【Beast Name: Crimson Mane Horse (Ordinary)】
【Walks like the wind, travels a thousand li a day, a standout among horses, possesses fierce might, its roars and bellows resemble rising into the sky or entering the sea, can reach Ordinary High Stage】
【Assimilation Requirement: None】
【Assimilation Effect: Agility Increase 2, Stamina Increase 2】
"As expected, the attribute increase points for Ordinary High-Grade Strange Beasts are all around 4."
Looking at the information about the Crimson Mane Horse that appeared in his consciousness, Lin Sheng's face showed no surprise.
"The Crimson Mane Horse travels a thousand li a day and can run continuously like the sun. In terms of both speed and stamina, it is much stronger than ordinary horses, which aligns with these assimilation attributes."
Immediately, Lin Sheng's thought moved, and he successfully assimilated the Crimson Mane Horse.
He began to carefully feel the increase effect after assimilating the Crimson Mane Horse into his physical body.
"Hmm, my body is indeed much lighter than before. As for stamina, it's not very obvious, as this effect requires long-term physical activity to be noticeable."
In the courtyard, Lin Sheng's figure continuously ran, moving and shifting around.
Only after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn did he stop.
"It seems that the same increase attributes do not necessarily bring about completely identical increase effects."
Compared to the agility increase brought by assimilating the White Ape before, Lin Sheng could clearly feel the difference between that and the agility increase from the Crimson Mane Horse.
The agility increase brought by the White Ape focused on flexibility, reflexes, and short-distance bursts.
The Crimson Mane Horse, on the other hand, focused more on burst speed over straight distances. Coupled with the stamina increase, the agility increase from the Crimson Mane Horse is clearly more suitable for long-distance travel, tracking, and escaping.
In fact, he had already felt the differences between the assimilation attributes since earlier.
It was just not as obvious as the feeling this time.
"It's a pity I don't have high-grade ape blood, but there's no rush."
Successfully assimilating the Crimson Mane Horse this time completely used up all the Crimson Mane Horse blood he had collected.
Besides that, there were still over 10 types of Mid-Grade Strange Beast blood.
Lin Sheng's gaze fell upon the leather pouches placed on the stone table nearby.
Among these Mid-Grade Strange Beast bloods, some he had already assimilated, and some he had not.
Although the variety wasn't too large, the quantity was considerable.
Immediately, he planned to absorb all these bloods into his body. Just then, he glanced at the ring mark on his chest and noticed some changes.
At this moment, the originally not very obvious ring mark on his chest, perhaps due to an illusion, seemed to have increased slightly compared to before, and its color had also deepened a bit.
"This change?"
Lin Sheng was a little surprised.
When he came down from Yangping Mountain in the morning, the mark on his chest had not shown these changes yet. He was certain of this.
Soon, he realized something. He immediately picked up a leather pouch from the stone table and directly absorbed all the Strange Beast blood within it.
Meanwhile, his gaze remained fixed on the ring mark on his chest.
Until after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
He didn't see any changes, or rather, it wasn't that there were no changes, but that the changes were too subtle for him to detect.
However, there was no look of surprise on his face; instead, he showed an expression that seemed to say, "Just as I expected."
By now, he was certain that it was only after he absorbed the Crimson Mane Horse's blood that the ring mark showed that subtle change.
Although it was only a trace, it was indeed visible progress, comparable to him absorbing twenty to thirty Mid-Grade Strange Beasts.
"It seems the benefits of assimilating High-Grade Strange Beasts are far greater than those of Low-Grade Strange Beasts. This is not only reflected in the increased attributes but also applies to the accumulation of the ring mark."
Lin Sheng rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"According to this pattern, if I want to quickly activate the second ring mark, starting with High-Grade Strange Beast blood is undoubtedly more suitable."
"Ordinary High-Grade Strange Beast blood already has such effects, so how much stronger would Spirit Beast blood be?"
"It's just that anything from a Spirit Beast is quite valuable, far beyond what Ordinary Strange Beasts can compare to. Even Ordinary High-Grade ones have a significant gap. Moreover, things like Spirit Beast blood are often priceless, as they are main ingredients for refining some precious elixirs."
One must know that he spent over 100 taels of silver just to buy these bloods at the medicine shop.
Not to mention Spirit Beast blood, even the blood of Ordinary High-Grade Strange Beasts, with his current wealth, even including what Brother Lin Miao left behind, he couldn't buy much at all.
"It seems I still need to find a way to make money." Lin Sheng frowned.
"But where should I start to make this money?"
He muttered to himself, raising his head, his gaze falling upon the vast mountain range in the distance.
