Chapter 865: Elephant King Ancient Forest
"Silver Moon Dragon Elephant is a sixth-rank lower-class savage beast, and the Heaven-Coiling Saint Elephant is a sixth-rank upper-class savage beast. Are you sure you want to purchase their blood?"
Li Min's large eyes stared curiously at Zhang Ruochen, genuinely puzzled as to why he would want to buy such high-grade savage beast blood.
Zhang Ruochen said, "You ask too many questions. Just tell me directly—can the city of Qingli Commandery sell these two types of elephant blood?"
Li Min pursed her crimson lips, thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Probably not. Even if sixth-rank savage beast blood appears in the martial market, it gets bought up quickly by the three half-saint families. Besides, Silver Moon Dragon Elephants and Heaven-Coiling Saint Elephants are quite rare to begin with, so they definitely wouldn't appear on the open market. You should go to the prefectural city of Yuan Mansion. As long as you have enough spirit crystals, you can buy anything there."
If he couldn't buy elephant blood in Qingli Commandery, Zhang Ruochen would naturally go to Yuan Mansion's prefectural city. However, that would mean he'd have to wait a bit longer.
At the very least, he would have to wait until after visiting the Nether King Sword Grave before heading to Yuan Mansion's prefectural city.
Li Min's eyes darted around as if she thought of something, but she immediately shook her head and swallowed the words she was about to say.
Zhang Ruochen noticed her expression and immediately asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Min finally spoke up. "If your strength is great enough, there's actually another way."
"What way?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Li Min said, "Adjacent to Qingli Commandery is Wanxiang Commandery, which has a vast wilderness jungle stretching tens of thousands of miles, covering half of Wanxiang Commandery's territory. It's called the Elephant King Ancient Forest. It's said that in that forest, there are massive numbers of savage elephants—over ten million of them. Some people have even seen footprints left by Silver Moon Dragon Elephants."
"Over ten million savage elephants?" Zhang Ruochen was quite shocked.
After all, an ordinary adult savage elephant was comparable to a human martial artist at the early Heavenly Extreme Realm. Some powerful savage elephant races were even stronger.
If a single commandery had such a massive population of savage elephants, and they lost control, forming a beast tide, it would likely spell disaster for humans in several surrounding commanderies.
Li Min stared with bright eyes. "That's what the books say. Why would I lie to you?"
"You've never been there?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Li Min immediately looked away, staring elsewhere, her expression somewhat unnatural. She stammered, "I've never left the commandery city. How could I have gone that far?"
Zhang Ruochen could tell that this young girl knew everything from books. She had very little real-world experience. Though intelligent, she was quite naive.
Zhang Ruochen said, "How far is Qingli Commandery City from the Elephant King Ancient Forest?"
"Fifty-three thousand seven hundred miles."
Li Min blurted it out as if she had been there, showing she was very familiar with it.
Zhang Ruochen nodded slightly, calculating in his mind. With his current cultivation, plus the boost from the Meteor Invisibility Cloak, flying at full speed, he could reach the Elephant King Ancient Forest in just over half a day.
Since that was the case, he might as well go hunt a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant himself and get the elephant blood as soon as possible.
Seeing Zhang Ruochen's contemplative expression, Li Min said, "You're not really going to hunt a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, are you?"
"Why not?" Zhang Ruochen glanced at her.
"Your strength can't kill a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant." Li Min wanted to say this, but she was afraid of hurting Zhang Ruochen's pride and making him angry. So she only thought it, without saying it out loud.
Once he truly witnessed the power of a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, he would probably back off.
Still, Li Min was curious about the outside world, especially the Elephant King Ancient Forest, which was home to various races of savage elephants, countless exotic plants, and legendary stories of adventurers. It had always been a place she longed to visit.
However, she was a spiritual power cultivator. Until she reached the fortieth level of spiritual power, she couldn't even defeat a strong man, so naturally, she couldn't go out and explore.
The elders in her family, worried about her safety, would never allow her to go to a dangerous place like the Elephant King Ancient Forest.
Li Min bit her crystal-clear lips, revealing a row of white teeth, and whispered, "Take me with you, okay?"
"No." Zhang Ruochen refused decisively.
Silver Moon Dragon Elephants were extremely powerful savage beasts, and the Elephant King Ancient Forest was an incredibly dangerous place. Even with his current cultivation, Zhang Ruochen had to be cautious. How could he bring along a burden?
