Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 167 [Snowfield Tracking] (6500 words)
Chapter 162 [Snowfield Tracking] (6500 words)
A violent feeling of falling came over me, and then it was gone.

Chen Yan opened his eyes, exhaled softly, and felt the cold air in his nose. The stimulation of his nasal mucosa caused a slight stinging sensation.

What comes into view is this mountainous forest area that seems to be in eternal darkness, and in the darkness, thick fog is everywhere, yet you can still see the white snow covering the mountain ridges...

Chen Yan let out a breath, gently placed his backpack on the ground, and then pressed a button on his wristwatch.

Countdown: 168 hours.

The next second, it became 167:59:59...

The location I was teleported to was the same place I returned to last time. In front of me was the familiar rock, and below it was a natural, sheltered corner.

Looking up, there are towering mountain ridges; behind, there are strange trees.

Chen Yan noticed that the fire he had left behind before he left was gone, and even the ashes were gone, probably covered by the wind and snow of the past few days.

Big White has disappeared.

The snow packs containing the frozen meat that had been purchased had been cut open. Chen Yan went over to check and found that all the meat inside was gone.

"They ate it all?" Chen Yan frowned, but quickly dismissed the guess.

It had only been ten days since his last return—he had left behind about 800 pounds of flesh, which was impossible for Da Bai to burn off, given that Da Bai ate seven or eight pounds a day.

and so……

If the meat wasn't eaten by Da Bai, then something must have taken it away?
Did Baymax run away because it encountered some danger, or...?

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat. After carefully searching the surroundings, his expression turned even more grim.

He found an arrow in a crevice in the rocks on the mountain ridge.

The arrow shafts were made from branches of strange trees, and the arrowheads were not made of metal, but from the teeth of some kind of beast.

Chen Yan had certainly seen this kind of arrow before—the warriors of the Beast Clan used this kind of arrow, and the leader of the village he had killed also used this kind of arrow. However, the arrow of that village leader was slightly better in terms of craftsmanship, that is, it was polished more finely.

The ferocious beasts were here, and even fought a battle here? An archer fired an arrow, but it landed in a crevice in the rocks and wasn't retrieved by the ferocious beasts.

The frozen meat that was buried might have been taken away by the monsters of the Beast Clan?
Chen Yan analyzed the situation calmly.

Judging from the arrows, it can be determined that a monster from the Beast Clan had been here.

And since they can shoot arrows, their target is most likely to be the big white bird.

The buried frozen meat was taken away, which means that the monsters of the ferocious beast race won!

Because if the monsters of the ferocious beast race lose, and are chased and killed by the Great White, they won't have time to calmly take away several hundred kilograms of frozen meat.

So, Baymax lost, and then...

They either ran away or escaped to the mountain ridge.

During the days I was away, the continuous heavy snow had covered all traces on the ground, making it impossible to find any useful clues or traces.

Chen Yan first entered the woods. The ground in the woods was neither covered in snow nor frozen, so if there were any footprints, they should have left some traces.

But after searching around, Chen Yan found nothing.

unless……

These ferocious beasts didn't come from the forest?
Chen Yan's heart stirred, and he looked up at the mountain ridge.

Mining area in the mountains?
·
Chen Yan's biggest gain last time was Big White, so he was naturally unwilling to easily lose this beast that he had gradually tamed.

He sighed, "I hope my luck will be good!"

He picked up a tree branch and threw it into the air. After the branch landed, the tip of the branch pointed towards the mountain ridge to the north. Chen Yan focused his gaze, picked up his backpack, and started walking north!
He walked at the foot of the mountain ridge outside the strange forest, where ice and snow covered the ground. Along the way, only Chen Yan's footprints were left on the ground.

In fact, Chen Yan could have chosen to sneak into the forest first, walking around the edge of the forest near the foot of the mountain ridge, which would have avoided leaving footprints in the snow.

But he still held a sliver of hope. What if Da Bai hadn't been captured, but had instead hidden in the mountain ridge? It was possible that the intelligent beast could follow them if it saw the footprints on the ground.

