Chapter 27

The next morning, Jiang Feng climbed down from the tree, scratched his head, and glared fiercely at the rabbit below.

Thanks to Bai Ying, he had spent the whole night dreaming about eating, only to be interrupted just as he was about to eat, which was incredibly frustrating.

He rinsed his mouth briefly and then went to knock on the treehouse door, pounding loudly.

Before long, Chong Fan, looking a bit disheveled, was knocked out by him and asked, "What's the matter?"

Jiang Feng sized him up from head to toe, pinched his arm, and said, "Look at you, you're as thin as a chick. You eat little and move little, and even if you do nothing, you'll end up with a third of a disease. Starting from this morning, you'll follow me and get some exercise."

Chong Fan was taken aback and said instinctively, "The doctor said I can't move too much..."

Jiang Feng smiled slightly, "What do you think?"

In a flash, Chong Fan recalled the conversation from the previous night. He stared at Jiang Feng for a while and nodded firmly, "I'll go with you!"

Jiang Feng laughed, "Well said!"

He looked back and ordered, "Go rinse your mouth first, then run five laps around this valley!"

Although the valley was not large, one lap was about three to five hundred meters.

Chong Fan was instantly dumbfounded, feeling as if he had mistakenly boarded a pirate ship.

Jiang Feng looked at him and said, "Believe in yourself, you can do it!"

Chong Fan met his gaze, and a premonition flashed through his mind. He took a deep breath and nodded again, "Yes, I'll run!"

Chong Fan ran until he was out of breath, but he managed to complete the five laps.

On the last lap, he relied entirely on his willpower, moving one step at a time. As soon as he reached the finish line, he collapsed on the ground.

Jiang Feng walked over, patted his shoulder with a smile, and pulled him up, "Not bad, if you keep this up every day, you won't even have trouble walking on mountain paths."

Chong Fan's new clothes were drenched in sweat. He panted and leaned on Jiang Feng's arm, being led to walk a bit further.

Jiang Feng put him down and looked at the sky, "I still need to go hunting today, so you stay here."

Chong Fan nodded.

Hunting was also one of Jiang Feng's training activities, and he certainly couldn't drag Chong Fan along and slow him down.

Jiang Feng walked back to the treehouse and packed his gear.

This was the equipment Chong Fan had chosen for him at the Half-Moon Market, including a leather chest armor made from the skin of a ground rat, a second-level earth-type bright beast with strong defensive capabilities. The chest armor was small and light, perfectly protecting Jiang Feng's vital areas.

In addition to the chest armor, there were a pair of boots made from the skin of a mountain lizard, which were also light and sturdy, suitable for mountain paths.

There were also two leather bags and two ox-horn knives—Chong Fan had sold the two red ox-horn knives Jiang Feng had previously made and exchanged them for two of the same level but of higher quality.

Jiang Feng waved the knives, feeling they were much more convenient to use.

With this equipment on, Jiang Feng moved around and found it much more flexible and safe than before.

He nodded and smiled at Chong Fan, "Not bad, thanks!"

...

...

Today, Jiang Feng's target was a fifth-level bright beast.

With his current strength, a fifth-level bright beast was slightly stronger than him but still within his control.

He had planned to try it out last time, but ended up saving Chong Fan by chance and returned without success.

So, he decided to try again today.

At the same time, he wanted to test the combination of the Finger Pointing Technique and the Thunder Palm in actual combat to see what kind of effect it would have.

He had taken the time to read through the "Taiwu Mountain Strange Beasts" last night, which provided a very detailed introduction to the distribution of bright beasts in the Taiwu Mountain area.

Combining this with his previous experience, he quickly determined the specific location.

According to the "Taiwu Mountain Strange Beasts," there were multiple areas of fifth-level bright beasts in the Taiwu Mountain, the closest being the riverbank from last time, where earth-type and water-type bright beasts were mainly found.

Jiang Feng considered for a moment and decided to set his target further away, at the foot of the Chaoxi Peak, about twenty miles from the small valley.

There was a hot spring belt and several caves there. The caves were home to a group of fifth-level fire-type bright beasts called Fire Bats.

Jiang Feng didn't plan to target them—Fire Bats prefer to live in groups, and encountering them would mean facing hundreds or even thousands. Jiang Feng might be able to handle one fifth-level bright beast, but hundreds or thousands... he might not even be able to escape.

Deeper in the caves, there was a creature called the Red-Armored Lizard, also a fire-type bright beast with thick skin and the ability to climb cave walls with ease.

Jiang Feng decided to start with the Red-Armored Lizards.

With a clear plan, he quickly arrived at the Chaoxi Peak.

As he approached, he felt a wave of heat.

It was early spring, and the early trees were already green, while the slower ones were just starting to sprout leaves.

But the Chaoxi Peak was lush and green, like it was mid-summer.

There was geothermal activity underground, making the temperature in this area higher than in other places. The hot springs and fire-type bright beasts were a result of this.

The attributes of bright beasts were closely related to their environment.

Most water-type bright beasts lived in water, and those in the forest were either earth-type or wood-type. Besides bright beasts, there were also bright plants, which were plants that had mutated due to bright energy and produced wood-type elemental cores.

Bright plants were very hidden and often grew in groups, making them even harder to deal with than bright beasts. Fortunately, Jiang Feng hadn't encountered any yet.

Thinking about the knowledge he had read in the book, he moved like the wind and soon reached the foot of the Chaoxi Peak.

