Chapter 55: A giant python undergoing a lightning tribulation?

“Was it just... praising us? That’s incredible!”

“It was so arrogant, acting like we were its servants! How interesting, haha.”

“This deer is so spiritual! It’s extraordinary, truly extraordinary!”

“I’ve watched these mountains for many years, and I’ve never seen such a divine deer... I’d believe it if someone called it an auspicious beast!”

As the black deer's silhouette vanished, the rustling sounds in the thicket quickly receded.

The people present remained in a daze for a long time.

After that brief encounter, they felt more and more that this deer was anything but ordinary!

They couldn't help but think of Lin Nan, who had traveled thousands of miles to meet it...

For a deer this spiritual to be so close to him, that man must possess some remarkable abilities!

After observing for a long while and confirming that the black deer had entered the deep forest, Chief Gao breathed a slight sigh of relief. He turned to the forest ranger, Old Yan, and said

“Alright, that’s roughly the situation.”

“Leave it in the forest for observation for a while. I’ll need you to keep a close eye on it. It’ll be hard work.”

“Report to me immediately if anything happens. We’ll head out first.”

“Don't worry, don't worry,” Old Yan nodded in response.

Soon after, the staff from the Forestry Bureau got into their vehicle and departed.

The bright headlights gradually disappeared at the end of the road.

In the vast mountain forest, only this single ranger station remained lit.

Outside the shade of the incandescent lamp, several moths and other small insects fluttered incessantly.

Under the shroud of night, Old Yan wrapped his coat tighter around himself and spoke to Xiao Ma, who was beside him

“Did you hear everything Chief Gao just said?”

“I heard it clearly, Master,” the ranger Xiao Ma nodded.

“Mm...” A satisfied expression appeared on Old Yan's face as he continued, “You are my apprentice, so you need more practice. I’ll be handing this task over to you in the future.”

“While you patrol the mountains daily for fire prevention, you must try your best to find traces of that deer, record them, and then organize them into a report.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Xiao Ma let out a long, heavy sigh.

His gaze drifted toward the spot where the black deer had disappeared.

Looking at the quiet, deep forest and the vast expanse of the nature reserve behind it, finding a single deer in these massive mountains would be an exhausting task!

Not to mention tracking and recording its traces every single day?

How could that be easy!

Hearing Xiao Ma's startled voice, Old Yan clicked his tongue and frowned

“What do you mean, 'huh'?”

“But...”

“Cut the nonsense! Who’s the master here??”

Old Yan delivered this final blow and walked toward the station with his hands behind his back.

Only Xiao Ma was left standing there, looking like a wilted eggplant.

After standing there for a long time, he let out a faint sigh and followed behind with slumped shoulders.

...

“Zzz... zzz...”

The noisy chirping of cicadas intertwined within the dense forest.

At the same time, a rustling sound came from the lush shrubbery.

As several branches snapped underfoot, several sneaky figures appeared in the forest under the dappled moonlight.

They had avoided the surveillance cameras all the way, choosing to enter the reserve at the most remote location.

As they pushed forward, the figures gradually revealed themselves in full.

They were three men, all wearing windbreakers and carrying hiking backpacks.

They held crossbows in their hands, with quiver bags filled with bolts hanging from their waists.

And the leader even had a shotgun strapped to his back!

Upon closer inspection, bloodstains were seeping from the bottom of the hiking backpacks carried by the three men.

Clearly, they were a group of poachers who had come well-prepared!

“Giggle...”

Just then, a sudden cry came from not far ahead of the three men.

Hearing the sound, the three immediately went into hiding, approaching the front with extremely light movements.

After advancing a distance, they saw a single bird standing alone on a patch of grass nearby.

Its head was reddish-brown, and a ring of pure white feathers circled its neck.

Under the moonlight, its entire plumage shimmered with a layer of luster.

Upon seeing the bird, the three men exchanged glances.

One of the younger men immediately drew a bolt, notched it onto the string, and aimed the crossbow's sight at the bird.

*Whoosh!*

In the next second, the sound of a bolt piercing the air rang out!

In the silent night, it sounded like a death warrant.

The bird didn't even have time to react before it was pierced through the heart by the bolt and collapsed.

Seeing the arrow hit the target, the three men trotted over in small steps.

They picked up the heavily wounded bird and retrieved the bolt.

Looking at the bird, one of them said with a hint of disdain, “Why is it always this... when are we going to get something big?”

