Chapter 56: Baboon Slayer

Ji Xinghuo returned to Peak Valley in just three and a half days.

Moving alone is definitely faster than a group. In three and a half Star Realm days, equivalent to a week on Earth, he covered nearly 1400 kilometers, making a point to avoid a certain Forest Tribe in the process.

All the beasts Ji Xinghuo encountered on his way fell to his arrows.

His psychic energy reached 48 points.

That was considerable. To recover his star energy faster, he poured all his psychic energy into “Ether Sensitivity,” now at level three, 49/433.

Looking at the majestic steep mountains, Ji Xinghuo took a deep breath.

“Baboons, here I come!”

With a loud shout, he plunged into Peak Valley.

The lunar phase was halfway through, and the weather was getting hotter. Peak Valley was more humid and stifling than two months ago, with lush vegetation growth. It was breeding season for countless poisonous snakes and insects.

As he walked through, numerous large and small creature magnetic fields registered in his magnetic field sense.

Ji Xinghuo had just entered and was already soaked with sweat, hot and sticky. Yet, he had to cover himself thoroughly to avoid insect bites.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of water in Peak Valley.

Many mountains had waterfalls flowing down with numerous rivers winding through, dotted with deep pools and small lakes. He could take water anytime he needed to hydrate.

After searching for several hours, Ji Xinghuo didn’t find any Stone Scythe Spectres but killed two other creatures instead.

Finally, as the day was ending, he found them.

He stopped and looked towards a rocky mountain peak over two thousand meters away. In the woods on the mountainside, he saw familiar figures— a group of Stone Scythe Spectres.

“One, two, three…”

Ji Xinghuo carefully counted.

This group of Stone Scythe Spectres was of medium size, with over thirty of them, including four that had awakened into bizarre creatures. The leader was an elite.

They scattered in the woods foraging, some picking tender leaves and fruits, others digging up grass roots. They kept a vigilant watch around, extremely alert. On elevated ground and trees, two Stone Scythe Spectres kept watch, screaming out warnings whenever a beast approached or there was other movement.

However, Stone Scythe Spectres didn’t have excellent vision—they could only clearly see targets up to four or five hundred meters away.

Ji Xinghuo observed the terrain and began his move.

Using the tree shadows as cover, he first approached to about six hundred meters, then entered stealth mode and climbed the mountain where the Stone Scythe Spectres were located, passing their position.

Eventually, he climbed a giant tree a hundred meters tall and stood on a large horizontal branch.

The view from here was very open. From his elevated position, he could see the whole area where the Stone Scythe Spectres were, only about two hundred meters away.

Ji Xinghuo activated the Gale-Force Boots. “Balance” kept him firmly on the tree.

He raised his Dragon Falcon Bow and aimed at the elite Stone Scythe Spectre.

Then he let the arrow fly!

The arrow was silent and swift. In stealth mode, the vibration from the bowstring was absorbed by the “Silence” ring of Stealth, only causing a flicker in the external light when the arrow left the “Refraction” area, then it instantly returned to normal.

The arrow was as fast as lightning.

In less than a second, the titanium-aluminum alloy arrow struck the elite Stone Scythe Spectre right in its eye, penetrating its brain and embedding itself in the rock behind the body, scattering large pieces of broken rock.

From beginning to end, it never sensed the danger and was instantly killed.

The nearby Stone Scythe Spectres didn’t even react.

The second arrow then struck.

This arrow killed the Stone Scythe Spectre that was keeping watch in the tree, also blowing its head open. The body fell straight down.

“Wuwuwu…”

The Stone Scythe Spectre group finally realized the danger and erupted like a boiling pot.

They began to scream frantically, looking all around, trying to find the source of the danger, but with their vision, they couldn’t spot Ji Xinghuo in stealth.

He calmly shot another arrow, killing an odd Stone Scythe Spectre.

Puff!

Puff!

The heads of several awakened Stone Scythe Spectres burst open one after another.

The survival instinct made the remaining Stone Scythe Spectres panic with fear. With their leader already dead, they scattered wildly, running into the woods in disarray, with some even jumping off the cliff and dying on impact.

In a blink of an eye, only a few monster bodies remained scattered across the mountainside.

“That was a bit too easy.”

Ji Xinghuo himself was quite surprised. The combination of the Dragon Falcon Bow and the Stealth Ring was tremendously effective. He hunted several creatures effortlessly.

This could hardly be called a battle; it was a one-sided slaughter.

However, not just any archer with these two pieces of super equipment could achieve the same feat.

Shooting targets from such a distance requires high archery skills. Especially after the first arrow alerts the entire Stone Scythe Spectre group, hitting them precisely as they run and scramble is challenging, even for a high-level ranger. Ten arrows might not even hit once.

Only with the help of the Wanxiang Star Pupils could one achieve perfect accuracy.

Ji Xinghuo opened his interface to check—his psychic energy had increased by 8 points. He immediately invested it in Ether Sensitivity, bringing it to level three, 57/433.

He slid down from the tree, deactivated stealth mode, and approached the body of the elite Stone Scythe Spectre, gently touching it.

【Monster: Stone Scythe Spectre】

【Level: Elite】

【Mutations: Rock Skin, Stone Scythe Claws, Toughness】

“Three mutations!” Ji Xinghuo was surprised. The first two mutations were common abilities of the Stone Scythe Spectres. The third, “Toughness,” was an unexpected bonus.

