svetikya Chapter 1 The Spirit-Eyed Boy
Chapter 1 The Spirit-Eyed Boy
In a valley on the northern side of the Monster Mountain Range, a cold wind swept across the cliff face, carving fine frost patterns into the exposed rock. Thirteen-year-old Huo Yuhao crouched on the branch of an ancient tree, his eyelashes covered with ice crystals, and a faint golden light shimmering in the depths of his pupils.
[Mental Detection]
In an instant, everything within a radius of a hundred meters was clearly imprinted in Huo Yuhao's mind. Suddenly, from a crevice in the rock directly in front of him, a faint coolness began to spread along his spiritual power... A smile appeared on Huo Yuhao's lips, "It really is Ice Spirit Grass."
Huo Yuhao leaped into the air and landed beside the crevice in a few steps. He gripped the protruding rock with one hand and used the other hand, which glowed with a jade-like color, to dig towards the roots of the Ice Spirit Grass.
Just as he dug out the Ice Spirit Grass, a huge shadow loomed over him from behind.
"We noticed you a while ago."
Huo Yuhao stored the Ice Spirit Grass in his storage ring, then used his legs and the hands gripping the rock wall to propel himself into the air. At the same time, a hairy arm, thicker than Huo Yuhao's body, slammed into the spot where he had just been standing, accompanied by a strong gust of wind.
Scattered rocks flew everywhere, and what Huo Yuhao saw was a giant white ape with four arms. Having missed its attack, it roared angrily, twisting its body in an attempt to strike Huo Yuhao in mid-air.
"Whoosh—" A short knife appeared in Huo Yuhao's hand. He slashed down with force, and a cold light flashed, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound on the white ape's left shoulder. "Roar—" The white ape's pained and angry roar echoed through the valley. After slashing, Huo Yuhao immediately kicked it in the lower back, using the momentum to leap back and land on the treetop.
"Snow Demon Ape, a peak second-tier magical beast, solitary, skilled in pouncing." Huo Yuhao stared intently at the white ape before him. "I heard you also like to eat brains?"
After the pain subsided slightly, the Snow Demon Ape's angry gaze locked onto the small insect in front of it, and it pounced towards the treetop where Huo Yuhao was standing.
"Seems a bit dim-witted. Didn't Little Yanzi say you are what you eat?" Huo Yuhao chuckled, leaping onto a nearby treetop. He watched as the Snow Demon Ape's massive body snapped a tree trunk, sending it sprawling on the ground, dizzy and disoriented. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Huo Yuhao adjusted his breathing, concentrated, and gripped his sword with both hands. He channeled all his battle qi and leaped towards the Snow Demon Ape on the ground, his strike drawing upon the surrounding天地元气 (heaven and earth energy) to flow into the sword in his hand.
The snow demon ape, still shaking its head on the ground, suddenly sensed a strong sense of danger approaching from above. Before it could even look up, it hurriedly dodged to the right. But it was too late.
"Crack crack—" Both left arms fell off in response, "Roar uh uh uh—" The snow demon ape screamed violently and fled out of the valley without looking back.
"Tsk, let it go if it ran away." Huo Yuhao shook his head, ignoring the fleeing Snow Demon Ape, and stood still, calming his boiling battle qi. Crackling sounds rang out. Huo Yuhao looked at the knife in his hand and saw cracks winding and growing, gradually covering the entire blade. With a snap, the short knife disintegrated, leaving only the hilt.
"Sigh! It broke again. Weapons made of refined iron are still of poor quality. Where can I find some rare metals?"
……
In the dark forest, a group of herbalists and mercenaries walked silently, the leader's wary eyes constantly scanning potential dangers. The mercenaries guarding them were all experienced veterans, each gripping their weapons tightly, ready to respond to any unexpected situation.
Suddenly, the leader squatted down, picked up a clump of soil, rubbed it three times between his fingertips, brought it close to his nose, and then looked up to carefully examine the surrounding bushes: "There is a blood wolf's den to the northwest. Go around it." As he spoke, he took out a handful of powder from his medicine bag and scattered it along the way.
As a herb gatherer who had been roaming the Monster Mountain Range for many years, Mr. Yao had led a team more than once. He looked up at the sky and waved for everyone to stop.
"It seems we won't be able to leave this forest today. Traveling at night is too dangerous. This place is relatively open, so let's set up camp here."
"Okay." The mercenaries on guard responded, and after Mr. Yao assigned them their tasks, they scattered to scout for danger, clear bushes, and spray insect and animal repellent powder...
The herb gatherers also started fetching water, making fires, and cooking.
