I never upgrade

"I not only saw it, but I also punched it and sent it flying. I don't know if it's dead or not."

Xu Lun said calmly.

What?!

Luca looked up abruptly, staring at him in disbelief. Although his first reaction was shock, he quickly realized that this human could understand animal language and had healed his injuries. He must be an ordinary person with extraordinary skills. It seemed quite normal that he could send Ah Hu away with a single punch.

"Ah Hu... has gone mad..."

Ok?

Xu Lun paused slightly, looking at Luca with curiosity:

"You mean that evil white tiger?"

Luca nodded and explained:

"Ahu was born without parents. My mother found him when I was just born. My mother was kind-hearted, so she brought him home and nursed us both. So Ahu is like a brother to me. We grew up together..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Lun was stunned. It turned out that there was such a hidden story behind it.

No wonder that monster sneaked into the village at night. So, it threw an arm into the dungeon not to frame Luca, but to... let him eat it? To keep him from going hungry?

Wait a minute...

Xu Lun suddenly thought of something:

He had experienced the strength of this evil white tiger before. Compared to the weak leopard in front of him, it was worlds apart. Although one was a tiger and the other was a leopard, and there was a difference between them, the black aura on the evil white tiger's body did not seem to be innate, but rather something it had cultivated!

As he pondered, he stared at Luca. Perhaps sensing the meaning in his eyes, Luca explained:

"Actually, Ah Hu wasn't like this before... My mother taught us from a young age to stay away from humans, to be in awe of them, and to keep our distance. We were never allowed to risk venturing into human territory to hunt... These things were passed down from my mother by example, and we've always kept them in mind. We've always followed the rules, otherwise we wouldn't have survived to adulthood..."

Xu Lun couldn't help but want to complain after hearing this:

Did you obey? If it weren't for me, you'd be dead already...

Of course, he only thought these things to himself and didn't show them.

Just then, Luca let out a mournful sigh and painfully recalled:

"Things wouldn't have turned out this way...until that day, Ah Hu went to the valley..."

Xu Lun's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately had a bad feeling.

"Not too far from Charva Village, there's a valley where humans don't go, and neither do we. It's a dangerous place; all birds and beasts avoid it. But for some reason, Ah Hu ran into the valley, and when he came out again, everything had changed..."

Xu Lun sensed a conspiracy and cautiously asked:

What's in that valley?

Luca suddenly shivered, and all the fur on his body stood on end. This sight startled Xu Lun as well. He had never seen an animal react like this before, and he could almost feel the fear rising from the bottom of Luca's heart. It was a chilling feeling.

"There are corpses...there are corpses everywhere...human corpses...everywhere..."

Xu Lun immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

"But didn't you say that humans wouldn't go to that valley..."

"Yes, but that's what Ah Hu said. He saw piles of human corpses in the valley, not buried, just left there carelessly, piled up into a small mountain... and Ah Hu..."

Luca suddenly fell silent, as if struggling with something. After a moment, it spoke again:

"It seems that Ah Hu ate the corpses of those humans... At that time, my mother was already sick. Ah Hu left all the prey he caught for my mother and me. He said he wasn't hungry and he could continue hunting... But after he came back from the valley, he completely changed..."

Luca slowly raised its head and looked at Xu Lun, who in turn looked back at it. In its terrified eyes, it seemed as if a horrific scene from hell could be seen—

"He was only interested in human flesh and never ate any other prey. It was from that time that the cannibalistic monster of Charva Village was born..."

Xu Lun swallowed hard, forcibly suppressing the fear rising within him. He nodded stiffly and managed to say:

"I see..."

Having said all this, Luca seemed relieved; its tense body gradually relaxed, and it lowered its head, saying sadly:

"To be honest, I was just too useless. I couldn't save my mother, I couldn't help Ah Hu, and I almost died at the hands of humans..."

Xu Lun didn't know what to say. He subconsciously reached out and placed his hand on Luka's forehead, gently rubbing it.

To be fair, Luca's fur is very thick, not prickly, and feels great to the touch.

Xu Lun sighed and comforted him:

"Don't overthink it. This isn't your fault, nor your brother's. Those human corpses wouldn't have been piled up in the valley for no reason. There's definitely something wrong here..."

Xu Lun narrowed his eyes as he pondered. Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he had a vague feeling that a demon was lurking among the group of cultivators, brewing an unprecedented crisis...

"Very well, so you brought me here for this reason, huh? I never expected to actually run into this by sheer chance..."

Xu Lun thought to himself.

If he had chosen Xiadu as his birthplace and followed the path of those chosen ones, cultivating step by step, studying at academies, receiving guidance from masters, and then venturing out to gain experience, traveling far and wide, seeking opportunities, and encountering powerful enemies... who knows how long it would have taken him to discover this hidden foreshadowing in the world of cultivators.

Unlike now, he already has a clue, and therefore a goal. After all, he wasn't some chosen one, and he wasn't here to cultivate immortality or pursue the Dao. Once he's developed the bracelet's potential to a certain extent, he'll add fuel to the fire of this already insane world...

Thinking of this, Xu Lun couldn't help but laugh, a sinister and fanatical laugh.

However, he quickly suppressed his smile, gently patted Luca's head, and said:

"Let's go, let's head towards the snow-capped mountains."

He immediately turned around and began to head northwest.

Without hesitation, Luca followed immediately.

"You should go ahead of me. I don't know the way, but you should be able to find your way through this forest, right?"

Xu Lun asked.

This isn't a matter of trust or distrust. Based on Luca's own description and Xu Lun's observation, he genuinely felt that this guy's survival ability was worrisome. He always felt that it was like a giant baby that hadn't grown up yet, unable to do anything and prone to making mistakes.

If this idiot leads us astray, Xu Lun will be furious. He'd rather bury him on the spot.

"By the way, before I woke up, I vaguely remembered hearing someone cursing at me..."

Xu Lun paused, glanced down at Luca, and asked:

What do you mean?

Luca looked up at him, then shook his head and, as instructed, stepped forward to lead the way.

"It doesn't mean anything, I just suddenly thought of it..."