The next day, Lin Sheng woke up early, changed into casual clothes, packed some dry food and water, and went straight towards Yangping Mountain without stopping.
There are many Strange Beasts in Yangping Mountain, and also many rare medicinal herbs. As long as one's strength is sufficient, hunting and gathering in Yangping Mountain is undoubtedly the best way for him to make money at the moment.
Moreover, with his status from the Hunting Beast Hall, entering and exiting Yangping Mountain is more convenient.
Zhenshan Tower does not restrict its hunters from entering the mountains to hunt alone.
In fact, in some ways, this kind of behavior is even encouraged to a certain extent.
Lin Sheng had inquired before and learned that some experienced hunters with decent strength, apart from some mandatory large-scale missions, basically hunt in the mountains alone on a daily basis.
Aside from having to hand over 30% of their earnings when coming down the mountain, there are no other additional requirements, and there is no limit on the number of times they can enter the mountain.
One should know that although outsiders can also enter Yangping Mountain to hunt, besides paying an entrance fee and a portion of their gains, the most crucial point is that there is a limit on the number of times.
Ordinary rogue hunters only have one opportunity to advance per month, and they are required to hand over more of their earnings.
As for some medium to large forces in the County Town, the limit on the number of times is relaxed to three to five.
The reason for such restrictions is also to prevent other forces from affecting Zhenshan Tower's control over Yangping Mountain.
At the same time, it also doesn't affect Zhenshan Tower's monopoly on the sale of beast meat and Materials.
This way, even if those medium to large forces send experts to hunt in Yangping Mountain, they are destined not to be able to form a large scale.
Soon, Lin Sheng arrived at the foot of Yangping Mountain. He had completed several small missions in one go a few days ago, so he had several days of rest time, which was perfect for entering the mountain to hunt.
At the foot of the mountain, Zhenshan Tower Disciples on duty, after verifying Lin Sheng's identity, simply let him pass directly.
Before entering, he saw a team of people running out of the mountain in a sorry state.
Their clothes were stained with a lot of blood, and several of them were seriously injured and being carried on their teammates' backs.
The most severely injured one was missing a thigh from the root. The injured person's face was as pale as paper, his eyes were tightly shut, and his face was full of pain. With such severe injuries, even if taken to a medical hall now, he might not survive.
Lin Sheng noticed that these people were all wearing standard uniforms with a white cloud pattern embroidered on their chests.
"These are people from White Cloud Martial Hall?"
After seeing the cloud pattern, the name appeared in Lin Sheng's mind.
White Cloud Martial Hall is also a martial hall with decent influence in the County Town. Although slightly inferior to White Elephant Martial Hall, it also has experts at the Forging Tendons Late Stage overseeing it. The number of Disciples is quite a bit more than White Elephant Martial Hall, basically making it the martial hall with the most Disciples among the several in the County Town.
Watching these people walk past him, under the enhancement of Sense Boost Two, he could vaguely feel that their vitality was quite strong and vigorous, undoubtedly Body Tempering Martial Artists.
The one with the most vigorous vitality was the bald strong man at the back of the team. He felt slightly stronger than Wang Sanyang to Lin Sheng, on par with Ma Long. He should be considered a good hand at the Forging Tendons Early Stage.
However, the bald strong man at this moment was somewhat disheveled, covered in bloodstains. His left shoulder was wrapped in thick clothes, but upon closer inspection, one could still see faint traces of blood seeping through the clothes, indicating he seemed to have suffered a significant external injury.
To make such a strong team so disheveled, they must have encountered a quite powerful fierce beast.
Watching the figures of the group quickly disappear from sight, Lin Sheng retracted his gaze and stepped towards the mountain.
However, not long after walking out, he encountered another team that was seriously injured and hurrying down the mountain.
Although he didn't show anything on his face, he became more cautious in his heart.
Although he couldn't tell which force the second team belonged to, based on the feedback from his senses, the strength of this second team was also not weak, even slightly stronger than the people from White Cloud Martial Hall just now. They should also be from a medium to large force in the County Town.
In the past, the goals of such medium to large forces entering the mountains to hunt were very clear. It wasn't that they never encountered unexpected failures, but situations like the current heavy casualties, and two teams at once, were extremely rare.
Recalling the scene of encountering the Red Stone Ant swarm yesterday.
Clearly, the situation in Yangping Mountain is probably much more dangerous than before.
"Is it because of the beast tide?"
Zhenshan Tower has occupied Yangping Mountain for several decades. During this time, it has also encountered beast tides multiple times and understands the situation of beast tides very well. Whenever a beast tide approaches, the Strange Beasts in Yangping Mountain do indeed become restless, and their numbers are somewhat higher than usual.
