Chapter 76: Lost

Su Tang sat by the campfire, constantly turning the branch in his hand. A mountain chicken was skewered on the branch, with colorful feathers scattered around, all of which had been plucked from the bird. Little Dot sat on his shoulder, staring intently at the mountain chicken that emitted waves of savory meat aroma.

Su Tang used a small knife to cut off a small piece of meat, blew on it, and chewed it a few times in his mouth. It was almost cooked.

“Can I eat it yet?” Little Dot became excited immediately.

“Yes,” Su Tang replied. He squeezed the hind leg of the mountain chicken, cut a piece of meat from it, and placed it on his shoulder. For someone of Little Dot’s size, this piece of meat was enough to make it full.

Little Dot leaned halfway over the chicken meat and took a forceful bite, then froze. After a moment, it spat the meat out of its mouth with force and cried out repeatedly, “Ptooie, ptooie… ptooie ptooie ptooie… Mama, it doesn’t taste good at all!”

“You little thing actually knows how to be a picky eater?” Su Tang felt both annoyed and amused. After saying this, he didn’t bother with Little Dot and started eating himself. This damned forest was too large, and the surroundings looked almost identical. No matter where he went, he felt a sense of deja vu. Thick mist filled the air, hiding the sky and the sunlight.

To put it simply, he seemed to be lost…

Su Tang knew that he had to fully maintain his physical strength at a time like this.

Little Dot looked at the chicken meat with a miserable face; it really did not want to eat that thing. It looked around and its gaze suddenly fell on a shrub. It then flew off Su Tang’s shoulder, floated in front of the shrub, and shouted while dancing with joy, “I want to eat, I want to eat…”

Golden ripples flashed, and the shrub trembled violently. Then, blue-purple flowers bloomed one by one, and in an instant, clusters of black berries grew. The berries were very small, similar to grapes.

Su Tang turned his head abruptly. Just now, Little Dot’s vitality had drained at an extremely fast speed, dropping by a large amount in an instant. It was a shocking drop. He had a feeling that if this happened seven or eight more times, it would likely cause irreversible damage.

Little Dot, however, was very happy. It pounced on a berry, bit through the skin, and sucked on it with delight.

“What are you doing?!” Su Tang roared suddenly, throwing the chicken meat aside. He stood up and walked toward Little Dot in a rage.

Little Dot was startled. It turned around and looked at Su Tang helplessly, unaware that the berry juice had sprayed out and splashed all over its face.

“Speak! What were you doing just now?!” Su Tang shouted.

“I… I lent my Spiritual Power to them…”

“Just to eat?!” Su Tang became even angrier.

“Wah… waaaah…” Little Dot suddenly burst into loud tears. It was truly terrified, as it had never seen Su Tang this angry before.

“What are you crying for? Shut up!” Su Tang shouted again. Although Little Dot’s crying was pitiful and made his heart ache, he knew that if he didn’t completely scare Little Dot this time, it might do it again in the future.

Little Dot didn’t dare cry anymore, but its body was shaking, especially its wings, which were pressed tightly together due to extreme nervousness and trembled violently.

Seeing Little Dot so frightened, Su Tang could no longer keep his heart hard. His expression softened. “Remember, no matter what, you must never lend your Spiritual Power to others in the future. No one, understood? If you dare to do such a thing again, I…” A warning should have ended with an unforgettable threat, but Su Tang couldn’t think of a suitable threatening word. He paused for a moment and let it go. Little Dot had already been terrified and should not forget today’s lesson.

Su Tang turned and walked back to the campfire, eating in silence. Little Dot, however, was no longer in the mood and sat on a branch in a daze. It wasn’t until Su Tang had finished eating and leaned against a rock to rest with his eyes closed that Little Dot flew back holding a berry. With a flattering smile on its face, it called out, “Mama, eat, it tastes very good…”

Su Tang opened his eyes and caught the berry in his palm. He said gently, “You eat it. I am already full.” If it had been before, he would have been happy to eat the berry, but now that he knew this was something Little Dot had grown using its own vitality, how could he possibly touch it?

Su Tang regretted eating all the wild fruits he had brought so early. He should have saved them for Little Dot. However, he couldn’t blame himself entirely because he hadn’t known.

Hearing that Su Tang’s voice was gentle, Little Dot finally relaxed. It sat in Su Tang’s palm, holding the berry and biting through its skin.

Soon, the juice was all sucked out, leaving only the shriveled skin. Su Tang asked, “Are you full?”

“Yes,” Little Dot nodded vigorously, though in truth, it wasn’t yet full.

Su Tang placed Little Dot on his shoulder, stood up and opened his bundle, and found a wine skin inside. He tilted his head back and drank all the wine inside. Then he walked to the shrub and picked the berries one by one, placing them in the wine skin.

Once one wine skin was full, Su Tang found another. He picked very carefully, not missing a single berry. However, despite his care, there was some residual wine in the second wine skin that Su Tang did not notice.