Walking in the snow was very strenuous. Even though Chen Yan had a strong physique and had cast a spirit-sealing spell to create a lightness talisman, he was still careful to conserve his strength.

Every two hours, I would stop and rest for ten minutes to recover my energy.

After walking in the snow for about five hours, Chen Yan's expression suddenly changed!
On the snow ahead, there were several silhouettes lying on the ground. Chen Yan ran over quickly, squatted down and swept away the loose snow with his hands. Suddenly, his eyes lit up!
It's a corpse!
The corpse before him was not human. Its appearance and shape resembled a monster of the Beast Clan, but it was shorter and stockier than the Beast Clan monsters in the village. Its body was not as tall and slender, but rather short, stocky, and powerful—as if the tall and robust Beast Clan monsters that Chen Yan had seen had been compressed into a Q-version figure.

However, the grayish-brown skin and facial features suggest that this corpse has a very strong blood relationship with the Beast Clan.

"Another kind of ferocious beast monster?" Chen Yan squinted.

What surprised Chen Yan even more was the way the corpse died.

Its head was cut off, and its head flew off somewhere. Its body lay on the ground, face down.

The blood had congealed and was covered with a layer of snow.

Chen Yan was no longer the young man he was a few months ago. Having experienced a lot of killing, he was now filled with a murderous aura. Seeing such a bloody and cruel scene, he did not feel disgusted or uncomfortable. He simply reached out and cautiously examined the corpse's neck with a cold heart.

Then, Chen Yan exhaled, his eyes becoming increasingly strange.

The incision on the neck was very clean!

It was clearly caused by extremely sharp and hard force, and it should have been a fatal blow, severing the neck in one strike!
Judging from the smoothness of the fracture sites on the skin, flesh, and neck bone, the weapon used by the perpetrator must have been of very high quality.

Such sharpness could never have been created by a crude and savage beast tribe!

Besides this corpse, Chen Yan found at least two more corpses on the ground nearby, both of which were short and stocky versions of the ferocious beast tribe.

The fatal wounds are different; some pierce the throat, while others pierce the heart.

Based on the size and outline of the wound, Chen Yan roughly assessed the situation and then confirmed one thing.

"Was the person who made the move using a sword?"

So, the opponent must be very strong! At the very least, their swordsmanship must be superb.

Because there were three corpses of the ferocious beastmen at the scene, and each corpse had only one fatal wound!

Is there no second method needed to kill someone?
Chen Yan became wary.

These three short, stocky versions of the ferocious beast tribe were dressed differently from the other ferocious beast tribe members in the village. They weren't wearing tattered fur coats, but rather leather armor that was clearly of slightly better craftsmanship—although it still looked crude to Chen Yan, it at least resembled leather armor and possessed a certain degree of defensive capability.

The body had a belt around its waist, with a small buckle on the left side of the belt, to which a leather cord was attached.

Chen Yan made a rough guess that this part should be a container that is attached to a person with a leather cord, perhaps a cloth bag or something similar.

The leather straps were all cut, indicating that they had been robbed and the items attached to them had been taken.

But an unexpected incident still occurred.

After uncovering a corpse, Chen Yan found a leather pouch pressed under the thigh.

It wasn't big, about the size of a palm. Because the leather strap had been cut, the opening of the pouch was open. Chen Yan picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and then poured out a few small stones.

They vary in size and shape, are hard in texture, and are jet black and translucent, resembling some kind of black crystal.

Holding a piece of black crystal in his hand, Chen Yan felt a familiar vibration emanating from his fingertips.

"vitality?"

Chen Yan's eyes lit up.

But soon, he discovered that he could not extract the vital energy from the black crystal. Although he could sense the fluctuations of vital energy, his own vital energy drive was suppressed by this place. He could clearly feel the fluctuations of vital energy in the black crystal, but he could not use it for his own benefit.

