Chapter 56: Baboon Assassin
Chapter 56: Baboon Assassin
Ji Xinghuo returned to Juefeng Valley in just three and a half days.
Traveling alone was undoubtedly much faster than moving with a team. Three and a half star realm days were equivalent to a week on Earth, and he had covered nearly 1,400 kilometers, deliberately detouring around the Xunlin tribe along the way.
On this journey, all the monsters Ji Xinghuo encountered perished under his arrows.
His spiritual source energy had reached 48 points.
This was already quite impressive, and in order to recover his stellar power more quickly, he invested all of his spiritual source energy into "ether sensitivity," which now stood at (Level 3, 49/433).
Gazing at the majestic, steep, and boundless mountains, Ji Xinghuo took a deep breath.
"Baboons, here I come!"
With a loud shout, he plunged into the Juefeng Valley.
More than half of the year had passed, and the weather was getting hotter. The Juefeng Valley was even more humid and sultry than it had been two months ago, with lush plant growth and countless venomous snakes and insects in their breeding season.
As he walked, his magnetic field senses picked up countless large and small biological magnetic fields.
Not long after entering, Ji Xinghuo's whole body was soaked in sweat. It was hot and sticky, but he had to keep himself wrapped up tightly to prevent bites from all kinds of poisonous insects.
Fortunately, water was abundant in the Juefeng Valley.
Many mountains had waterfalls cascading down, and numerous rivers meandered through the valley, with deep pools and small lakes everywhere, allowing him to replenish his water supply at any time.
After searching for several hours, Ji Xinghuo had not found any Shilian Monkeys, but he had killed two monsters.
Finally, as the day was coming to an end, he found what he was looking for.
He stopped in his tracks and looked towards a rocky mountain peak over two thousand meters away. In the forest on the mountainside, there were familiar figures—a group of Shilian Monkeys.
"One, two, three..."
Ji Xinghuo patiently counted.
This group of Shilian Monkeys was of medium size, with more than thirty individuals. Among them, four had awakened as exotic monsters, and the leader was an elite.
They were scattered in the forest, foraging for food. Some plucked tender leaves and fruits, while others dug up roots. They kept a vigilant watch on their surroundings. On a high ground and in the trees, two Shilian Monkeys were on lookout duty. Whenever a wild beast approached or there was any disturbance, they would let out a shrill alarm call.
However, the Shilian Monkeys' eyesight was not exceptional; they could only clearly see targets about four to five hundred meters away at most.
Ji Xinghuo observed the terrain and began to act.
He used the shade of the trees to stealthily close in to about six hundred meters, entering a stealth state. He climbed the mountain where the Shilian Monkey group was located and moved past their position.
Finally, he climbed a hundred-meter-tall giant tree and stood on a thick, horizontal branch.
From here, the view was extremely open, giving him a bird's-eye view of the area where the Shilian Monkeys were located, just over two hundred meters away.
Ji Xinghuo activated his Gale War Boots, and "Balance" kept him firmly in place on the tree.
He raised his Dragon Falcon Bow and took aim at the elite Shilian Monkey.
Then, the arrow flew!
This arrow was completely silent. Ji Xinghuo, in his stealth state, was considered one with the bow in his hand, and the sound waves caused by the vibrating bowstring were absorbed by the "silencing" effect of his Stealth Ring. Only when the arrow left the "refraction" range of the ring did the light and shadows around him flicker for a moment, returning to normal in the blink of an eye.
The arrow was as swift as lightning.
In less than a second, the titanium-aluminum alloy arrow had pierced the elite Shilian Monkey's eye with pinpoint accuracy, penetrating its brain before embedding itself in the rock behind the corpse, spraying shards of stone everywhere.
From start to finish, it had not sensed any danger and died instantly.
The Shilian Monkeys nearby didn't even react.
The second arrow soon followed.
This arrow took the life of the Shilian Monkey that had been keeping watch in the tree, also exploding its head, and its corpse fell straight down.
"Woooo..."
The group of Shilian Monkeys finally realized the danger, erupting into a frenzy.
They screamed wildly, looking around in confusion, trying to locate the source of the threat. But with their eyesight, they had no chance of discovering Ji Xinghuo in his stealth state.
Ji Xinghuo calmly loosed another arrow, taking down one of the exotic Shilian Monkeys.
Poof!
Poof!
Several of the awakened Shilian Monsters had their heads explode one after another.
The surviving Shilian Monkeys were gripped by the instinct for self-preservation, and with their leader already dead, they scattered like headless flies, fleeing in all directions in a panic, some even jumping off the mountain cliff to their deaths.
In the blink of an eye, only a few monster corpses remained on the mountainside.
"This was a bit too easy."
Even Ji Xinghuo was quite surprised. The combination of the Dragon Falcon Bow and the Stealth Ring was incredibly effective, allowing him to slaughter several monsters with ease.
This couldn't even be called a battle; it was a one-sided massacre.
However, not just any archer with these two superpower items could achieve the same feat.
Such long-distance shooting required extremely high archery skills, especially after the first arrow was loosed and the entire group of Shilian Monkeys was alerted. To accurately take them down while they were running amok required exceptional skill; even a high-level ranger might not be able to hit the mark with ten arrows.
Only with the aid of the Myriad Phenomenon Star Eyes could one achieve a hundred percent hit rate.
Ji Xinghuo checked his interface and saw that his spiritual source energy had increased by 8 points. He immediately invested it into Ether Sensitivity, bringing his progress to (Level 3, 57/433).
He slid down from the tree, deactivated his stealth state, and approached the corpse of the elite Shilian Monkey. Reaching out, he touched it lightly.
[Monster: Shilian Monkey]
[Level: Elite]
[Variants: Rockskin, Stone Scythe Claws, Robust]
"It actually has three variants.
