"What a fucking joke. He just had to go missing right now..." Guo Zhi rubbed his forehead, his golden throne and crown trembling slightly as if they felt his frustration.
"S-sir, the delegation of Scholars from the nearby kingdoms are getting more and more restless. If we do not find Sage Mo soon then..."
A minister on the side sounded out in concern, in his hand a clipboard. He was tasked with managing foreign affairs.
And he was having what must have been the worst possible week in his professional career.
Not long after their King bestowed Mo Yangling with the great title of a 'Sage', delegations of scholars from all nearby kingdoms arrived and started beating on their gates and trying to get an audience with the so-called sage.
It was clear what they were after...
They were looking to discredit the newly ordained Sage. His young age stood out like a sore thumb in the Scholar community that the King had inadvertently thrown him into.
Hell, some scholars even within their Guozhi Kingdom were sceptical about the young man who was said to have gained wisdom beyond his age.
After all, who could believe the tall tale of the Grand Family Assembly? A mere few words from the young man had sent everyone in a perfect state of clarity and gave them a boost in their cultivation.
It was worse than an exaggerated rumour. Yet everyone that had been present there, King included, was adamant that it was the truth.
"I-I am sorry Your Majesty... We were unable to track down Mo Yangling..." Mo Weisheng sweated heavily, having been called before the King and grilled for answers.
"Your incompetence is excused. I guess the reports about him leaving the capital whilst dragging along 4 carriages filled with wine were true then..." The King scratched his chin as his green eyes shined for a moment.
They had no clue what Mo Yangling was planning or where he was going. They also didn't know who to talk to in order to get clues regarding that.
The Mo Family had proven to be next to useless in the matter, as they weren't even aware of where Mo Yangling's residence was located.
That had come as a shock to Mo Weisheng, who had thought that his son had returned to his room at some point. But no, that place had remained untouched, it was just collecting dust.
Mo Yangling remained as big of an engima to his own family, as he was to the King of the Guozhi Kingdom.
'Sage Mo you truly are an interesting character... However, I hope you return soon. My credibility is at stake here!'
Unfortunately for the King, Mo Yangling truly had no care or knowledge of his plight.
The monk was too busy trailing through the clearing in the forest that had been created by his previous fight with the beast stampede.
The scarred land had already healed, and vegetation was thriving, more than likely thanks to the Origin Energy that had lingered from his fight with the more powerful beasts.
Corpses and skeletons still littered the land though, with trees sprouting from their chests and flowers and vines coming out of their eyes.
The scene was both beautiful and grim, a good depiction of the brutality of nature, the way it both gave life to those creatures and then used their corpses as fuel for more life.
'A perfect cycle, aided and heightened by the overabundant Origin Energy in the air, huh?'
The monk could feel that all of the Energy he had utilised in his overcharged Mystic Arts had already seeped into the ground.
When he had first retreated, that same energy was like a translucent cloud of mist. Shining in the sunlight and nourishing the atmosphere.
Now that things had settled, it was a lot fainter than before, even though only a few days had passed.
"Now then... Which one of those beasts should I hunt down...?" The monk rolled his shoulder the beads on his neck vibrating slightly as the staff on his back also seemed to hum and vibrate, as the monk got accustomed to controlling it as well.
Immediately, the very last Beast on that short list of targets was the 'Many Eyes Beast'. The multiplying cyclops was far too annoying to kill in the Monk's eyes.
The 'Death Spike' was the spiked beast whose tendrils twirled into the ground and pierced just about everything in sight. It was also not the most favourable target.
'It was strong, but only from a distance, its spikes were significantly weaker than the blades shot by that flying caterpillar... They broke easily under my fist.'
Usually, it may have been the best option to go after the Death Spike, but the Monk didn't wish to settle for the weakest materials available.
So the only real option left was the Bladed Caterpillar.
'That flying worm seemed to be the strongest among them Origin Energy-wise, but its attacks were the easiest to deal with for me...
Its body was also tough enough to withstand an overcharged Mystic Art from the Arhat Fist Style...'
The more he thought about it, the more he understood that the Bladed Caterpillar was his best choice in the matter.
'Now then... Let's see about tracking down that bastard.'
The Monk was no tracking expert, obvious from his previously failed attempts at hunting in the past.
But with the advent of Origin Energy and his enhanced senses, he felt that he had a better chance of eventually sensing whenever the caterpillar was nearby.
