Chapter 36: Chapter 36

“Master, while you may have already emptied its blood, this thing’s body is highly nourishing if cooked well.” Lu Zhishen pointed to the dead monster. “We should carry it back and make a dish for our comrades. That will help with their training at the beginning.”

In ancient stories, only rich people were able to go down the path of martial arts because they needed a lot of supplements and nourishment to satisfy their bodily needs. A simple way for doing this was to consume high-quality food.

In regular conditions, the occasional beasts around a mountain settlement were not enough to support hundreds of warriors. But here, it was possible to find enough monsters for this purpose. And it wasn’t like the entire clan needed them; at this moment, only a small portion of the population was able to actually follow Lu Zhishen’s training. The Mandrill would surely keep a lot of people going for a long time, as long as they knew how to preserve it.

The settlers could have already eaten the Black Serpent to get a head start in their early stage of training. But they were soon discouraged when they thought that the serpent had also devoured some of their friends.

“Wait a moment, chief.” Ji Ye shook his head and pointed to a certain direction. “I just noticed something. The ape was escaping down this way as if it knew where to go… All these trees in the way weren’t enough to make it turn. I believe powerful monsters like this one tend to build nests in their territories where they keep food or interesting objects they found. Perhaps we should try searching for them?”

Ji Ye said that since he had read enough stories containing such a plot. It was very likely in this case, like discovering a “treasure chest” after defeating a boss.

Lu Zhishen agreed without much of a thought. That made a lot of sense.

As for how to find this monster’s nest, it wouldn’t be so difficult with Ji Ye’s survivalist expertise.

“Here.”

They reached the entrance of a cave in a few minutes. The large threshold was clearly man-made. Or ape-made in this case. The monster had even used some random plants and boulders to keep it hidden, though none of its effort was helpful in front of a veteran hunter.

The first thing they noticed from the cave was a smell nice enough to make them feel refreshed.

“Yup. There’s something inside, master.” Lu Zhishen took another sniff.

Ji Ye tossed a stone inside and waited for a moment; there was no reaction.

“It’s probably safe then.”

They both went inside. The cave was pretty deep and complex; it grew darker the further they went, but at the same time, the scent also got stronger.

They saw something that flashed ahead of them after making several turns. After a careful look, it was a ray of sunlight that reached inside from a small gap in the ceiling.

A small, crimson sapling about a meter high was growing right where the light landed. The pleasant smell came from about a dozen apple-like fruits on the tree, which shone like polished agate gems in the light.

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[Red Pip]

[Level: Extraordinary Rank-1]

[Rarity: Excellent (Rare)]

[Red Pips malformed into a particular state due to blood irrigation. A fully grown Red Pip can be used to enhance the user’s bodily properties, or to cleanse certain types of toxins.]

“Body enhancement?” Both Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen widened their eyes in shock after reading the description, as such tools were of great help to their cause at the moment.

A refined body would allow efficient inner strength channeling. Eating those fruits would indirectly help their inner strength grow.

The remaining fruits on the tree were of slightly different colors, probably because some of them had yet to mature. Telling from the empty branches, the Mandrill had already eaten some of them, which might be why it could reach the Extraordinary Rank-2 in the first place.

“Hold up. The dirt under the tree has something as well.” Ji Ye looked down and saw another description window coming up.

[Bloodied Soil]

[Level: Extraordinary Rank-0]

[Rarity: Common]

[Dirt drenched in the blood of countless victims. Can be used to grow certain plants that require special soil conditions.]

“I guess that’s where the monster found so much blood,” Lu Zhishen looked around the area and saw piles of bodies scattered about. Wolves, boars and leopards that were way bigger than common sense dictated… None of them seemed to be part of the common wildlife.

Apparently, the Mandrill did this to help the tree grow. It might have even used its own blood in the process.

“The ape was smart. Thank goodness it wasn’t too smart,” Ji Ye commented.

The incident had reminded him not to regard high-rank monsters as common beasts again.

“Two of them look good to eat. Chief Lu, let’s each have one.” Ji Ye picked two fruits from the tree and handed one over. They looked almost like drops of fresh blood.

The rotten corpses nearby had truly ruined his appetite, though he wasn’t going to reject such an obviously valuable item merely for this reason. Besides, eating thoroughly-cooked rotten meat was one of the essential tricks of a survivalist. Those fruits sure looked better compared to that.