Chapter 41: Escaping Death

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Lei Qing’s speed reached its limit. A series of faint afterimages trailed behind him as he skirted past the lake edge. He let out a roar to disturb the giant python living in the Cold Pool, keeping it from sleeping after a full meal. After roaring, he kept sprinting so fast his feet barely touched the ground.

At this moment, his heart was pounding out of his chest. He was incredibly tense. Please come out soon, he thought. I can barely hold on. My Fighting Qi and stamina are both at their limits.

All wild beasts have their own territory and area of activity. Demonic Beasts not only kept this instinct but amplified it. Demonic Beasts at the top of the food chain especially hated allowing other predatory Demonic Beasts of the same level to enter their territory. It wasn’t just about less food; it was a huge threat to their survival.

Maybe he heard Lei Qing’s roar, or maybe the Demonic Beast’s sharp spiritual sense detected the power ful and violent aura of the Black-backed Giant Bear. Ripples disturbed the mirror-like surface of the lake. The ugly, single-horned snake head rose above the water, followed by its massive body, thick as a barrel and three or four zhang long. Its scales had a strong metallic texture.

The Cold Pool giant python had cold eyes and flicked its long, foot-sized tongue. It ignored Lei Qing, who was sprinting past. Gold-rank Demonic Beasts were already quite intelligent. It could tell that someone like Lei Qing posed no threat to it. However, that violent Black-backed Giant Bear made the python extremely wary. It hissed sharply, as if warning the bear that it had crossed the boundary.

The Black-backed Giant Bear let out an angry roar but stopped more than ten zhang away from the Cold Pool. It panted heavily, its bear eyes glaring distrustfully at the giant python. It was also very smart and felt the threat the python posed to it.

For a while, the two powerful Demonic Beasts faced each other, but neither moved.

The only one who benefited was Lei Qing. His guess was right. As long as there was a Demonic Beast species that could threaten its survival nearby, both the Cold Pool giant python and the Black-backed Giant Bear would subconsciously ignore small threats like him.

As for whether they would fight, Lei Qing didn’t hope for it. Demonic Beasts weren’t stupid. With predatory instincts, they preferred to attack weaker prey because it was easy and safe. No Demonic Beast would attack another of the same level unless it was driven by hatred or starvation. Such fights often resulted in injury or death. For wild beasts and Demonic Beasts, an injury often meant going hungry and attracting more powerful predators.

Therefore, trying to use the “drive away the wolf to swallow the tiger” strategy against Demonic Beasts rarely worked. Fortunately, Lei Qing never expected that to happen. He looked back from a distance, saw the bear facing off against the python, and sighed with relief. But it wasn’t time to relax yet. He ran for another seven or eight li before clumsily crawling into a small cave.

This was a safe spot. It was a cave previously occupied by a Bronze-rank Demonic Beast, which Lei Qing had killed some time ago. The residual territorial scent wouldn’t allow another beast to claim it right away. People assumed Demonic Beasts were cruel and bloodthirsty, and that their dens were full of primitive violence.

But in reality, it was the opposite. Demonic Beasts got along quite well with each other. Each had its own territory, big or small. As long as they didn’t trespass and no accidents happened, they followed their instincts and rules. It was rare for one to attack another without reason.

However, running into a cave didn’t guarantee safety. Lei Qing suppressed his exhaustion and his desperate urge to lie down and rest. He dragged his battered body and activated his Spatial Ring, taking out some bottles and jars.

These were mostly rare herbs collected by Zuo Qianqian, or even concoctions made from Demonic Beast feces. The smell would be pungent and repulsive to most Demonic Beasts with sharp senses. This was great for hiding his tracks. Most Demonic Beasts didn’t rely on footprints but on smell to track prey. Some Demonic Beasts with exceptionally strong sense of smell could scent prey dozens of li away if they were downwind.

Roaming deep in the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range, which was full of Demonic Beasts, you either had the strength of Leng Yuewu at the Holy Rank and didn’t need to worry, or you did. If you showed a strong aura at the Holy Rank, Demonic Beasts would actually keep their distance. Otherwise, these scent-masking items were very necessary.

After handling that, Lei Qing spread out an animal skin mat and sat heavily on it. His muscles ached, and his bones felt like they were falling apart. His throat burned. That desperate sprint had lasted nearly two sticks of incense worth of time. The Fighting Qi in his Qi Sea had burned completely, leaving him panting heavily.

Panting was a necessary part of recovering stamina. The air he inhaled, under mysterious bodily functions, combined with stored energy to restore stamina. If there was extra stamina, it would, under the influence of Life Factors, convert into higher-level Fighting Qi particles.

With his stamina recovering, Lei Qing felt a bit better and managed to drink some water. The dry Fighting Qi in his body drew on stamina from the Life Factors, gathering grain by grain into his meridians to form a small stream, which eventually flowed into his Qi Sea.

Generally speaking, for warriors of the Black Iron-rank, once stamina and Fighting Qi were depleted, entering a normal rest state would allow the body to naturally recover some Fighting Qi as stamina filled up first. This was called passive Fighting Qi recovery.

But this recovery had conditions. It required the stamina to be sufficient and normal breathing. There was a certain type of gas in the air that helped restore stamina and Fighting Qi. Researchers of Fighting Qi called this gas “Life Qi.” Without this gas, you couldn’t recover stamina or Fighting Qi; you couldn’t even sustain life.

During Lei Qing’s desperate sprint, all his bodily functions were in an explosive state. Naturally, passive Fighting Qi recovery was minimal. On one hand, the violent burning of Fighting Qi provided huge momentum for his body. On the other hand, Fighting Qi was only consumed, not replenished. This was why his Fighting Qi ran out after running frantically for two sticks of incense.

If he had only used a small amount of Fighting Qi and traveled at a steady pace while keeping his body relaxed and breathing normal, the consumption of Fighting Qi would have been almost negligible.

After a brief rest, Lei Qing sat cross-legged, dragging his sore and numb bones, and began to meditate. He circulated the Fighting Qi in his Qi Sea, constantly moving it through his body to stimulate the Life Factors and actively speed up the recovery of Fighting Qi.

This active recovery was much faster than passive recovery. But the flaw was obvious: he had to sit quietly and concentrate, then circulate his remaining Fighting Qi in a special way. If he were in a fight, no enemy would be foolish enough to let him relax enough to meditate and recover.

Just as Lei Qing was meditating, another loud roar from the Black-backed Giant Bear echoed from dozens of zhang away. The sound shook the dim cave, causing dust to fall. Lei Qing was terrified inside. He prayed to the Heavenly Immortal Sisters to protect him, hoping the terrifying bear wouldn’t find his hiding place. Otherwise, his only fate would be to be beaten into mince.

Lei Qing had long ago thrown away any thoughts of hunting the Gold-rank giant bear. Joke about hunting it? If he could survive this without being hunted himself, it would be the Lei Family’s ancestors showing their power.

Perhaps Lei Qing’s previous preparations worked, or maybe his prayer was answered. The bear, having lost the scent trail, raged for a while, but after more than half an hour, it left.

With the bear gone, Lei Qing couldn’t hold back anymore. He lay back on the animal skin mat. After his muscles relaxed, he realized his back was soaked with cold sweat. It was another difficult escape from death. The joy of surviving a disaster made his heart feel incredibly refreshed, as if he had been completely purified.

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