Chapter 60: Outclassing the Elite

“It worked!”

Ji Xinghuo exchanged a gaze with the little green snake and smiled.

His heart bloomed with joy.

Who would have thought such a simple tactic of food enticement, akin to luring a child with candy, would actually make it abandon its cave and leave the valley with him.

Ji Xinghuo had initially thought that if the plan failed, there was no need to rush; he could hunt in the Peak Valley for a few days before continuing with the food enticement. Given the little green snake’s picky nature toward food, it would eventually be tamed once it got used to cooked meals.

Spiritual beings possess intelligence; they can think.

But it’s precisely because they know more that they are easier to deceive.

If it were a less intelligent monster that merely survived on instinct, it wouldn’t care about the taste of the food; being full would be enough, and it would soon forget the whole incident.

With a pleased mood, Ji Xinghuo took out his bow and arrows, preparing to shoot a couple more wild birds to give it an extra meal.

But just as he moved, the little green snake quickly slithered away.

“Still afraid of me.”

Ji Xinghuo shook his head; fully taming a spiritual being isn’t so easy. Right now, the little green snake just regards him as a tool for preparing food.

Getting truly close to it would probably take some more time.

He hunted nearby, returned to the camp to cook, eating half himself and giving the other half to the little green snake.

Watching its tiny snake body, Ji Xinghuo wondered how much it could hold inside.

Had it already digested the big meal from yesterday?

“Let’s start working!”

Ji Xinghuo opened the Star Pupils interface and glanced at it; seven days and his spiritual energy hadn’t increased at all, Ether sensitivity was still (Level 3, 295/433).

He shouldered his pack and set off again.

The little green snake, which had been hiding in the bushes dozens of meters away, immediately followed him.

Initially, Ji Xinghuo worried it couldn’t keep up, so he slowed his pace.

But he soon realized the little green snake was very fast; even if he ran all the way, it could easily keep up. Sometimes, the snake would disappear for a moment, off to who knows what, but it soon returned.

Once Ji Xinghuo confirmed it wouldn’t get lost, he began hunting.

A few hours later.

Ji Xinghuo found a stone scythe monster group. This group was large, nearly a hundred in number. They split into two or three smaller groups, frolicking and drinking by the river.

“Fifteen beast-tier, two elites…”

“No wait!”

“That leader isn’t an elite!”

Ji Xinghuo lay hidden across the river, observing from afar the leader of the stone scythe group. Its magnetic field strength was similar to that of elite monsters, but on closer inspection, the Ether energy reaction was much stronger.

This stone scythe was also bigger by a couple of sizes, sitting by the riverbank, towering at over two meters high.

Its four arms were very thick, and its claws resembled scythes.

“An outclassing monster?”

Ji Xinghuo’s gaze sharpened as he confirmed it was a stone scythe giant.

However, compared to the last Hong-class stone scythe giant he saw, this one’s strength was noticeably weaker, missing that terrifying oppressive feeling.

“It must be a newly evolved stone scythe giant that hasn’t grown to its full potential yet.”

“Maybe I can kill it…”

Ji Xinghuo thought carefully, not acting rashly.

Last time, Ren Mian led the team and hundreds of hunting teams in the Peak Valley for ten days but couldn’t find a stone scythe giant, and now he had stumbled upon one.

If Ren Mian and her team were here, they would have acted without hesitation.

But now, it was just him.

It’s difficult to accurately gauge a monster’s strength as it relates to their abilities; the strength of monsters at the same level can vary by more than tenfold.

Outclassing monsters have surpassed their kin and could integrate other species, like carrying out actionTypes as intelligent species do, and could awaken one to three abilities.

If one must compare, the strength of outclassing monsters is definitely superior to most super extrahumans, and even legendary extrahumans might find them challenging.

That’s why extrahumans form teams for hunts and generally avoid acting alone.

Not to mention, this stone scythe giant had a whole group of minions around. If he couldn’t achieve a one-hit kill, and over a hundred stone scythes attacked, his life would be in danger.

“Get a bit closer for observation.”

Ji Xinghuo activated his thumb ring and entered stealth mode.

He then moved upriver along the bank, gradually reaching directly opposite the stone scythe giant, only a hundred meters away across the river.

This proximity allowed him to see the distribution of Ether energy more clearly.

Ether energy is a more direct way to gauge an enemy’s strength. The stronger the capacity, the more intense the surrounding Ether energy reaction, like a vortex absorbing nearby Ether energy, the ripples it produces becoming stronger and its range wider, and the strength inevitably greater!

Ji Xinghuo compared the stone scythe giant to the elites beside it, the Ether fluctuations differing by about three times.

“Definitely newly evolved.”

He made his judgment.

If this stone scythe giant hadn’t awakened any powerful abilities, relying on long-distance shooting for a sneak attack might grant him a chance to kill it.

Ji Xinghuo thought this as he lay motionless in the riverside bushes.

Suddenly, he turned his head.

He saw the little green snake crawling out from the fallen leaves nearby, only two or three meters away. Its eyes held some fear as it looked up and shook its head a few times.

“Are you telling me to leave quickly?”

Ji Xinghuo felt a bit amused and somewhat touched.

Not easy at all!

After feeding you for several days, you finally consider my well-being too. But perhaps it’s more worried about losing its meal provider if I die?

Ji Xinghuo waved at it, signaling it to move further away.

The little green snake turned and burrowed into the grass.

