Bamboo Mound

Upon seeing this, Ning Chang's expression changed, and he took out his spatial bag to look inside.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the bamboo leaves and sticks he had collected had not been crushed along with the bamboo sticks.

"It's a pity..." Right now, the only proof that this bamboo forest ever existed is the bamboo seed in his hand, and the ordinary bamboo seeds, leaves, and sticks in his spatial bag.

Looking at the piles of dust all around him, mixed with some pieces of bamboo that hadn't been completely crushed.

Ning Chang shook his head, put away the bamboo seed in his hand, leaped out of the "bamboo forest" from mid-air, and randomly chose a direction to continue forward.

......

Starting from the bamboo forest, the terrain is no longer flat, but becomes undulating hills.

When Ning Chang climbed to the top of a hill again, a small river suddenly appeared before him.

The river flowed into the distance along the gaps between the hills, and it wasn't until Ning Chang climbed to the top of this hill that he could faintly hear the "whoosh" of the flowing water.

Only then did Ning Chang's expression change again.

For some time after he left the bamboo forest, he wandered around these hills, only occasionally using the Azure Cloud Step.

This hilly area is completely unoriginal; it's nothing but grassland with only a few lone trees scattered in various corners.

I strolled to the riverbank, squatted down, and dipped my hands into the water to stir it a few times, feeling the force of the current.

He then scooped out a handful of water and, before it could escape through his fingers, slurped it down his throat.

The river water, imbued with a touch of spiritual energy, is indeed more comfortable than ordinary water outside, giving one a slight coolness that is not abrupt.

He got up, shook his hands, and decided to go downstream along the river to see if he could find any traces of the original inhabitants of the secret realm or other humans.

The vegetation along the river is no longer as monotonous as before, with some small shrubs growing, many of which are laden with berries of varying sizes.

On the same shrub, some sprouted, green and smaller than ants; others were already half-red, looking almost ripe.

Just as he reached out to pick one and taste it, a slightly sharp hissing sound came from somewhere, somewhat like the whimpering of a dog when it's anxious.

However, because he was born deaf in his right ear, he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from.

He got up and looked around, but didn't find anything moving, which made him more vigilant. After all, although he had never encountered any before, there were indeed ferocious beasts in this secret realm.

Finding nothing, he bent down again and reached out to pick the half-ripe berry he had just spotted.

Just as he was about to touch the berry, the cry came again.

So he stopped what he was doing and turned his head to listen.

A few breaths later, he realized the voice was coming from below him.

However, after checking, they still found nothing but grass.

After scanning the ground around him, he parted the berry bushes and found a hedgehog underneath.

The hedgehog's entire body... or rather its quills were snow-white, and its body was also white with a hint of blood.

It was clinging to the roots of a bush with its forelegs, barking incessantly at him.

This was the first ferocious beast he had encountered since entering, and he never expected it to be in this way, and that the beast posed no threat whatsoever.

In his perception, the spiritual energy within this hedgehog was only at the fifth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, and it was extremely mixed and impure, probably unable to even exert the strength of the first level of the Spirit Gathering Realm!

Finding it amusing, he reached out to grab the hedgehog.

Seeing the giant beast in front of it reaching out its claws, the hedgehog stopped squealing and immediately turned around and ran away.

But before he could take two steps, Ning Chang grabbed him in his hand.

The hedgehog immediately shrank back and spread its quills to fight back.

But these thorns only made Ning Chang feel a little itchy when they pricked his hands. Only then did he realize how much his cultivation level had strengthened his physical body.

The hedgehog, which he held in his hand, waited for a long time without seeing the giant beast make its next move. It slowly opened its body and watched Ning Chang warily.

Upon noticing the hedgehog's movement and seeing that it had opened its body again, Ning Chang stretched out a finger and poked the hedgehog's belly.

Upon seeing Ning Chang's sudden movement, the hedgehog curled up again.

But Ning Chang had no choice. He spread two fingers and parted the hedgehog's curled-up body, then reached out and began to rub it.

The hedgehog kept squealing and struggling, but to no avail.

After a short while, realizing that she couldn't escape, she stopped struggling and let Ning Chang do as she pleased.

However, Ning Chang had already lost interest. Seeing that the hedgehog was no longer struggling, he stopped what he was doing and asked softly.

"Little guy, were you stopping me from picking your fruit just now?"

Receiving no response, the hedgehog lay quietly in his palm, pretending to be dead.

So he picked the berry with his other hand, made a slit in the skin, and brought it to the hedgehog's mouth.

Smelling the fruity aroma emanating from its mouth, it instinctively stuck out its tongue and licked it.

Then, its eyes, which had been tightly closed while it was pretending to be dead, suddenly opened, and it bent slightly to look at Ning Chang, as if asking if the fruit was really for it.

After seeing Ning Chang nod slightly, it immediately picked up the berries with both paws and started eating, whimpering a few times as it ate.

The berries are about the size of a thumb and look quite like raspberries, but only on the outside; they are not divided into individual berries inside.

The hedgehog didn't see any seeds even after it finished eating, which made him wonder how the plant reproduced.

After eating the fruit, the hedgehog's wariness of Ning Chang disappeared, and it hummed as it asked Ning Chang for more berries.

"Hmm? You're quite perceptive, not too stupid. Since you're not afraid, come with me for a while."

As he spoke, the hedgehog nodded as if it understood, and then placed it on a leaf that he was controlling beside him.

Then he took two reddish berries from another bush, placed one in front of the little hedgehog, and put the other in his own mouth.

The berries are slightly sour at first taste, followed by a hint of sweetness that is much less sour than sweetness, and then there is no other flavor.

After smacking his lips a couple of times, he lost interest in the berry.

At least among fruits, he had never tasted anything worse than this.

And so, the man and the hedgehog walked downstream along the river.

There are many berry bushes along the river, with one every two or three steps. Whenever Ning Chang sees red berries on the bushes, he picks them and puts them in his spatial bag. He then gives one to the little hedgehog after it finishes eating the berries in its hand.

It couldn't eat as fast as Ning Chang could pick them, and before long, a small pile of berries of varying shades of red had accumulated in Ning Chang's spatial bag.

Seeing this, Ning Chang stopped picking any that were translucent red and started only picking the ones that were completely red.

After eating a few more, the little hedgehog stopped what it was doing. When Ning Chang looked over, she found that it had started snoring!

So Ning Chang took back the one she had just handed to it, and placed a few leaves under it, making it slightly curved to create a small, suitable nest.