As the poacher grumbled in dissatisfaction, the leader—the middle-aged man with the shotgun—suddenly whipped out a dagger!

The sharp, cold glint of the blade was blindingly bright under the moonlight.

Seeing him holding the dagger, the man who had just been feeling indignant swallowed hard and quickly lowered his head.

The leader gave him a cold glance, stepped forward, and snatched the bird from his hands.

With a tearing sound, the man skillfully decapitated the bird.

He tossed the head aside, handed the still-bleeding bird to the other man, and said in a low voice

“What’s the rush?”

The leader then turned to the other man and asked, “We’ve scouted this place a few times already. Have you spotted anything?”

The man responded immediately, “Brother Mao, don't you worry. There's definitely a giant python on this mountain!”

As he spoke, the man explained to the other two, “A few days ago, two bolts of lightning struck here, but not a single drop of rain fell!”

“The rumors around here are spreading—they say a python with cultivation is about to undergo a lightning tribulation.”

“If we can find a decent-sized python on this mountain, we’ll strike it rich!”

“We can butcher it and sell it; it’ll be enough to live in luxury for the rest of our lives!”

Just as the poacher said, they had come not only for rare animals but also with a specific goal: to find a python on the mountain.

Perhaps a single python wouldn't be worth much to poachers.

But once it was imbued with special value—for instance, if the python had triggered a lightning tribulation...

Then, it would be worth a fortune!

Of course, this was all nonsense. They knew it was impossible for a python to undergo a tribulation, but having such a story would allow them to command a high price.

As for this so-called "lightning tribulation," it was indeed mysterious. They had heard many legends lately and still weren't sure what exactly had happened with those two lightning strikes.

Driven by this purpose, the three poachers continued their movement.

Their movements were not fixed; they simply searched their way up the mountain as the sky gradually brightened.

As the surrounding forest became increasingly lush under the rising sun, one of the poachers looked around cautiously, as if worried they might encounter someone, and asked the leader

“Brother Mao, there are rangers in this forest. We shouldn't run into them, right?”

Hearing this, a fierce light flashed in the leader's eyes as he replied

“What are you afraid of? We have guns!”

“If anyone dares to get in the way of my money, I'll feed them a bullet!”

*Rustle, rustle...*

Just as the leader was making his threat, a rustling sound came from the bushes ahead.

It seemed something was moving not far in front of them.

And judging by the direction of the sound, the thing seemed to be approaching them!

“Shh~”

Seeing this, the three poachers immediately became alert, falling silent and exchanging glances.

They wondered if it might be a ranger from the nature reserve.

However, the sound kept shifting positions at an extremely high speed, which didn't sound like a ranger running through the woods at all.

“Could it be a wild beast?”

With this suspicion, the two poachers holding crossbows felt a slight surge of excitement and notched their bolts.

In this place, encountering a ranger was far more terrifying than encountering a beast.

A beast couldn't beat fully armed poachers, but a ranger could call for backup.

The leader also unslung the shotgun from his back, listening to the sound that was getting closer and closer.

Even the bushes ahead began to shake violently.

Just as the three poachers held their breath and prepared their positions to respond...

*Swish!*

In the next second, a massive black shadow leaped out from the forest!

“This...”

The moment they saw the shadow, the expressions of the three poachers froze!

Almost simultaneously, their eyes widened as if they had forgotten how to breathe!

The creature that had suddenly lunged out had a pair of long, narrow horns on its head, shaped like bolts of lightning.

Under the morning light, the black fur on its back actually shimmered with a multi-colored luster.

Such a massive figure darted out of the forest at high speed, leaping several meters into the air as if it were ascending to the heavens!

That heavy, muscular body actually soared right over their heads!

The three poachers felt a gust of wind from the creature's passage, which whipped against their cheeks so hard their eyes nearly stung shut.

As for the black shadow, it seemed not to have noticed the three men appearing there; it gave a highly intelligent glance before running toward the outskirts of the scenic area.

The three poachers stared blankly in the direction where the shadow had vanished.

Recalling what he had just seen, one poacher murmured in astonishment.

“Did I see that right? Was that... a deer??”

Just as the poacher saw, the black shadow that had leaped from the forest was indeed the black deer that had been released into the nature reserve by the Forestry Bureau.

Due to the "Returning Spring Thunder Seal" that Lin Nan had placed upon it, stimulated by its ancient bloodline, this black deer was constantly evolving toward the divine beast, the Ink Qilin.

According to ancient texts, the Ink Qilin under the command of the Thunder Ancestor possessed immense supernatural powers.

