Chapter 143: Would Rather Starve Than Eat
HSSSSS!
Inside the room, the temperature continued to drop, and frost gradually formed.
Tang Wen repeatedly performed his Visualization of the night in outer space, throwing the same punch over and over.
After half a day, the Experience Panel finally showed some activity.
[Visualization Martial Arts, Night Divine Fist, Beginner (103/500)]
[Martial Arts Realm: Peak Martial Artist (Transforming)]
[Extraordinary Ability: Darkness (Awakening Progress 0.04%→0.08%)]
The good news: his awakening ability had increased significantly.
The bad news: it still hadn’t even reached a tenth of a percent.
’This is ridiculous.’
HSSS!
Tang Wen shivered from the cold.
The room was filled with a cold mist. The light refracted through it, creating a beautiful, seven-colored halo.
Tang Wen quickly stopped practicing his Fist Technique.
He tiptoed to the door and pressed his ear against the crack. After listening for a long while and hearing nothing, he carefully opened the door a sliver.
It was summer, and the hot, dry air from outside rushed in, causing the temperature in the sealed room to rise rapidly.
"Why is the door open?"
A man who looked like a Guard walked over.
Tang Wen jumped. He instinctively wanted to shut the door but felt it would be inappropriate.
He immediately pulled the door wide open and went to meet the man.
"Brother, don’t even ask! My head was spinning from staring at it, so I came out for some air."
"Heh, it’s so expensive per day, yet you’re willing to come out for air? You must be pretty rich, huh?"
The Guard’s eyes flickered, his meaning unclear.
Tang Wen quickly shook his head. "Rich? I’m not rich. Even my entire savings weren’t enough. I had to sell an Exotic Beast."
"Sold an Exotic Beast?"
"Mhm. Besides being a Martial Artist, I’m also a Beastmaster."
The Guard’s tone immediately turned envious. "You Beastmasters are the rich ones, second only to those Pharmacists."
’Are Pharmacists better at making money?’ Tang Wen was taken aback.
’If I had known, I would have learned from Elder Ya before coming.’
’What a pity!’
’Missed out on a fortune.’
After a few more words, he felt that the cold air in the room had mostly dissipated.
Tang Wen returned to the sealed room, and the Guard left the stone house, heading toward the others.
Resuming his training, he no longer practiced Shadow Kill and focused mainly on his Visualization.
He had successfully visualized the cold, silent night of outer space.
’But are there other, more powerful kinds of night?’
’Mhm, it has to be one that exists in nature.’
Tang Wen racked his brain.
After half an hour, he actually thought of two powerful terms related to darkness:
Dark matter, and—a black hole.
As someone who flunked physics, Tang Wen had no idea what dark matter was.
Even though his Spiritual Power was now strong enough for him to recall bits of knowledge he had read before.
But if he didn’t get it, he didn’t get it.
He only knew that dark matter was something scientists had theorized about.
No one had ever seen what it actually looked like.
As for black holes...
Thanks to the "black hole" special effect on the Qiandu search engine...
He had actually been interested in them for a while.
He had even looked at photos of a black hole over and over.
It was a ring-like red mark glowing in a sea of pitch-black.
The photo was very clear in Tang Wen’s mind.
He also had a slight understanding of the rules governing black holes.
But he didn’t dare incorporate those rules into his Visualization.
His intuition told him not to play with fire.
’He had a feeling that trying it would be... terminal.’
’Is my intuition warning me because my Spiritual Power isn’t strong enough?’
But thinking of the power of a black hole, he still felt a slight impulse to try.
’Could I develop a Fist Technique that even light couldn’t escape?’
But then he remembered he was still a virgin. If something happened to him like this, it would be a huge waste.
The desire to follow his gut prevailed, and Tang Wen completely suppressed the idea of trying.
’Visualize the night.’
’Just visualizing the cold, dark night of the cosmos is good enough.’
’No need to mess with black holes.’
Contemplation Methods varied in strength, just like the Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist from before.
Visualizing a small red Fireball.
Versus visualizing a black Fireball would result in a slight difference in Fist Power.
Visualizing things with higher energy required more Spiritual Power.
The rules of a black hole involved gravity, time, and so on.
It would be fine if the Visualization failed, but if it succeeded, the drain on his Spiritual Power would definitely be more than he could bear.
Visualization Images existed in this world, restricting how people performed their Visualizations.
’Maybe it’s because too many people in the past died from visualizing things recklessly?’
With these thoughts, Tang Wen left the sealed room three minutes early.
"Pretty punctual!"
The Guard went inside and looked around, finding no damage.
"You can go."
Tang Wen left without a word, checked out of the Four Seas Inn, and went to buy a few things on the street.
He pulled up his gray hood, mounted his wolf, and galloped into the wilderness.
He hadn’t learned the complete Fist Technique yet, so he had to find a way to make money.
