[Last Emperor] Chapter 6 - Soiled Underwear Stalker (Patreon)

Battle Concluded!

3x Goblinoids

2x Fatally Injured Goblinoids

Total Rewards -

20 Qi Exp

7 Body Tempering Exp

Tao Zi blinked at the large amount of Qi experience and even a boost to his body tempering as well. It was a significant amount already and that was for Mortal Stage monsters. He could already imagine what it would look like for something stronger. The amount he would get for hunting that HellHound he saw would be ridiculous compared to any form of meditation he might have done currently.

Months worth even.

Considering the time it took to find the chimps, prepare his rudimentary plan, and then execute everything properly, it hadn't even been three hours in total. Tao Zi had gained roughly 1 Qi Exp per hour of meditation give or take ten minutes.

The comparison was simply not applicable, their differences too great.

Congratulations on your exceptional action!

First Battle!

First Victory!

First Multiple Foe Victory!

First Successful Trap!

First…

First…

First…

Tao Zi received a dozen more exceptional action rewards. All of them either the first of its category type of accomplishment or a sequence right after that. It made him question the system itself. He had been getting mixed messages ever since he arrived into this spacial pocket and it activated. One moment sending him missiles and then the next rewarding him for mundane things in an attempt to reward him for anything at all.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of it.

Not that he minded. The exact opposite actually. He, very much, was thankful for everything he had been receiving. From the cat toys and water bowl, down to the soiled underwear. Everything was useful in its own way. Maybe he could eventually use the burning of the filthy, disgusting clothes to lure in HellHounds.

Once he was strong enough.

For now though, he would enjoy his rewards and the loot he had received. Tao Zi sent all the items that showed up to the ring without even taking a moment to look. He made a mental note to check everything he threw into his spacial ring once he got back to the safety of the cave. Keeping his eyes looking for danger was more important.

After all the ruckus they caused and the previous battle before that. He was confident something was coming soon enough to check the area out. In hopes to get a quick meal. Maybe even a living cultivator snack in the process too.

Tao Zi would not be around for that.

He made a quick check for anything he found interesting on the chimp bodies. Finding nothing of note other than the spears which glowed a slight tinge of red. He received a system message, but ignored it for the moment and deposited the weapons into his ring. All twelve. Then he put the ducks horns, and a ball of metallic substance he found strapped onto one of the sleds.

Again he kept receiving system notifications which he zoned out for now.

The thought of taking the buck's meat along with him crossed his mind, but he was quick to dispel that thought as well. The chimps had strapped one of their bleeding brethren on top of the meat. Soiling it with their blood quite thoroughly. A disgusting black, red that seemed too thick to run through veins. Better suited for a car's engine as oil.

Instead he left them there. He could have set them on fire to destroy any evidence, but the thought of turning the entire forest into a raging fire was not part of his survival plan. It was a tender box of flammable items just waiting for a spark to turn into an inferno.

He still needed to eat food, which seemed plentiful in the quite dead forest.

Tao Zi left the area once he couldn't find anything else. He made haste to return to his safe cave and prepared himself mentally for the rewards and amount of Qi he gained all together. He couldn't help the massive smile that bloomed on his face. This was maximizing his cultivation compared to meditation. This was faster than anything or anyone he had ever met. Even the geniuses back in the sect.

Or maybe not.

He wasn't quite sure to be honest. Tao Zi had not worried himself with keeping up with who transcended normal expectations or not. Too busy enjoying his time and life to care about which kid made incredible strides and when they did it.

It just wasn't important to him at the time.

It didn't take long for him to navigate back towards the cave. Except he was forced to wait and watch. Staring at a massive HellHound that roamed around the cave. Sniffing and searching. Pressing its face into the tiny cracks and opening the boulders allowed. He was not worried about it breaking in. Rather he was worried about not being able to get in with it occupying the entrance.

Holy shit that's big.

Tao Zi marveled at its size. He had not gotten a clear and perfect look at the thing. But now, without anything obscuring his vision or the haze of fear he had felt before, he saw it for its true size and power. Massive jaws that could tear him apart. An agile body made for ridiculous fights. Claws that doubled as daggers and were probably sharper as well.

It had the same black scales and even looked quite similar. So much so that Tao Zi worried it was the same one hunting him. Tracking him through sent.

Yet, it had not noticed him. Still trying to get into the cave though the attempts were not that serious. He wondered if it was actually tracking him and not something else. Clearly not Tiger either. The orange cat had not forcefully made Tao Zi adopt it until way after his first encounter with the first HellHound.

What's it looking for…? It can't be.

It had rushed for the soiled underwear? Tao Zi almost refused to believe that was the case. Yet, that was the only thing that was similar about each time he saw one. Could it not find him otherwise? Or was the stench so bad, the HellHounds rushed to eliminate him in a bid to clear it from existence all together. An offense they could not ignore idly.

There was a way to test it. An easy path. Tao Zi was not about to try it out though. The risk was too great. He had no clue what the HellHound was capable of, or whether it would get lucky and catch his scent and start tracking him instead of the underwear.

Whether he could escape it at all. How fast was it? How strong other than a vague sense through the system categorizing it in the basic cultivation rankings of his sect.

Tao Zi, unfortunately, was not a super protagonist that could fight multiple stages above his own cultivation. It might even be the opposite currently until he got back on track. Which was happening fast, though not fast enough for this hell hole of a spacial rift pocket. He had yet to find anything that did not look like it was made to kill and murder him in his sleep.

So he sat on his haunches and waited. Then waited some more.

It took longer than he could have expected until the thing finally chose to step away from the clearing. Tao Zi assumed the smell of the underwear had finally dissipated, or maybe it had gotten bored, hungry, or a dozen other things.

None of it mattered.

He sat there unwilling to get up lest it was a trap. Tao Zi had already seen those chimps plot and plan, using tactics to kite and kill the stronger buck as a team. He was not about to put the hellHound being similarly intelligent out of the realm of possibility. The need for caution was his most important concern currently in this world.

Tao Zi would continue to get stronger. Even if he did not leave the cave at all and just worked out daily. Changing his workouts and using his modern knowledge to constantly change things he could achieve. Working out different parts of the body intentionally, rewarding himself with more Qi experience.

Which he planned to do. Just as soon as he could enter the cave without the worry that the HellHound was just outside of his sight, waiting for him.

So, he waited another hour, before he carefully walked out of his cover. Keeping his head on a swivel. Prepared for anything. Slowly he moved the boulder just slightly enough to let him in. Tiger did not make any attempt to escape at all, the exact opposite. It hissed and clawed for him to close the boulder as quickly as possible instead.

Tiger probably had the scare of his life locked in the cave with something as ridiculously strong as a HellHound trying its best to enter and eat him alive.

Tao Zi picked the cat up after he closed the boulder. Hugging it tight and petting it until it stopped frantically meowing and complaining about what it had been through. Eventually falling asleep in his arms, purring loudly. Making biscuits in its sleep, which eventually changed into chirps and hunting little critters, clearly making specific head movement that Tao Zi associated with snapping something's neck.

His little Tiger was a hunter. Small, adorable, and furry, but an apex predator nonetheless.

Congratulations on your exceptional action!

Snuggled by a Cat!

Reward 3 Qi Exp

Reward Cat Play Yarn!