Chief, don't hit me in the face

Chapter 40: A Terrible Experience as a Jungler!

“Sons of the Ancestors?” Xia Ye frowned. “It’s a very mysterious organization with extremely high admission standards. They only recruit young elites under the age of twenty from various tribes. Once you join, the benefits are endless!” Xia Qingyuan explained. “Sorry, I’m not interested!” Xia Ye refused. “You’re nothing but a frog at the bottom of a well—you have absolutely no idea how powerful and terrifying the Sons of the Ancestors are. Let me tell you, the future of this world lies in the hands of us, the Sons of the Ancestors!” Xia Qingyuan roared. He had put in so much effort just to earn Xia Jie’s admiration and secure a recommendation to join the organization—and this kid actually wasn’t interested? “So what?” Xia Ye’s sword strikes came one faster than the next, leaving wounds on Xia Qingyuan’s body. Compared to Cao Ang, this guy was truly weak. Whoosh! Si Jige’s blade grazed his neck, sending a spatter of blood flying. The icy-cold edge made Xia Qingyuan’s hair stand on end instantly. “Let me tell you, I’m already a provisional member of the Sons of the Ancestors. If you kill me, you’ll face retaliation from the Sons of the Ancestors, and Xia Jie won’t let you off either!” Facing imminent death, Xia Qingyuan’s gentlemanly composure vanished, and he became furious. “Finished talking?” Xia Ye sneered, extending his long arm: “If you’re done, then die!” A brutal slaughter! Whoosh! Sword winds swept toward him, and the glint of blades flashed. Xia Qingyuan was engulfed by the onslaught and roared in shock: “Tong Ren, where’s your dual-sword style? Hurry up and back me up! When I get back, I’ll equip you with two top-tier long swords!” “You’d better get it an Asuna first!” Xia Ye teased, pausing his attack for a moment. “Huh?” Xia Qingyuan froze; his upward parry with the longsword suddenly missed its mark, throwing him off balance. Just as he was instinctively regaining his footing, Xia Ye’s sword strike struck. Beastly Ambush! Xia Ye extended his long arm, sword in hand, like a cheetah, and lunged toward Xia Qingyuan. Thud! The blade sliced through his ribs and pierced his chest. “Cough…” A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out. “Xia Jie… won’t let… you get away with this!” Xia Qingyuan clutched the blade, staring at Xia Ye with a look of utter resentment. This wasn’t how the story was supposed to go—he was supposed to be the one to kill him, return with all the spoils, pass the Blood Survival Trial, and establish his own tribe. But now… it was all over! “Xia Jie again?” Xia Ye couldn’t be bothered with small talk; with a forceful twist of his wrist, he ripped Xia Qingyuan’s heart to shreds. With its master dead, the mechanical Tong Ren lost control and, far from stopping its attack, went into a rampage. “Song Guo, collect the loot!” Xia Ye ordered, assisting the headless battle spirit. “Okay!” The little girl, clad in a black bearskin, darted over nimbly: “Who is Xia Jie?” “He’s our clan chief’s youngest son, a prodigy of the Xia Tribe—he might become the next clan chief!” Xia Ye introduced, “Tai’a!” “Would it be trouble to mess with him?” Song Guo was a little worried; she drew her long sword and tossed it out. “Probably.” Xia Ye caught the sword and began his attack. He thought of Xia Qi—the guy who was pursuing his older sister, Xia Lingyue—who also seemed to be one of Xia Jie’s subordinates. “But what’s this ‘Son of the Ancestor’? It sounds really powerful!” Song Guo felt like her big brother had gotten himself into big trouble. “Who cares? Either way, we’re coming out way ahead on this one!” Xia Ye smiled, but his expression quickly turned serious again. Xia Qingyuan was no pushover. If the mechanical beasts hadn’t been destroyed, leaving only Tong Ren—who, though powerful, would be unable to protect him once tied up—the outcome of this battle would’ve been anyone’s guess. Most of a mechanical engineer’s combat power lies in the mechanical beasts they command; if there were enough of them, they could simply overwhelm the enemy. Tong Ren’s mechanical dual-sword style was highly lethal; he’d already struck the headless battle