Chapter 21: Entering Inner Mountain
After sending Xie Yuzhu back, Su Yan shouldered his backpack and entered the mountains.
The Yin Water Centipede traversed the forest and was now waiting for him on the mountain peak beside Yun Qian Village.
As soon as it saw him enter, it immediately followed by his side.
‘As Old Song said, practicing martial arts requires not only medicinal supplements, but also food supplements from feral beasts, both of which need silver.’
‘Although the outer mountain has lingzhi mushrooms and medicinal herbs, it’s not like the inner mountain. Now that my skin refining entry-level is nearly complete and has improved greatly, with the Yin Water Centipede by my side, self-preservation is no issue. It’s time to venture into the inner mountain.’
Having made up his mind, Su Yan took up his hardwood bow, strapped his dao to his waist, and plunged deeper into the forest.
His footsteps were extremely fast, imagining himself like a mountain ape, leaping with monkey leap steps, gathering qi to release force, just like an old ape returning to the forest.
The so-called stance training and fist techniques include static stance methods for cultivation, but while hurrying and walking on the road, there are also ways to use force.
Mobilizing muscles and adjusting movements is also part of cultivation.
Martial artists are not stationary stance targets; integrating martial skills and stance methods into instinct is the true ability of a martial artist.
After Song Qi’s guidance, Su Yan gradually comprehended this concept.
Now entering the forest, he unconsciously began cultivating in this way.
After about an hour, he crossed several mountain peaks of the outer mountain, covered seven or eight li of mountain paths, and finally arrived at a mountain valley gully area.
The two mountains connected, with tall old trees towering high, dense leaves like giant umbrellas, twisted branches like monstrous hands, vines and old tendrils hanging on the trunks, and thick layers of fallen leaves on the ground like soil. It was truly a deep mountain evil forest.
This place was rich in mountain goods, yet rarely visited by people, full of wild beasts, a land where risk and benefit coexisted.
Without being an experienced mountain hunter or hunter with real ability, no one dared to enter easily.
Su Yan stepped onto the mountain path covered in decaying leaves. It was called a mountain path, but it was really just a place where the shrubs and weeds were slightly sparser.
While using his dao to clear the way, he searched around. After walking only two or three hundred meters, the Yin Water Centipede took action first, burrowing into the decaying leaves.
‘Something’s there.’
Su Yan used his dao to push aside the decaying leaves and immediately saw a touch of red leaf bud close to the ground.
‘Earth Blood Vine, a good medicinal herb for supplementing blood.’
Su Yan reached out to dig and pulled out more than two meters of Earth Blood Vine from the decaying leaves, stuffing it into his backpack.
With the Earth Blood Vine as an auspicious start, in the subsequent mountain hunting, Su Yan and the Yin Water Centipede cooperated tacitly. In just one or two hours, they found quite a few mountain goods.
As always, he only took the more valuable medicinal herbs, leaving the rest in place to avoid occupying space in his backpack and Insect Realm Space as much as possible.
The mountains were very humid, with sunlight unable to penetrate. Su Yan’s short shirt was already soaked by the dew, clinging to his skin, making him feel uncomfortable.
‘The backpack is almost full. This mountain peak is one of those Old Song mentioned. I’ve wandered for a long time without seeing the Blood Tendon Flower. I probably need to go deeper.’
Su Yan set down his backpack, chose a spot near a fallen tree stump, cleared a patch of open ground, lit a fire, and hung his coarse hemp short shirt to the side.
He used a skinning knife to skin the gray rabbit he had hunted, sharpened a wooden fork branch, and skewered it to one side.
He also took out a few poisonous mushrooms from the Insect Realm Space and tossed them to the Yin Water Centipede.
Mountain hunting was always like this; one might not return until noon or even evening.
Ordinary mountain hunters, for convenience, quickly settled for wheat cakes with mountain spring water.
But Su Yan didn’t want to gnaw on wheat cakes. Instead, he roasted the gray rabbit and dried his clothes at the same time.
He was bare-chested, his skin taut, fully revealing the sharply defined muscles on his body.
With a movement, he stood into Golden Ape Stance Training, rising and falling rhythmically, seemingly in harmony with the surrounding insect chirps, bird calls, and rustling trees.
‘Stance training in the mountains is even better than in the city, not just because the atmosphere matches, but it’s easier to enter the state. It seems also related to the environment, though not so obvious.’
