“Hmm, it’s only this far, there shouldn’t be any problem!”
The deer-horned rabbit’s corpse was less than two meters from the invisible shield, so even if he encountered danger, he could immediately return to the safe zone.
Therefore, after observing the surroundings and finding no abnormalities, Xia Tian stepped out of the territory’s “protective shield” range!
“Do you want to use ‘Touch of Gold’ on the ‘Broken Wooden Treasure Chest’?”
As he touched the treasure chest with the countdown, the familiar golden text reappeared.
“Hmm…”
This time, Xia Tian hesitated.
Because from the name “Broken Wooden Treasure Chest,” it was clear that the chest’s grade was not high.
After all, it was just something dropped by a second-tier white-named rabbit, so was it worth using the remaining six free “Touch of Gold” chances on such a treasure chest?
“Wait, if I don’t choose to use the free chances granted by the ‘Will of Earth’ but instead spend the territory’s luck to cast ‘Touch of Gold,’ can I?”
Xia Tian suddenly thought of something and spoke aloud.
“Do you want to use ‘Touch of Gold’ on the ‘Broken Wooden Treasure Chest’ (consuming territory luck)?”
The golden text before his eyes changed.
“It really works!”
After Xia Tian agreed in his mind, golden light bloomed from his fingertip.
In a flash, the chest’s brown wooden material turned into white stone, its name changed to “Ordinary Stone Treasure Chest,” and the “Luck” value in the territory attributes decreased by “2” points!
“2 points? That seems pretty cost-effective! Let’s try the effect of the stone chest after strengthening it again.”
Xia Tian’s finger glowed golden, and after using “Touch of Gold” again, the chest’s name changed to the “Exquisite Iron Treasure Chest” he had seen before, and this time it consumed 4 points of luck.
“It seems that the quality of treasure chests has six levels: wood, stone, iron, copper, silver, and gold. And each time the quality is improved, the luck value consumed will double… In other words, upgrading this treasure chest to gold will require a total of ‘8+16+32 = 56’ points of luck!”
After figuring out the pattern, Xia Tian decisively chose “No.”
Although the territory’s initial luck of 100 points was enough to upgrade it to gold, the value of a treasure chest dropped by a white-named small monster was definitely limited, so there was really no need to spend it here!
In fact, when Xia Tian opened the treasure chest, he found that there were indeed only two items inside, far less than the initial treasure chest.
“Deer Antler Blood Replenishing Pill Recipe (Green), Shucheng Secret Roasted Rabbit Seasoning (White)”
However, since it was an upgraded treasure chest, the attributes of these two items were not bad.
“Deer Antler Blood Replenishing Pill Recipe (Green)”
“Level: Mortal”
“Attribute: Blood Replenishing”
“Ingredients: Deer antler, Blood Marrow Grass”
“Description: A pill made primarily from deer antler and Blood Marrow Grass, used for blood replenishment and rapid recovery after injury!”
“Oh, a blood tonic, this is good stuff.”
Although this was a real world and there was no such thing as “HP,” this also meant that medicines capable of treating human injuries were definitely more valuable than ordinary items.
Of course, compared to this medicine recipe, the other item was a “Earth good” just like the “Maotai” from before.
Xia Tian looked at the two-pound bag of roasted rabbit seasoning from Gongshi, Sichuan Province, in his hand!
Good heavens, even the spices were prepared? If he didn’t skin, butcher, and eat this otherworldly rabbit today, he wouldn’t be worthy of his identity as a Sichuanese!
Xia Tian happily bent down and reached out to pick up the dead deer-horned rabbit on the ground.
Woof!
Because he was engrossed in testing the consumption of “Touch of Gold,” Xia Tian didn’t notice.
At some point, a pair of golden-yellow eyes had appeared in the nearby dense jungle. The owner of the eyes moved silently with soft-padded paws, slowly approaching within a certain distance!
Just as Xia Tian lowered his head to pick up the deer-horned rabbit.
Roar! A low rumble from its throat, accompanied by a massive black shadow, lunged towards Xia Tian’s position.
“Oh no!”
Xia Tian heard the roar in his ears and felt a foul-smelling gust of wind coming from behind him, his heart tightening sharply.
