Chapter 72 Pine Forest in the Morning Mist

Early the next morning, everyone got up early. The three warriors who had been dragged to the spider nest yesterday also woke up. Although their bodies were fine, they felt weak and sore due to the spider venom, which had a numbing effect. Puta instructed the three immobilized warriors to rest in the cave while he led the rest of the team to their destination. Because this mission was special, Ye Xi didn't bring Jiao Jiao this time, leaving it in the cave to protect the three warriors.

It had rained heavily last night, leaving the ground in the jungle soft and slippery. The hunting team's progress was slower than usual.

Walking along, Huru exclaimed excitedly, "I heard we're going to collect pine resin this time! I'm definitely going to collect a lot."

Today, instead of hunting on the plains, the hunting team was going somewhere else. Before they set off, Captain Puta had each of them bring a large beast skin and a leather pouch. Diao asked in confusion, "What is pine resin?" He had never heard of it during his time in the Wolf Fang Tribe.

"You don't know? Pine resin is a good thing. It's good for the body. Eating more of it can make you strong and healthy, and you won't get sick often. Most importantly, it's the favorite food of the fierce beast - the Unicorn Horned Horse!"

"The Unicorn Horned Horse likes to eat this pine resin? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Hehe, this secret was discovered by our Tushan tribe. Of course, you Wolf Fang people wouldn't know."

Diao thought to himself, indeed, every tribe had its own unique survival skills. The Wolf Fang Tribe used to have them too, but unfortunately...

"Why do we need to bring so much beast skin to collect pine resin?" Most of it was large beast skin, thick and heavy, making it very inconvenient to carry.

"I heard from the old warriors before. Because the big pine trees..." Huru paused, then grinned, "Anyway, you'll know when the time comes."

Ye Xi shook his head, amused. Diao was always silent and reserved, quite different from the outgoing Huru, who couldn't stand Diao's quietness and deliberately kept him in the dark.

Half an hour later, through the misty morning fog, a pine forest appeared vaguely in the distance.

Everyone slowed down their pace, treading lightly, as if afraid of disturbing something, and entered this magnificent pine forest slowly.

Ye Xi looked up in amazement at the pine forest. Each pine tree here towered into the sky, appearing to be at least a thousand years old, with massive crowns that blocked out the sunlight.

The thin morning mist in the forest draped over it like a light veil.

After yesterday's rain, the air in the forest was extremely fresh, mixed with the scent of pine needles, as if it had cleansed one's lungs, making one wish to keep breathing it in.

The pine needles still held glistening raindrops, and the morning light filtered through the trees, refracting dazzling rays.

This pine forest was simply dreamlike.

On every branch of every big pine tree, there were some substances resembling peach gum, but more translucent and crystal-clear, resembling exquisite amber.

Puta whispered, "Everyone, put on your beast skins and tread lightly. Let's climb the trees to collect pine resin."

The old members began to instruct the new ones, telling them that this pine forest was alive, so they had to be careful not to disturb it, especially when climbing trees.

The group wrapped themselves in beast skins, covering their heads and bodies completely, trying not to expose any skin.

Ye Xi draped the beast skin of the large beast over himself, the heavy fur wrapping him tightly, making him look like a chubby brown bear from a distance.

Ye Xi looked up and estimated that to reach the pine resin on the branches, he would have to climb at least twenty meters.

The pine tree trunks were straight, with rough bark. Ye Xi grabbed the trunk and slowly began to climb.

Huru climbed the same tree as Ye Xi.

Huru's tree-climbing skills were not great. Wrapped in the skin of a large beast, he looked like a clumsy bear, and it took him quite some time to climb up.

In contrast, Ye Xi's movements were much quicker. He seemed like a giant gecko, climbing silently and swiftly.

Ye Xi stood on a branch and waited for a moment. After Huru climbed up, he made a silent gesture, indicating for Huru to go to the right branch to collect resin while he went to the left.

Huru nodded and moved his feet to the branch on the right.

Ye Xi stood on the left branch. The branch trembled, and immediately many glistening droplets of water were shaken off.

Ye Xi saw a clump of resin about two meters away on the branch. Balancing his body carefully, he walked over.

The resin was about the size of a plum, emitting a faint amber color, crystal-clear and translucent like a piece of fine amber.

Ye Xi bent down and grabbed the clump of resin.

The resin felt soft and jelly-like, extremely elastic to the touch, making one can't help but feel fond of it.

This substance was different from the pine resin in his previous life. The pine resin from his previous life, once solidified, was hard to the touch and required strict processing before consumption. But this substance could be eaten directly.

However, to Ye Xi's surprise, this pine resin was exceptionally tough. He had to exert some force to break it off the branch.

And when he did...

In an instant, the entire big pine tree began to shake, shedding countless pine needles.

Swoosh, swoosh, countless pine needles shot down like steel needles raining down on Ye Xi.

Ye Xi quickly crouched down, using the thick fur to shield himself.

"This big pine tree seems to be alive. It's not happy that we're taking its things and is attacking us." Ye Xi thought to himself.

After the commotion subsided, Ye Xi cautiously raised his head.

Looking at the fur on his body, he saw that the thick beast skin was covered with dense pine needles. The brown beast skin had turned into a dark green color.

Ye Xi plucked a pine needle from the fur and found it to be about ten centimeters long.

Ye Xi twisted the pine needle and found that it was truly worthy of its name "needle." It was as hard as iron, requiring force to bend it.

Luckily, the fur of the large beast was thick enough. Otherwise, if all those terrifying pine needles had pierced his body, it would have been extremely uncomfortable.

It seemed that Puta had also collected pine resin from the other end.

Ye Xi stopped daydreaming and focused on collecting pine resin.

The leather pouches became fuller and fuller, and the heavy fur on his body became heavier and heavier. In the end, the thick fur of the large beast couldn't withstand the pine needles anymore, and a small section of them penetrated Ye Xi's back. The feeling was both painful and itchy, extremely uncomfortable.

Forced by this discomfort, Ye Xi's movements became faster and faster. In the end, he was even faster than some of the old members.

But even with increased speed, when the leather pouch was full and he climbed down from the big pine tree, Ye Xi's back was still pierced by several pine needles.

Looking up, all the "brown bears" on the tree had turned into "green bears."

Under the big pine tree, Puta and several other old warriors had finished collecting and were waiting.

Seeing Ye Xi coming out, they quickly went up to help remove the large beast skin from Ye Xi's body.

At this moment, the large beast skin was much heavier, and there was no trace of brown. Inside, it was filled with verdant pine needles.

As the large beast skin was peeled off, the half of the pine needle stuck in Ye Xi's back was also pulled out.

One by one, the other warriors came back, all grimacing. Huru, Tutan, and the other new warriors were the last to return, looking the most miserable. Not only were their backs pierced by countless needles, but their arms and thighs were also hit.

It took a lot of effort for everyone to remove all the pine needles from their bodies.

Touching the pockmarked skin on his body, Huru sighed sorrowfully, "I feel like a hedgehog that's been plucked clean."

The other three also couldn't recover from the discomfort, feeling as if there were still countless pine needles sticking to their bodies, feeling awkward, numb, and itchy.

Huru sighed, "Ye Xi, you're really fast. I feel like you finished collecting and came down a long time ago."

"It's because I was forced. I didn't even know I could move so quickly."

Now, Ye Xi felt aches and itches all over his body just looking at the pine forest. He used to think this place was full of fairy qi and wanted to stay longer. Now, he just wanted to stay far away from it.

(End of this chapter)