Until the real beast tide erupts, many rare Strange Beasts from the depths of Yangping Mountain are likely to appear in the outer areas of Yangping Mountain. Even Spirit Beasts will definitely appear, and it will absolutely not be as simple as just one or two.
However, there should still be a few months until the beast tide. Could it be that the beast tide might come early?
This thought appeared in Lin Sheng's mind. Nevertheless, he had no intention of turning back. After all, Hunting Beast Hall had not shown any reaction yet, so it probably hadn't reached a truly serious moment.
Moreover, his current strength is not what it used to be. As long as he doesn't go deep into Yangping Mountain, he is confident in his ability to protect himself.
Tightening the iron spear in his hand, he moved through the mountain forest with light steps and agile movements.
Soon, two hours passed.
In the central region of Yangping Mountain, amidst the extremely dense mountain forest, ancient tree branches intertwined, and thick leaves overlapped, completely blocking out the sunlight. Only occasionally, as the breeze blew, did the branches and leaves sway, allowing specks of light to penetrate.
The air was filled with the smell of decay, dampness, and mold. In the dim environment, rustling sounds could be heard from time to time as some unknown small beast moved through the bushes.
A monitor lizard, two meters long and covered in grayish-white scales, suddenly opened its eyes, revealing brown-yellow vertical pupils.
The next moment, its large mouth opened, and its bright red tongue shot out two to three meters like lightning, sweeping through the bushes, wrapping around a grass-green snake as thick as a wrist, and swallowing it in one gulp.
However, before it could savor its meal, a sound of something breaking through the air rang out. The monitor lizard raised its head, unable to react in time. Its crocodile-like head was already pierced through by an iron spear, which was firmly nailed to the tree trunk. Red and white brain matter flowed out, and its life force quickly dissipated.
Only then did Lin Sheng step over, pull out the iron spear, and place his hand on the wound on the monitor lizard's head. The monitor lizard's blood, as if guided, quickly flowed towards his palm and directly entered Lin Sheng's body.
"That's the seventh one."
Glancing at the attributes of this Mid-Grade Ordinary Beast called Gray Rock Lizard, Lin Sheng muttered to himself.
Along the way, whenever he encountered a Mid-Grade fierce beast worth dealing with, he would strike like lightning and resolve it.
The efficiency was much faster than when he was in a team before.
He squatted down, took out a dagger from his Arms, peeled off the lizard's skin, took out the more valuable Materials from its body, and put them into the leather pouch he carried with him.
The two leather pouches at his waist were already full. He had prepared some extra leather pouches for this trip, enough to carry many Materials.
"This should be Black Earth Forest."
After dealing with the monitor lizard, Lin Sheng took out a map from his Arms and glanced at it. This Black Earth Forest was one of his main destinations for this trip into the mountains.
Because the environment in this Black Earth Forest is somewhat special, it is an environment that Black Tiger Apes like.
He naturally came here to try his luck and look for the Ordinary High-Grade Black Tiger Ape.
The habits of Black Tiger Apes, a type of monkey, are quite different from ordinary monkeys. They are a rare type of carrion-eating ape.
This type of ape is extremely dangerous. Besides being extremely agile, their temperament is quite brutal and ferocious. The most important thing is that this type of ape contains potent corrosive poison in its body. Corrosive poison is extremely troublesome; once contaminated, if not treated in time, it is absolutely a dead end. In a way, it can be understood as an enhanced version of tetanus.
Therefore, many people maintain a respectful distance from Black Tiger Apes. After all, highly poisonous Strange Beasts are a headache for many.
He also didn't know how the Black Tiger Ape blood in Song's Medicine Shop was obtained.
Like others, Lin Sheng was also quite disgusted and wary of highly poisonous Strange Beasts.
However, that's only if there's no profit motive. For such difficult Ordinary High-Grade Strange Beasts, the increase effect brought after assimilation is naturally stronger.
Coupled with the fact that it's an ape-type Strange Beast, no matter how fierce the opponent is, he won't let it go.
After packing his things and checking his equipment, Lin Sheng slowed down and began searching carefully in the Black Earth Forest. Before coming, he had specifically researched the habits of the Black Tiger Ape.
This type of ape is not a social creature, and there are no female Black Tiger Apes among them.
All Black Tiger Apes are male. They only seek out other female ape-type fierce beasts for mating during the mating season.
And the offspring produced by female ape-type fierce beasts that have been mated with by Black Tiger Apes will basically be Black Tiger Apes.
Now is the mating season for Black Tiger Apes. If he can find a Black Tiger Ape, he might be able to find two Ordinary High-Grade ape-type fierce beasts at once.