Because he was still bent over, he didn’t even have time to stand up, but the next moment his body reflexively dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the black shadow’s attack.
At the same time, Xia Tian also clearly saw the creature that attacked him: it was a purple-striped tiger, extremely robust in build, with paws as large as a human head, and a pair of stark white canines protruding from its mouth, like two daggers!
Roar!
Xia Tian dodged the first wave of sneak attack.
The purple-striped tiger roared, its striped tail swaying on the ground like a python, kicking up dirt and fallen leaves, while its body quickly turned around by adjusting its balance with its tail.
It pounced on Xia Tian, who was still on the ground, again. Its front claws, with their backward-curving hooks, swiped at Xia Tian’s face and chest. With paws as large as a human head, even a mere graze would disfigure him, if not kill him!
At the critical moment, Xia Tian, who no longer had time to stand up, rolled towards the territory as if he had foreseen the future, once again slipping out from between the tiger’s claws.
This was the experience of Grandmaster-level “Five Animal Play” at work. Because one of the imitation subjects of “Five Animal Play” was the tiger, Xia Tian was extremely familiar with the tiger’s attack methods and every movement!
By rolling, he not only dodged the second round of attacks but also entered the inside of the shield.
Therefore, when the purple-striped giant tiger, whose two attacks had missed, pounced on him again, it crashed into the emerging territory shield with a “bang.” Due to the excessive impact, its entire tiger face was pressed against the shield, its nose, eyes, and eyebrows squeezed into a lump, making it look extremely comical.
“Damn it…”
Xia Tian, inside the shield, gasped for breath, feeling extremely lucky that he had chosen the “Touch of Gold” talent and had opened the “Five Animal Play” from the treasure chest. While improving his physique, he also mastered the tiger’s movements, otherwise, he would have truly “died before achieving success” right after leaving the territory!
Because the attributes of this purple-striped tiger, revealed by the “Eye of Insight,” were far superior to his own.
“Purple-striped Tiger (Green)”
“Level: Eighth-tier”
“Physique: 7.0”
“Soul: 2.2”
“Description: A creature from a cultivation world, an exotic species born from a black male tiger with demon bloodline and a mortal-grade yellow-striped female tiger. Although it failed to activate its own bloodline, it possesses immense strength and can prey on bears and crocodiles.”
“An eighth-tier creature?”
The difference between the deer-horned rabbit and Xia Tian was three tiers, and he instantly killed it by throwing a short sword.
And the difference between himself and this purple-striped tiger was also three tiers, so it would probably be no more difficult for this tiger to kill him than it was for him to kill the deer-horned rabbit!
And speaking of the deer-horned rabbit… The purple-striped tiger, which had bumped its nose and bled on the shield, did not leave like the Golden-winged Dragon. Instead, it lingered around the shield, occasionally extending its ferocious, human-head-sized paws, trying to cross the shield and attack the person inside.
However, this was clearly futile.
Later, seemingly hungry from the struggle, the purple-striped tiger actually walked to the deer-horned rabbit’s corpse, opened its monstrous mouth, which could definitely be called a “bloody basin,” and swallowed the entire deer-horned rabbit in one gulp.
“Holy crap, that’s my prey!”
Xia Tian glared at the tiger through the shield, but then, something he hadn’t expected happened.
This purple-striped tiger was clearly unfamiliar with human weapons, and coupled with its hasty eating, it actually swallowed the Warring States bronze sword stuck in the rabbit whole.
Consequently, it soon suffered unbearable abdominal pain, frantically twisting its body outside the shield, its thick, black-striped tail sweeping fallen leaves all over the ground!
Whoosh!
Just then, the jungle on the outskirts of the territory shook. A man dressed in ancient attire, over 1.9 meters tall, with black hair and thick eyebrows, carrying a simple saber for clearing paths and a wild boar, emerged from the woods.
“Is this the ‘Place of Refuge’ that voice spoke of?”
Upon seeing the empty territory amidst the jungle, especially the exquisite and grand lord’s mansion at its very center, the black-haired, thick-browed man couldn’t help but narrow his pupils!
“Roar!”
A tiger’s roar interrupted his surprise.
“Hmm, a big bug!”
Turning to see the purple-striped tiger, the black-haired, burly man raised his eyebrows slightly.