Naturally, this black crystal, radiating energy, reminded Chen Yan of the legendary "mining area in the mountains."

Could it be minerals from the mining area?
These short, stocky versions of the ferocious beasts might be the monsters from the mining area?

This judgment and speculation excited Chen Yan a bit, as it at least indicated that his pursuit of the direction had yielded results.

Even if you search aimlessly and without any clues, it's always better to make some discoveries than to find nothing at all!
Chen Yan ignored the three corpses on the ground, took the five black crystals from the bag and put them in his pocket, then continued on his way.

·
Eight hours later, Chen Yan glanced at the time, looked at the endless mountain ridge in front of him, and stopped.

It's time to rest.

Forcing yourself to suppress your physical strength to keep up with the chase is not a smart thing to do.

He wasn't sure if Big White was dead or alive, or if it had been captured. If he forced himself to push himself to the limit in the pursuit, and then encountered enemy activity while his strength was depleted, it would only cause him trouble.

Conserving enough energy is the better choice no matter how you look at it.

Chen Yan found a spot to sit by the mountain ridge and took out an energy bar from his pocket—because it had been kept close to his body, its warmth had prevented it from freezing. He ate the energy bar to replenish his energy.

Chen Yan lit the alcohol stove, melted snow and boiled water to make himself a pot of beef soup, and then threw two compressed biscuits into the pot.

After quickly finishing his meal, Chen Yan extinguished the stove, packed up his equipment, dug a snow pit at the foot of the mountain, made a windbreak wall out of the snow, and then took out his sleeping bag and crawled into the snow pit.

Huddled in his sleeping bag, Chen Yan could feel his body heat gradually fighting against the cold, being consumed bit by bit.

At this moment, he couldn't help but miss the strong-smelling meat of the hunted animals—although it tasted terrible, it warmed his body and provided a continuous source of heat, making it the best food to combat the cold in this environment.

In this environment, deep sleep is difficult. Chen Yan only slept for less than four hours in a semi-conscious state before opening his eyes.

Emerging from his sleeping bag, Chen Yan munched on an energy bar, packed his gear, and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

He was fully armed, with a long-handled axe in his right hand.

He had a recurve bow hanging on his left shoulder and ten arrows in a quiver at his waist.

"Having a hunting dog with us would greatly increase our safety..."

Chen Yan glanced at himself for a moment, then smiled wryly.

Even without the hunting dogs, it would be even better if Big White were here. A wild animal's sense of smell and keen perception can be of great help in this environment.

Unbeknownst to him, Chen Yan did not notice the change in his mindset. During the ten days he returned to the real world, his life proceeded smoothly and uneventfully. In fact, he himself did not realize that he had developed a negative and complacent attitude towards life in the real world.

It seems that the real world no longer arouses much interest or enthusiasm in him.

Instead, they were teleported to this place, a harsh and frigid environment, with unknown dangers lurking all around, and unfamiliar races...

All of this, however, seemed to excite Chen Yan, as if his negative and indifferent attitude towards life had been swept away.

After resting and setting off again, we walked for another two hours...

This time, Chen Yan found two more corpses on the ground.

One of the corpses was still a short, stocky version of the ferocious beast tribe.

But the other corpse was...

"Is this... a dog? A domesticated hunting dog?" Chen Yan looked at the "dog" on the ground and scratched his head.

Physically, it's roughly the size of a large dog.

But it's thinner, with very long fur. Its limbs are also very long, and its paws are quite large.

The head is small, but the mouth is long and the jaw is wide—the head's outline resembles that of a cold-blooded animal, like a lizard or a crocodile.

The crude leather collar around its neck indicates that it is a domesticated wild beast.

This thing died a horrible death; its stomach was cut open.

Chen Yan roughly judged that it must have jumped up to attack the enemy and had its belly cut open from below.

The corpse of the ferocious beast monster had been pierced through the throat by a sword, and there was a penetrating wound on its neck.