After it left, Ji Xinghuo remained motionless, watching his prey across the river. Soon, the group of stone scythes finally finished drinking water, howling as they ran off into the forest toward a distant stone peak, killing and devouring any wild beasts they encountered along the way.

Ji Xinghuo followed them, his attention stayed on the stone scythe giant.

Until evening.

After four to five hours of careful observation, Ji Xinghuo confirmed the stone scythe giant hadn’t awakened “Earth Pulse.”

This was both good news and bad news.

The good news was that without Earth Pulse, the stone scythe giant wasn’t so fearsome; unable to detect enemies through ground vibrations or gain strength when standing on the ground, its endurance also wasn’t as exaggerated, so in short, its strength dropped a notch.

The bad news was, without the most valuable Earth Pulse, even killing this stone scythe giant might not yield much gain.

Also, this stone scythe giant was newly evolved and hadn’t yet fused with other species.

Its strength was similar to that of a super extrahuman.

“I can kill it!”

Ji Xinghuo made his decision.

When night fell, the group of stone scythes gathered at the top of a rock peak to rest, huddling in groups, some laying on the ground, others hanging from trees.

Ji Xinghuo found the best shooting spot in the cover of night.

Beside this rock peak was a cliff with a protruding piece of jagged rock, barren and devoid of grass, standing across a deep gorge from the stone scythe group, the height a few dozen meters higher, forming an excellent shooting platform.

The only downside was the distance to the stone scythe group was somewhat long, about 270 meters.

The Dragon-Hawk Bow had an effective lethal range of 300 meters; beyond this distance, its lethality would gradually decrease, making it difficult to pose a threat to monsters.

Ji Xinghuo’s shooting skills were confident within a range of 220 meters.

Further than that, his accuracy would drop.

Unless he activated Wanxiang Senluo!

Ji Xinghuo detoured several thousand meters, stealthily climbed up the opposite cliff, and looking across the gorge toward the stone scythe group. The stone scythe giant was half-lying on a giant rock, surrounded by four or five ordinary stone scythes; they were all female.

At this moment, it was forcefully mating with one of the female stone scythes beneath it.

“Do monsters also have silver parties?”

Ji Xinghuo’s eyes brightened.

Not that he had any bizarre fetishes, but this scenario provided an excellent opportunity to shoot.

He looked back; the little green snake had also followed up, hiding in a tree about tens of meters away, motionless.

The night thickened, stars filled the sky.

It was the perfect time to hunt monsters!

Ji Xinghuo planted a row of titanium aluminum alloy arrows into the soil by his feet, several arrows lined up, clutching a few in his palm, then he drew out a capacitor arrow and strung the bow.

The bow limbs of the Dragon-Hawk, like eagle wings, contracted.

The light circle in his right pupil flickered slightly.

Ji Xinghuo’s perspective of the world halted, countless imaginary lights flowed, overlaying each other, a translucent virtual line extended along the arrow’s direction, landing on the vigorously thrusting stone scythe giant, its figure also beginning to sway and evolve, displaying multiple future outcomes.

Wanxiang Senluo lasted only a second before shutting off, to conserve star energy for the upcoming fight and leave a way out for himself.

At the same time, the arrow was released.

Under the boost of the rotating magnetic field, the capacitor arrow, already nearing overload, instantly turned into a dazzling lightning bolt across the sky.

Initially silent.

Mid-air, a thunderclap exploded above, the sound shaking the cliffs and gorge.

The speed of sound in the Star Realm was much faster than on Earth, reaching 1021 meters per second, so although the capacitor arrow was accelerated by the Dragon-Hawk Bow, the sound it produced still traveled to the stone scythe giant’s ears faster than the arrow itself, alerting it.

The stone scythe giant was indulging in pleasure when suddenly hearing the thunder, nearly got frightened limp.

It looked up just in time to see a bolt of lightning strike straight at it, reacting extremely quickly, it rolled off the giant rock, its skin hardening like it was covered with a layer of rock armor.

Crack!

A loud boom.

The capacitor arrow hit the rolling stone scythe giant precisely, had it not reacted, it might have been fine, but its roll landed it right into the arrow.

The lightning struck its only weak spot at that moment.

That was its groin area.

All over its body, this was the only place not covered by rock. The thing, unable to retract in time, dangled outside, swaying back and forth.

“Aowuu…”

A dreadful, despairing howl spread all around, echoing between the mountain peak and the gorge.

The groin area of the stone scythe giant burst open, a mess of blood and gore missing its most vital part, leaving behind a gaping bloody hole.

But it didn’t die right then, nor did it lose the ability to move.

The stone scythe giant climbed up from underneath the rock, roaring furiously, blood-filled eyes scanning around, immediately finding the direction from which the lightning had come, yet seeing nothing.

Its vision wasn’t outstanding; in the starry night, it couldn’t see far.

Swoosh!

An arrow suddenly appeared, targeting not the stone scythe giant, but flying into the panicked stone scythe group— a beast-tier stone scythe’s head was blown apart.

Then a second arrow, a third…

Swoosh!

Swoosh…

One arrow after another shot in rapid succession, each one hitting a monster stone scythe. Even if a few didn’t hit the head but pierced through the stone skin, they fell to the ground, struggling in their death throes, not far from death.

“Roar!”

The stone scythe giant finally locked onto the enemy’s position.

Its body swelled up two sizes, its blood-stained legs accelerated into a sprint, reaching the edge of the peak; with a powerful stomp, it jumped into the air toward the cliff on the other side of the gorge.