Chapter 6
The golden rays of the sun seeped through the dense forest, casting light on the dark and dreary place. A young man, who seemed out of place in the wilderness, carefully walked through the thick foliage. He was wearing a dirty white T-shirt and tattered black pants. The holes, dirt, and tears in his once exquisite clothing were evidence of the hardships he had endured.
"This place is too rich with natural resources. I can't believe no one is harvesting these things. Although they're inferior in quality to what I'm used to, hehe," he chuckled to himself. "Well, I have to return soon. I just need to find some more metal ore. Hmm… wait a minute… is that a gold vein? Holy crap! It really is a gold vein, and it's just sticking out of the ground! This is awesome!"
A large, gold-colored ore lay not too far away, in front of the young man, Shin Jiao. Beside it was a large tree with golden leaves. As he neared the area, he didn't notice a pair of eyes watching him from high up in the tree.
"This is truly my lucky day. With this, I can even make some complex components. According to my analysis, if there's a vein here, then there's a possibility of a cave nearby. Let's gather this gold ore first, then find the cave."
He slowly approached the gold ore, not letting his guard down. It was a good thing he did, because all of a sudden, a rustling sound came from above him, and a largemouth darted toward him. Seeing this, Shin Jiao somersaulted backward, narrowly evading the attack.
When he saw what animal had attacked him, he was flabbergasted. In front of him was the head of a snake, big enough to swallow him whole.
"Holy crap! That's one big snake. This isn't good, I have to escape this area as soon as possible. I must have intruded on its territory," Shin Jiao cursed as he looked at the green and gold patterns on the snake.
The snake quickly lifted its head and shook it. It felt a little shaken from the impact and was surprised that the human had actually dodged its attack. It looked furiously at the human in front of it, knowing the young man had no cultivation fluctuation. The snake was confident it could kill him. It suddenly let its long body fall to the ground with a loud crash, blocking Shin Jiao's escape path.
"Damn this snake! It looks like its instincts are very sharp. I guess I have no choice but to fight it so that I can escape. Come at me then!" Shin Jiao gritted his teeth and readied his weapon.
He observed the snake and its movements, noting that it didn't have two long fangs, and deduced that it wasn't poisonous. So, its movements would be a bit slower than a poisonous one since it was a constrictor snake. Still, he didn't let his guard down.
The beast seemed to disdain the human as it impatiently struck with its jaws wide open. To its surprise, the human casually dodged sideways and, with a simple swing, chipped off a part of the snake's scale. This made the giant snake truly angry as it glared at the human. Shin Jiao became a little apprehensive because that casual strike had contained almost 50% of his strength, yet it had only chipped a scale. This showed how strong the snake's defense was.
The snake's eyes became bloodshot with anger. It scrutinized the young man, who looked weak but had the capacity to injure it, even if just slightly. With a hiss, it coiled itself for a second strike. This time, a slight glow emanated from its body as it covered itself with energy.
Shin Jiao felt a bit helpless. Although he had great strength, the energy on the snake's body had doubled its defense.
"This is bad. This will be a lengthy battle," Shin Jiao thought upon seeing the bluish energy emanating from the snake.
With his sharp observation, Shin Jiao noticed something, and a sly smile crept onto his mouth. With a sneer, he readied himself to receive the snake's second attack. Then, with a rustle of wind, the snake darted forward and collided with Shin Jiao, who was in a defensive stance. The snake hit Shin Jiao's machete but did not receive any damage.
Shin Jiao, on the other hand, flew like a cannonball toward a tree about 5 meters away. He slid down and slumped to the ground, sitting with his back against the tree. He spurted a mouthful of blood and felt as if his internal organs had shifted. Then both his hands weakly fell as if all his strength was gone.
The snake sneered as it looked at the puny mortal. It felt elated upon seeing the youth's weak condition. It slowly approached and opened its large jaws to finish its prey, then bit Shin Jiao.
But before it could close its mouth completely, a sharp gleam suddenly appeared from one of its eyes, followed by a hand. Shin Jiao stabbed the snake from inside its mouth, upward, piercing its brain. With its head dead, its body began to spasm and wildly twist. It caused damage to its surroundings, and even Shin Jiao was flung around.
"Damn it!" he shouted.
After a few seconds, the snake fell dead. Shin Jiao weakly crawled out of its mouth with lacerations all over his body. Although his physique was already exceptional, the snake's teeth had still been able to easily cut him. But thanks to his unique cultivation, he was able to survive the ordeal.
With excruciating pain all over his body, he gritted his teeth and pushed himself to stand. Shin Jiao collected the carcass of the giant snake and the gold ore, then dragged himself toward the cave. Upon entering, he barely had enough strength to close the stone door. Shin Jiao felt that almost half of the bones in his body were broken. So he just lay there on the ground and let his body heal his wounds. Although the process was painful, it still made Shin Jiao happy.
"Arrgghh… the pain is giving me a little tinge of pleasure. I hope this won't turn me into a masochist," Shin Jiao said to himself as he lay on the ground and continuously absorbed the energy in his surroundings.
After an unknown amount of time, the sun was already up in the sky, but its yellow rays didn't reach inside the cave. Shin Jiao woke up with an automated response from his body every morning. Then he saw that the wounds on his body were already gone and healed. His skin had returned to its original prime and pristine condition.