Learning the remaining six stances would cost six thousand taels, and experiencing Extreme Darkness would cost five thousand taels.
In total, he needed eleven thousand taels.
’I’ve already started my transformation.’
’Maybe I can make some quick cash?’
’I wonder if there are any rich, beautiful young ladies in Ganshan City who would be interested in my... services?’
’Based on the price for a top courtesan at the Four Seas Camp, how about three hundred taels a session?’
’A hundred taels off if she’s pretty.’
’Another hundred off for a good body.’
’If she’s good in bed... hmm, that’ll be an extra three hundred taels.’
’No one in this world is a natural without any practice!’
Letting his mind wander with these relaxing thoughts, Tang Wen urged his wolf into a gallop while the Blood Crow guided him from the sky.
He was heading to a place where there was a herd of horses.
It included Middle-level Exotic Beast horses.
NEIGHHH!
A day’s journey passed.
Through his Thousand-Mile Telescope, Tang Wen spotted the Leopard-printed Horse Herd.
As their name suggested, the horses’ coats were a mix of black and brown, somewhat resembling a leopard’s spots.
Within the quiet herd, three horses stood out.
A male and a female, both large and tall, were no smaller than Tang Wen’s previous horse, Wuzhu.
They were Middle-level Exotic Beasts.
The third was slightly smaller; it was charging recklessly through the bushes, frolicking about.
It was a young colt.
With its innocent and carefree air, it had clearly never gone hungry and didn’t understand the importance of conserving energy.
A young Middle-level Exotic Beast.
Though the colt was small, it was more valuable.
As the sun set, the weather began to cool.
When the night wind started to blow, the family of Leopard-printed Horses slowly became more active.
They approached the bushes and began to nibble on the branches.
Like a wisp of black smoke, Tang Wen shot out, rope in hand.
A Peak Martial Artist against a few Middle-level Exotic Beast horses, with a Blood Crow providing Tracking from the air.
The Leopard-printed Horses couldn’t win, and they had no way to escape.
In just two or three hours, Tang Wen had captured the family of three Middle-level Leopard-printed Horses.
Afraid they’d get lonely, he caught seven low-level Leopard-printed Horses as well.
He led them to an area with rich vegetation.
Tang Wen began to tame the horses.
There was a huge price difference between a tamed Exotic Beast and one whose wild nature hadn’t been broken.
Having just been caught, the ten horses fiercely resisted the reins.
But Tang Wen had a plan.
He used a rope woven with Extraordinary Beast Tendon to tie the ten horses together, and then set them ’free’.
The rope had cost him a full three hundred taels of silver; now, he only had a little bit of gold left.
The ten horses galloped wildly.
But they were all tied to each other by the sturdy rope.
Running like this was extremely exhausting.
And whenever they thought they had escaped the terrifying two-legged beast behind them and slowed down...
Tang Wen would appear behind them, riding his Sand Wolf.
They ran for a long time, avoiding many dangers.
Finally, the ten horses could run no more.
Tang Wen slowly caught up, took out some fresh meat, and offered it to one of the horses.
SNORT!
The stallion tossed its head and snorted.
Though it couldn’t speak, its meaning was clear.
’I’d rather starve to death, or die of exhaustion, than eat a single bite of stinking meat from you, you two-legged beast!’
’Pah!’
Tang Wen didn’t insist.
He moved on to the next horse.
SNORT!
It wouldn’t eat either.
Tang Wen tried them one by one, but none would eat.
He chuckled, opened his bag, and tossed a piece of meat at the feet of each horse.
The horses neighed, but none lowered their heads.
Tang Wen smiled faintly and took out a whip.
His gaze swept over them, and he selected the one that looked the worst.
Aside from the colt, it was the shortest—it obviously wouldn’t fetch a good price!
PAT, PAT.
He gently patted the horse’s head and pointed to the meat on the ground. "Eat it!"
NEIGHHH!
The horse was disdainful.
CRACK!
The whip coiled around its neck.
GACK! ACK! ACK!
Tang Wen tightened his grip with one hand. The horse couldn’t breathe and struggled violently, but it couldn’t break free. It could only feel its strength and life slowly draining away.
A minute passed.
The horse was now lying on the ground, its eyes filled with tears, its four hooves twitching uncontrollably.
It looked like it was about to breathe its last.
Tang Wen loosened the whip and roared with a Beastmaster’s technique, "All of you, eat!"
The horses all lowered their heads and began to eat the fresh meat on the ground.
After a few more times, they established a connection with Tang Wen and gradually became his tamed beasts.
Five days later, Tang Wen rode the Horse King, leading the herd to the entrance of the Four Seas Camp.
"A Martial Artist. What are you here for?"
Tang Wen looked up, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with several scars.
The Guard averted his gaze.
He replied, "To sell horses!"
"Go on in."
"Thanks."
Tang Wen wasn’t very good at disguises, so he had to resort to faking some scars.
This way, most people would feel too awkward to stare at him.