hotmtlnovel Chapter 257 In Shennongjia, the esophagus begins to show its power.
Chapter 257 In Shennongjia, the esophagus begins to show its power.
China, Shennongjia Forest District.
There have been legends of "wild men" since ancient times, and it is one of the most mysterious primeval forests in China.
After the spiritual energy was restored, the changes here were no less significant than those in Kunlun. Countless rare medicinal herbs underwent extraordinary mutations under the nourishment of the spiritual energy, their medicinal properties increasing exponentially, transforming them into true "spiritual medicines."
He Yuzhu has been here for three days.
Unlike other expeditions, he did not bring various high-tech equipment, nor did he travel in large groups.
He was all alone, dressed in simple coarse cloth clothes, carrying a bamboo basket on his back, like the most ordinary herb gatherer, walking in this perilous forest and snowfield.
The World Tree leaf that Mr. Lin gave him has been refined and integrated into his soul. Now, there is a real-time updated "spiritual material map" in his mind. Within a radius of a hundred miles, any plant, animal, or mineral with spiritual energy will be marked on this map with dots of varying brightness.
In the past three days, he has collected quite a few low-grade medicinal herbs.
In the past, any one of these medicinal herbs would have been enough to cause bloodshed and chaos in the martial arts world. But now, in He Yuzhu's eyes, they were only fit to be used as the most ordinary seasonings.
His target was the treasure mentioned in Mr. Lin's decree, the one that could serve as the cornerstone of the "Divine Chef's Hall".
According to the map, the treasure is located in the deepest part of Shennongjia, in a place called "Shennong Valley".
The deeper you go into the forest, the thicker the miasma becomes, and the more powerful the strange beasts grow.
He Yuzhu encountered a lot of trouble along the way.
There are giant pythons that can spray venom, leopards that are as fast as lightning, and mutated wolf packs that know how to surround and attack.
But these threats, which would be deadly to ordinary people, didn't even cause He Yuzhu the slightest trouble.
He was too lazy to even lift a finger.
He simply took out some "dried meat" that he had made himself using ordinary ingredients mixed with a trace of spiritual energy from his basket.
Then, he threw it in front of those strange beasts.
Those originally ferocious beasts instantly became more docile than domestic dogs after smelling that strange fragrance. They would fight tooth and nail for a small piece of jerky, but they would never think of attacking He Yuzhu, their "feeder".
This is the domineering nature of "the way of food".
For these strange beasts that have just awakened their intelligence and still retain their primal bestial nature, nothing can subdue them more than satisfying their most basic appetite.
On this day, He Yuzhu finally arrived at the entrance of Shennong Valley.
Before he could even go inside, he stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowing slightly.
He smelled blood.
It smelled strongly of blood.
Mixed in with it were a few wisps of human scent that he recognized very well.
Following the scent, he saw a horrific scene in an open area not far from the valley entrance.
Seven or eight corpses lay scattered on the ground. Judging from their uniforms, they were likely special forces from some country. Their deaths were gruesome, as if they had been torn apart alive by some wild beast.
Amidst the corpses, two groups of people were locked in a fierce standoff.
One group consisted of five Chinese soldiers dressed in matching black outfits, wielding modern weapons, and exuding a steely, military aura. They had a woman who appeared to be a researcher sheltering her in the center. Each of them bore injuries and stared warily at the group opposite them.
Opposite them was a group of blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners.
This group of foreigners, numbering about a dozen, all had bulging temples and exuded a fierce aura, clearly skilled martial artists. Leading them was a tall, burly white man with a full beard.
"Guys of Dragon Fang, I advise you to be sensible." The burly man with a thick beard chuckled coldly in fluent Chinese, "Hand over Dr. Li behind you, and that 'Seven-Colored Violet' in her hand."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't mind having a few more corpses from the East in Shennongjia."
The Chinese soldier being protected in the middle, who was also the captain of the Dragon Fang Special Forces, snorted coldly and held a blood-stained military knife across his chest.
"Hans, don't even think about it!" he said through gritted teeth. "The pansy is something that grows on my Chinese soil, why should I hand it over to you!"
"Why should I?" The burly man named Hans asked, as if he'd heard something amusing. "Just because of this!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he stomped his foot!
"boom!"
The ground beneath his feet cracked instantly, and a powerful energy burst forth from him!
The Dragon Fang team members were all thrown back several steps by the force of the energy, their faces showing expressions of horror.
Neutralize the force!
This Hans is actually a master of internal energy transformation!
"Now, what makes you think you're on the right?" Hans looked at them with a mocking expression.
