Chapter 00022: An Unexpected Surprise
# An Unexpected Surprise
Chapter 22
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 22: An Unexpected Surprise
The night in Beilong Mountain was different from Qianluo Mountain.
Here, apart from the chirping of some unknown insects in the grass, Ding Huan didn’t hear a single beast’s roar.
This made him even more cautious.
He knew very well that the beasts here were far more cunning than those in Qianluo Mountain.
In the short distance of less than ten kilometers he had traveled, he had already been ambushed by various gene-enhanced beasts more than ten times.
Ding Huan took out a flashlight from his backpack.
The medicinal herbs he was looking for were very common.
With his current eyesight, even at night, finding these herbs shouldn’t be too difficult.
Perhaps sensing Ding Huan’s confidence, when he actually turned on the light to search for the herbs, not a single beast came to ambush him.
After searching for two hours, Ding Huan was only attacked once by a gene-mutated blood-sucking vine.
For him, dealing with it was as simple as a single slash of his knife.
In those two hours, Ding Huan found three types of plants: Guangming Suo, Gongtong, and Yuansong.
The remaining two, Bayou and Fu Kui, only required him to find Bayou.
As for Fu Kui, he had already seen it during the day in Anhe County.
Fu Kui, also known as silver fir, was a common plant many people liked to plant at their doorsteps.
As if playing a joke on Ding Huan, in the next few hours, he couldn’t find Bayou, but he stumbled upon Fu Kui, which he wasn’t in a hurry to find.
The only thing that didn’t make him feel too frustrated was that no beasts or mutated plants ambushed him.
Did they know how powerful he was?
As dawn approached, Ding Huan decided that if he couldn’t find Bayou, he would return to Anhe and have Qu Yi wait for him for a day.
Sometimes, the more anxious you are, the more things go against your wishes.
Just as Ding Huan had resigned himself to returning to Anhe County without finding Bayou, he spotted a Bayou plant—a particularly thriving one at that.
Under the flashlight’s beam, the Bayou seemed to be outlined with a silver edge, making it exceptionally beautiful.
This was no ordinary Bayou; it was a gene-mutated one, the kind Ding Huan had heard about from those people in the hotel.
Even if Ding Huan didn’t use it to refine his spiritual root genes, its value was extraordinary.
Ding Huan quickly approached the Bayou, but before he could act, a dark shadow pounced at him.
Ding Huan had been on guard all along and sidestepped the attack in an instant.
After a whole night without encountering any gene-enhanced beasts, he was now facing one just as he was about to leave.
The beast let out a low, guttural growl after missing its first strike and lunged again.
Ding Huan quickly identified it—a White-faced Thick-tailed Ape, and not just any ordinary one, but a gene-mutated variant.
In fact, it was more accurate to call it a Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape, as its face now bore faint golden streaks.
If Ding Huan weren’t a first-level gene cultivator, he might not have even noticed the subtle golden hue.
Being pounced on by a White-faced Thick-tailed Ape in the middle of the night was indeed eerie.
With its pale face and pitch-black body, it was enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine.
But Ding Huan was excited.
This mutated Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape was something he absolutely couldn’t miss.
If there was anything on Earth that could treat all poisons as if they were nothing, it was undoubtedly the White-faced Thick-tailed Ape.
Even the likes of honey badgers and mongoose, known for their resistance to toxins, might not surpass the White-faced Thick-tailed Ape.
However, honey badgers had one advantage—they were particularly resistant to neurotoxins.
Ding Huan briefly considered whether he should also acquire the honey badger’s toxin-resistant genes and fuse them with the White-faced Thick-tailed Ape’s.
But he quickly dismissed the idea.
What he was facing wasn’t an ordinary White-faced Thick-tailed Ape, but a Golden-faced one.
Moreover, ever since his gene system had begun to take shape, he had set a grand goal for himself.
If the various mutated genes he fused with continued to grow stronger as his cultivation level increased, would he one day uncover the secrets of immortality? Otherwise, when he reached the level of a high-level gene cultivator, would he have to fuse with even higher-level skill genes? If so, his path of gene cultivation would be half a failure.
After dodging the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape’s two powerful lunges, the ape seemed to grow angrier.
Its fur bristled, and with a low growl, it lunged at Ding Huan a third time.
Ding Huan held a knife in one hand and grabbed a glass bottle from his bag with the other.
He tossed the flashlight aside, but he made sure it still illuminated the area.
With the faint light of dawn, Ding Huan could still see clearly.
In a place like this, if he couldn’t see, his only option would be to run.
As the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape pounced, Ding Huan twisted his body and slashed with his knife.
He felt as if he had struck a block of iron, the force of the impact reverberating through his arm.
