Overlord of the Wilderness

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Zhaang Ye looked down at his hands, which now glowed a faint golden-yellow. When he reached the 3rd Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill, his hands had also turned yellow, but this new hue was much richer. His entire palm looked as if it were forged from real Gold.

Whether Zhaang Ye believed it or not, the truth was undeniable: he had reached the 4th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill! With just the slightest exertion, he could feel a power surging within him, seemingly ready to burst forth at any moment.

’Strange! I just reached the 3rd Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill. How did I break through to the 4th Layer after only a few days? And what was that mysterious power that suddenly poured into my body when I was circulating the technique?’ Zhaang Ye was filled with questions.

RUMBLE—

The ceaseless rumbling interrupted Zhaang Ye’s thoughts. He looked up and couldn’t help but gasp.

It turned out that while Zhaang Ye was in Cultivation, the Mammoth had been ramming the Light Curtain without pause. The beast weighed well over a hundred thousand jin; a single one of its charges could level a small hill. Yet, even with such immense power, its impacts had no effect on the Light Curtain. Worse, a terrifying Rebound Force repeatedly sent the Mammoth reeling. The violent backlash had shaken the creature so badly that blood was now streaming from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

The Mammoth Zhaang Ye saw now was covered in blood. Its golden fur was stained crimson, and it looked utterly wretched.

Zhaang Ye sighed and stood up. He didn’t know what lay behind the Light Curtain that would drive the Mammoth to such a desperate frenzy. But he knew that if he didn’t stop it, the creature would eventually die from exhaustion.

”HEY! HEY! HEY!” Zhaang Ye roared several times to get the Mammoth’s attention, then called out, ”Big guy, you can’t get through this gate with your current strength! Why don’t we leave for now? We can come back and try again once we’re stronger.”

Zhaang Ye called out to it several times until the Mammoth finally ceased its charge. It let out a reluctant roar and released the stone slate it had been clenching in its mouth.

As soon as the Mammoth let go, the stone slate emitted a faint green light, floated into the air, and returned to its original position. The moment the slate was back in place, the Light Curtain flashed and solidified back into the mysterious, giant green gate.

The Mammoth stared at the giant gate and let out a few more frustrated roars. It then turned and nodded to Zhaang Ye, gesturing for him to climb onto its back.

Zhaang Ye leaped onto the Mammoth’s back, and the beast immediately broke into a run. Realizing they were going the wrong way, Zhaang Ye quickly shouted, ”Hey, big guy, you’re going in the wrong direction! The exit should be that way!”

The Mammoth let out a few low rumbles, pointed ahead with its trunk, and continued running forward without breaking its stride.

It was impossible to tell how vast the underground cavern was. Even after the Mammoth had been running for over two Hours, there was still no end in sight. The path was lined with grim elephant bones, all of them massive. The deeper they went, the larger the bones became, and the chilling aura they exuded weighed down on Zhaang Ye’s heart like a mountain.

Finally, the Mammoth reached the end of the cavern, where a great gate stood. Flanking the gate were two colossal elephant skeletons. They were clearly different from the bones outside; not only were they far larger, but their skeletons were a pale, faint yellow!

Every single bone was a pale yellow, and each one seemed as sharp as a sword, radiating waves of a terrifying aura. Though the creatures had long since died, the abyssal power and majesty contained within their bones had not dissipated in the slightest.

Each entire skeleton looked like a flame giving off a faint yellow glow. Zhaang Ye was still hundreds of yards away, yet he could feel an unimaginably terrifying aura pressing down on him. The pressure was so intense he could barely open his eyes. His breath caught in his throat, and his very bones began to creak, CRACK, CRACK.

’What a terrifying aura! It’s filled with the essence of the ancient Wilderness. It seems these two pale yellow skeletons belonged to kings among the Mammoths when they were alive!’ Zhaang Ye guessed to himself as he struggled to resist the crushing pressure.

The Mammoth, however, did not stop. It only slowed its pace, walking step by step toward the gate at the far end.

As the Mammoth continued forward, Zhaang Ye cried out inwardly, ’This is bad!’ The aura from the skeletons was already unbearable from hundreds of yards away. If the Mammoth walked right up to them, he feared the terrifying pressure would shatter his Heart Spirit, instantly turning him into a mindless simpleton—or even killing him!

’Dragon Elephant Skill!’

Zhaang Ye recalled the feeling of his earlier Cultivation. Realizing he couldn’t withstand the terrifying pressure, he immediately began to circulate the Dragon Elephant Skill.

As soon as he activated the technique, Zhaang Ye felt the strain on his body lessen. The terrifying pressure was still immense, but it was now within a range he could endure.

’How strange! The Dragon Elephant Skill is just a Body Refining Technique. How can it resist this kind of terrifying pressure?’ Zhaang Ye wondered as he circulated the technique.

’Dragon Elephant Skill... Dragon... Elephant...’ As the thought crossed his mind, something clicked. With immense Willpower, he stopped circulating the technique. He then pulled the *Dragon Elephant Skill* manual from his robes and flipped to the very last page.

On the final page was a line of tiny, annotated script: ”The Barbaric Races of the Wilderness are countless, but among them, the Dragon Race and the Elephant Race are the kings of strength. The Dragon Elephant Skill was created to simulate their Cultivation Techniques, but alas, it has only scratched the surface and is thus merely a Mid-Level Technique. If, one day, a successor is able to make contact with both the Dragon and Elephant Races, they could use the Dragon Elephant Skill as a foundation to create a follow-up technique, allowing it to truly possess the power of a dragon and an elephant!”

After reading the annotation, realization dawned on Zhaang Ye. No wonder circulating the Dragon Elephant Skill could mitigate the terrifying pressure. The technique had been created by an ancestor to imitate the cultivation methods of Dragons and Elephants. Although the resulting Dragon Elephant Skill was a pale imitation of the true techniques of the Dragon and Elephant Races, it was still of the same lineage. That was why it could offer some resistance to the Mammoth’s aura.

’What an incredible technique, this Dragon Elephant Skill! I never imagined it had such an origin,’ Zhaang Ye thought, his heart pounding with excitement. ’I will be the one to create its successor technique! I will be the one to truly wield the power of a dragon and an elephant!’

Now that he understood the origin of the Dragon Elephant Skill, the mysterious power that had surged into him earlier also began to make sense. If his guess was correct, that power was the unique energy possessed by the Mammoth race—Elephant Power. This huge cavern was the Mammoth Cemetery. Countless Mammoths had been laid to rest here, and some of the most powerful ones retained a trace of their Elephant Power even in death.

When Zhaang Ye had been cultivating the Dragon Elephant Skill, that trace of Elephant Power must have been attracted by the technique’s energy signature and flowed into his body on its own. It was this sliver of incredibly pure Elephant Power that had allowed him to break through to the 4th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill in such a short time—far faster than consuming any Elixir.

Understanding the cause and effect of it all, Zhaang Ye was overjoyed. This Mammoth Cemetery might be a grim place, but cultivating the Dragon Elephant Skill here would lead to incredible progress. ’If I train here for a year or two,’ he thought, ’I might reach the 5th Layer, or even the 6th Layer! I’d be unrivaled among my peers!’

BOOM!

Just as Zhaang Ye was lost in his daydreams, the Mammoth beneath him arrived at the great gate. It lowered its body slightly and passed through. Zhaang Ye felt a sudden, strange weight press down on him and found himself in a bizarre new world.