It granted the body robust resistance, making the skin tougher and improving strength, stamina, recovery, and immunity. Although the enhancement wasn't significant, it was comprehensive and could adapt to almost any profession template, resulting in a high fusion success rate.
The profession templates of Giant General, Fleetfoot, and White Knight all contained the Robust ability.
Therefore, even though Robust was just a basic ability, it was in high demand and quite expensive.
Ji Xinghuo proceeded to harvest the exotic species. The Robust species was a section of the veins near the heart, and Rockskin was a piece of hard skin. The fusion method for both of these species involved surgical implantation.
As for the Stone Scythe Claws, no one wanted this exotic species, so he directly abandoned it.
A moment later.
Ji Xinghuo collected a total of six exotic species—one Robust and five Rockskins—and conveniently retrieved his arrows.
He quickly left and continued his search for the next group of Shilian Monkeys.
However, by the end of the day, Ji Xinghuo still hadn't found a second group of Shilian Monkeys, so he had to find a cave on the cliff to set up camp before nightfall.
The next day.
Ji Xinghuo continued his search for Shilian Monkeys and other monsters, venturing deeper into Juefeng Valley.
There were still quite a few hunting teams in the Juefeng Valley, all targeting the Stone Scythe Giants. Ji Xinghuo didn't know if anyone else had encountered that Stone Scythe Giant, but there had been no news in Olympia, so it was most likely still a secret.
However, compared to two months ago, the number of teams in the Juefeng Valley had decreased significantly.
Ji Xinghuo tried to avoid them and didn't make any contact.
That day, he hunted and killed two groups of Shilian Monkey monsters and a Poison-Blood Demon Bird, yielding eight exotic species and 15 points of spiritual source energy.
The third day, spiritual source energy +18.
The fourth day, spiritual source energy +22.
For seven or eight consecutive days, Ji Xinghuo's spiritual source energy gains were gradually increasing. This was because he was venturing deeper into the Juefeng Valley, where the number of Shilian Monkeys and other monsters was higher, and also because he was becoming more skilled at hunting, gradually figuring out the habits and migration patterns of the Shilian Monkeys, allowing him to track them down.
The number of exotic species in his backpack gradually accumulated.
The most common was Rockskin, followed by Robust.
In addition to the three common abilities, the Shilian Monkeys occasionally awakened other abilities like "Balance," "Leap," and "Rapid Metabolism."
Leap allowed them to explode with power in their legs, propelling them high into the air like a slingshot.
Rapid Metabolism, on the other hand, helped expel toxins and harmful substances from their bodies.
What surprised Ji Xinghuo the most was discovering the "Thousand Spirit Dexterous Hand" on the body of an elite Shilian Monkey.
Just this one exceptional ability was worth 1.6 million!
However, the biggest harvest was in spiritual source energy.
Ji Xinghuo stood on a hundred-meter-high stone pillar, holding the Eagle Bow, ready to shoot. This stone pillar was naturally formed, roughly square in shape, about four to five meters wide, with grass and vines growing on it. The pillar jutted out from the edge of a giant rocky mountain, and aside from flying creatures, few monsters could climb up to it.
He had pitched his tent on top of the stone pillar the previous day, using branches to camouflage it, making it quite concealed.
A large gray bird flew by overhead.
Ji Xinghuo casually shot an arrow at it, piercing it through. The tail of the arrow was tied with a nano-rope, which he used to pull the bird's corpse back.
He plucked the feathers, gutted it, and removed the internal organs.
A few minutes later, the bird was roasting over the fire, its fat sizzling and popping, soon filling the air with a delicious aroma.
As Ji Xinghuo roasted the bird, he opened the interface of the Myriad Phenomenon Star Eyes.
Ether Sensitivity (Level 3, 295/433)
"The progress is fast."
Ji Xinghuo calculated in his mind. Today was his tenth day in the Juefeng Valley. The day before, he had hunted down four groups of Shilian Monkeys, earning him 35 points of spiritual source energy.
This was more or less the upper limit of the spiritual source energy he could obtain in a day.
There was competition among the Shilian Monkey groups, and they divided the territory, generally not invading each other's spaces. After hunting down one group, he would have to spend two to three hours searching for the next one, and if he was unlucky, the time spent could be two or three times that.
Being able to find four groups of Shilian Monkeys in a day was already a high level of efficiency, and it was difficult to find more.
Unless he could come across a large group with a hundred or more members.
"If I can get 30 points of spiritual source energy every day, it will only take a maximum of five days for Ether Sensitivity to reach Level 4."
Ji Xinghuo was full of anticipation.
Even without the upgrade, he could feel the benefits of Level 3 Ether Sensitivity, as his stellar power recovered noticeably faster.
In these few days, without any dedicated cultivation, his stellar power had still increased by 2 points!
If Ether Sensitivity reached Level 4, he might not need to do anything, and his stellar power would naturally increase to the next stage of life evolution.
"Let's get to work! Let's get to work!"
"After eating the roasted bird, it's time to work. Let's see if I can hunt down five groups of Shilian Monkeys today."
Ji Xinghuo was full of enthusiasm, slowly turning the branch that held the roasting bird, sprinkling on some spices he had brought with him. The aroma wafted through the air, and the bird was almost cooked.
Suddenly, a green light flashed before his eyes.
He felt his hand lighten, and the roasted bird that was already cooked instantly disappeared as if it had flown away.
"What the heck was that?"
Ji Xinghuo was stunned for a moment before reacting. The Myriad Phenomenon Star Eyes had captured the passing of the green shadow, and he quickly walked to the edge of the stone pillar to look down, spotting that green shadow.
(End of Chapter)
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