abnabooks Chapter 19 is way too hasty!
Chapter 19 is way too hasty!
Cai Xuan ran back to the wooden house in one breath and threw the rattan cage on the platform.
Although its mouth was sealed, the baby sword-backed alligator kept struggling and thrashing about in its cage, trying to escape the place that confined it.
The eight little golden gourds on the wooden frame cast curious glances at the creature they had never seen before.
Cai Xuan went to the kitchen to fetch an iron basin, preparing to bleed the baby sword-backed crocodile. Back in the early 2000s, a small portion of rice mixed with crocodile blood in a hotel in Guangdong would cost ten yuan. The blood from this baby sword-backed crocodile would weigh at least a pound, enough to make a considerable amount of rice. By that calculation, he figured he'd made quite a bit of money.
The baby sword-backed crocodile seemed to know its end was near, and it began to charge wildly in its cage.
As soon as Cai Xuan opened the cage lid and released it, the little crocodile darted out and ran away. Cai Xuan reacted quickly and grabbed its tail. The little crocodile turned its head fiercely to bite him, but its mouth was sealed shut, and it couldn't bite.
"Ha, they've been caught, and they're still so arrogant?"
Cai Xuan was displeased and plopped down on the little sword-backed crocodile, punching it twice on the head. The little crocodile struggled desperately, pawing at the ground with its four claws, shoveling up a lot of sand. Seeing that it was still struggling, Cai Xuan punched it twice more. Two punches after two, the relentless barrage of blows never ending.
When he stopped, the baby sword-backed crocodile was already limp and dead.
Cai Xuan quickly bled the meat, otherwise the blood would stagnate inside and make it taste bad. He took the knife and cut the small sword-backed crocodile's neck. "Swoosh!" Hot blood gushed out and fell into the basin, splashing up dark red snowflakes.
The eight little golden gourds seemed to have seen something happy, swaying and swinging on the vine as if they were cheering.
After bleeding the baby, Cai Xuan began skinning the baby sword-backed crocodile.
The skin is quite sturdy. According to the Records of Materia Medica of the Great Wilderness, the skin of the sword-backed crocodile is extremely tough and can be used to make armor and scabbards that will last a long time. However, that applies to adult sword-backed crocodiles. The skin of young sword-backed crocodiles is too tender and does not reach that level, but it should be suitable for making shoes.
God have mercy!
When he arrived here, he only had the clothes and shoes he was wearing; he had no other set to change into.
Because it's winter at home, all the clothes he wears are super thick, even the shoes he wears are leather boots with fleece lining. Now that the weather is getting warmer, he doesn't dare take them off, because there are poisonous snakes and insects everywhere in the woods. If he gets bitten, wouldn't that be the end of him?
He didn't want to meet his ancestors, whom he had never met, at such a young age.
After skinning the meat, Cai Xuan began to process it.
Apart from the skull, the small sword-backed crocodile was mostly cartilage. He separated the meat from the bones, leaving only the long tail untouched. After processing the rest, Cai Xuan chopped the tail into pieces, stir-fried them in a wok, then poured them into an iron bucket, added Nine Oxen Divine Power Potatoes, goji berries, and water, and boiled them together.
The sliced meat was seasoned with salt, MSG, and soy sauce and then stir-fried.
Otherwise, the meat will spoil easily in this weather. Let's leave the bones for later and make soup with the woody yams.
Crocodile meat is undoubtedly delicious, especially the meat of young swordback crocodiles, which is tender and lacks the coarse texture of older swordback crocodile meat. It's particularly delicious when cooked with sweet potatoes.
Cai Xuan filled a large bowl and sat on the platform, devouring the food.
The first little golden gourd seemed a bit dissatisfied, and an indescribable liquid gushed out from under its body.
Cai Xuan felt something amiss on his head, reached up and touched it; it smelled of melon. Looking up, he saw a large golden melon vine climbing all over the wooden trellis, a vibrant green, with eight small golden melons hanging quietly. There were no wounds on the small melons, so why was juice dripping from them? Strange. After observing for a while and finding nothing unusual, he continued eating.
"Hehehehe..."
The little golden gourds all let out a series of crisp laughs, making their bodies tremble with joy as they swayed back and forth on the vine.
Hearing the laughter, Cai Xuan looked up again. The little golden gourds immediately quieted down and remained motionless.