Captain Longya's face turned extremely ugly.
Their mission this time was to escort botanist Dr. Li to collect the mutated medicinal herb "Seven-Colored Violet" that had just been discovered by satellite.
Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by the international mercenary organization "Hellhound" as soon as they succeeded.
They fought desperately, killing many of the enemy's ordinary members, but they were utterly powerless against Hans, a master of internal energy.
"Captain, you take Dr. Li and leave first! The rest of us will fight him to the death!" a young team member said, his eyes red.
"That's right! We, the Dragon Fang, only have soldiers who die standing, not bears who live on their knees!"
"If you want to take something from us, you'll have to step over our dead bodies first!"
The remaining team members all wore expressions of resignation to their fate.
"Overestimating yourself." Hans curled his lip in disdain, preparing to get rid of these troublesome flies.
Just then, a calm voice came from the woods not far away.
"Um... excuse me."
Everyone was stunned and looked in the direction from which the sound came.
A seemingly ordinary "herb gatherer," dressed in coarse cloth and carrying a bamboo basket, emerged from behind the tree.
It was He Yuzhu.
He glanced at the corpses of the foreign soldiers on the ground, then at Hans and the others, and finally his gaze fell on a small flower that was being preserved in a special container in Dr. Li's hand, radiating a seven-colored glow.
Pansy.
The map shows that this is a mid-grade spiritual herb; consuming it can greatly increase one's spiritual power.
It's a pretty good product.
"Who are you?" Hans frowned, sizing up the suddenly appearing Easterner. He couldn't sense any martial arts aura from He Yuzhu.
"Me?" He Yuzhu scratched his head, revealing a simple, honest smile. "I'm just someone passing by gathering herbs. It seems you guys... are fighting over this flower?"
"Get out!" Hans snapped impatiently. "This is none of your business! If you don't leave, I'll kill you too!"
The captain of Longya panicked and shouted to He Yuzhu, "Fellow villager! Let's go! It's dangerous here!"
"Oh, that's dangerous." He Yuzhu nodded, and then he said something that almost made everyone present fall over.
"That's perfect, I'm a little hungry. Could any of you... get me something to eat?"
Everyone is stupid.
Is this guy crazy?
Can't you see the tension is palpable, and someone's about to die?
He actually wants food here?
Hans laughed in anger: "Fine! Very well! You want to eat, huh? I'll rip out your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys right now, so you can taste them for yourself!"
His figure blurred, turning into a blur, and he instantly rushed in front of He-Yu-Zhu, unleashing a powerful punch that tore through the air, aimed straight at He-Yu-Zhu's face!
The Dragon Fang team members all closed their eyes in despair.
They could almost see the bloody scene of the innocent herb gatherer having his head smashed open with a single punch.
However, the expected roar did not occur.
They opened their eyes and witnessed a scene they would never forget.
The "herb gatherer," He Yuzhu, calmly took a kitchen knife from his waist in the face of Hans's earth-shattering punch.
A seemingly ordinary, even slightly dull, kitchen knife used by chefs.
He flipped his wrist and used the flat of the knife to lightly "slap" Hans' fist.
"Snapped!"
A crisp sound, like the sound of smashing a cucumber.
Hans, a master of internal energy transformation, had a fist powerful enough to pierce steel plates, but the moment it touched the blade, all its force vanished without a trace, like a mud ox sinking into the sea.
Immediately afterwards, a strange, indescribable "vibration" came from the blade and instantly surged into his arm.
That force did not harm the skin or bones.
It acted directly on... the meridians and blood in Hans's body!
Hans felt as if his entire arm had been put into a high-speed spinning washing machine in an instant! The blood and energy in his body were stirred into a pot of porridge by a strange force!
"puff!"
He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his whole body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground.
He tried to get up, but found that his whole body was sore and weak, and he couldn't even move a finger.
He felt that he had not been injured by just one person.
Instead, they ate a "dish" cooked using his body as an ingredient!
What... what kind of sorcery is this?!
The entire venue was deathly silent.
The mercenaries of "Hellhound" were terrified to see their leader, a Grandmaster of Internal Energy, being struck by a cook with a cleaver, causing him to vomit blood and collapse to the ground.
The Dragon Fang team members' eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
The Grandmaster of Transformation Force, whom they couldn't budge despite their best efforts, was just... slapped down with a single blow?
Is this a movie shoot?
He Yuzhu looked at Hans lying on the ground and shook his head in dissatisfaction.
"I didn't control the heat well, and it's a bit overcooked," he muttered to himself. "The meat is all overcooked."