Dozens of mammoth elephants charged over, like a vast army on the move.
Trees toppled, the ground trembled, their momentum unstoppable.
Qin Shilei, holding Kong Qingshu, instantly teleported behind the giant elephants to avoid their charge.
"Qingshu, be careful yourself."
With that, Qin Shilei vanished into an afterimage and caught up with the last mammoth elephant. He then thrust his sword into its thigh.
The divine ability Stiff instantly took effect.
The mammoth elephant froze, but its momentum continued to carry it forward. It crashed to the ground with a thud.
Qin Shilei formed a hand seal and pressed it towards the giant elephant.
The elephant, struck by the hand seal, showed a flicker of struggle in its eyes, but in its frozen state, it was powerless to react.
This was merely a Black Iron Seven-Star mammoth elephant, its mental strength far inferior to Qin Shilei's. It was quickly subdued and became his pet.
Perhaps sensing the commotion behind them, the herd of elephants turned and charged at Qin Shilei again.
Qin Shilei teleported to another direction once more, and with the same maneuver, quickly subdued another mammoth elephant.
After repeating this process for over ten minutes, Qin Shilei had subdued all fifteen of the weaker mammoth elephants, leaving only the largest and strongest one.
"Moo!"
The mammoth elephant let out a colossal roar and turned, fleeing into the depths of the forest.
It simply couldn't comprehend why its companions were disappearing one by one, and why it could never catch up to that tiny human.
Fearing the same fate as its companions, the king of the mammoth elephants could only choose to flee.
However, its fate was sealed the moment it encountered Qin Shilei.
Before it could escape ten meters, Qin Shilei caught up and used his divine ability to freeze it in place.
Qin Shilei formed another hand seal and pressed it towards the creature.
Their spiritual powers became linked.
The mammoth elephant fiercely resisted Qin Shilei's powerful attempt at taming.
Two seconds later, the mammoth elephant rose from the ground and charged at Qin Shilei with its sharp tusks.
Qin Shilei dodged and weaved for ten seconds, then used his divine ability to freeze it again.
This time, he took out a Contract Scroll to assist in taming the mammoth elephant.
After two seconds, the contract still failed.
Regaining its freedom, the mammoth elephant raised its two thick legs high.
Seeing this posture, Qin Shilei knew the creature was preparing to use its ability, Ground Stomp.
Ground Stomp: The mammoth elephant fiercely stomps the ground with its legs, unleashing a shockwave that not only deals immense damage to all living beings within twenty meters but also has a high chance of stunning enemies.
Sensing this, Qin Shilei immediately teleported out of the range of the Ground Stomp attack. Ten seconds later, he froze the mammoth elephant again.
With the ultimate skill of teleportation and the divine ability Stiff, this last mammoth elephant finally succumbed to Qin Shilei's fifth attempt at taming.
With the protection of the elephant herd, Qin Shilei and Kong Qingshu saw no need to return to squeeze into a cave with Xu Jun and the others. They set up a tent nearby and prepared to camp.
Kong Qingshu started a fire to roast exotic beast meat, while Qin Shilei began refreshing the attributes for the largest mammoth elephant.
[Perform attribute refresh?]
[Refresh.]
Intimidation (Green): Has a deterrent effect on weaker enemies, reducing their strength by 30%.
Herd Charge (Red): Can lead the herd in a collective charge, increasing speed by 30% and defense by 30% for three minutes, with a ten-minute cooldown.
Elephant Herd Command (Red): Possesses natural dominion over elephant herds, making it easier to subdue weaker elephants as subordinates.
Qin Shilei pondered for a moment and decided to fix the Herd Charge attribute.
Elephant Herd Command was also a good attribute, but it required finding a suitable herd. Even if he found hundreds or thousands of elephants, feeding them would be a problem. Qin Shilei opted for a strategy of elite troops.
This mammoth elephant was at the Silver Seven-Star realm and could have three fixed attributes. Qin Shilei continued to refresh.
Finally, he fixed the attributes Thick-Skinned and Food Bag.
Thick-Skinned (Red): The mammoth elephant's defense doubles for three minutes, with a two-hour cooldown.
Food Bag (Red): Allows the mammoth elephant to go three months without eating after a full meal. The wine gourd stores a large amount of water resources, which can be sprayed from the trunk as a powerful water jet.
"Since you have the Food Bag attribute, your name will be Food Bucket from now on," Qin Shilei decided on a name for the mammoth elephant.
"Brother Qin, the name you chose is too ugly. How about calling it Tank?" Kong Qingshu suggested.
"Alright, from now on it will be called Tank. I hope it can charge forward like a tank, invincible," Qin Shilei said.
Qin Shilei was very pleased with the pet name Kong Qingshu chose. He then fixed an attribute called Carefree for Kong Qingshu.
Carefree (Purple): The host's movement techniques are as ethereal and light as the wind, permanently increasing speed by 50%, with a 30% chance to dodge enemy attacks, and the ability to briefly soar through the wind.
After dinner, the two lay close together on the grass, gazing at the starry sky.
"Brother Qin, we're getting stronger and stronger. Can we fly to the stars one day?" Kong Qingshu said with longing.
"One day, I will definitely take you soaring through the cosmos and explore the mysterious universe," Qin Shilei said softly, holding her hand.
"Then, if I want the stars in the sky, will you also pick them for me?" Kong Qingshu turned and asked.
"Heh heh, for now, let me take you to the clouds. We'll talk about the stars later," Qin Shilei said with a mischievous grin.
"You scoundrel, you're too dirty... Not here, let's go into the tent."
Soon, the sounds of the two climbing towards the clouds together filled the tent.
...
The next day, Qin Shilei led the people of Xu Family Village in a grand procession towards Hope City.
As they arrived at Pucheng City, Qin Shilei suddenly pointed at it and said, "Xu Jun, I command you to lead the Dragon Tiger Society to clear out the zombies inside and establish a stronghold here. Do you agree?"
Xu Jun clasped his fists and replied, "Your subordinate agrees. We will surely establish a firm stronghold in Pucheng City."
Yesterday, he had already found his enemy, Xu Shen, among the unconscious people and avenged himself by brutally killing him.
Furthermore, Qin Shilei had instructed him to record the Sacred Scripture of Gu Worms yesterday.
At this moment, Xu Jun felt both gratitude and deep respect towards Qin Shilei, so he agreed to Qin Shilei's command without hesitation.
Qin Shilei spoke again, "I will have people from Hope City help you, but after clearing out the zombies here, you will need to defend this place."
"Thank you for your arrangement, City Lord," Xu Jun said with sincere gratitude.
Qin Shilei chose to establish a stronghold in Pucheng City, over three hundred kilometers away from Hope City, because of the Ice Secret Realm within the forbidden area of Xu Family Village.
Although the Ice Secret Realm couldn't grow mutant corn like the small world of Hope City, it served other purposes, which was why he wanted to establish a stronghold here.
At this moment, the zombies in Pucheng City also discovered Qin Shilei and his group, and roared as they charged towards them.