Toughness is a basic mutation.

It endows the body with strong resistance, harder skin, enhanced strength, stamina, recovery ability, and immunity. Although the enhancement is not substantial, it is comprehensive enough to suit almost any profession template, with a high fusion success rate.

The Giant, Swift Step, and White Knight profession templates all include Toughness.

Thus, although only a basic mutation, Toughness has a significant market and fetches a high price.

Ji Xinghuo began harvesting the mutations. The Toughness mutation was a section of blood vessel near the heart, while Rock Skin was a piece of hard skin. The fusion method for these two mutations was surgical implantation.

As for the Stone Scythe Claws, this mutation was not in demand and was discarded.

Moments later.

Ji Xinghuo had collected six mutations in total—one Toughness and five Rock Skin mutations, and quickly retrieved his arrows.

He swiftly left, continuing to search for other Stone Scythe Spectre groups.

But until the end of the day, Ji Xinghuo had not found a second group of Stone Scythe Spectres. As night approached, he chose a cave located on a cliff and set up camp inside.

The next day.

Ji Xinghuo continued searching for Stone Scythe Spectres and other creatures, going deeper into Peak Valley.

There were still quite a few hunting teams in Peak Valley. They were all after the Stone Scythe Giants. Ji Xinghuo didn’t know if others had encountered the Stone Scythe Giant, but he hadn’t heard any news during his time in Olympia, so it was probably still a secret.

However, compared to two months ago, the number of teams in Peak Valley had significantly decreased.

Ji Xinghuo avoided them as much as possible, not encountering anyone.

That day, he hunted two groups of Stone Scythe Spectre monsters and a Venomous Blood Bird, harvesting eight mutations and gaining 15 points of psychic energy.

The third day saw an increase of 18 psychic energy points.

The fourth day, an increase of 22 psychic energy points.

For seven or eight consecutive days, Ji Xinghuo’s psychic energy kept steadily increasing. One reason was that he ventured deeper into Peak Valley, where the number of Stone Scythe Spectres and other monsters increased; the other was his growing hunting proficiency. He gradually mastered the habits and migration paths of the Stone Scythe Spectres, enabling him to track and locate them.

His backpack gradually filled up with collected mutations.

Rock Skin was the most plentiful, followed by Toughness.

Apart from the common three mutations, Stone Scythe Spectres occasionally awakened other mutations like “Balance,” “Explosive Jump,” and “Fast Metabolism.”

Explosive Jump allowed them to leap high into the air with explosive leg power.

Fast Metabolism helped them expel toxins and harmful substances from their bodies.

What surprised Ji Xinghuo the most was that he harvested a “Thousand Nimble Hands” mutation from an elite Stone Scythe Spectre.

This one exceptional mutation alone was worth 1.6 million!

However, the largest gain was still psychic energy.

Ji Xinghuo stood on a hundred-meter-high stone pillar, holding his Falcon Bow, ready to shoot. This pillar was naturally formed, roughly a square four to five meters wide, with weeds and vines growing on it. The pillar was located on the edge of a giant mountain peak, rarely climbed by monsters except for flying birds.

He had camped on top of the pillar yesterday, covering his tent with branches, which was quite concealed.

A large grey bird flew overhead.

Ji Xinghuo casually shot an arrow at it, piercing through and binding the bird’s body with a nanorope tied to the arrow tail, dragging the corpse back.

He plucked the feathers, cut open the belly, and removed the innards.

Minutes later, the large bird was roasting over the fire, its fat bubbling and sizzling, quickly releasing a delicious aroma.

While roasting the bird, Ji Xinghuo opened the interface of the Wanxiang Star Pupils.

Ether Sensitivity (level three, 295/433)

“Progress is fast.”

Ji Xinghuo calculated in his mind. Today was his tenth day in Peak Valley. Yesterday, he hunted four groups of Stone Scythe Spectres, obtaining 35 points of psychic energy.

That was roughly the maximum amount of psychic energy he could gain per day.

The groups of Stone Scythe Spectres also competed for territory, generally not encroaching on each other’s areas. Hunting one group of Stone Scythe Spectres and then searching for another took two to three hours just for travel. If he was unlucky, the time spent could double or even triple.

Being able to find four groups of Stone Scythe Spectres in one day was already very efficient; it was difficult to find more.

Unless he encountered a large group with over a hundred members.

“If I can gain 30 points of psychic energy every day, Ether Sensitivity could advance to level four in just five days.”

Ji Xinghuo was looking forward to it.

Even without advancing, he felt the benefits of level three Ether Sensitivity—his star energy recovery was noticeably faster.

He hadn’t specifically practiced these days, but his star energy had still increased by 2 points!

If Ether Sensitivity reached level four, he might not need to do anything at all—just lying down could naturally increase his star energy until the next evolutionary leap.

“Let’s get to work! Let’s get to work!”

“After I finish the roast bird, I’ll see if I can hunt five groups of Stone Scythe Spectres today.”

Ji Xinghuo was full of energy, slowly turning the branch skewering the roast bird, sprinkling on some carried spices. The aroma floated out, and it was almost done.

Suddenly, a green light flashed in front of him.

He felt a lightness in his hand—the roasted bird had instantly disappeared, as if it had flown away.

“What in the world?”

Ji Xinghuo was stunned before he realized what had happened. The Wanxiang Star Pupils had captured the passing object. He quickly moved to the edge of the pillar and looked down, spotting the green shadow.