Judging from the marks on the wounds and the fact that the killer didn't need a second move, Chen Yan most likely concluded that it was the same person who committed the crime as the previous group of corpses.

Judging from this, I should have caught up with this wave of monsters!
This group of monsters is being pursued by a powerful enemy wielding a sword—could this enemy be human?

After all, the weapon is a sword of very high quality, and the swordsmanship is superb—these two factors combined easily evoke the image of a human.

Of course, Chen Yan wasn't sure, since he wasn't familiar with the Domain Realm and didn't know what other races were here. Perhaps, in the Domain Realm, advanced forging techniques and swordsmanship weren't exclusive to humans.

The corpse of this ferocious beast also had a severed leather strap on the buckle of its belt—the leather pouch had also been removed.

Clearly, the enemies who killed them knew that the black crystal inside the skin was a valuable trophy.

After a moment's hesitation, Chen Yan suddenly pulled out a short knife from his snow boot and plunged it into the abdomen of the ferocious beast monster, then forcefully cut a gash in it!
Then, Chen Yan took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and reached into the abdomen of the ferocious beast corpse through the opening...

It wasn't that he was cruel and perverted and wanted to torture someone's corpse.

A few seconds later, Chen Yan pulled his hand away, quickly walked to the side, breathing heavily, suppressing the nausea in his heart, and grabbed the snow on the ground to wipe the blood off his hands.

Hmm... there's still a lingering warmth in my abdomen, and my internal organs feel soft to the touch.

So... this guy shouldn't have been dead for too long.

It couldn't have been a few days ago, at least.

No more precise time determination was possible—after all, Chen Yan had not studied forensic medicine and did not understand the relevant professional knowledge, so he could only make a vague and approximate judgment.

Maybe, less than a day?
After putting his gloves back on, Chen Yan gripped the long-handled axe tightly.

Perhaps, I'm getting closer and closer to the other person!

·
Countdown: 114:36:51...

It has been three days since the teleportation.

Chen Yan lay on the snow, wrapped in a sleeping bag... The sleeping bag was white and hidden in the snow at the foot of the mountain ridge. It seemed to have blended into the surrounding rocks covered with ice and snow, and could easily be overlooked if you didn't look closely.

His eyes were narrowed, staring at the distant northward stretch of the snow-covered landscape...

To the north, a faint light could be clearly seen flickering in the darkness.

The light was unstable, as if it would flicker and sway from time to time, which led Chen Yan to conclude that someone was probably resting there and had lit a fire.

Chen Yan had been lying there for half an hour, waiting quietly.

From the moment the flames appeared until now, Chen Yan has not moved or tried to chase after them or get closer.

Two hours after the fire appeared, Chen Yan slowly crawled out of the snow, packed his sleeping bag into his backpack, and put it on.

Judging by sight, the flames were no more than two kilometers away from me—though that may not be accurate.

With his backpack on, Chen Yan left the snowy area at the foot of the mountain and slowly walked into the woods. Under the cover of darkness and mist, he quietly approached the location of the fire.

He walked very carefully. After walking for another ten minutes, Chen Yan carefully put down his backpack and hung it on the trunk of a strange tree. Then he tiptoed closer to the target of the firelight.

At this point, the distance between us and the other party should be less than 500 meters.

Chen Yan approached from the side, hiding in the woods, his steps unhurried as he carefully adjusted his breathing.

·
The fire was near a rock at the foot of the mountain ridge.

The bonfire was huge, probably because a strange tree was cut down temporarily, and the wood for the bonfire was piled up to almost the height of a person.

Huge flames shot into the sky, bringing ample heat.

Beside the fire sat several short, stocky monsters of the Beast Clan, clad in leather armor. Some of them leaned together, sleeping and resting, while others lay by the fire, warming themselves.

Chen Yan lay prone in the woods, about a hundred meters away from the other party.

He had climbed up a strange tree, with a long-handled axe tucked into his waistband, a recurve bow in his right hand, and an arrow in his left.

Chen Yan counted, and there were a total of six ferocious beast monsters resting and making a fire.

