Baika's hand, holding the cigarette, froze. He shot to his feet. "Are you crazy? That's a death sentence! You probably don't know this, but a guy who called himself a Marine Vice Admiral once had the same idea as you. The result? He never walked out of that forest again."
"Listen to me, traveler from afar. An old man's words are the summary of a lifetime of experience. You should listen more, and you should accept it."
"That's right! That's right! Do you want to die, traveler? I recommend the forest to the east," the steamed-bun boy chimed in, for once not contradicting the old man.
Baika shoved his head aside. "Get lost, you damn brat."
He took another drag from his cigarette, fell silent for a moment, and then looked at Wilder with a serious expression. "I hope you'll think this through. This is no joke. A kid like you—yes, even though you look big enough—you wouldn't even be enough to get stuck in that divine dragon's teeth. Do you understand what I mean? I'm saying, if you go, you will die. You have a long life ahead of you, young man. Don't be arrogant, or you'll find it cut short."
Wilder smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. I'm just going to take a look. Like you said, I'll tread lightly, avoid making human sounds, and I won't enter the valley crevice—the divine dragon's nest. I'll just watch from a distance. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll be like you and see the divine dragon at first glance."
After speaking, Wilder smiled at Baika and the steamed-bun boy, then turned and walked toward the forest, waving as he went. "Well then… goodbye."
Baika watched Wilder's figure gradually disappear into the trees, his aged brow furrowed tightly.
"Sigh." He looked at the cigarette in his hand and sighed again, as if having made a decision. He turned his back to the young men and said, "Grab your gear. I can't just stand by and watch a sensible kid walk to his death."
With that, he turned and went into his courtyard. After rummaging around for a bit, he came back out, now armed to the teeth. He had two large machetes at his waist, two antique guns slung over his back, and was clad in heavy armor.
The young men looked at Baika's equipment, then at their own empty-handed, sorry state, and stared at him in disbelief. "Grandpa Baika, what about us?"
Baika glanced at them, walking past as he said nonchalantly, "A little exercise won't hurt you young folk. Don't always try to compare yourselves to an old man. Grandpa Baika isn't as strong and healthy as you lot."
"I see!" The young men's sense of injustice vanished, and they followed him with renewed vigor.
The deeper they went into the forest, the quieter it became.
Rustle, rustle, rustle… The sound of heavy footsteps approached from a distance, and Wilder's figure gradually came into focus.
He emerged from the end of a small dirt path overgrown with weeds. Pushing aside some tall grass and bushes blocking his way, Wilder continued forward.
He had now reached the depths of the eastern forest and wasn't far from the valley Baika had mentioned. Wilder didn't know which direction the crevice was in, or if it was hidden by weeds. He scanned the area with his Observation Haki. Due to the distance, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location, but he got a general sense of the direction.
Wilder continued to press on.
The forest was damp, with tangled branches growing everywhere. Unlike in a city, entering the forest meant a constant drain on stamina, a one-man struggle against everything within it.
Poisonous insects, humidity, the entanglement of dense vegetation, and beasts lurking in the shadows.
Wilder arrived in a relatively open area. There weren't many weeds here, only twisted, towering trees.
From here, he could already see the sheer cliffs of the valley not far away. Wilder didn't pause; he kept moving forward. He had already locked onto the location of the valley crevice with his Observation Haki and no longer needed to search.
Not long after Wilder left, three sneaky figures appeared in the distance. It was Baika, the steamed-bun boy, and another young man.
"I see him," the steamed-bun boy whispered, squinting as he lay in a patch of tall grass, watching Wilder get closer and closer to the cliff wall.
"Shut up! Don't talk! We have eyes too, we don't need you to tell us!" Baika, lying beside him with the other young man, hissed as he kept his eyes glued on Wilder.
Rustle, rustle, rustle… In the silent forest, Wilder's footsteps were crystal clear, easily reaching their ears.