In the blink of an eye, he picked the shrub clean of berries. Su Tang walked back and carefully placed the two wine skins on top. The berries were fully ripe, and the slightest touch could cause them to crack.

After doing this, Su Tang paused for a moment and then laughed to himself. He had never been this meticulous even when serving himself before; it was truly strange.

While packing the bundle, Su Tang’s gaze suddenly fell on an object. He froze for a moment, then showed a look of joy. He grabbed a box, opened it quickly, and took out a Spirit Nourishing Pill. Then he plucked a palm-sized leaf, walked to the stream, and pinched the leaf into a concave shape. He filled it with a bit of water, crushed the Spirit Nourishing Pill, and sprinkled it into the water. He broke off a thin twig and carefully stirred it.

“Mama, what are you doing?” Little Dot asked curiously.

“Something good. Do you smell the fragrance?” Su Tang said. He had to try it; if Little Dot didn’t like it, he would drink it himself, so it wouldn’t be a waste.

“Mhm mhm… it smells so good!” Little Dot replied.

Soon, the Spirit Nourishing Pill completely dissolved in the water. Su Tang said, “Little Dot, try some and see if you like drinking it.”

Little Dot leaned over the leaf, poked its head in, and took a cautious sip. Finding the taste pleasant, it then began to drink in large gulps.

Slurp, slurp… In a short while, Little Dot had drunk the elixir water clean. It flew back to Su Tang’s shoulder and sat down contentedly. “I’m so full…”

Su Tang breathed a sigh of relief. Little Dot’s spirit had been somewhat withered just now, but it was clearly much better now. Moreover, if there was only loss and no replenishment, Little Dot’s life would be very limited even if he took the best care of it. If Little Dot could absorb the effectiveness of the elixir, then there was hope.

Next, Su Tang felt a bit of a headache. He only had these eighty-some Spirit Nourishing Pills left, which weren’t even enough for himself, and now he had another little “soy sauce bottle” to feed.

Still, he decided to take care of Little Dot first. After all, it didn’t matter much if he ate a bit less; it only affected the speed of his improvement. But for Little Dot, it was a matter of life and death.

“It’s time to go.” Su Tang put on his bundle and grabbed several Flying Swords. “Little Dot, can you actually find the way back?”

“I don’t know either…” Little Dot murmured. Su Tang had already asked this question many times.

“Sigh…” Su Tang sighed helplessly. He walked to a tree as thick as a bowl, drew the Sword of Taisho, and with a gentle sweep of the sword light, he cut the tree into two pieces.

Su Tang walked forward a dozen steps and drew his sword again, knocking down another tree of similar thickness. The cut of the first tree was flat, while this one was slanted, its tip pointing far into the air.

Time flew by rapidly. In the blink of an eye, autumn turned to winter, and then spring arrived with blossoms. More than half a year had passed. The trees Su Tang had cut down did not die; when the weather warmed, new branches and leaves grew near the stumps.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the forest. As the branches and leaves were pushed aside, Su Tang walked out. Seeing the stump, a word involuntarily popped out of his mouth: “Damn…”

“Damn…” Little Dot followed suit and shouted from Su Tang’s shoulder.

Su Tang glanced sideways at Little Dot. Little Dot hurriedly covered its mouth with its hand; it knew it had done wrong.

“This direction is also wrong… I walked past here… should have been more than half a year ago…” Su Tang murmured to himself. In more than half a year, he had undergone huge changes. First, perhaps due to frequent exercise, he was half a head taller than before, but his skin had a sickly paleness because there was no sunlight here year-round.

His hair looked somewhat strange. There were no barbershops in the forest. When his hair grew long, he could only use the Sword of Taisho to hack at it randomly, so naturally, it had no proper shape.

Su Tang’s clothes had long since become tattered. He wore animal skins around his chest and waist. It wasn’t that Su Tang liked this style, but with the protection of animal skins, his clothes could last longer.

Su Tang’s eyes were very bright. Whenever a wild animal ran past nearby, his shifting gaze was always full of aggression. Every creature he encountered in these six months only made him think of two things: whether it could be killed and whether it could be eaten. Over time, he naturally positioned himself as the master of the forest.

When aggression reached a certain level, one would definitely find ways to eliminate every perceived threat. This was a survival instinct, and Su Tang did exactly that. In the beginning, as long as he received a warning from Little Dot, he would avoid those terrifying creatures as much as possible. Slowly, he tried to observe and judge. For those that were especially power ful, he still chose to avoid them for the time being, but for those he felt had flaws or fatal weaknesses, he would set ambushes to kill them.

The few blood scars on his cheek were left by a giant bear last night. At the time, the wound was deep enough to see the bone, and he lost a lot of blood. However, Su Tang’s physique had developed an extremely strong recovery ability. In just one night, the wound had already healed.