There were no prisoners or spoils of war—at least Chen Yan did not see Da Bai, or Da Bai's corpse.

The best spot by the campfire is under that rock.

That place was sheltered from the wind, and the heat was blocked by the rocks, preventing it from dissipating quickly, thus forming a warm, narrow corner.

Chen Yan saw that a ferocious beast monster was sitting in the best spot.

This guy had a bald head and a stocky build, a size larger than the other beast-like monsters.

But its situation was not good... It was not wearing leather armor, because the leather armor had been taken off, and there was a wound on its chest. A monster of the beast race was kneeling beside it, holding a piece of wood and carefully smearing a dark, mud-like substance on its wound.

Chen Yan saw traces of blood at its feet—this guy must be injured, and seriously injured at that.

The injured fellow appeared to be the leader of the group, and in his wounded state, he seemed to be unconscious.

The monster next to him was probably applying some kind of medicine to his chest. After applying it, it gently patted a piece of animal hide onto his chest, sticking it there.

These monsters weren't entirely unprepared.

Although they were resting and sleeping, a monster was left on night watch, sitting at the very edge of the camp, its eyes scanning the surroundings from time to time.

Chen Yan was slightly disappointed—these monsters looked more elite than the ferocious beastmen in the village, and their leather armor and weapons were better than those of the ferocious beastmen in the village.

They are also more vigilant, and judging from their night watch duties, these guys are more combat-ready.

Chen Yan did some mental calculations.

The enemy has six people, and apart from their injured leader, they have five combatants.

If the plan is to launch a surprise attack, the first arrow should definitely be aimed at the one on night watch.

He was about 100 meters away from his opponent. At that distance, Chen Yan was 70% confident he could kill him with a single arrow!
Even if you can't kill them outright, you can still severely injure them and render them unable to fight.

However, it's impossible to prevent the other party from making a sound.

Five minus one, there are four left.

At a distance of 100 meters, it would take the other person several seconds to find you in the dark and rush over.

In just a few seconds, given his own bow and arrow firing rate, Chen Yan was confident he could take down two or three more.

Well, no, we can't be too optimistic either.

Although his archery skills were already quite good, he had not yet reached the level of a sharpshooter.

Archery skills honed in archery club training grounds are not tested in outdoor environments.

Wind speed and direction differ greatly between indoors and outdoors.

Moreover, when the enemy is running and moving, one's aim may not be as precise as it is in an indoor training ground.

However, I don't rely solely on bows and arrows; I also have other means of attack!
Overall, Chen Yan felt he was more than 60-70% confident he could wipe out these guys—if their strength was comparable to the beastmen warriors from the village.

Chen Yan slowly drew back his bow, nocked an arrow, and quietly aimed at the man on night watch in the camp.

But two seconds later, Chen Yan suddenly frowned, slowly released the bowstring, lowered the arrow, and squinted at the monster camp in the distance.

wrong!

I misunderstood!
I'm 60-70% confident I can wipe out the enemy team?

This estimate is incorrect!
The two groups of corpses we encountered earlier were clearly handled by highly skilled individuals!
That kind of superb swordsmanship, the ability to kill an enemy with a single strike—although he hadn't witnessed it firsthand, Chen Yan could easily conclude that the person who made the move was definitely stronger than himself!

A guy who is stronger than himself is chasing this group of people, but he has gone through several attempts... and still hasn't been able to wipe them out?
But he was blindly confident, thinking he could wipe out the enemy team all by himself?

That's not right!
Therefore... these monsters definitely possess strength beyond my initial assessment! They are certainly more powerful than the monsters in the village!
Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a surge of relief that he hadn't acted rashly.

Just then, his eyes suddenly lit up!
In the upper left corner of the monster camp, on the outskirts of the camp near the mountain ridge, a rock that was originally covered with ice and snow suddenly twitched slightly!
The piece of ice and snow moved gently, slowly approaching the campsite...

·
(End of this chapter)