Baika's mouth twitched.
The steamed-bun boy stared blankly, then turned his head to Baika and pointed at Wilder. "Grandpa Baika, he's making footsteps."
"Damn it, I know!" Baika's eye twitched as well. His expression was as if he had just swallowed a dead fly. He stared at Wilder's back and gritted his teeth. "This guy… he's not doing anything he promised. He's a dead man! No one can save him now! Just you watch, he's about to smell something strange and be lured toward the crevice."
The steamed-bun boy nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "So, Grandpa Baika, are we still going to save him?"
"How? The guy completely ignored my advice. He's already made noise, so the divine dragon in the valley has heard him. If we go over there, we'll definitely smell that strange scent and be lured in too. If you want to die, you can go," Baika said, his face grim.
"Then what do we do?"
"Stay put! Let's see what happens!"
"Oh."
The three of them fell silent, nervously lying in the grass and watching Wilder.
At that moment, Wilder's nose twitched. A thick scent had appeared in the air, wafting out from the crevice.
"The smell of blood?" Wilder looked toward the crevice and began walking toward it.
His voice wasn't loud, but the three of them heard him clearly. They froze.
The steamed-bun boy turned his expressionless face to Baika and pointed at Wilder. "He just said he smelled blood."
"I remember before, when Grandpa Baika said that anyone who smelled blood was a pervert, he seemed to agree," the other young man added, as if recalling something.
Baika's face turned from red to green, from green to purple, and finally settled on a deep, dark black. His mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Is this guy… a pervert?!"
He thought back on Wilder's death-defying journey here. He clearly understood how terrifying the monster was, and he had explicitly said to quiet his footsteps, yet this guy seemed to be doing dangerous things on purpose. Not only did he not quiet his steps, but now he was drawn to the smell of blood. This guy was definitely a pervert!
"Grandpa Baika, what now? It looks like he's been bewitched and is walking toward the valley crevice."
Baika snapped irritably, "I see it clearly now. Even if he wasn't bewitched, that guy would still walk into the crevice. He's a suicidal pervert!"
Baika pulled out three dark, dry towels that reeked of a strong medicinal smell. He handed two of them to the young men and tied the last one over his own face, covering his mouth and nose.
"You two, hurry up and cover yourselves with these towels. I made them specially, soaked in a unique medicinal herb. The smell can mask the other scents, and the herbs' properties can resist the bewitchment. It should be of some use. We have no choice now. Let's follow him and see. If the guy's already been eaten, we leave. If not, we'll drag him back. For generations, we've never had a tradition of watching a guest die before our very eyes."
The three of them scrambled out of the grass and ran toward the crevice. In that short time, Wilder had already rounded the corner into the opening. They didn't dare delay any longer, no longer caring about the noise of their footsteps. Wilder had already taken care of that.
The thick smell of blood excited Wilder, and his heart began to beat a little faster.
"Interesting, interesting. This temptation is enough to make an ordinary person lose their ability to think, to become a witless fool controlled by a spell."
Wilder had not lost his mind to the bewitching scent. He remained perfectly clear-headed, thanks to his powerful willpower and spirit, as well as his inherent resistance to such toxic mists.
He was now inside the crevice. It was about two people high and wide enough for two to walk side-by-side. As he walked deeper, a cold, fishy wind blew out from within. Wilder caught a quick glimpse of the valley inside.
The vegetation in the valley was even more lush. There were also fallen boulders and large trees that looked as if they had been whipped by something, bearing deep slash marks.
The crevice was no more than five meters deep. Wilder took a few steps and passed through it, stepping into the valley.
A massive black shadow lunged forward like a bolt of lightning.
Wilder was already prepared. He raised a single hand to block.