A sly glint flashed in Li Min's eyes. "If you take me to the Elephant King Ancient Forest, I'll tell you why Wan Zhaoyi came to Yuan Mansion."
Zhang Ruochen glanced at Li Min, slightly frowning.
Seeing that he was interested, Li Min quickly added, "The Elephant King Ancient Forest spans tens of thousands of miles. Finding a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But I know roughly where the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's footprints appeared, which should be a big help to you."
After some thought, Zhang Ruochen made his decision. "Fine. I'll make an exception and take you along."
Hearing Zhang Ruochen's affirmative reply, Li Min was naturally very excited.
She wasn't too afraid of danger. In her view, Zhang Ruochen would probably retreat after entering the outskirts of the Elephant King Ancient Forest, so they wouldn't encounter much peril.
Of course, even just seeing the outskirts of the Elephant King Ancient Forest would be thrilling enough. When she returned, she could exaggerate her experiences a bit and write her own adventure collection.
"Now, can you tell me?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Li Min looked up, meeting Zhang Ruochen's questioning gaze, and shook her head vigorously. "No. Only after you take me to the Elephant King Ancient Forest will I tell you. What if you go back on your word and abandon me?"
"Is my character really that bad?" Zhang Ruochen found it both amusing and exasperating. Too lazy to argue, he let a mass of sacred qi surge from his palm, enveloping Li Min's petite figure.
Li Min lost control of herself, flying toward Zhang Ruochen, who hooked his arm around her slender waist.
The next moment, she felt a dizzying spin. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself flying hundreds of meters above the ground.
On the ground, the brightly lit commandery city grew farther and farther away, blurring until it completely disappeared from her sight.
"Am I... flying?"
Li Min had once ridden a griffin, flying low over the city for a short while. She had found it quite thrilling and had always wanted to try again.
But this flight was completely different from riding a griffin. Zhang Ruochen's flying speed was many times faster than a griffin's, making it even more exhilarating.
Until this moment, Li Min finally realized she might have underestimated Zhang Ruochen earlier. An ordinary Fish-Dragon Realm cultivator could never fly this fast.
Could he really be planning to kill a Silver Moon Dragon Elephant?
Thinking this, Li Min felt both a little afraid and very expectant.
Although Zhang Ruochen was flying at full speed, he kept observing Li Min's expressions. She pretended to be very reserved, but inside, she was quite passionate, curious about the outside world, with a spirit uncommon among her peers.
"At sixteen or seventeen, to have reached the thirtieth level of spiritual power is already quite impressive in terms of spiritual talent. If she had been born into a medieval aristocratic clan with better cultivation resources, she might have surpassed the thirty-fifth level by now."
For some reason, Zhang Ruochen saw a bit of Shengshu Cainü in Li Min. They shared some similarities.
"The Zhenyu Ancient Clan is really wasting talent. If they fully cultivated Li Min, she might become a second Shengshu Cainü," Zhang Ruochen sighed inwardly.
Li Min had apparently forgotten that the man carrying her was a perverted demon.
Her eyes were fixed on the mountains and rivers below, completely captivated, filled with awe for nature.
They flew for an entire night, finally arriving at the Elephant King Ancient Forest just before sunrise.
Li Min landed on the ground, feeling weak in the legs. After a while, she steadied herself and looked at Zhang Ruochen with some admiration. "The books say that flying consumes a lot of sacred qi. Even a half-saint can't fly tens of thousands of miles without resting. Zhang Ruochen, what level has your cultivation reached? How is your sacred qi so abundant?"
She really was very curious. Whenever she encountered something she couldn't understand, she immediately asked.
"Does asking so many questions matter? Now, tell me. Where exactly did the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant's footprints appear?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Zhang Ruochen's attitude made Li Min quite dissatisfied.
But since she was in the Elephant King Ancient Forest, she was in a good mood and didn't argue with him. She readily told him.
Searching for the legendary sixth-rank savage beast, the Silver Moon Dragon Elephant, should be an even more thrilling adventure.
They flew for another two hours, deep into the Elephant King Ancient Forest, finally reaching the area Li Min had mentioned.
This place was filled with massive mountains, steep cliffs, and bottomless poisonous valleys. Compared to the outskirts, it was indeed more dangerous and desolate, with no trace of any savage beasts.
This could only mean one thing: there was definitely a very powerful savage beast nearby.
The aura it emitted kept other creatures from daring to approach this area.