By this time, dawn was approaching.
Bai Qiu hadn’t expected that after only a few hours of rest, he would already find himself thrown into another heart-pounding battle.
Only after calming himself and recovering his condition did he continue onward, stepping onto the Wind Spirit Hoverboard and leaving the forest behind.
Along the way, venomous snakes and savage beasts lurking in the woods tried to attack him.
They were far too weak, however, and only ended up throwing away their lives.
A creature as powerful as the Skyvault Silver Falcon really shouldn’t have appeared in this region.
But considering its incredible speed, it wouldn’t have been surprising even if it had flown all the way to the coastline where low-level players gathered and treated them like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
After leaving the forest, Bai Qiu entered a completely new area—a vast, seemingly endless prairie.
Strange fruits occasionally peeked out from among clusters of tall grass, reminding him of the scene back in the Bountiful Prairie…
Of course, this wasn’t the same place.
This region had its own name—the Boundless Prairie.
The density of the grassland far exceeded Bai Qiu’s expectations.
The grass itself reached heights of three to four meters.
As for the monsters roaming the prairie, each one stood at least five or six meters tall, with the largest reaching dozens of meters, towering as conspicuously as giraffes on the African savanna.
Any one of these creatures was over a hundred times stronger than the elite monsters of the Bountiful Prairie.
The prairie was also filled with countless herbaceous plants bearing small, brightly colored fruits of every imaginable hue.
Bai Qiu collected samples as usual.
After confirming that the fruits had no particularly important uses for himself or those around him, he didn’t bother gathering them in large quantities.
That said, if they tasted especially good, he would happily pick a little extra.
After walking for a while, Bai Qiu summoned A’Yuan to accompany him.
At first, the wild beasts they encountered regarded Bai Qiu as prey and launched attacks.
But the moment they noticed A’Yuan beside him, they all wisely fled in panic.
After all, A’Yuan had grown to nearly ninety meters in length.
Even among the creatures inhabiting this prairie, a Pseudo-Monarch-class existence was something truly formidable.
Not to mention that it grew stronger every single moment.
With its current size, if it were to fight the Kraken from a few days ago again, it would certainly be capable of killing it.
Both A’Yuan and A’Yan had been constantly growing.
More accurately, every lifeform that reached the Transcendent rank underwent a fundamental evolution of its entire existence.
That included Bai Qiu himself.
Ever since reaching the Transcendent realm, even his height had increased slightly.
Yet he was already twenty-two years old—by all logic, his growth plates should have long since fused, and he should have stopped growing.
The reason A’Yan’s size hadn’t changed at all was twofold.
First, its density and mass were simply too great.
Second, it was already at the Transcendent level.
It had already reached the Transcendent rank before, and Bai Qiu hadn’t possessed any superior resources to further accelerate its growth, so its development had naturally been rather slow.
Now, however, thanks to the Truffle Sea Urchin Soup, it could finally continue growing again.
As for why Bai Qiu didn’t summon A’Yan to travel alongside them, the reason was simple—its Agility was far too low, and it would only slow them down.
With A’Yuan accompanying him, Bai Qiu relaxed considerably.
He took out the Heaven-Earth Shattering Bow and began farming monsters once more, choosing between Crystal Iron Arrows and Crystal Silver Arrows depending on the situation.
Small, solitary monsters were instantly killed with Crystal Iron Arrows.
Larger monsters—or groups of enemies—were dealt with using Crystal Silver Arrows, whose massive explosions inflicted devastating area damage.
Backed by the overwhelming power of the Heaven-Earth Shattering Bow, virtually any Transcendent creature that wasn’t specialized in Strength had an extremely high chance of dying from a single arrow.
Meanwhile, after Loot Pickup reached C+ Rank, its collection radius had expanded to 5,000 meters.
Judging by how quickly its proficiency was increasing, it wouldn’t be long before it advanced to C++ Rank, granting an even larger pickup range.
Bai Qiu became death incarnate, harvesting the lives of every creature within a five-kilometer radius.
Since the monsters here were generally around Level 40, the experience they provided was tremendous.
In the span of a single morning, Bai Qiu advanced to Level 38.
