving against any challenges they faced. This would increase the couple’s chances of survival on this island.
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But Zhen Jin was currently in an awkward situation.
He had problems recalling his memories and could only wait for his memories on how to use battle qi to randomly appear.
Previously, he thought his subconsciousness would activate his battle qi in a life or death crisis.
But the result of the battle with the monkey bear made it clear to him. This way of thinking was too naive.
Zhen Jin didn’t even know if his cultivation level was at the silver or gold level.
Besides, even if more relevant memories appeared, the particular environment he was in was also a major factor.
Low-level practitioners were unable to use their power on this island.
Zi Di couldn’t use her iron level magic. Low level enchanted items also lost their effectiveness. The effect of high level magical artifacts were also greatly reduced.
Zi Di learned from the guards that iron and bronze level battle qi were constrained by the environment as well.
Even if Zhen Jin were to recall his memories, could silver (or perhaps gold) battle qi even be activated in this environment?
This was the biggest question.
Zhen Jin couldn’t help but shake his head as if wanting to throw this vexation out of his mind.
“Thinking too much isn’t good, it will only create more gloom.”
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“For now at least, even though I don’t have battle qi, I would be able to win against enemies at the level of the fire-poison bee swarm even if it is difficult to win.”
After assessing the strength of both sides, Zhen Jin came to this result which was quite comforting.
In fact, he nearly succeeded in resisting against the fire-poison bee swarm at the campfire. Only a handful of fire-poison bees remained to pursue him.
Now that Zhen Jin’s strength had risen a bit, he could probably defeat the fire-poison bee swarm.
However, the situation now was more complex than the fire-poison bee swarm.
This island was extremely strange. It prohibited battle qi and magic, tying the couples’ hands. The land could also randomly change, giving it a feeling of unfathomable mystery and unpredictability.
If it was possible, Zhen Jin wished he could face just the fire-poison bee swarm, unlike now where he had to face all of nature.
He did not know where to even start.
Bang, bang, bang….
Zi Di used a rock to constantly pound the sides and bottom of a hole in the ground.
She placed the materials that she had collected during the day into this hole. The majority were tree leaves with a few grass roots. They were all torn apart to shreds and grounded into a paste.
Then the girl took a potion from the small bag at her waist.
She cautiously poured a little bit of the bottle’s content.
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After the bit of potion touched the mixture in the hole, it caused the paste to rapidly melt into a viscous red liquid.
The girl immediately used a twig to stir it.
After stirring for a while, she stopped and observed quietly. She waited until the top of the liquid began to solidify. She then used the twig to pick up and remove the solidified layer, exposing the lower layers of the liquid. Afterwards, she began to stir again.
After each time she removed the solidified layer and stirred again, the color of the liquid became even more vivid and clear than before. Each time she removed the solid layer, Zi Di would switch to a new twig and keep stirring.
After removing the solidified layer time and time again, the liquid was no longer dark red but a translucent pink colour.
After reaching this step, Zi Di breathed in relief, the surface was no longer hardening, but rather the entire liquid was beginning to solidify.
After waiting for a day, the entire liquid had evaporated into a bright powder.
Zi Di thoroughly grounded this powder into a fine pink powder.
She then used some wide tree leaves to separate the powder into portions and wrapped up the powder to form a small medicinal pill.
She gave some of these small pills to Zhen Jin and introduced them: “These medicinal pills can leave bright pink marks in the forest. Regardless of whether it is on a tree trunk or a stone, it would last a long time. Even if rainstorms try to wash it away it will still last for several days.”
This was without a doubt, very useful .
Although this place prohibited magic, potions and pills could still be used since they only used natural ingredients.
Although Zi Di was not on the level of a pharmaceutical master, Zhen Jin still admired her ability.
After eating breakfast, the two continued their journey.
After resting for the night they found they were full of strength and vigor.
They also had the powder to make marking much easier.
At the same time, they also adjusted their spears. Although the number of spears didn’t increase, the ratio was adjusted.
There were more spears and less javelins.
Originally, the couple thought that the spears would get in the way of walking in the rainforest, but it was much more open after the land changed into the forest. The trees grew straight and tall, and although their branches were slanted, they didn’t get in the way that much.
The spears proved more useful as they explored.
For example Zhen Jin could use a spear to beat the grass to scare away a snake.
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With the spear’s long reach, even if the startled snake counterattacked, the teenager would still have plenty of time to react.
In addition to this, the two stayed up late into the night to discuss the map they drew on the animal skin.
They set out for the second time today, this time they changed their previous strategy, instead of searching in a circular path around the cave, they focused on one direction.
The direction they chose was vaguely similar to the way they had come from. They had recognized it with difficulty by observing the stars of the night.
Notes
Zhen Jin: “What do you mean that out of everything your magical plot bag is carrying it doesn't have a compass? It's carrying at least 10 different potions despite being described as small!”
One of the more annoying tropes of Xianxia fiction is cave training/cultivation. We as readers get to witness the “exciting” and “vigious” cultivation technique of sitting in a dank cave. This somehow makes the MC and others stronger through some plot contrivances. My honest opinion about this trope is that it is an even lazier version of the timeskip trope. The writers want to power up characters without putting in any of the work. At least with time skips, something happened and the author can elaborate over time, but with the cave, it's like lol nope somehow without practice or new experiences our MC became super powerful. Something, something solidified foundation, blah blah blah.
“Wait years don’t flow like water?”
-every CN author ever
Translation Notes
(危机四伏: danger lurks on every side (idiom) ) (称孤家寡人: one who is cut off from others (idiom)
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one who has chosen to follow a solitary path) (also I think author forgot sand here) (一心二用: to do two things at once (idiom)
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to multitask
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to divide one's attention) (游刃有余: handling a butcher's cleaver with ease (idiom); to do sth skillfully and easily) (情有独钟: to have a special fondness) (jfc its Bix) (战斗力: translating this into battle strength instead of fighting strength because of Chibi/atlas/sky whatever) (跳跃: translates to leap, might TL this into agility cause of how its used) (legend has it if you say gloomy soul 3 times, ada will hit you with a ban hammer) (小心翼翼: cautious and solemn (idiom) ) (打草惊蛇: beat the grass to scare the snake (idiom)) Editor Notes
[“could simply” implies context of “without any accidents” I think, so it’s not necessary. Raws = ‘right away,’ anyways; adding meaning.] [Save => recruit => use… 3 verbs] [心中 = heart;mind. Mind is the more appropriate choice here.] [Is he replaying the scene? Or were there multiple birds? I wasn’t reading. If there was only one, it’d make it less ambiguous if the ‘over and over again’ was moved to the beginning, Like “Over and over again, Zhen Jin thought…”](he killed multiple birds)