Su Yan stuffed the Earth Blood Vine and a several-year-old old ginseng into his mouth, chewing them directly. A bitter taste filled his mouth, like chewing something burnt.
Though the taste was bad, these were all medicines for supplementing blood and nourishing the body. Although not refined into pills or potions, with medicinal effect not at its peak, they still had some effect.
A warm current slowly rose in his body, qi and blood gradually surging, beginning to flow toward the skin.
After Golden Ape Stance Training reached minor accomplishment, this qi and blood power tempered out was more refined, with better effects, naturally speeding up progress in forging the body.
Su Yan stood for about half an hour, consuming a lot, before releasing the stance steps and stretching his body to relieve fatigue.
‘I already have Insect Yuan continuously nourishing my body, yet the consumption is still this great. No wonder without supplements, practicing martial arts is hard to achieve.’
【Body Tempering Realm: Skin Refining 85/100（Entry-level）】
【Golden Ape Stance Training: 14/200(Minor Accomplishment）】
‘Almost minor accomplishment. If I find another exotic insect, perhaps adding another Insect Yuan would progress faster, or even push Golden Ape Stance Training to great accomplishment.’
Su Yan tore off rabbit meat and stuffed it into his mouth, devouring the entire rabbit in just a few bites.
His body’s depletion improved slightly, strength gradually recovering.
“Roar”
Suddenly, a roar echoed through the forest. Su Yan immediately raised his bow, eyes sharp as swords, staring intently in the direction of the sound.
The shrubs shook violently, crackling loudly, flattening a path and breaking countless branches.
A black shadow burst out—it was a large wild boar with exposed tusks and bristles like a brush.
The wild boar charged horizontally. Su Yan drew his bow and met it head-on.
With a “whoosh,” the arrow shot like lightning, drilling into the wild boar’s eye socket.
The wild boar was charging too fiercely. Suddenly pierced by the arrow, its brain pierced through, its body stiffened mid-air.
By inertia, its huge body hurtled forward like a cannonball.
Su Yan dodged aside. The fat, heavy wild boar body crashed directly into the fire, sending burning charcoal flying everywhere.
Its fur sizzled from the scorching charcoal, emitting a burnt stench.
At that moment, the shrubs shook even more violently. The roar was right by his ear as an even larger yellow-black figure pounced out—it was a Striped Tiger.
It pounced onto the wild boar, its tiger claw slashing and tearing, ripping open the tough pig skin and leaving a huge wound.
Its large mouth bit down on the neck, tearing through the entire throat and windpipe. Blood surged out, swallowed in big gulps by the tiger.
‘A tiger?!’
Su Yan was startled. The wild boar had been driven here.
The Striped Tiger was a forest tiger, over two meters long, with a tail like a steel whip over a meter long. As it crouched biting and killing the wild boar, its muscles were knotted like cast iron, edges sharply defined.
Su Yan immediately drew his bow, but the cunning tiger abandoned the wild boar and pounced directly at him.
This pounce was premeditated, extremely fast, arriving before him in an instant.
Su Yan couldn’t loose an arrow in time and flipped away to dodge, dropping his quiver to one side.
The tiger’s tail whipped, knocking the quiver right to its claws. It was clearly out of reach.
The Yin Water Centipede hissed, about to advance.
The tiger arched its body in a pouncing stance, roaring through the forest, baring fangs in threat.
Though its size was a hundred times that of the Yin Water Centipede, its wild beast instincts sensed danger from the Yin Water Centipede.
Su Yan, the tiger, and the Yin Water Centipede formed a mutual standoff in the gap of the old forest.
Su Yan’s muscles and bones moved together, his mind calm as water. His earlier dodge was like an ape—instinctively evading.
At this moment, his eyes burned, suddenly filled with fighting spirit.
‘So what if it’s a Striped Tiger? Perfect chance to fight. Let’s see how my fist and foot techniques have progressed. Worst case, the Yin Water Centipede has my back.’
Thinking this, his posture shifted slightly, like an old ape in the forest.
The Yin Water Centipede retreated two meters, leaving open space.
For a moment, the Striped Tiger seemed angered. This two-legged creature before it had discarded its sharp weapon to provoke it.
“Roar”
In an instant, the tiger roared through the mountains and pounced, as if to bite Su Yan to death on the spot.