With this vast, unobstructed prairie serving as his hunting ground, his monster-farming efficiency had reached an astonishing level.
Seeing that it was nearly noon and that all the nearby animals had already been wiped out, Bai Qiu decided to stop and cook lunch on the spot.
With A’Yan around, he never had to worry about finding a suitable place to light a fire.
He simply summoned A’Yan and had it press a basin-shaped depression into the ground.
Then he lit a fire inside the makeshift hollow and started cooking.
If there wasn’t a suitable campsite, then he’d simply make one.
That was just common sense.
Suddenly summoned by Bai Qiu, A’Yan emerged from beneath the ground as it always did.
Seeing that its view was completely blocked by the towering grass above, it stretched out its two round, stubby forelimbs and pushed the grass aside before turning to look at Bai Qiu.
The anticipation in its eyes seemed to ask only one question:
Is it snack time again?
Bai Qiu dismissed A’Yan, then summoned it again onto another patch of grass, where it promptly compressed the ground into another large crater.
Only then did Bai Qiu explain, “We’re about to eat. I’ll heat up the Truffle Sea Urchin Soup first—it’ll be ready in a moment.”
“Roar.”
“Woo~”
A’Yuan responded with a low cry before lying back down on the grass, gazing at Bai Qiu expectantly.
As for A’Yan, after receiving the answer it wanted, it slowly withdrew its forelimbs, allowing the grass to spring back into place and block its vision once more.
Then it retreated into its shell, quietly waiting for Bai Qiu to call it out again.
Soon enough, Bai Qiu finished reheating the Truffle Sea Urchin Soup, and its rich aroma spread through the air.
Fortunately, he immediately used Wind Manipulation to seal the fragrance within the area, so there was no need to worry about high-level monsters catching the scent and traveling thousands of kilometers just to interrupt their meal.
“Three bowls each, plus some mixed grains.”
Bai Qiu fed three bowls to the turtle and three to the snake before drinking three large bowls himself.
As he felt his attributes steadily increasing, he estimated that he wasn’t far from obtaining another Transcendent Physique.
After eating and drinking their fill, Bai Qiu sent A’Yan back into the Contract Space Card.
It couldn’t be helped—A’Yan was simply too heavy.
Its already cumbersome body became painfully slow on the soft prairie, moving at little more than a turtle’s pace.
Then again…
It was a turtle.
Originally, Bai Qiu had intended to scold it for secretly falling asleep during its watch the previous night.
But after remembering how he’d used A’Yan as a shield against the Skyvault Silver Falcon’s attacks not long afterward, he decided its merits and faults canceled each other out.
He’d let it slide this time—but only this once.
…
Bai Qiu and A’Yuan continued their journey for another half a day.
By the time the sun dipped below the western horizon, they still hadn’t managed to leave the endless prairie.
Seeing that A’Yuan was beginning to tire, Bai Qiu stored it back inside the Contract Space Card and continued traveling alone.
During that time, he had killed quite a few monsters.
His experience bar was already more than halfway filled, and he was confident that it wouldn’t be long before he reached Level 39.
The reason he hadn’t shared the experience with A’Yuan or A’Yan was simple.
On one hand, he wanted to raise his own level and strength as quickly as possible, because he was the undisputed core of the entire team.
Whenever they encountered monsters like the Skyvault Silver Falcon, he would inevitably be the one dealing with them personally.
The two contracted beasts would mainly serve supporting roles afterward.
Although A’Yan possessed impressive Strength, it specialized in defense.
Expecting it to function as the team’s main damage dealer was asking a bit too much.
As Bai Qiu walked, he suddenly frowned and muttered to himself,
“That’s strange… I’ve gone more than five kilometers already. Why haven’t I seen a single animal?”
He flew into the sky to get a better view.
Only then did he realize that he was now not far from the central region of the prairie.
Even so, it would still take him at least another ten hours of travel to completely cross the grassland.
But from his vantage point in the air, he noticed something unsettling.
Within a radius of over a hundred li around the central area, there wasn’t a single animal in sight.
The entire region was eerily devoid of life, as though something profoundly unnatural lurked there.
— The end of the Chapter–
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