Lately, there's been a strange bird chirping around here, but I can't find it. It's really annoying. Cai Xuan looked around but didn't see the strange bird, so he ignored it and continued eating.
"So full!"
After finishing two large bowls of meat, Cai Xuan put down the iron bowl. Feeling a bit full, he slowly walked around under the melon trellis to aid digestion.
Looking up at the eight small golden gourds hanging on the vines, he saw they were growing bigger and bigger; they had been a bit green before, but were now starting to turn yellow. He moved a chair over, stood on it, and smelled them; the aroma of golden gourds filled the air. He weighed them in his hand; they were a bit heavy, indicating they were good golden gourds.
If you were at home, you would probably have already sprayed the pesticide and put on the insect-proof bag by now.
Otherwise, there would be a swarm of fruit flies, each with holes and burrows. By the time you're ready to harvest them, the fruit fly larvae are already inside, feasting and eating.
"Hmm!"
Suddenly, a frenzied force surged through his body, trying to break free. His veins bulged, and blue veins writhed under his skin like earthworms.
Oh no! This is the culprit's blood and flesh essence causing the problem.
Cai Xuan hadn't expected that the essence transformed from the small crocodile's flesh would be even more powerful than that of the red-maned jackal, far exceeding his imagination; his body was even struggling to withstand it. He dared not be careless and immediately went to practice his martial arts.
Upon reaching the towering tree growing in the cracks of the rocks, without thinking twice, he quickly took off his clothes and, naked, crashed into the tree trunk.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Once, twice, three times...
Cai Xuan, like a mad bull, recklessly charged at the tree. His shoulders, arms, waist, buttocks... every part of his body was violently struck, not a single spot was broken.
But that's not enough.
The frenzied power not only failed to subside, but seemed to be enraged, surging even more violently within him. Cai Xuan gritted his teeth, roared, and suddenly increased the force of his impact!
"boom!"
His body slammed into the tree trunk with a loud thud, causing the entire tree to shake violently, its roots creaking beneath the ground. His skin, already red and burning from the impact, changed color again, from light red to deep red, from deep red to dark red, and finally, it even faintly revealed a bronze-like sheen.
Heat rose from his body, forming a visible heat wave in the sunlight.
With each impact, Cai Xuan's vital energy dissipated a little.
The frenzied power was gradually refined. Part of it turned into internal energy, which fell into the dantian and became a warm current circulating in the meridians. The other part was integrated into the skin, flesh, and bones, like steel being quenched, making his body more compact and resilient.
Cai Xuan was like a tireless machine, pounding away again and again.
The giant tree had a deep dent in its trunk, and the bark had peeled off, revealing the smooth wood underneath.
His body changed constantly with each impact; his skin no longer reddened so easily, but instead became harder and more resilient, as if covered by an invisible armor. The sound of each impact gradually changed from a dull "thump" to a crisper "snap," like leather striking hardwood.
Sweat poured down like rain onto the ground.
The rising steam blurred his figure.
After an unknown amount of time, Cai Xuan stopped. The chaotic energy surging within his body finally subsided, and that frenzied power had been completely refined and become a part of his body.
Cai Xuan was panting heavily, his whole body steaming, as if he had just come out of a steamer.
He hadn't expected the flesh and blood of the baby crocodile to be so potent; he wished he hadn't eaten so much.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and looked down at his hands.
His palms were thicker than before, his skin a healthy bronze color, his knuckles large and strong, his nails as hard as iron. He clenched his fist, and his knuckles cracked.
Cai Xuan's face showed an expression of disbelief and incredulity.
He quickly looked down at his legs, buttocks, and body, and found the same changes all over. His skin had become firm and resilient, with a faint metallic sheen. Pressing it with his hand, he could feel a rubbery yet slightly metallic elasticity. He tried to scratch his arm with his fingernail, but couldn't leave a mark. Was this the second stage of the Hammer Skin Realm at its peak?
He never imagined that after practicing Zonghe Horizontal Training Method a few times, he would break through from the True Skin to the Crocodile Skin realm.
This is way too hasty!
Cai Xuan stood dumbfounded under the tree, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time. A mountain breeze blew by, and he suddenly came to his senses. Looking down at his body, his bronze skin gleamed with a restrained luster in the sunlight, rugged and powerful, like a natural suit of armor.
Oh my god, what kind of world have I come to?
Cai Xuan looked up at the sky, but no one answered.