Two days later, Zhang Ling sat by the stream, watching his reflection in the water. His body was no longer the same as before. Although still thin, he had grown taller, though he didn't know how long he had been in the mountain's belly. In the past few days, he had also discovered a strange energy within his body, something indescribable. This energy gathered in his lower abdomen, seemingly the dantian location that martial artists spoke of. This energy also roamed throughout his body. When he circulated it to his left arm, the vines on it would grow larger and extend, as if they had consumed a great tonic. He experimented and found that the longest vine could extend to about forty or fifty feet, becoming exceptionally tough and capable of lifting thousand-pound boulders with ease. Without this energy, he could also control the vines on his hand, but they could only extend to about ten feet in length. He didn't know what this energy was, but it flowed within him without any hindrance, as if it were innate. Based on his limited knowledge, Zhang Ling could only guess that this energy was somewhat similar to the legendary inner force. He had heard that some martial arts masters cultivated inner force, and only with inner force could one be considered a true expert. The energy within him had the same effect. When he circulated it to his hands, the strength in his hands would increase by one or two times. When circulated to his legs, his running speed would also increase significantly. This energy was also consumable and recovered very slowly. He didn't know if other martial arts masters were the same, or if he wasn't using the right method. All of these were just his guesses. The only thing he could confirm was that this energy appeared because of the parasitic vines. Besides the changes in his body, the yellow bead he dug out from the crack in the rock was the most bizarre.
The yellow bead looked ordinary, but the vines on his left hand seemed very interested in it. Whenever he placed the bead on his left hand, the vines on his arm would uncontrollably lengthen and wrap around the bead. This change also led Zhang Ling to have some speculation about the vines. The vines had become so strange, and it must be related to the bead. If the vines on his arm were out of his control, his life would be in danger. So, upon discovering this, Zhang Ling dared not put the bead on his left hand again. As for what strange things the bead had, he hadn't figured it out yet. He remembered that when he burned the vines before, there was a layer of thin ice outside the bead. However, in the past few days, the earthy yellow bead had not changed in the slightest, nor had it emitted the coolness he had felt before. In the following days, Zhang Ling stayed in the mountains, recovering his body while studying the energy within him and repeatedly controlling the vines on his arm. ... In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed, and his body had almost recovered. Inside the cave, Zhang Ling commanded the vines to skillfully roll a piece of wood into the fire. Now, his control over the vines was as simple as controlling his arms. Retracting the vines, he held a piece of animal skin, fiddling with it. This was a black bear skin. Since he had the vines, ordinary beasts were no longer his match. Even tigers and black bears could be killed, and he no longer had to worry about food. Holding the animal skin, he gestured with it on his body, wanting to make himself a fur coat. Zhang Ling used his long knife to cut the animal skin in his hand. He had found this long knife again, but it was covered in rust and the blade was chipped. But it was better than nothing. With his current strength, cutting fur with this knife was easy. After half an hour, a simple fur coat was made. The fur coat only covered half of his upper body, shielding most of his chest and abdomen. Half of his shoulders were exposed. His lower body was only wearing a pair of knee-length shorts, tied to his waist with a rope made of vines. Zhang Ling twisted his body, feeling a little awkward. But this was only temporary, after all, he couldn't always be naked. After finishing the clothes, it was already midnight. He walked out of the cave, lay on the ground, and stared blankly at the starry night. His body had undergone a series of strange changes, and for a while, he didn't know where to go. Zhang Ling lay quietly on the ground. After an unknown amount of time, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he jumped up from the ground. He touched his waist, took out the earthy yellow bead, and a layer of thin ice appeared on the bead again.
He had just felt the cold emanating from it, which reminded him of this bead. Zhang Ling instantly became excited and began to observe the bead. However, apart from this layer of thin ice, there were no other changes on the bead. Although this layer of thin ice was colder than ordinary ice, he still couldn't see the bead's function. When the thin ice appeared on the bead, the vines on his arm also reacted, silently lengthening by a few inches, reaching for the bead. Zhang Ling quickly suppressed the vines. It took him a full quarter of an hour to suppress the restless vines, sweating profusely. Although this vine was under his control, it seemed to consciously want to break free from his control. This was not a good sign. The vines were parasitic on his body, and if they broke free from his control, he would be the first to suffer. After observing for a full quarter of an hour, the thin ice on the bead had disappeared, leaving only a little water stain in his hand. He smelled his right palm. These water stains had no strange smell. Looking at the water stains on his hand, Zhang Ling suddenly had the urge to lick them. However, he gave up this idea. These water stains were formed by the melting of the thin ice on the bead. The vines were already enough for him to handle, and he didn't want any accidents to happen. He looked at the water stains on his hand that had disappeared a little. He casually grabbed a few small grasses next to him, wiped them on it a few times, patted his hands, and returned to the cave to prepare for sleep. ... The next morning, Zhang Ling stood at the entrance of the cave, looking at the place where he had been lying yesterday. He rubbed his eyes, not daring to believe what he was seeing. There were several waist-high weeds waving in the breeze. On them were four or five furry, slightly curved awns, like dog tails. This was clearly dogtail grass, but now it was already waist-high. Can this kind of weed grow so big? Zhang Ling wondered in his heart. Even if it could grow so big, one night wouldn't be enough. He walked to the few thick dogtail grasses and looked them up and down, marveling for a while. At the same time, he also thought that these few dogtail grasses were the weeds he had wiped the water stains on last night. Could the thin ice on the yellow bead cause plants to mutate? Zhang Ling felt it was impossible, but the scene before him forced him to believe this guess. Zhang Ling reached out and pulled out one of the mutated dogtail grasses, observing it carefully. For most of the day, he was studying these mutated dogtail grasses. He found that these mutated dogtail grasses, besides growing taller, did not have any strange features, could not move, and could not glow. It seemed that they had only grown for many years, without the strange changes of parasitic vines. However, yesterday he only wiped some water stains on them. Was the amount too small? Was that little water stain not enough to cause other changes in these weeds? Zhang Ling thought so, and could only wait for the bead to change again before studying it. Although he didn't know if this change was good or bad, there was no doubt that the bead was a treasure. In the following days, he kept observing these dogtail grasses, but those dogtail grasses no longer changed, and the yellow bead did not produce new thin ice. He had only seen thin ice on the bead twice, but the time between these two occurrences was very long, and he didn't know how long it would be before the bead reappeared with thin ice. This research lasted for five days. Zhang Ling no longer waited and decided to leave this mountain forest and return to human towns.