"This is too awesome," he said, feeling no pain in his body.
He slowly stood up and walked toward the water source. Seeing that all his clothes were tattered, Shin Jiao shook his head. He remembered that his clothes had cost almost $10,000, and even his sneakers were ruined. So, he had no choice but to strip himself naked. Then he was in awe of himself.
"Dang it! Even my little brother turned into a giant snake. Whew…" Seeing the changes in his body, he couldn't believe it.
He quickly took a bath and cleaned himself, removing the dried blood and dirt that covered him. After a while, he could see himself from the water's reflection. His jade-white skin and chiseled features made it look like his body had been perfectly sculpted from stone.
"Now that's awesome. Dang it, look at these fine abs. Although my body isn't too buff, I can feel that my energy has increased a lot," Shin Jiao exclaimed to himself.
He closed his eyes and saw that the sphere in his dantian was now at level 5, which made Shin Jiao happy. This also meant that whenever he killed a beast that was far stronger than himself, a large amount of energy would enter his body. Feeling elated because of his power level, Shin Jiao happily turned around, but then he was startled by a shout.
A woman's shriek suddenly broke out.
"Pervert! Cover that… that… thing!" she shouted.
Although she was lying in bed, she could still see Shin Jiao. As if mesmerized by the view in front of her, she was unable to close her eyes. Although she was usually quiet and cold to others, she felt weak and her emotions were unstable, so she couldn't control her panic.
Shin Jiao immediately turned around and quickly grabbed his extra change of clothes from his backpack inside the ring. He always brought an extra change of clothes in his bag in case he had to work overtime. He didn't realize that while he was doing that, the young woman's gaze was always on him. Although her cheeks were red, she didn't avert her eyes from him.
She was doing this because of mixed feelings, but the main reason was that Shin Jiao was a stranger to her. She was afraid that if she lowered her vigilance, she would suffer at his hands. This wasn't something new, as in this world, the law of the jungle exists. Power dictates everything, even life.
After a while, Shin Jiao was done putting on his clothes. He was not aware that the young woman hadn't averted her eyes from him, even though her face was now like a ripe tomato. Then, when he turned around, their eyes met, which also made Shin Jiao a little surprised.
"Hello! I'm Shin Jiao. I was the one who rescued you outside the cave. I'm sorry I was unable to heal your wounds quickly," Shin Jiao said as he walked toward the bed, drying his hair using a small towel he had from his backpack.
Actually, if he were alone, he wouldn't have bothered to dress up, as he could have just worn those beast skins he had dried as a makeshift robe. But since he found out that the woman was now awake, he needed to be presentable, which was common sense in his previous world.
When he reached the bed, he noticed the look in the woman's eyes. It clearly showed fear, as if she were looking at someone who was going to kill her at any moment. Seeing this, Shin Jiao felt worried.
"Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. If I wanted to do something to you, I wouldn't have waited for you to wake up, would I? I was able to bring you here and save you from the remaining Alpha wolf…" Shin Jiao explained. "So, can you tell me your name?"
The woman felt a bit hesitant, but she realized that what Shin Jiao said was true. So she decided to trust him a little.
"I… My… My name is Cherry… Cherry Lao," she replied softly.
"Umm… Nice name… Wait a minute, why are you so red? Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere?"
Cherry Lao suddenly felt shy and turned her gaze away.
"No, I'm alright. I feel a little tired," she said in a small voice.
"Okay, you rest up. I'll prepare some food for you so that you can regain your strength as quickly as possible," Shin Jiao said as he walked toward a makeshift kitchen. He took some meat out of his ring. After a while, he was able to prepare the ingredients. Then, using a stone, he crafted a pot, a ladle, and some eating utensils.
He knew of the energy inside the beasts, so he decided to absorb a large amount of energy in the meat before cooking it.
While Shin Jiao was cooking, Cherry Lao tried her best to at least be able to move her body, but to no avail.
"I guess I'm still too weak. I feel that the energy in my body was totally drained," she sighed with a helpless feeling.
It didn't take long for a sweet aroma of cooked food to interrupt her train of thought. Then, her gaze turned to the figure of Shin Jiao who was cooking.
"Okay, it's done. Let's eat," Shin Jiao exclaimed as he filled a small bowl with soup and carried it toward Cherry Lao.
"I know that your body is still weak. Although the external wounds are already almost closed, your tendons and muscles aren't yet fine. I don't know how to help with that aspect. But at least eat first, here, I'll help you," Shin Jiao said. He took a spoonful of soup and slowly fed Cherry Lao.
She opened her pale lips and slowly took a sip of the broth while lying down. But it made her cough, as her position was not favorable for feeding.
"Here, let me help you sit," Shin Jiao offered as he lifted her head and body into a reclining position.
The contact between them made her blush, as his manly fragrance made her mind go blank. As he held her body and positioned himself behind her to act as a cushion, the blanket slid down her body and revealed what she was wearing. Shin Jiao was dumbfounded and realized his mistake.
He hadn't fastened the robe on her body, and her underwear made of animal skin was exposed.
When she saw her "twin peaks" covered by an unknown material with a curious design, her eyes went wide.
"You… you… you rogue! You pervert!" Cherry Lao shouted helplessly as tears started to form in her eyes.