He didn’t want to make his camp too conspicuous and attract unwanted visitors out of curiosity.
That night, Zhou Ming didn’t light a fire.
Only true experts of the wilderness had the privilege to do that.
Under the dim starlight, surrounded by endless hissing and crawling sounds, Zhou Ming barely managed to fall asleep while his ten Ironthread Snakes took turns keeping watch.
If not for the fact that he needed their strength tomorrow, he would have ordered all ten to guard him through the night.
“Skreeee!”
A piercing shriek split the air, sharp enough to pierce gold and shatter stone.
Zhou Ming was instantly jolted awake.
He jumped up and looked toward the sky.
After one glance, he immediately ducked back into the crevice.
“How careless…”
The sight of the creature responsible for the sound made Zhou Ming realize that while Serpent Valley was a haven for him, it was also a feeding ground for certain Ferocious Beasts.
The source of the cry was an adult Griffin—a high-rank Ferocious Beast.
It had the head and wings of an eagle, the body of a lion, and forelimbs ending in razor-sharp talons.
Excluding its tail, it was over five meters long, with a wingspan exceeding ten meters.
Zhou Ming estimated its weight to be several tons.
How such a massive creature could soar freely in the air was beyond him—but now was not the time for study.
He knew one thing for certain: it was not an opponent he could provoke.
Ten Ironthread Snakes, or even a thousand, would be useless against it.
From the Compendium of Ferocious Beasts he had borrowed from the Qinshan Library, Zhou Ming had learned that the Griffin possessed no extraordinary powers beyond its piercing screech—a spiritual shock that could shatter willpower.
But its lightning speed, steel-like physique, and claws and beak sharp enough to tear through alloy armor made it a flawless killing machine.
Even if the Ironthread Snakes injected venom into it, the Griffin wouldn’t slow down in the slightest.
“Lucky I was resting in the rock crevice… Lucky it doesn’t fancy a hundred-jin piece of meat like me, or I’d have been delivered as a meal.”
That one eagle’s cry had struck Zhou Ming’s spirit like a hammer blow.
Huddled in the crevice, he kept reassuring himself.
Moments later, hearing another cry, Zhou Ming peeked out to see the Griffin clutching a giant python as it soared away.
Only then did he slowly breathe out in relief.
The dangers of the wilderness—Zhou Ming was finally beginning to grasp them.
At the same time, the fantastical side of Blue Star was gradually revealing itself before his eyes—no longer just the distant imaginings described in books.