Mr. Yao took a breath, relaxing his tense nerves, and turned to look at the group of people who were starting a fire, or more precisely, at one of the purple-haired girls.
Little Fairy Doctor started a fire, set up a soup pot, threw in a few herbs and some ingredients, and hummed a lullaby while drawing circles in the pot with a wooden spoon. Suddenly, she cried out "Ouch!" and pulled her singed hair from beside the fire.
"How many times have I told you, you must tie your hair up when you start a fire." Mr. Yao appeared behind her without her noticing, his rough fingers gently brushing away the bits of straw from her hair. He took out a hair tie and tied her hair into a ponytail. The girl stuck out her tongue and quickly pushed Mr. Yao away: "I know, Father. You should go and rest. Dinner will be ready soon."
Mr. Yao smiled and shook his head, found a relatively clean spot under a tree root to sit down, and quietly stared at the figure of Little Fairy Doctor, his thoughts drifting away...
Since Little Fairy Doctor suffered an accident when she was three years old, Mr. Yao adopted her, and the two lived in Qingshan Town. During this time, Mr. Yao built Wan Yao Zhai from scratch, making it one of the top forces in Qingshan Town. However, what others did not know was that Mr. Yao founded Wan Yao Zhai not for any other reason than to hope that he could use the medicinal herb business of Wan Yao Zhai to contact real alchemists and help Little Fairy Doctor solve the problem of her "Calamity Poison Body".
When Mr. Yao came to his senses, he saw Little Fairy Doctor squatting in front of him with a bowl of soup, waving her other hand back and forth in front of his eyes.
"What's wrong? Why are you spacing out?"
"It's alright." Mr. Yao took the soup and drank it all in one gulp, ignoring the scalding heat. "I'll go check on those mercenaries who went to scout. You guys rest first." With that, he handed the bowl back and stood up to walk out of the camp.
Little Fairy Doctor took the empty bowl without replying. Seeing Mr. Yao walk away, she muttered to herself, "I didn't agree!" and secretly followed in the direction Mr. Yao had gone.
Mr. Yao was halfway there when suddenly three urgent whistles came from the northeast. This was the warning signal agreed upon by the mercenaries. Mr. Yao's expression changed, and as he sped up, he pulled out the whistle and threw it behind him: "Catch! Blow it three times..." Before he finished speaking, he had already disappeared into the darkness.
Little Fairy Doctor, who was following behind, took the whistle. Knowing that this was not the time to be willful, she quickly turned around and blew the whistle as she ran.
"Danger! Everyone get ready!" Before they even reached the camp, Little Fairy Doctor heard the mercenary captain issuing orders: "Old Ma, your men stay behind to protect the Wan Yao Zhai people. The rest of you, come with me!"
"It's in the northeast!" Little Fairy Doctor reminded the mercenary captain, then rushed to her tent, rummaged around for a while, took out a satchel, and turned to chase after him.
"Little Fairy Doctor, you—" The mercenary named Old Ma hurriedly tried to stop her, but Little Fairy Doctor took a step and bypassed him, leaving only the words "I'm going to help!" before disappearing into the dense forest.
……
When Little Fairy Doctor arrived, she found the corpses of mercenaries and monsters everywhere. The surviving mercenaries were all wounded and fighting against various monsters.
"How can there be so many magical beasts..."
Little Fairy Doctor's face was somewhat pale. The mercenary captain who had arrived to provide support before her was fighting against a massive ape-like demonic beast with Mr. Yao. However, judging from their expressions, they were only barely holding on. If the demonic ape hadn't had both of its left arms severed, it would probably have been crushed to death by the ape on the spot.
Suddenly, a mercenary was sent flying by the monster in front of him, his body heading straight towards Mr. Yao, knocking him to the ground. The demonic ape seized the opportunity, swinging its right fist to smash down on Mr. Yao.
"No!" Little Fairy Doctor cried out in alarm, grabbing the medicine bottle in her hand and smashing it towards the demon ape's eyes.
*Crack!* The medicine bottle shattered on the demonic ape's head. The pale gray liquid flowed into its right eye, and a pain more intense than a severed arm shot through it. Because of this, the demonic ape missed its target, allowing Mr. Yao to roll away and escape its attack range.
"Roar!!!" The demonic ape covered its eyes with one hand, and with the other hand it knocked away the mercenary captain who had taken the opportunity to attack. With its remaining eye, it stared intently at the person who had caused it pain.
"Phew—" Seeing that Mr. Yao was out of danger, Little Fairy Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up, she saw the Demon Ape's eyes filled with hatred, fixed on her. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Do you believe I didn't do it on purpose?"