by Lazy Bird
When there was only one second left in the countdown, Li Siwen suddenly saw the half of the hoe in his hand, so he threw caution to the wind.
A second later, he sat down, feeling even more tired than after he had killed the monster earlier. He was also feeling a heartache. Why was there such a thing as a Heavenly Workmanship Point?
“En?”
He saw the hoe shine out of the corner of his eye. He quickly picked it up and took a closer look. It was no longer black like the wrought iron before, but had a tinge of a bluish-gray luster. When he struck it with a finger, the echo rang clear.
“My, this is—is this steel?”
Li Siwen was shocked. Then he decided in only three seconds and returned to the scene of the tragedy more than two hundred meters back. He took Zhao Da’s chipped steel knife, the almost-split axe and all the water gourds on the farmers. He glanced back at the smoky territory once, then left resolutely.
Yes, it was time for him to fly solo. This territory could have made it if the boorish Feudal Lord was not always thinking of relying on sacrifices in exchange for resources and strength. There was so much food and so much energy that he could have used to develop the territory.
Great, it had now been completely permeated by the power of that statue and destroyed by the backlash.
Today’s Zhao Da, whether or not he had his own consciousness, could no longer be called a human being.
It had happened to Zhao Da. In that case, Song Hu, Sun Tieshi, Zhang Ye, Qin Fen, and even the boorish Feudal Lord who had also integrated with fire amulet, even if they were still safe now, there was no guarantee that they would not become monsters in the future.
“And even if I were to be a humanoid creep, I wouldn’t team up with monsters!”
“It’s a pity about these fifty acres of demonized wheat.”
Li Siwen sighed and returned to the river valley again.
After all, the incident happened suddenly. It took only two or three minutes from the time Zhao Da mutated to the time he was killed, so the territory would not find out so soon. The logging team would arrive at the scene more than ten minutes later if Song Hu did not also mutate.
So he calmly dealt with some traces, then jumped into the stream and walked in it. Five hundred steps downstream, there was an old tree. He climbed onto the tree with a heave and hid among the branches and leaves. In the afterglow of the setting sun, he looked back at the farmer’s hut where the tragedy had happened while recovering Stamina.
After all, it was going to be dark soon, and running around without Stamina was akin to looking for death.
Of course, Li Siwen would not forget his confidence in daring to fly solo, the magical Heavenly Workmanship Points.
After extracting one point of Heavenly Workmanship from the blue orb, he gave priority to adding it to the cracked iron axe. As expected, nothing happened. After all, a hoe and an axe were two different things.
Li Siwen immediately extracted three points of Heavenly Workmanship. So far, this rusty axe made of pig iron and was full of gaps had become brighter. Not only was it made of quality stainless steel now, it also weighed more.
However, it was just too costly.
“Then, this knife—”
Li Siwen took out the steel knife, which had two large chips. It was supposed to be a steel knife, but compared to the stainless steel axe, the difference was like comparing Xishi [1. Chinese beauty from ancient times] and a tank.
“An axe is enough. What do I want a long knife for?”
Li Si wondered aloud, mainly because he was loath to waste the Heavenly Workmanship points. They would come in very handy at the critical moment.
As for fighting?
He had his Spirit Vision talent, an axe that could continuously cut down trees to obtain Vitality Points, and he could continuously add to his Attributes. He didn’t think there were any beasts that he couldn’t handle with an axe.
If he couldn’t deal with them with an axe, the long knife wouldn’t help either. He might as well surrender earlier, and he might still be able to keep an intact corpse.
Nevertheless, Li Siwen broke some branches to wrap the unsheathed long knife, then tied it up with a cloth strip and carried it on his back.
In this way, with a hoe in his left hand and an axe in his right hand, he was now a creep. He would never look back!
chapter 33
A few minutes later, in the afterglow of the setting sun, Li Siwen saw the logging team returning as usual. Song Hu had not mutated. However, the tragic massacre near the farmer’s hut still caused a commotion among them, and their shouting could be heard from far away.
Song Hu and others stayed at the scene of the tragedy for a while, then ran back to the territory in a battle formation. After a while, it was probably Overseer Sun Tieshi who led the team to investigate, but he only took a few glances before hurrying back to the territory. He didn’t find the missing people at all.
“That’s interesting. Overseer Sun Tieshi is handling this too sloppily. He doesn’t look like a coward. Why did he just take a hurried glance and leave without even bothering to clean up the bodies?”
Li Siwen frowned slightly.
“There are two probable reasons. First, he doesn’t care about the matter at all. Only a few farmers died. It doesn’t matter to him even if it was Zhao Da who died.”
“As for the second reason, is that Sun Tieshi knows what’s going on. I don’t believe that he, a hero with strong combat and healing powers, cannot see what is going on? Maybe he already knew the disadvantages of the fire amulet. Otherwise, why did he repeatedly pester Zhao Da in the past two days?”
“Of course, that may not be true, but all this no longer has anything to do with me.”
