"Be careful!"
Lu Heng exclaimed, then manipulated the surrounding plants to wrap around Wang Tie Zhu.
Instantly, a wall woven from vines rose behind Wang Tie Zhu, separating him from the creature emitting green light.
As Lu Heng cried out, Wang Tie Zhu and the others also felt the danger approaching. They immediately adopted defensive stances, grabbing their weapons and turning towards the source of the threat.
Although Lu Heng had spoken strangely earlier, he had not shown any intent to kill Wang Tie Zhu, which was why they sensed the danger was not coming from Lu Heng's direction.
In that tense moment, they hadn't yet noticed the vine wall Lu Heng had created.
"Damn, is that a wolf? Why is there only one?" Wang Tie Zhu stared at the two beams of green light, voicing his confusion.
"Yeah, the Lazy Wolves are pack animals. This one wouldn't be..." Zhao San Mao couldn't finish his sentence. There were only two types of wolves in the Misty Forest.
One type was the pack wolf, the Lazy Wolf. These wolves were not of high level; only their leader was a Level Two magical beast, while the others were at most Level One.
The other type was the Blood Wolf. These wolves were considered high-level existences in the Misty Forest. However, they were not pack animals; they typically appeared in groups of no more than three or four, a male and female with their young.
But each adult Blood Wolf was a Level Four magical beast. Even encountering a single one, their group wouldn't be able to defeat it.
However, Blood Wolves usually lived in the depths of the Misty Forest. Unless a beast tide occurred, they wouldn't venture out from the deep forest. After all, the higher the level of a magical beast, the stronger its territorial awareness, and they wouldn't easily leave their original territory.
After waiting for a while, neither side made any further moves. The Blood Wolf seemed to sense something, its gaze quickly flickered towards Lu Heng's direction, then it turned and gradually ran into the distance.
Watching the receding Blood Wolf, Wang Tie Zhu murmured, "That's not right. Is it not a Blood Wolf? Why did it just leave like that?"
Blood Wolves were ferocious beasts and would typically attack humans on sight. There was no reason for it to turn and leave after seeing them without doing anything.
No one noticed that while Wang Tie Zhu and the others were focused on the wolf, Lu Heng had quietly withdrawn the vines behind Wang Tie Zhu. He didn't want to expose himself so early.
Seeing that the crisis had passed, Wang Tie Zhu and the others finally turned around.
It was only when they saw Lu Heng that they remembered he had been the one to warn them. Since Lu Heng could issue a warning, it indicated he had no intention of killing them for their possessions. Their gaze towards Lu Heng returned to its previous state.
Lu Heng lowered his head and looked at the grilled meat by the campfire. The side of the meat facing the fire was already a bit burnt; they had all forgotten to flip the skewers.
Lu Heng picked up a skewer, looked at the meat that was burnt on one side and tender on the other, and took a bite. "Hmm, the texture isn't great."
Wang Tie Zhu and the others gave sheepish smiles and also picked up the skewers to eat.
Suddenly, as Lu Heng swallowed the meat in his mouth, he said in a low voice, "As soon as it's dawn, I'll be leaving the Misty Forest. The magical beasts here are quite dangerous, so I should find safer places to train."
Wang Tie Zhu and the others had already become wary of him. Although they had let go of their guard after the crisis was resolved, once suspicion arose, they couldn't communicate as easily and freely as when they first met.
Therefore, it was better to part ways sooner.
As for wanting to inquire about this world, Lu Heng could find other ways.
When Wang Tie Zhu and the others heard that Lu Heng planned to end his training in the Misty Forest early, they didn't say much, merely nodding in acknowledgment.
...
After parting ways with Wang Tie Zhu and the others, Lu Heng didn't return to Jinyang City immediately. He walked along the edge of the Misty Forest for a while, then his figure suddenly flashed into the forest, quickly disappearing within.
Lu Heng looked at the familiar surroundings and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed the spatial ability could be used normally.
Last night, Lu Heng learned that there were many types of items that could store things. He used his telekinetic intent to search through the ancient city in his spatial dimension.
He had indeed found several storage items with different styles. Looking at the hairpins and necklaces piled before him, Lu Heng felt that their styles were not very suitable for modern people to wear; the rings were still more acceptable.
He chose a ring with a style he liked from several options and dripped a drop of blood onto it. However, to his surprise, the ring did not form a contract with him as Wang Tie Zhu had said. He also attempted to probe the ring with his telekinetic intent, but there was no reaction.
Could it be... because the ring belonged to someone, and its contracted owner was not dead, thus preventing it from being contracted by a new owner?
Disbelieving, since his finger was already pricked, Lu Heng tried a few more.
This... he had gotten his hopes up for nothing. There were no shops selling these items in Jinyang City, so he couldn't obtain any storage accessories that hadn't been contracted.
Right, let's see if there are any spirit stones in the ancient city.
With that thought, Lu Heng appeared in the secret chamber of the City Lord's mansion. Before him were two small chests with locks on the outside. However, this didn't stump him. Ancient locks were easy to open. He found a large pair of pliers, and the chest locks were easily snapped.
He flipped open the lids of the chests, revealing them densely packed with spirit stones of various colors. These spirit stones were crystal clear and round, appearing like polished crystals of various colors, pure without a trace of impurity.
These things were different from ordinary stones. Ordinary stones didn't have the same translucency as spirit stones. Although they were also polished into uniform shapes, their colors were single, only a deep red hue, making them easy to distinguish and not mix up.
He just didn't know the levels of these spirit stones, but the spirit stones in one chest were clearly a slightly deeper color than those in the other.
He placed both chests filled with spirit stones back into the apartment in the spatial city, and then two identical locked chests reappeared in the places where the original chests had been moved.
Let's see if there are any spirit stones in the spatial dimension. He also wanted to test if he could absorb the spirit stones here.
As expected, the City Lord's mansion had comprehensive collections. Lu Heng was currently holding a stone that was milky white all over.
The moment he touched the stone, a deep purple light immediately appeared on it. This purple was already close to black.
So, does this mean he can absorb spirit stones?
He remembered that purple represented the best aptitude, and such aptitude here meant that practitioners had the opportunity to gain multi-elemental cultivation abilities.
It made sense. Lu Heng already possessed nine异能 (yi neng - abilities/powers) now, so the test result being purple was not unexpected.