Not only could its horns summon lightning and command the wind and rain, but it could also speak human language.

Thus, this black deer already possessed great intelligence and could communicate telepathically with Lin Nan.

It was only unknown how much longer it would take for the Thunder Seal to fully awaken its bloodline.

When the black deer parted ways with Lin Nan yesterday, it was already able to understand Lin Nan's comforting words.

It had heard Lin Nan say that they weren't far apart and could meet again at any time.

Therefore, after the black deer had familiarized itself with the environment in the mountains, it intended to go back to find Lin Nan.

It just so happened that while the black deer was looking for a secluded path to head down the mountain toward Lin Nan, it ran into this group of poachers.

At this moment, the sudden appearance of the black deer had left the three poachers utterly stunned.

As poachers, they had spent years roaming these mountains.

In the process, they had naturally seen all kinds of wild deer.

But no matter how much experience they had, they had never seen such a peculiar deer...

To be able to leap three or four meters off the ground in a single bound?

Furthermore, the deer was so large that it didn't look light or agile at all.

Yet the fact was right before their eyes, and they had seen it all clearly!

For a moment, the three poachers just stared at each other, unable to help but marvel

“Was that really a deer just now?”

“I feel like when it left, it actually turned back and glared at us!”

As the words were spoken, the three recalled the gaze the deer had cast upon them.

It really didn't look like the gaze of an ordinary wild deer; it clearly looked like the gaze of a person!

Thinking of this, the poacher who had fired the bolt couldn't help but gasp

“Hiss... I heard from the older generation that the Mountain God sometimes transforms into animals in the forest to punish those who disrespect the living creatures of the mountain!”

“That deer just now... could it be...”

Hearing this, the poacher beside him immediately chimed in

“What did I tell you? This place is definitely eerie!”

“Now it seems those two lightning strikes weren't a coincidence after all!”

Just as the two hunters were making things more and more supernatural, the leader, Brother Mao, spat on the ground.

“Stop talking nonsense and get searching!”

“Mountain God my ass! Next time I see it, I'll shoot it just the same!”

The others didn't dare say more, knowing that as poachers, if there truly were a Mountain God, they would surely face retribution. Fortunately, it was just a joke, and no one took it to heart as they continued deeper into the mountains.

...

“Whew... killing me, I've finally finished the run.”

At Yanhai University, under the morning sunlight.

The freshmen had just finished their morning run. Wang Chengyu stood with his hands on his hips, panting heavily.

He couldn't stop complaining: “Sigh, it's like we've been cursed. We finally have no classes this morning, and yet we still have to wake up early for a morning run.”

“How much longer do we have to live like this?”

Hearing Wang Chengyu's complaint, Jiang Tao, who seemed to have scouted some information in advance, spoke up

“It won't be long. I want to join the Sports Department, so I contacted some seniors there. They said freshmen have to do morning runs for an entire semester.”

As Jiang Tao spoke, his tone seemed to carry a hint of lamentation regarding the duration of the runs.

In contrast, Wang Chengyu, hearing the bad news, widened his pea-sized eyes.

“What? For a whole semester?!”

Wang Chengyu cried out in shock, his face looking half-dead.

Ultimately, under the consolation of the other, he barely managed to accept the reality.

Immediately after, Wang Chengyu asked Jiang Tao curiously, “The Sports Department? Why on earth would you want to join that?”

“If you have that kind of free time, you'd be better off lying in your dorm or starting a livestream with Brother Nan.”

“Is that so?” Hearing this, a smile played on Jiang Tao's lips as he said meaningfully, “But once you join the Sports Department, you can supervise the other freshmen during their morning runs.”

“If it's my turn to supervise one day and someone tells me they aren't feeling well and asks for leave, wouldn't I be able to just stand there and rest on the sidelines?”

“Holy crap!”

As Jiang Tao's words fell, Wang Chengyu was stunned.

He had just been scoffing at the idea of joining the Sports Department.

But in the blink of an eye, Wang Chengyu's attitude did a complete 180-degree turn!

It turned out that not only was Lin Nan his provider, but this guy was also a powerful connection!

Thinking of this, Wang Chengyu immediately changed his tune, cupping his hands in a respectful salute: “Godfather! Your son's words were a bit harsh just now!”

After a bit of banter, Jiang Tao turned his head and asked Lin Nan, “By the way, where's Old Lin? Has he thought about joining any departments or clubs?”

(End of Chapter)