Thereafter, Li Siwen slowed his breathing, closed his eyes, and took the time to rest. The boorish Feudal Lord had probably not returned from hunting yet. This will be his last chance.
An hour later, the sky gradually dimmed. He could vaguely see a few stars in the sky, and a bonfire in the territory’s direction was particularly conspicuous at that moment.
Li Siwen glanced at the Attribute Bar and confirmed his status again.
His Stamina had been restored to 7 points, Vitality Point was 0, Spirit Point was 11, and Heavenly Workmanship Point was 9.
Well then, it was time to take action.
He quickly jumped off the old tree and crossed the river. Based on his memory, he ran straight to the logging hut.
This was his resting place for the first night after going solo today.
At this moment, there was only the last ray of light left in the sky. Li Siwen could still see dozens of meters away. He didn’t dare to hurry but tried to keep his steps light and his hearing sharp.
The strange cry of unknown night-birds sounded in the distance, insects in the grass chirped, and black shadows flew silently overhead. Occasionally, he hit a spider web, and sometimes he could hear the mosquitoes buzzing.
This was a world full of vigor and vitality. From this moment on, Li Siwen would have to live alongside them, creating a life for himself.
Half an hour later, the logging hut was in sight. The wooden fence built the previous day was gone, but everything from that rainy night was still vividly visible.
The four loggers from then, Old Zhao, Old Chen, Cao Dai, and Liu Er, were now all dead.
He approached the logging hut silently. After making sure it was safe, he leaped into it. He leaned against a corner and put the hoe aside. Holding the axe in his hand, he closed his eyes and rested quietly.
After an unknown period, the howl of a beast in the distance awakened Li Siwen. He opened his eyes to pitch-black darkness. Clutching the axe tightly made him feel a little calmer.
When he opened the Attribute Bar, he found that his Stamina had been fully restored. He saw that his Spirit Vision was also lit up and knew that it was already at least one in the middle of the night. After all, he could activate his talent for free every six hours.
“It’s almost time, start work!”
Li Siwen immediately activated his Spirit Vision. Instantly, with him as the center, everything within a fifteen-meter radius was visible as if he had activated all-round vision.
His Spirit Vision was now at Level 2 and would last for 5 minutes.
Jumping out of the logging hut, Li Siwen didn’t even look around. He went straight to the woods over 200 meters away. Along the way, an Iron Ring Black Snake wanted to attack him from the grass, but he swung his axe without even bothering to stop and the snake was quietly beheaded.
When he came to a big tree, he didn’t hesitate at all. He got into position and swung the steel axe under the stars as fast as lightning!
“Boom!”
The tree shook violently. The axe penetrated more than ten centimeters, but it only took 80% of his strength.
Pulling out the axe, Li Siwen made another lightning chop. He made a large cut in the trunk of the enormous tree by angling the second chop with the first. Then he made another cut. The cut became bigger and bigger, and the strength he used to swing the axe gradually increased. His speed increased.
A minute later, with a “crack”, the tree crashed to the ground.
But Li Siwen’s breathing rate didn’t increase. His expression did not change and his Stamina remained at 19 points.
He didn’t waste a moment. Before the secondary spirit force field formed by the Spirit Vision disappeared, he cut down five big trees in one go.
He got three Vitality Points.
As for his Stamina, he had used only 3 points in total.
Returning to the logging hut, Li Siwen sat quietly at the entrance, waiting for dawn. He was going to ripen the demonized wheat with the 3 Vitality Points, not to eat them, but to get their seeds.
Speaking of it, this was one of the few things he thought the boorish Feudal Lord did right.
However, it was a pity.
—
When the first trace of light appeared in the sky, Li Siwen was already standing in front of the wheat field, skillfully ripening the demonized wheat. He then uprooted, packed, and took it away without a trace of nostalgia.
He first returned to the logging hut, removed all the wheat grains, and carefully put them into cloth pockets. These were all the cloth strips he had accumulated before, picked off from the dead.
Tying these cloth pockets to his body, Li Siwen cleaned up, then orientated himself and headed southwest, walking along the edge of the woods.
He could only use this place as a temporary overnight stay, and it would not be feasible for him to come again.
As for the reason he wanted to go southwest, he had given it careful thought.
First, it was impossible to go northwest, not only because he knew nothing about it but also because it was the direction that hunting groups often went.
Secondly, the northeast direction was the territory of the blue wolf. There was no doubt about this. Many times the wolf howling he heard in the night came from that direction.
The vast mountain was in the east, but since the boorish Feudal Lord would not go there, Li Siwen would not go there either.
There was a big river in the west. He didn’t have the ability to cross the river like Bodhidharma, so he would not try.
The forest was in the south. He knew nothing about the forest, so he would not consider it for now.
The southeast direction was the junction of the forest and the mountain. The boorish Feudal Lord and the hunting teams liked to go there, so it was out of the question.
The southwest direction was all that was left.
It was close to a big river. Whenever there was heavy rain, the water level would inevitably rise and the river would frequently flow backward.
So based on the principle of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, in this area where the river flow was inverted, there would not be any ferocious beasts living here. After all, they could go to better places.
