Overlord of the Wilderness

”WHOOSH!”

The Mammoth swiftly swam across the Boundary River, then, without a moment’s hesitation, carried Zhaang Ye and charged madly in a certain direction.

Zhaang Ye had been meditating on the Mammoth’s back. After a while, he noticed it had been running for quite some time. He called out, ”Big guy, where are you taking me?”

The Mammoth let out a few guttural calls and pointed forward with its trunk.

Zhaang Ye couldn’t understand its language at all, so he just patted its head and said, ”Alright, alright, have it your way. I’m curious to see where you’re taking me!”

The Mammoth let out a single call and continued its relentless run. It ran for three whole days, covering thousands of miles. They encountered several powerful Fierce Beasts along the way, but fortunately, none of them attacked. At dusk on the third day, the Mammoth carried Zhaang Ye across several swamps and arrived before a pitch-black canyon.

The pitch-black canyon was surrounded by thick, overgrown weeds. ’I have no idea how this Mammoth found this place,’ Zhaang Ye thought. He peeked over the edge to take a look, only to be met with a blast of sinister air. As a Martial Artist, Zhaang Ye knew that this was an aura of death, meaning a great number of creatures had surely died inside.

’This is definitely a dangerous place.’

Zhaang Ye asked, ”Big guy, you want to go in there?”

The Mammoth nodded, its eyes showing a look of extreme determination.

Zhaang Ye said, ”Alright, I’ll go in with you and take a look!”

The Mammoth gave a soft cry, raised its trunk, and charged into the canyon.

The canyon was gloomy, pitch-black, and strangely silent. Zhaang Ye, sitting on the Mammoth’s back, widened his eyes but still couldn’t see his surroundings. Oddly enough, the Mammoth seemed quite familiar with the place. After rushing into the canyon, it moved faster and faster, creating a series of strange, whistling sounds. Zhaang Ye was constantly worried it would crash into the rock walls, but the great beast seemed to have the ability to see in the dark. Though its pace quickened, it never once hit a single rock or wall.

The Mammoth weaved left and right through the canyon, passing who knows how many forks in the path. After a full day of travel, it finally brought Zhaang Ye to a massive, underground cavern.

A faint light emanated from the cavern walls. Bathed in this dim glow, Zhaang Ye saw that they were surrounded by bone-white skeletons. The smallest of them were over a hundred feet tall, while the largest were over two hundred feet tall and three to four hundred feet long, standing densely packed in the cavern like a forest of White Bone Mountains.

”Th-these are... the skeletons of Mammoths! I can’t believe Mammoths could grow so massive! It seems the Mammoth I’m riding is just a juvenile!” Zhaang Ye recognized the shape of the skeletons at once, and his heart pounded with shock.

What shocked Zhaang Ye even more was that the skeletons all exuded a savage and tyrannical aura. After just a few glances, Zhaang Ye found himself suffocated by it, gasping for breath. He shut his eyes, but even then, that sinister, cold, and viciously cruel aura continued to press down on him silently, stirring a deep-seated fear within him. It felt as if he were carrying an immense weight, and even his thoughts became sluggish.

Zhaang Ye took a deep breath, barely suppressing the terror in his heart, and asked in astonishment, ”Big guy, why on earth did you bring me here?”

The Mammoth let out two soft calls, carried Zhaang Ye past the numerous skeletons, and arrived before a massive, cyan gate in the depths of the cavern. Zhaang Ye stared at the gate, his eyes widening in shock.

The gate was a full three to four hundred feet high and an astonishing two hundred feet wide. Its entire surface shimmered with a faint cyan light, making it look as if it were forged from a single piece of metal. It was covered in all sorts of strange patterns and Runes, giving it a primitive and mysterious feel, and it faintly exuded an incredibly profound aura. Zhaang Ye considered himself well-read, but he didn’t recognize a single Rune on the gate.

”GRUMPH!” The Mammoth called out softly, pointing its long trunk at the massive gate.

Zhaang Ye understood. ’So that’s it,’ he thought, then said aloud, ”Big guy, you want to go through this gate?”

The Mammoth nodded and gave another soft cry.