The air was even warmer, and Jiang Feng could already see the hot spring.

The hot spring spouted upward, creating a beautiful display of colorful water droplets in the sunlight.

Next to the hot spring, four Water Sky Bulls were lying lazily. They were covered in red shells, with long, dark red horns on their heads, half of their bodies submerged in the water, basking in the sun.

Jiang Feng carefully avoided them.

Water Sky Bulls were extremely aggressive and always acted in groups, fighting to the death. Getting entangled with them would be very dangerous and troublesome.

Soon, Jiang Feng saw the cave entrance described in the "Taiwu Mountain Strange Beasts."

The book only mentioned the location and the bright beasts inside, but did not provide a detailed map of the cave.

Jiang Feng didn't know how deep the cave was, its direction, or the exact locations of the Red-Armored Lizards and Fire Bats. He could only explore on his own.

He tightened his gear and carefully entered the cave.

After opening four acupoints, Jiang Feng's vision was much stronger, especially his night vision. With the faint light from the cave entrance, he could see the path clearly.

To be safe, he brought a torch but didn't light it.

After two turns, the light from the cave entrance disappeared, and Jiang Feng was surrounded by darkness.

He still didn't light the torch but felt his way forward.

As he had expected, the cave walls were warm but not dry, and his touch felt slightly damp.

There was not only geothermal activity nearby, but also a hot spring outside, so the groundwater should be abundant.

Sure enough, after another turn, Jiang Feng's vision brightened again.

Some glowing moss appeared in the corners of the cave walls. Although their light was weak, it was enough to illuminate the path.

After walking for a while, a fork in the path appeared, and Jiang Feng chose the left one without hesitation.

A short while later, he returned to the fork and continued down the right path.

Not far down the left path, he found some black particles on the ground. He immediately recognized them as bat droppings!

This indicated that he was approaching the habitat of the Fire Bats, and he definitely didn't want to face them head-on, so he quickly changed direction.

After walking for an unknown amount of time in the dim light, Jiang Feng suddenly saw several red spots in the distance.

He quickly stopped, hid behind a large rock, and squinted to look—sure enough, they were Red-Armored Lizards!

These lizards were about three meters long, including their tails, and were very large. Despite the narrow cave, they moved leisurely, not at all cramped.

To move more easily, the lizards kept a certain distance from each other, not interfering with one another.

Their skin was rough and thick, with a faint red glow, indicating a high temperature.

Jiang Feng didn't immediately approach but instead observed the area carefully.

After preparing, he got close to a Red-Armored Lizard, took a bright yellow mushroom from his leather bag, and threw it!

His aim was excellent, and the mushroom landed right in front of the Red-Armored Lizard. The large lizard immediately moved forward and ate it.

The "Taiwu Mountain Strange Beasts" mentioned that the Bright-Spotted Yellow Mushrooms were the Red-Armored Lizards' favorite and lived in the same environment.

Jiang Feng had found a few and immediately picked them all to use as bait.

One by one, the Red-Armored Lizard moved from its original position and entered a side tunnel.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed, and the air currents churned, creating a strong wind!

The cave walls shook violently, and small rocks fell. The other Red-Armored Lizards were startled and turned to flee without hesitation.

In a moment, the cave that was previously filled with Red-Armored Lizards was empty, except for one in a nearby side tunnel. Its body was dimly red, and it was smoking, already dead.

After a while, Jiang Feng appeared next to the Red-Armored Lizard. He examined the lizard's body, feeling both surprised and delighted.

He had estimated the power of this palm strike the previous night, but seeing it in action was a different experience.

A single palm strike to kill a fifth-level bright beast, especially one with strong defenses like the Red-Armored Lizard, was something even ordinary Dawn Realm martial cultivators found difficult to achieve.

But Jiang Feng had done it, without using any martial techniques, just with his bare hands!

However, this strike had consumed a large portion of the bright energy in his blood, and he couldn't perform the same strike again in the short term.

Moreover...

Jiang Feng examined the Red-Armored Lizard's body, pondering in his mind.

Although the strike was powerful, using it in the cave was actually very dangerous.

While it killed the Red-Armored Lizard, the shockwave affected the surrounding area, causing the cave walls to shake and potentially leading to a collapse.

This also indicated that the control of the Thunder Palm was not very good.

Nearly half of the bright energy was wasted. If it had been concentrated on the Red-Armored Lizard, the strike would have been more powerful and more efficient.

How could he improve his control?

The improved version of the Finger Pointing Technique flashed through Jiang Feng's mind, and he fell into deep thought.

After two hours, his bright energy was restored, and he found another group of Red-Armored Lizards, luring one out.

After a few breaths, a thunderous boom echoed in the cave again, but this time it was much less loud, and the cave walls shook less.

However, Jiang Feng failed to kill his opponent.

The Red-Armored Lizard's body smoked, and it struggled, its eyes turning red. It charged at Jiang Feng with a ferocity that was completely different from its previous clumsiness!

Jiang Feng struggled and finally killed it. By then, his clothes were tattered, and he had several wounds on his body.

Clearly, this strike contained less bright energy!

Jiang Feng rested for a while and then charged again.

The thunderous booms continued to echo in the cave, varying in intensity.

Jiang Feng's bright energy was constantly depleted and then restored.

He used these Red-Armored Lizards as targets, clumsily trying to control his bright energy. His body was covered in more and more wounds, but his expression remained resolute, unwavering!