Stop grinding, I'm really just a free spirit.

Chapter 74 The Plan to Use a Wolf to Devour a Tiger

Large and small animal bones were piled up haphazardly.

Some were already rotten and blackened, while others still had bits of meat and tendons that hadn't been completely eaten, emitting a suffocating stench.

Amidst the pile of bones, several incomplete human skulls were found. One of them was relatively intact, its empty eye sockets facing the cave entrance, as if silently screaming.

In the very center of that pile of bones lay a massive demonic bear.

The bear's fur was entirely iron-white, a unique characteristic of the Ironback Bear.

It was almost twice the size of an ordinary demon bear, and when it lay on the pile of bones, it looked like a mountain of flesh. Its back was high and its spine had a faint metallic dark silver luster.

The bear's paws are as thick as palm fans, with five hooked claws extending from the edge of the paw, each about the length of an adult's index finger, and are jet black and shiny.

At this moment, the giant beast is snoring.

The snoring was heavy and muffled, like someone pulling a broken bellows deep in the cave. With each snoring, the airflow at the cave entrance would ripple slightly.

Chen Bai slowly withdrew his spiritual sense, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.

It is indeed an iron-backed gray bear.

Moreover, judging from its size and the degree of silvering on its back, it has probably reached the peak of the mid-stage of fetal breathing, and is only one step away from breaking through to the late stage.

A demonic beast of this level of cultivation is far beyond what the three of them can handle in a head-on confrontation.

He gestured for Duan Heisi and Miao Wuniang to retreat to a crevice on the other side of the hillside, and only stopped after confirming that the distance was safe enough.

The three of them crouched in a crevice in the rocks, with the rocks above them jutting out at an angle, blocking out the moonlight and casting their shadows in darkness.

"Brother Chen, what are you planning to do?"

Duan Heisi squatted on the ground, his hands on the hilt of his knife, and asked in a low voice.

His tone became even more tense than before.

After seeing the cave and the piles of white bones at its entrance, even the most thick-skinned person would tense up.

Miao Wuniang also looked at Chen Bai, her right hand unconsciously rubbing back and forth on the array plate at her waist.

She didn't speak, but her lips were tightly pressed together.

Chen Bai did not answer immediately.

He took out a piece of spiritual paper from his pouch and wrote down the location of the cave, the surrounding terrain, and the physical characteristics of the Ironbacked Bear that he had just detected with his spiritual sense. He also carefully recalled the environment around this hillside.

Under the moonlight, his gaze slowly swept across the surroundings, from the rocky slope to the dry creek below, and then to the indistinct mountain ridge in the distance. Every piece of terrain corresponded to the markings on the simple map in his mind.

"Brother Duan, Fifth Sister."

He finally raised his head, his voice still unhurried, but his eyes held an undeniable certainty. "I have two things I need you to do."

The two of them moved closer together.

"Brother Duan," Chen Bai pointed to a cliff that was faintly visible on the southeast side of the hillside. It was about three miles away from here, and under the moonlight, several dark objects could be vaguely seen hanging on the cliff face.

"There is a nest of Red Rock Spirit Bees on that cliff."

On the way here, I smelled a faint scent of nectar. Following the wind, I figured the nectar source must be nearby.

The honey brewed by the Crimson Rock Spirit Bee contains the essence of rock fire, which has a strong attraction to fire-type monsters.

Although the Ironbacked Bear is associated with the elements of Earth and Metal, it has a particular habit: it enjoys eating spiritual honey.

"Could you fetch me some honey from that nest of rock bees? Not too much, just a small jar will do."

When Duan Heisi heard that it was about removing beehives, the tension on his face relaxed a bit, and he grinned and said, "When I used to make a living in the mountains, I removed at least eighty or a hundred beehives... Leave this job to me, and I'll make sure Brother Chen gets it done."

"Be careful," Chen Bai cautioned. "Those bees are no ordinary species; ordinary mugwort smoke may not be effective against them."

"Also, if you get stung by a bee, don't try to tough it out. Come back and ask me for the antidote."

Chen Bai added another sentence.

Duan Heisi was taken aback: "The antidote? You brought the antidote?"

"I will match it." Chen Bai said calmly, as if he were talking about something trivial.

Duan Heisi gave him a deep look, then picked up his long sword and strode towards the southeast.

A moment later, his figure disappeared into the darkness of the dense forest, leaving only the occasional cry of a night bird in the distance.

"Fifth Sister".

Chen Bai turned to Miao Wuniang and pointed to a deep valley on the map, more than ten miles away from here. "Could you please make a trip here?"

Miao Wuniang took the map and carefully examined the directions by the moonlight. She frowned slightly and said, "Go another ten miles to the north? I have some impression of this area."

When I came here, Lu An mentioned that the Spirit Sword Sect's intelligence had marked this area as being inhabited by a Fiery Horned Rhinoceros.

"At the mid-stage of embryonic breathing, its temper is notoriously volatile. You want me to probe it?"

"No direct contact is needed."

Chen Bai said, "We just need to confirm whether it is still in the nest at this moment, and the terrain around the nest."

Write down the escape routes, ambush points... everything.

Miao Wuniang paused for a moment, then looked up from the map and stared at Chen Bai, asking, "A plan to use one wolf to devour another?"

Chen Bai neither denied nor explained, but simply nodded.

Miao Wuniang stared at him for a few moments, then suddenly smiled.

She didn't ask any further questions. She simply tightened the cloth bag containing the array stakes at her waist, twirled the short sword in her hand, sheathed it, and stood up cleanly and neatly.

"Wait for me to come back."

After she finished speaking, she turned and disappeared into the shadows of the trees. With a few leaps, she vanished into the night, her footsteps so light they were almost inaudible.

Chen Bai watched her figure disappear before standing up alone and slowly walking through the surrounding mountains and forests.

He walked slowly, his eyes carefully searching the grass and crevices under his feet.

The moonlight was cut into countless fragments by the branches and leaves, scattering across the forest clearing, the dappled light and shadow swaying uncertainly in the night breeze.

He was looking for medicinal herbs, not rare or precious ones, but several kinds of herbs that could be found everywhere in the Shifang Mountains.

Poria cocos sclerotium, Viola yedoensis, and a piece of wormwood that he picked up on the way.

Crush these three medicinal herbs and mix them together.

Swelling reduction, pain relief, and heat-clearing properties... make this a quick and effective antidote for bee venom.

Chen Bai spread the medicinal herbs out one by one on a flat stone surface, took out a small stone mortar from his bag, put in several herbs, and slowly pounded them.

He kept his head down, focusing intently on processing the medicinal herbs in his hands, his movements practiced and composed.

Once the herbs in the mortar had been pounded into a dark green paste, he wrapped it in a large leaf and put it into his storage bag.

Then he sat cross-legged on the stone, closed his eyes, and sank his spiritual consciousness into his sea of ​​consciousness.

In the center of the sea of ​​consciousness, the Cauldron of Returning to Origin and Creation floats silently.

The essence of the Ink-Scaled Water Anaconda condensed into a pale blue ball of light, within which a serpentine phantom, shrunk countless times, could be vaguely seen slowly swimming.

Chen Bai carefully checked the primordial reserves in the cauldron.

【"Yuanzhi: 200"】