Of course, Li Siwen’s judgment was not absolute, but now that he wanted to go solo and be a creep, he had to experience, face, and overcome all kinds of dangers and difficulties.
A creep had to have the confidence of a creep.
chapter 34
The edge of the forest in the morning light was beautiful. Because of the scarcity of trees, the weeds and wildflowers bloomed. At first glance, they were colorful and dotted. Coupled with the chirping of birds and the hazy morning mist, it was a good place.
Li Siwen had no time to admire the view. He did not rush. While trying not to leave any traces, he had to watch out for danger in the grass.
When the sun rose, he was already seven to eight miles away from the logging hut. The road ahead widened. He could even see the gentle water in a river ahead.
Here, Li Siwen examined the soil and vegetation. Although it had been quite a few days since the ground was flooded by the river water, he found traces of the flooding.
“Fortunately, the deepest place is only about one meter, which shows that the terrain did not change much. But I have to consider if it rains heavily for a few days. I have to watch out since I will stay by the river often.”
Li Siwen did not go to the big river but turned south when he was about one mile away. Maybe it was because the river often flowed backward. The weeds were different and were exceptionally lush.
Along the way, he killed another Iron Ring Black Snake and a fist-sized black spider. Enormous beasts were nowhere to be seen, but there were some unknown small-sized creatures and several waterfowl. He was even lucky enough to come across a nest of waterfowl eggs. Well, they could be wild duck eggs, it didn’t matter, as long as he could eat it.
Li Siwen headed south just like this. The terrain gradually became lower and the depth of the flooding in many places reached 1.5 meters. This was not a good place to settle down.
Li Siwen hesitated before heading about one mile into the forest. The trees became taller and denser. Not much sunlight could shine through the gaps of the dense leaves, and there was a gloomy atmosphere even during the daytime.
Li Siwen was a little worried. He enjoyed being on the edge of the forest. After all, there were few trees, plenty of sunshine, and a few large beasts. But he cannot overcome the river backflow. It would not be a beautiful scene if an Adamantoise came to visit him.
Unless he had no intention to do any farm work. But that wouldn’t do. Li Siwen feared what would happen when winter came.
After about one mile into the forest, he determined the approximate position and continued to head south.
Most of the trees here were never seen before. There were few weeds on the ground and the ground was layered thick with fallen leaves. Stepping on it was like walking on a carpet. Occasionally, a few brightly colored mushrooms could be seen. Purple-green vines with long and narrow leaves grew everywhere disorderly, disrupting Li Siwen’s advance.
Unless it was an exceptionally bright and sunny day with lots of sunlight, he felt he would get lost here.
He conveniently cut off a few large bundles of strong vines and took them with him. He might have a use for it later.
About three miles into the south, he encountered a big wild boar standing at the entrance of a small valley. It was over 70 meters away. Li Siwen didn’t move. The wild boar couldn’t be bothered with them either. They passed each other amicably.
Moving forward, a flooded valley blocked the way.
The valley was not deep but was two to three miles wide. There were traces of flash floods everywhere. Trees were being uprooted and several large rocks were washed down by the flash flood.
Li Siwen took an interest in one of the large rocks. He knew that the iron content would be high here. Was there iron ore here?
But this was not what he needed to consider now.
He passed through the flooded valley. The terrain ahead was higher, but Li Siwen encountered a little trouble. Yes, trouble.
A big leopard followed him but did not attac
k. Perhaps it was uncertain?
Li Siwen didn’t care about the leopard and only observed the topography. Then he decided to settle down here.
This place was considered being a small hill, about two meters higher than the flooded valley. The ground was rather flat. The terrain sank a few hundred meters to the south. It was possible that it would be flooded by the river water.
The leopard trailed behind him and jumped patiently from tree to tree. It was more agile than a monkey, but it never came fifty meters within Li Siwen.
When Li Siwen finally chose a few suitable big trees to build a treehouse, the leopard sneaked up to a big tree over 20 meters away from him. When Li Siwen turned around, it took advantage of the situation and pounced at him.
Almost at the same time, Li Siwen, who had been secretly alert, activated his Spirit Vision and swung his axe as he turned around.
He swung this axe with all his strength and thought he had succeeded. Who would have thought that just before the axe fell on the leopard’s head, the leopard flashed past and leaped to the side? When Li Siwen returned to position after swinging his axe, the leopard had already leaped forty to fifty meters away and looked at him calmly.
Li Siwen laughed.
“Heck, you fooled me into using my move. Does your family know you’re so outstanding?! Good, just you wait!”
Right then, he took out the jagged steel knife and immediately extracted Heavenly Workmanship Points to strengthen and repair it. Before, he was reluctant to waste the Heavenly Workmanship Points. But he had to settle the current situation. Although the axe was powerful, when he chopped the tree, there would be a few seconds of delay where the axe is stuck in the tree trunk. During this time, fast beasts like leopards could easily attack him. Hence, a second weapon was necessary.
However, it was painful.