The cold touch of scales met his palm. A huge shadow now loomed over Wilder's head. A smirk played on his lips as he looked up, and the moment he saw the behemoth before him, he broke into a grin. "So this is the monster of legend? Just like Baika said, like a divine dragon. But… it would be more appropriate to call it a Jiao, wouldn't it? This aura lives up to the name. I'm starting to want a fight with you. Perfect. I didn't get enough of a fight on the way here."
BOOM! A powerful burst of energy erupted from Wilder's body, forming a massive, expanding shockwave. He unleashed his Conqueror's Haki without reservation, clashing with the Jiao's cold, terrifying, bestial aura.
"ROAR!" The Jiao opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar. The sound waves seemed to become tangible; with the naked eye, one could see transparent ripples of sound expanding from its mouth, rushing toward Wilder.
Baika and the others, who had just reached the crevice, covered their ears in pain. As they looked up, they witnessed a sight they would never forget, their faces etched with shock. Their eyes widened in disbelief, their mouths hanging open, unable to make a sound. The three of them were completely stunned.
In the valley, just outside the crevice, a tall, human figure was holding back a behemoth with a single hand, his body not moving an inch. The massive creature was stopped by his one hand, unable to advance at all.
Its black scales gleamed with a dark light. From its ferocious, serpentine head, two blood-red eyes stared fiercely at Wilder. Two horns, each about five meters long, grew from its head, enormous yet perfectly proportioned to its body. Each of its scales, half a meter long and wide, glinted with a sharp, cold light. Its body was covered in these scales, and from head to tail, its coiled length stretched for a hundred meters. And that was while it was coiled.
Its massive, ferocious head was the size of a house, radiating a bestial aura. The aura was like a physical force, blowing out a cold, chilling wind.
Baika and the two young men were frozen, unable to move under this terrifying pressure, their pupils trembling.
Wilder's Conqueror's Haki erupted, shattering the beast's aura. The Jiao's eyes narrowed, then widened, becoming even more ferocious.
"ROAR!" It moved. Its massive head rose high, its body coiling up as it looked down on Wilder from above.
Wilder moved too. He began to unbutton his shirt. As the buttons came undone one by one, he tossed the shirt aside, letting it fall casually to the ground, revealing a body of steel-like muscle.
Then, he tilted his head up slightly, meeting the giant beast's gaze.
"What… what is he trying to do?" Baika and the others were on the verge of a breakdown. They swallowed hard, their lips trembling. The aura Wilder was now emitting was just as frightening as the one the Jiao had just moments before.
"Just who is this guy?" Baika stared at the solid, steel-like muscles and the two terrifying scars on Wilder's back, a storm raging in his heart.
By now, he would never again believe Wilder was just an ordinary traveler. If he did, he would be a fool.
"Grandpa Baika, Mr. Traveler seems so strong," the steamed-bun boy's voice trembled with a mixture of fear and excitement.
Baika: "…"
Silly child…
Baika sighed inwardly. At that moment, the oppressive aura that had enveloped them suddenly vanished without a trace. All that remained were the two disproportionately sized figures, staring at each other in silence.
Suddenly, a fierce wind kicked up. Without any warning, Wilder vanished from their sight.
Immediately after, the Jiao moved too. Its massive body turned, slithering toward the far side of the valley like a black bolt of lightning. Where it passed, rocks were sent flying, boulders tumbled down, and plants were scattered into dust.
Baika and the others snapped back to their senses. They exchanged a look, and, gritting their teeth, they stepped through the crevice and into the valley.
The moment they entered, a loud explosion echoed from the distance. The three of them paled and looked over in unison.
BOOM! On a distant hill, a terrifying body tumbled, sending up a cloud of dust. Boulders flew high into the sky as if from a volcanic eruption, raining down in all directions.
The shirtless Wilder, his fist clenched, took a step. His body shot through the air, instantly appearing on the Jiao's back. He brought his fist down on its massive torso!
Note: A Jiao is a mythological Chinese flood dragon. It's a powerful, serpentine creature that has not yet ascended to become a true, divine dragon.