Suppressing the fear in his heart, Zhaang Ye gave a wry smile. ”Big guy, this gate is too big. Even if we worked together, there’s no way we could push it open.”

The Mammoth cried out softly, extended its long trunk, wrapped it around Zhaang Ye, and then flung him upwards.

Zhaang Ye felt the wind whistle past as his body flew straight up, soon soaring over the top of the gate. His gaze swept across and he spotted a pale black stone slate resting on the lintel. ’The Mammoth must have thrown me up here to get this slate,’ he realized. He immediately reached out and grabbed it.

The Mammoth caught Zhaang Ye, then eagerly took the stone slate with its trunk. Zhaang Ye was beginning to understand. ’This slate must be the key to opening this mysterious gate,’ he thought.

The Mammoth bit down on the stone slate, and blood from its mouth dripped onto the stone. The moment the slate was covered in blood, a flash of white light burst from the cyan gate. After the light faded, the gate had vanished, replaced by what looked like a very, very thin Light Curtain.

The Mammoth let out a joyous cry, lowered its body, and charged thunderously toward the gateway. But just then, something unexpected happened. The seemingly thin white Light Curtain was actually incredibly solid. The Mammoth crashed headfirst into it, but the Light Curtain didn’t even ripple. Instead, the Mammoth was thrown back a dozen steps by the Rebound Force. The shock even knocked Zhaang Ye off its back, his qi and blood roiling to the point that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

’Heavens! What in the world is this Light Curtain? It even repelled the Mammoth!’ Zhaang Ye thought in horror. He quickly sat down cross-legged to calm the roiling qi and blood in his body.

Zhaang Ye tried to circulate his True Qi, only to realize that under the terrifying pressure from the skeletons in the cavern, he couldn’t enter a state of Meditation at all. His True Qi couldn’t even flow smoothly through his body.

Frustrated, Zhaang Ye suddenly thought of his Body Refining Technique, the Dragon Elephant Skill. He began to circulate his internal energy according to its method. To his surprise, the Dragon Elephant Skill flowed with exceptional smoothness in this cavern. He could reach Meridians that were normally impossible for him to access during his Cultivation. The feeling was absolutely sublime.

”CRACK!” After completing One Cycle, Zhaang Ye felt a familiar yet mysterious power within the aura radiating from the Mammoth skeletons surge into his body. The moment this wisp of power entered him, Zhaang Ye’s entire body shuddered. The Dragon Elephant Skill began to operate wildly. With every revolution, his internal energy grew stronger, and with every revolution, he digested a little more of that mysterious power.

As the Cultivation Technique circulated, Zhaang Ye’s muscles began to ache. The pain grew stronger and stronger. First his skin hurt, then his muscles. Eventually, there wasn’t a single muscle in his body that didn’t ache. Zhaang Ye felt as if his body could shatter into a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand pieces at any moment. He desperately wanted to throw his head back and let out a long, agonized scream.

”CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK—”

The pain intensified. Zhaang Ye could clearly hear the sound of his own muscles tearing apart. The more he circulated the Cultivation Technique, the stronger the pain became. But he couldn’t stop it now. Zhaang Ye could only endure the horrific agony, keeping his Heart Spirit calm and tranquil as the energy in his body washed over him again and again.

Finally, just as Zhaang Ye was about to go numb from the pain, the mysterious power from an unknown source fully merged with his body. With this fusion complete, all the pain in Zhaang Ye’s body suddenly vanished, and a golden light erupted from him.

Zhaang Ye stared in disbelief at his now-golden hands and muttered, ”Heavens! I’ve actually broken through to the 4th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill! What in the world just happened?!”

(A thank you to my three bros, Meng Meng Beast, Shu Xian~~, and Tao Zhi 11, for the generous tips! And thanks to all the friends who have been quietly voting for this book! Today, this book made it onto the Sanjiang list. I just saw a reminder from my bro Meng Meng Beast and took a look at the Sanjiang channel—the numbers are a tragic sight. It’s not easy writing in the cold during the New Year, so I hope all you readers will go to the Sanjiang channel and cast a Sanjiang Ticket for this book. To thank you all, for every one hundred and fifty tickets, I will release an extra Chapter. I’m begging you!)