Chapter 34: Farewell

The day of the beginning of his Scarlet Punishment had arrived.

On this day, all the members of the Su Clan had gathered together outside of Northface City.

They were there both to send Su Chen off, and ensure he actually went to the Scarlet Mountain Range.

Su chen carried a sack filled with large amounts of food and weapons that his mother and Su Feihu had given him. This included a steel battle knife, a wyrmhide chestplate, and a crossbow. Although they weren’t Origin Tools, still extremely good quality equipment.

“Father, Chen’er is blind! Can you really bear letting him go to the Scarlet Mountain Range like this? You’re sending him to his death!”

Tang Hongrui hadn’t given up. She was still trying to convince Su Changche to stop Su Chen.

The elder let out a pensive sigh, “It’s not that I want him to die. He was the one who made this choice.”

“But you can stop him!”

Su Keji laughed, “Sister-in-law, that’s not correct. The human race has been able to establish a foothold for themselves whilst surrounded by a myriad of other hostile races only by relying on the unyielding bravery of our warriors. Even in times of great difficulty, our soldiers won’t retreat. Su Chen has always been focused on the Dao of martial arts. To pursue that Dao, he is not afraid of taking risks, which is inline with his attitude. How could we stop him? Even more, although Su Chen is blind, he was still able to severely injure both Su Yue and Mo Dayan, indicating that he’s not much worse off than a regular person. That year, didn’t my son also lose to him in the battle arena? Clearly, Su Chen has real ability. It’s not impossible for him to return alive from the Scarlet Mountain Range.”

When he said the last few sentences, he could not conceal the mocking laughter in his heart. His words were laced with a thick cynicism.

“Su Keji!” Tang Hongrui squeezed a few words through her teeth, “These years, it has always been you who forced my son to endure. If it weren’t for you, my son wouldn’t have to take this route. I, Tang Hongrui, am not finished with you!”

As she said this, she tried to leap at him, but thankfully there were other people who forcefully held her back.

Even so, Su Keji had still been frightened by Tang Hongrui’s ferocity. He hurriedly retreated a few steps, replying, “Saying such things, my goodness. What does any of this have to do with me?”

His expression was one of being wronged.

Watching these things happen from afar, Su Chen grabbed Su Feihu’s hand, who was seeing him off. “Third uncle, once I leave I’m not worried about anything except my mother. I won’t be at her side, so I can only trouble you to help me watch over her and make sure she doesn’t do anything silly.”

“Relax,” Su Feihu responded, “But you must be careful. You’re unable to see, so you can only depend on your sense of touch to help you travel. Don’t eat things that you shouldn’t be eating. The sack has more than enough rations for you; although it’s slightly heavy to carry, it’s still better than recklessly eating.”

“No worries,” Su Chen laughed. “I’ll have more than enough food once I kill a Vicious Beast.”

“My goodness, I am precisely worried that you will try and kill some Vicious Beast. You’re better off just obediently trying to survive in that place until the time limit is up. At most, you’ll have to endure some suffering, but that’s still better than dying!”

“I’ll be frugal,” Su Chen replied as he turned around and began walking towards the mountain range.

His speed was not fast, but his pace was very steady. One step at a time, he finally disappeared into the forest.

Upon seeing her son disappear into that frightening area, knowing that his survival was unpredictable and unlikely, Tang Hongrui’s legs went weak as she fell onto the ground.

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The Scarlet Mountain Range was thousands of kilometers long, and the vast forest covering it appeared to be boundless in size.

As Su Chen progressed further and further into the mountain range, his path was surrounded by countless peaks, both large and small. The terrain was complex and the footing was craggy, making traveling very dangerous.

After walking for about a day, Su Chen arrived at the peak of a small hill.

Standing on the hilltop, Su Chen gazed out in the distance. A green sea stretched out as far as he could see; apart from treetops, he could not see any sign of humans or beasts.

The hill was not very tall, only about two hundred feet or so above where the city lay. There were three cliffs, one each on the east, west, and north that were impossible to climb. The only access this peak was from the south. A small river meandered past the hill.

“This place should be good. I’ll be living here for the next hundred days.” Su Chen was very satisfied with the location’s layout.

Next, Su Chen let down his heavy sack. He then retrieved a net from it. He installed the net on the side of one of the cliffs. That way, the rope net could be a life-saving tool if Su Chen was forced to jump off the cliff.

Then, Su Chen pulled out a small vial from his sack, scattering a small amount on the ground. This was the Beast Drawing Medicine that Yan Wushuang had tried to give him. As long as the usage amount was carefully controlled, it was actually a quite effective bait. In fact, that was the intended purpose of the medicine.

After that, all Su Chen could do was wait for the Vicious Beasts to arrive.

Rather than heading deeper into the mountain range, Su Chen chose to wait. He decided to create an opportunity rather than take the initiative as his hunting method of choice. Thus, he just sat there, waiting for his prey to come to him.

The greatest benefit to this method was that it was safe. He could take advantage of the surrounding geography and decrease his labor. Once the Vicious Beasts arrived, Su Chen could use the higher ground to discover these beasts first and determine whether or not he could fight them. If his opponent was too strong, Su Chen could use the rope net to quickly escape.

This was one of the battle strategies that Su Chen and Tang Zhen had discussed in those three days.

After all, Su Chen was still only in the Body Tempering Realm, and even the worst Vicious Beast was still similar to an Origin Qi Scholar of the Qi Drawing Realm. Even with four Origin Tools, Su Chen still had to be careful. If he were to run into a pack of Vicious Beasts, then the one to die would be him.

Thus, although using this method of hunting was somewhat silly, it was also definitely the safest.

Of course, it was all thanks to Yan Wushuang’s Beast Drawing Medicine that Su Chen could use this kind of tactic. In the end, Yan Wushuang had been unable to harm Su Chen, and she had actually helped him significantly.

After waiting for about an hour, the first beast finally appeared.

A Sawtooth Tiger.

This was only a Wild Beast, not a Vicious Beast.

Even so, its body was very large and it weighed nearly a ton. Not just anyone could easily defend themselves against it.

Facing this large opponent, Su Chen didn’t bother using his Origin Tools. He instead chose to use his bare fists to have a showdown with it.

As someone in the ninth layer of Body Tempering, Su Chen’s strength was in no way inferior to the Sawtooth Tiger. The Su Clan’s Flaming Tiger Fists was an extremely vicious and powerful technique. Thus, the explosive strengths of the two were roughly equal. There was not much maneuvering around in their fight. Instead, they just traded blows using brute force to see who would give in first.

In the end, Su Chen used his powerful physique to beat that Sawtooth Tiger to death. He had also been scratched quite a few times by the tiger.

Su Chen, however, did not seem to care. He used the steel blade to divide the tiger’s body into portions, then set up a pit roast and began to cook the meat.

The tiger meat was a very good supplement. Eating it was beneficial for recovering one’s energy.

Beasts ate people, and people likewise ate beasts. In reality, humans and beasts were connected by a common energy resource.

The reason why he chose the Scarlet Punishment was not just to temper himself with countless battles. More importantly, there was an abundance of beast-related natural resources. Even the lowest-tier Wild Beasts had meat that could greatly supplement one’s strength.

That night, after Su Chen had eaten a full meal of tiger meat, he wrapped himself in the tiger skin and spent his first night in the Scarlet Mountain Range.