spirit several times. It was just a shame his weapons were so shoddy and covered in rust. “Step back!” Xia Ye wasn’t about to let an opportunity like this slip by. To grow stronger, he had to keep fighting—fighting, fighting, and fighting—against all kinds of powerful foes! Tong Ren lunged forward, unleashing a flurry of dual-sword strikes as swift as a storm and as relentless as a downpour, giving his enemy no chance to catch his breath. Xia Ye’s goal was to figure out his opponent’s fighting style, so he didn’t launch a full-force attack but focused entirely on defense. Even at the fourth level of the Body Tempering Realm, with a strength of 500 shaku, he still found it a bit of a struggle to block Tong Ren’s sword techniques head-on. “This guy died so unfairly!” Song Guo crouched beside Xia Qingyuan’s corpse, pulled off his backpack, and rummaged through the loot. In addition to over twenty Blade Coins and a dozen or so Yuanqi Stones, she found a crystal the size of an apple, covered in mysterious patterns and emitting a pale blue glow. “Yeah!” Xia Ye also felt Xia Qingyuan had met a tragic end; if it weren’t for the ace up his sleeve—the Headless Battle Spirit—he really would have met his end right here. Even if the Undead Hero was killed, it could still be summoned—though it would take some time for its will to coalesce again. As for how to unleash the sword energy of Tai’a, Xia Ye hadn’t figured it out yet. As for the Headless Battle Spirit, it wasn’t meant to last forever either; its existence depended on the summoner’s spiritual awareness. With Xia Ye’s current level of spiritual awareness, it would vanish after fighting for no more than five minutes. And most importantly, spirit beasts summoned through the Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits suffer a significant decline in power every time they die. “What is this?” Song Guo shook the crystal stone. Xia Ye couldn’t afford to be distracted anymore; Tong Ren’s dual-blade assault was putting immense pressure on him, and his leather armor had already been slashed open in several places. “Headless, switch!” Xia Ye gave the order and stepped out of the fray. Tong Ren tried to pursue him but was blocked by the Headless Spirit, and they clashed once more. “Good thing his weapons are so crappy!” Xia Ye panted, trying to steady his racing heart. Tong Ren’s bronze twin swords were actually of decent quality, but centuries of neglect had long since rusted them, and after several clashes, they were now riddled with nicks. The Headless Spirit’s form was gradually fading—a sign that it was about to vanish. Xia Ye prepared to flee; otherwise, once the Headless Spirit was gone, he wouldn’t be able to hold off Tong Ren. “Run? This Tong Ren must be worth a fortune, right?” Song Guo licked her lips and picked up her warhammer. “He’s useless to us, but to a mechanical engineer, he’s a treasure trove!” Handing Tong Ren over to Mo Wu Heng would definitely earn him a huge favor. “Then why run?” Song Guo was about to make her move. “Wait—something’s off!” Xia Ye saw a light suddenly flare up on Tong Ren’s back, growing increasingly blinding, so he quickly pulled Song Guo away to a safe distance. A dozen or so seconds later, with a massive boom, Tong Ren’s back exploded, sending all sorts of parts and copper fragments flying everywhere! Thud! The mechanical Tong Ren crashed to the ground, and the light flickering in his gemstone eyes quickly dimmed until they were as lifeless as ashes. “Is he dead?” Song Guo was stunned. Xia Ye approached cautiously and poked at him with his longsword. His face immediately fell—Tong Ren’s back had been blown to pieces, and the inside was a complete mess. “I heard that to prevent their technology from being leaked, mechanical engineers build self-destruct mechanisms into their mechanical beasts!” Song Guo sighed in frustration and kicked Tong Ren: “So it’s true after all!” “This is a terrible experience as a jungler!” Xia Ye was speechless. It was only because Xia Qingyuan didn’t have the right tools or materials that he could only perform a simple self-destruct modification; otherwise, Xia Ye wouldn’t have even gotten a body to take home. “Bury it—let