And so, he got to work.
For the next week, he travelled through and searched every corner of the Chen Lu Forest. He sneaked around and learned to hide his presence better from more annoying beasts.
It was a rather delicate dance, where the Monk expelled a lot of his Origin Energy to better blend into his surroundings.
Of course, in an Origin Energy-rich environment, he was still able to keep a decent amount of energy in his body whilst being near undetectable.
Some demonic beasts had enhanced senses, smell, hearing, and sight.
To counteract them, the monk covered himself with mud to cover the smells, he learned to walk in a specific way to muffle his steps, and he learned to stay out of sight and always behind cover.
It was a gradual process, and he was far from perfect. Origin Energy manipulation had come more naturally to him than the other aspects of tracking and hunting he was trying to put into practice.
It was easy to read and theorize about something. However, when avoiding the trained nose of a Demonic Beast sometimes a bit of mud was not enough.
Mo Yangling had a long way to go, but at the very least he was getting better. Especially when compared to his time acting as a Neanderthal to hunt for food.
And he eventually managed to track down and find the Bladed Caterpillar's nest.
It was a stroke of luck, really. The Chen Lu Forest was massive, his search could have easily continued for a few more months.
It wouldn't have been the worst outcome. He would've had more time to train and get accustomed to tracking and hunting beasts. A skillset that he found quite useful.
But Mo Yangling wasn't one to complain about having good luck. He would have time to train later. If the heavens smiled upon him then why wouldn't he smile back?
The nest of the Bladed Caterpillar was within a massive, mountain-sized tree, it was in a part of the forest where every tree was a lot larger than in other sections of the forest.
But the largest one was certainly the Nest of the Caterpillar... At the very top, there was a massive hollowed-out cave within that tree, one that was certainly large enough to fit the beast that the Monk was hunting.
Mo Yangling also had the definitive proof of actually seeing the beast fly onto the tree and slither into that hole, its bladed body scratching some parts of the tree.
The tree itself was a living organism, it seemed to heal quickly, unbothered by the entity living within its body.
'Well, I don't really know if this tree has any intelligence...
If it does then it's probably also classed as a Demonic Beast.
I doubt that Caterpillar would dare to sleep in it if that was the case...'
The monk observed the beast's nest from the very top of the largest nearby tree he could find. Even then he had to strain his neck as he looked up at it in between the leaves he used for cover.
Finding leaves for cover wasn't difficult for the monk, he didn't even need to go out of his way to do it.
If he stayed for too long on one branch vines and leaves would start growing and covering him naturally.
After a few days, the Monk had already noted down the habits of the beast he was hunting...
'Amitabha! May the ever-enlightened Buddha inspire me with patience! This bastard's not doing shit!'
The Monk's eyes were bloodshot, not having slept in days as he watched the entrance of that cave with an almost fanatical fixation.
The Caterpillar had not moved a single bladed limb out of the hollow it had dug out for itself.
"I... I don't know what I was expecting..."
The monk grasped at his unkempt hair, his tired eyes regaining their life as he shook his head.
He was hunting down a gigantic beast, it had just gone into its home a few days prior.
'A beast of this size can likely sleep for or hibernate for weeks on end. It should've also hunted down and gathered enough food to stay in that hollow for months...'
In truth, it had been stupid of him to stay for that long looking at the entrance of the wooden cave.
'... I need to stop listening to all the advice from the web novels I've read in the past...'
In a moment, the Monk started shifting his position. The vines that had wrapped around his arms and dirty clothes ripped apart as he finally stood up for the first time in days.
In an instant, Mo Yangling disappeared, the branch he had been standing on immediately broke as he took to the skies.
The monk felt good, the air brushing against his skin as he immediately reached the top of the Mountain Tree, landing right on the branch that the Bladed Caterpillar had scratched up a few days prior.
"No more pussyfooting around... I'm going in."
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Heyy, hope you all liked the chapters today!
Took me a bit to write, honestly wanted to upload 2 yesterday, but kinda fell asleep finishing the last one.
Really gotta change my position when writing in bed. Anyhow, have fun! GTG back to work now
Also, trying to raise benefits for all Patreon Tiers gradually, just rose them for the highest tiear first(since they're paying most and it seemed most fair) wanna do so for all tiers tho
If you want to support me and read up to 25 chapters ahead you can find me on Patr_eon by looking up 'VeganMaster'