Initially, Ding Huan had planned to wound the ape and collect some of its blood in the glass bottle.
But after that single strike, he realized he had been too naive.
This mutated ape was far beyond his ability to handle.
The gene-enhanced beasts he had encountered before were nothing compared to this Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape.
No wonder the area outside Anhe County was so dangerous, with half the villages wiped out by gene-enhanced beasts.
With such terrifying creatures around, it was no surprise.
Despite being a first-level gene cultivator with plenty of combat experience, Ding Huan couldn’t handle this mutated ape.
The Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape was likely also a first-level gene-mutated beast, but Ding Huan had only recently stepped into the first-level gene cultivator realm.
In terms of foundation, he was far inferior to this ape.
Ding Huan took a deep breath and stared at the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape.
The sky was gradually brightening, and he could clearly see the ferocity in the ape’s eyes.
No matter what, he had to obtain the ape’s toxin-resistant genes today.
Opportunities like this didn’t come often.
Although his knife hadn’t seriously injured the ape, a faint trace of blood was visible.
The ape was clearly enraged.
This time, it didn’t pounce immediately but instead stared intently at Ding Huan, waiting for him to make a move or show a weakness.
Ding Huan carefully placed the glass bottle back into his bag and slowly retreated toward the Bayou plant.
This gene-mutated Bayou was a treasure, and Ding Huan guessed it was of great importance to the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape, which was why the ape was guarding it.
The ape’s eyes followed Ding Huan’s every move, growling lowly as Ding Huan approached the Bayou.
When Ding Huan reached out and yanked a piece of the Bayou, the ape’s growls turned into furious roars.
It could no longer wait for the perfect moment and charged at Ding Huan.
Learning from its previous failed attempts, the ape didn’t leap this time.
Ding Huan had anticipated its movements and twisted his body again, slashing with his knife as the ape closed in.
However, this time, Ding Huan’s angle wasn’t perfect.
After his strike, the ape’s body slammed into his side.
A terrifying force sent Ding Huan flying.
He suspected a rib might have been broken.
As he was thrown through the air, the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape let out a pained cry—Ding Huan’s knife had severed a portion of its tail.
Before Ding Huan even hit the ground, he sensed a cold, menacing presence behind him.
Without hesitation, he swung his elbow backward.
A sharp pain shot through his arm, and he saw a gray shadow darting away.
Ding Huan broke out in a cold sweat.
He had forgotten about the gray lynx.
That creature was not only vengeful but also incredibly patient.
If he hadn’t sensed the danger and struck first, the lynx’s bite would have left him severely injured.
After its failed attack, the lynx fled without hesitation, showing remarkable decisiveness.
Ding Huan didn’t have time to worry about the lynx.
Before the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape could turn its attention back to him, he gritted his teeth against the pain, grabbed the severed piece of the ape’s tail, and fled as fast as he could.
The Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape chased after him, clearly enraged by Ding Huan’s actions.
Fortunately, the sky was now fully lit, and Ding Huan could at least see the general direction he was heading.
Smaller gene-enhanced beasts in the area, sensing the ape’s fury, scattered in all directions as Ding Huan ran past.
The Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape was fast and agile, but Ding Huan wasn’t weak either.
As a first-level gene cultivator, he knew how to use the terrain to his advantage.
By the time he escaped Beilong Mountain, it was already past eight in the morning.
Ding Huan’s clothes were torn to shreds by thorns and brambles.
The only silver lining was that the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape hadn’t pursued him beyond the mountain.
He stopped to catch his breath and checked his body.
Thankfully, his ribs weren’t broken.
However, his elbow, which had struck the lynx’s open mouth, was injured by the creature’s teeth.
After resting for a few minutes, Ding Huan carefully repackaged the severed piece of the ape’s tail.
He had originally come out to search for a fire lizard, but instead, he had stumbled upon the mutated Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape.
In terms of value, Ding Huan felt the ape was even more valuable than the fire lizard.
If he could refine the ape’s toxin-resistant genes into a potion, he would become immune to all poisons.
Ding Huan remembered a European company called Tonghe Gene Corporation, which had developed a “Non-Zero Gene Potion” that claimed to make users immune to all toxins.
Ding Huan was certain that the Non-Zero Gene Potion had its limitations.
Even if they had fused honey badger genes, it was unlikely to provide complete immunity to all toxins.
He believed that only he, Ding Huan, could achieve true immunity.
Not only that, but he also wanted to develop a toxin-resistant gene potion that surpassed even the Golden-faced Thick-tailed Ape’s.
Who else could do that?
Perhaps the ancient master who wrote the parchment could have done it, but that master likely no longer needed to research such gene potions.
As long as Ding Huan didn’t share his gene potions, no one else would possess his unique abilities.
(End of Chapter)