Mo Wu Heng dig it up herself later!” Xia Ye urged. Once they’d cleaned up the mess and slung the bronze treasure chest onto their backs, they hurriedly slipped away. If they got cornered again, they’d truly run out of options. With no time to count their loot, the two hurried on their way. Xia Ye had originally planned to leave the ruins as soon as possible and head into the forest—that would greatly reduce the chances of being discovered and tracked—but before long, his muscles ached terribly, and a headache set in, as if a giant were jabbing a steel pickaxe deep into his head. With no other choice, the two of them stopped. Hiding in the drafty ruins of a stone house, Xia Ye took a few bites of an energy bar and then passed out cold. The successive battles, along with the continuous summoning of undead heroes and headless war spirits, had drained far too much of Xia Ye’s vitality and spiritual awareness. Because of the adrenaline rush from the fighting, he hadn’t felt it at the time, but once the victory was secured and he was safe, exhaustion washed over him like a tidal wave, engulfing him completely. Song Guo, like a loyal hunting dog, cradled the Tai’a Longsword and stood guard outside the ruins. The moon rose and set, stars flickered and faded—a whole night had passed. As a cool morning breeze blew, Xia Ye opened his eyes. “Song Guo？” Xia Ye didn’t see the little girl and grew a bit anxious. “Huh?” The little girl rushed in, threw herself into his arms, and looked at him with concern. “I’m fine now!” Xia Ye ruffled the little girl’s hair. Seeing the concern in her eyes, he gave her a tender smile. “Want a cookie?” “Yes!” Song Guo smiled sweetly. “First, let’s practice our boxing—then breakfast!” Xia Ye practiced the “Dragon-Taming Return Character Formula” with great dedication. He now fully understood how important a strong body was. The “Great Wasteland Scripture of Ten Thousand Spirits” was one of the three great ancient spirit-channeling scriptures—a true divine-level treasure—but given Xia Ye’s current physical condition, he was nowhere near capable of unleashing its full power. Just yesterday, he’d used it twice—the aftereffects felt like pulling seven all-nighters in a row. He’d nearly died of exhaustion; it was absolutely excruciating. During breakfast, Xia Ye studied the scripture and realized that the higher the level of the spirit beast he summoned, the more spiritual awareness it consumed. Fortunately, both the Headless Battle Spirit and the Undead Hero were creatures Xia Ye had slain and already enslaved; otherwise, his spiritual awareness would have been completely depleted by now, leaving him, at best, a moron, and at worst, dead. “I need to quickly raise my spiritual awareness!” Xia Ye sighed. His tactic of using a swarm of spirit servants to overwhelm the enemy had backfired, but fortunately, the *Great Wasteland Sutra of Ten Thousand Spirits* contained meditation techniques that could be used to refine his spiritual awareness. After a quick breakfast, the two of them hurried off. Having made a killing, it was time to make a run for it. If someone took him out now, Xia Ye would be devastated. But with a bronze chest full of ivory on his back, plus a leather backpack and other luggage, he simply couldn’t move very fast. “This is such a hassle!” As soon as they stepped out of the ruins and looked at the dense forest, Xia Ye felt a wave of exasperation wash over him. The big chest was a real hindrance, constantly getting caught on nearby branches and bushes. “I’ll carry it—you lead the way!” Song Guo patted her little chest, signaling that she was still strong enough to carry it! “No need!” Xia Ye swung his bronze longsword to chop through the tree trunks and branches blocking their path. Fortunately, the blade was extremely sharp—it cut through them in a single stroke. “If the blacksmith saw you treating his masterpiece like this, he’d probably be so furious he’d crawl out of his grave and smash your head in with a coffin lid!” Song Guo beamed with delight. “Haha!” Xia Ye laughed, but in the very next instant, his expression darkened. “Don’t move. Drop your weapon, or I’ll blow your head off!” Someone threatened.