Chapter Fifteen: Encountering Da Vinci Once Again!

Is it really alright to bully the abbot like this? It feels somewhat disrespectful, considering he is the master of the temple... Perhaps I should return the Sky Howling Dog to him?

Deep in the mountains, Xiao Yan tossed the Manure Removal Treasure into the air. A dog leaped up, seized the tool in its jaws, and returned to Xiao Yan's side. After this period of training, the Sky Howling Dog had become an excellent hunting hound.

The sound of wolves approaching made the Sky Howling Dog's ears stand up, barking repeatedly into the depths of the forest.

"Go," Xiao Yan nodded.

The Sky Howling Dog shot forward like a cannonball, plunging into the heart of the woods.

The sounds of ferocious combat echoed, but Xiao Yan was not worried at all, and he had already set up his stove. Tonight, there would be another feast; it seemed training the Sky Howling Dog was indeed a wise decision.

Sure enough, before long, the Sky Howling Dog dragged out the bodies of seven wolves one after another.

"Good job! Good dog!"

In his excitement, Xiao Yan blurted out a line of his signature Chinese-style English. He did indeed miss the world he had left behind...

At last, with his hunger and thirst satisfied, Xiao Yan made all the remaining wolf meat into cured blocks, thinking that perhaps, if he ever fell on hard times, he could make a living selling cured meat.

With this thought, Xiao Yan felt himself a genius, so as for the Sky Howling Dog, he had no intention of returning it...

Xiao Yan sat quietly, his face flushed by the glow of the fire. The breath of inner strength began to flow within him; faint internal energy streamed from his dantian, following the cultivation method of the "Scripture of Tendon Transformation."

First level of internal strength.

Second level.

Third level.

He hit a bottleneck...

Fourth level...

Fifth level.

Finally, the increase in internal energy ceased. Xiao Yan exhaled; the cultivation was much slower than before, but with the "Scripture of Tendon Transformation," a divine manual dedicated to inner strength, he was making steady progress, and his dantian was gradually expanding.

Yet he kept feeling as if his dantian might rupture...

He decided not to worry.

Shaking his head, Xiao Yan stood up and gazed into the depths of the woods.

Yesterday, Senior Brother Yuantong emerged from the mountains, wounded, and warned everyone in the temple that there was a tiger in the deep forest, urging them not to go in.

"Alright, let's go! Time to search for a tiger's fang!"

Xiao Yan waved the Manure Removal Treasure, which glimmered faintly with silver light, signaling the Sky Howling Dog to charge ahead.

"Woof!"

With a proud bark, the Sky Howling Dog bounded forward.

Ever since Xiao Yan was declared a crafting genius by Faha, he had spent a sleepless night fashioning armor for the Sky Howling Dog, using the leftover "Nine Ice Black Iron" from the meditation staff.

Well, he had stolen the abbot's spring, but at least he gave the dog a spring in return; perhaps that made up for it?

It should.

...

Three hours later, utterly lost in the mountains, they stumbled by chance upon the spot where Senior Brother Yuantong had encountered the tiger.

Beside a small stream and under a large tree...there was a huge tiger.

This matched Senior Brother Yuantong's meticulous description of the scene.

Xiao Yan couldn't help but admire his own navigation skills.

Sure enough, lying next to the tree was a tiger—dead, however—and beside it sat a man.

That figure was very familiar to Xiao Yan: a man blind in one eye, none other than the infamous thief Da Vinci.

A familiar face.

From afar, Da Vinci seemed melancholy, staring alternately at his own crotch and the tiger's...

What was he doing?

Should Xiao Yan step out and greet him?

While considering, Xiao Yan saw Da Vinci pick up a knife and walk toward the tiger.

What was he up to?

Could it be...

Recalling that Da Vinci had cultivated the "Sunflower Manual," Xiao Yan came up with an absurd guess...

Tiger whip equals fake phallus?

Making a fake phallus? Damn...

A shudder ran through Xiao Yan at the thought...

This was truly terrifying...

No sooner thought than done, Da Vinci brought the knife down, took the tiger's whip, and began employing his grand surgical stitching technique...

A cracking sound—Xiao Yan, stepping on a branch.

"Who's there? Yuantong?"

Da Vinci instantly looked around in alarm, "I see you! Come out!"

"Hey, power bank, how much charge do you have left?" Xiao Yan whispered.

Faha: ???...Are you talking to me?

"Let me borrow your inner strength...otherwise I'm dead..."

Xiao Yan said.

Even with Da Vinci injured, his internal energy strength was probably still comparable to someone at the twentieth level; Xiao Yan's five levels were nothing but fodder.

Faha: I might let you show off once more, but I won't lend it to you.

"Why not?"

Faha: If I lend it all, I'll fall into a coma, and with your weakness, I might never wake up.

"...Are you really that useless?"

Faha: Farewell!

"Hmm? Evil God of Fiery Clouds?!"

Da Vinci spotted Xiao Yan behind the tree, gripped the tiger's whip, and instinctively tried to flee, but then seemed to realize something: "Wait! The aura on this kid is off! You're not the Evil God of Fiery Clouds!"

Though Da Vinci sensed something strange in Xiao Yan's aura, he didn't rush over, remembering his previous ambush by the Evil God of Fiery Clouds, which had made him more cautious.

"Hi, we meet again," Xiao Yan said, stepping out slowly.

"Hmph! You little bastard, you've improved... Five levels of internal energy... Ha ha... What a pity..."

Da Vinci glanced at the tiger's whip in his hand, then at Xiao Yan's crotch, and tossed the tiger's whip aside with a sneer. "I was just worrying, and you come knocking, offering yourself up—don't blame me for what happens... But don't worry, I'm quick and precise; it'll only hurt for a moment..."

"Ha ha ha... I can see that..." Xiao Yan retorted, eyeing Da Vinci's crotch.

"Hmph, brat, looks like you've grown tired of living..."

Da Vinci wasn't a fool; as he spoke, he surveyed the surroundings.

No ambush.

He charged forward.

Yet, when he saw Xiao Yan reach into his clothes, Da Vinci reflexively halted, "You!..."

"Heh, sorry...I forgot to bring lime powder..." Xiao Yan shrugged, looking apologetic.

"Hmph, no one can help you this time. You're dead..."

Da Vinci attacked again, his fists whipping the air.

But Xiao Yan was calm, neither dodging nor flinching, his arm making a strange movement.

Da Vinci: "Hmph, stop pretending to be some mystical dragon. You'll pay for my lost eye!"

"Heh..."

A smile curled at Xiao Yan's lips as he whistled.

Just as Da Vinci's fist was about to land on Xiao Yan—

"Woof woof...woof..."

A handsome, majestic dog clad in shining armor burst through the grass...