Cultivating in a Bizarre World

The darkness was filled with murmuring whispers, and from time to time, wolf howls echoed, making one’s hair stand on end.

Wolves!!

WOLVES!!!!

"Are you alright? Wake up?!"

Zhou Qianshu’s voice echoed from all directions, startling Ding Cang from his Nightmare.

His clothes were soaked with sweat, and blood seeped through the gauze on his limbs to varying degrees. Even his eye sockets were slightly sunken.

Zhou Qianshu looked at Ding Cang with concern and couldn’t help but ask, "Another dream?"

Ding Cang muttered to himself, "Ever since those beasts bit my hands and feet, I’ve had this strange dream every day."

He cupped his face in his hands, his expression full of despair.

"In my dream, it’s like I’ve been swallowed by a wild wolf. I can even feel its breath on my ear."

At this, Ding Cang couldn’t help but gag, nearly vomiting up stomach acid.

Zhou Qianshu quickly brought him some water and patted his back, trying to ease his suffering.

They remembered it well. Right after leaving Taohong Village, they had run into a pack of wild wolves late one night. Ding Cang had been caught off guard and dragged away.

To save Ding Cang, they fought back desperately, and two Hunters were even injured in the process.

After the wolves were wiped out, Zhou Qianshu and the other Hunters searched for a long time before finding the unconscious Ding Cang in the wolves’ den. Thankfully, he wasn’t seriously harmed; his injuries were mostly on his hands and feet.

Zhou Qianshu said complainingly, "A few days ago, when constable Ren came to see us, why didn’t you tell him what was happening?"

"I... I..."

Ding Cang’s eyes were vacant, as if he were still lost in his terror.

Zhou Qianshu sighed and said, "Your wounds are almost healed. Why don’t you go to the camp and relax a bit?"

"Yeah, thank you, Uncle Zhou. I probably should get out for a walk..."

Ding Cang stood up dazedly and staggered out of the wooden cabin.

Watching him go, Zhou Qianshu frowned slightly and muttered to himself, ’That Ding Cang kid... does he seem a little taller than before?’

’Or am I just getting shorter in my old age?’

After arriving at the camp, Ding Cang felt the gentle evening sun on his skin, and his tense mood began to ease.

A few Hunters he knew saw that he had finally come outside and called out greetings to him.

Ding Cang responded to each of them. He was about to stop and chat, but his feet started moving involuntarily toward the deeper part of the camp.

’What’s happening?’

Ding Cang thought nothing of it, assuming his limbs were just stiff from not having been out for a long time.

But he soon realized something was wrong. A sharp pain pricked at the joints of his arms and legs, and fresh blood seeped through the gauze.

He subconsciously raised his arm to check, but his eyes registered a strange sense of unfamiliarity, as if the arm didn’t belong to him.

Then, Ding Cang noticed more oddities. The light-colored birthmark on the back of his right hand was now gone.

The scar he used to have on his left wrist had also vanished.

Panic seized Ding Cang’s heart. He wanted to find a Forbidden Guard for help, but his legs were no longer under his control and began striding quickly toward the karst cave.

He tried to resist several times, but it was useless.

Just then, Ren Qing, who had just come out of the mine, was heading toward a wooden cabin to rest. In his hand, he held an incredibly conspicuous four-foot-long Great Miao Blade.

Ding Cang froze for a moment, then, as if grasping at a lifeline, he tried to shout to Ren Qing.

"Mmph..."

His right hand shot up and clamped over his mouth.

Ding Cang’s pupils dilated. When ordinary people encounter bizarre, incomprehensible events, their bodies instinctively want to cry out.

His right hand suddenly pried open his jaw and grabbed his tongue with force.

Before he could react, an excruciating pain shot through his head. His tongue had been ripped out by the root, and blood gushed from his mouth.

His twisted face was unspeakably horrifying.

Ren Qing stopped in his tracks.

Ding Cang could see that Ren Qing seemed to have noticed something was wrong with him. He tried to get help again, but his legs only ran faster and faster.

He felt his bones creaking under the strain, and even his internal organs ached from the pressure.

Ding Cang fell heavily in front of the karst cave. His flesh and blood flowed out like melted butter, with countless eyes floating within.

His consciousness seemed to return to the wolf’s belly, but this time, in addition to the heavy breathing, there was the voice of a strange man.

"What a pity. It didn’t completely cover the mining area."

Blood splattered everywhere.

The Hundred Eyes Forbidden Area was formed.

* * *

Hordes of wild beasts swarmed in.

Although the Gu Insects used as a defense were greater in number, they clearly couldn’t kill the beasts quickly enough, allowing some that feared no death to rush into Camel Peak Mountain.

The surviving beasts were mostly wolves, tigers, leopards, and bears, all of which had survived thanks to their agility.

It was as if they already knew the location of the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area and were charging straight for it.

As a large number of Gu Insects died, Li Yaoyang sensed it and pinched his temples, his expression turning impatient.

He sat cross-legged inside a cave on Camel Peak Mountain, surrounded by a dozen or so jars and pots, all filled with numerous Gu Insects.

Li Yaoyang frowned and muttered to himself, ’Ridiculous. You think you can break into the Forbidden Area just by driving some common beasts? Where did you get the nerve?’

He slit his wrist with a fingernail, and blood dripped into an earthen pot full of Gu Insects. The sound of them scrambling to devour it echoed from within.

A few breaths later, a dozen or so hornet-like Gu Insects burst from the pot, spread their wings, and flew into the dense mountain forest.

Li Yaoyang then left the cave and shouted, "Miss Mu, there’s still one Cultivator we haven’t dealt with. Go and take control of his body to prevent a new Forbidden Area from forming after his death."

The moment his voice fell, nearby trees and vines began to intertwine.

A tree-man over three meters tall strode toward the direction the beasts were attacking from. It was hard to imagine that its terrifying appearance belonged to a young woman in her prime.

However, the birds were not afraid of Mu Yi in the slightest, even landing on her shoulders.

By the time Mu Yi found a trace of the beasts, they had already charged to within a kilometer of the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area.

Mu Yi spread her arms.

Dozens of vines shot out and wrapped around the pack of beasts. Even the few that slipped through the net were ensnared by roots that burst from the ground.

She inspected the beasts one by one and found that they were all quite ordinary. There was not even a faint, discernible trace of magic.

’Don’t tell me that Cultivator never even entered the mountain?’

Mu Yi closed her eyes to receive feedback from the vegetation. Countless chaotic memories flooded her mind as she tried to sift through them for useful information.

After a long while, Mu Yi opened her eyes.

Just over ten minutes ago, a large, sturdy old wolf had climbed the back of the mountain, a place full of cliffs and precipices, and was sneaking toward the side of the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area.

However, the old wolf was on the verge of death and likely wouldn’t last much longer.

Mu Yi retracted the vines into her body, returning to her normal human form.

Then, she held out her hand, beckoning a few birds closer. A series of chirps came from her mouth, as if she were communicating with them.

The birds flew away, and Mu Yi hurried into the forest.

Regardless of whether this old wolf was the Cultivator in disguise, she had to stop it.

If it affected the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, the Forbidden Area was indiscriminately surrounded by Magic Techniques. Even a Ghost Envoy Realm expert would likely find it difficult to break through in a short amount of time.