CHAPTER 450: CHAPTER 438: TAMING SUCCESSFUL!

The power of Eight-Step Cicada Catch is self-evident.

With just seven steps, Han Qiwu had already caught up to the red-flash sweat-blood horse.

This time, he used the method of forcefully looping a rein over the horse’s head to tame it.

Dodge?

Hold your head down and tame you!

After successfully looping the rein on, Han Qiwu leapt into the eighth step and mounted the red-flash sweat-blood horse.

Done!

He finally got on its back.

It wasn’t easy at all.

[Current Mount: Sweat-Blood Horse (Silver Star Quality ☆)]

[Movement Speed: 20m/s]

[Rampage Status: Diagonal Leaping]

But sitting on it didn’t mean success just yet. Han Qiwu noticed a progress bar, matching the horse’s flashing red color, appear above the horse’s head.

"That should represent the taming progress," Han Qiwu thought to himself, tightly clutching the rein.

He felt a bit of slipperiness — his palms were sweating.

Understandable.

This was a sweat-blood horse!

The kind that could take you out of a canyon.

Who wouldn’t be excited?

10m

40m

80m

120m

150m

With previous experience in controlling mounts, Han Qiwu skillfully guided the sweat-blood horse through avoiding one giant boulder after another, while leaping past one Mongolian horse after the next.

The running posture of the red-flash sweat-blood horse was exceptionally elegant, truly a sight to behold.

"I *have* to tame this!" Han Qiwu gritted his teeth.

After a little while, the progress bar quickly reached 50%.

Doing the calculations, just another 150 meters to success!

Han Qiwu leaned forward and sneakily glanced at the horse’s belly.

Whoa, it’s a mare.

"Calm down, don’t get worked up. Once we’re out of here, I’ll get you something delicious," Han Qiwu said, stroking the horse’s head.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t open his inventory; otherwise, he could’ve just fed it right there to quell its rampage.

Things seldom go as planned. After another 80 meters or so, the red-flash sweat-blood horse finally started losing its stamina. The flashing frequency of its red light sped up, and its running speed increased as well.

As for its direction? Just like the bestiary said:

Diagonal running!

Every time it seemed about to crash into the canyon wall, it would whip its head and dash towards the opposite side of the canyon.

Watching this had Han Qiwu’s heart pounding in terror.

"Just 40 more meters to go!" Han Qiwu tightened his grip on the rein and diligently made fine adjustments to the direction.

meters was only a matter of 2 seconds!

But just as the progress bar reached 90%, a giant boulder loomed on the path ahead.

Han Qiwu had no time to adjust his direction and could only watch helplessly as the red-flash sweat-blood horse crashed straight into it.

Heartbreaking!

"Bang!"

The boulder shattered, and Han Qiwu and the sweat-blood horse were flung apart in an instant.

The horse flew through the air.

The man chased after it mid-flight.

"Don’t run!"

Ignoring the burning pain in his arm, Han Qiwu executed Eight-Step Cicada Catch again, stepping across the backs of five Mongolian horses in rapid succession before catching up to the red-flash sweat-blood horse and sitting back on its back.

What he didn’t expect was that the progress bar was cumulative.

"Phew, thank goodness I learned Eight-Step Cicada Catch as soon as I got it, or I’d never have been able to catch up to this horse."

Only now did Han Qiwu have the chance to breathe a sigh of relief.

His arms were burning with pain.

This truly was taming a horse with blood!

After another ten or so meters, the progress bar above the red-flash sweat-blood horse’s head reached 100%.

[Congratulations! You have successfully tamed the Sweat-Blood Horse (Silver Star Quality ☆)]

[Do you wish to leave Horse Taming Canyon?]

After this system notification flashed by, Han Qiwu, feeling mentally and physically spent, clicked to leave Horse Taming Canyon.

Light and shadow swirled.

When his vision cleared, Han Qiwu found himself back near the horse-head statue, next to which a series of notifications appeared.

[Horse Taming Canyon is on cooldown. Remaining cooldown time: 7 days]

[Each entry requires a 5000-gold ticket]

[Tamed horses must live in a stable]

[You have obtained Sweat-Blood Horse (Silver Star Quality ☆) ×1]

[You have obtained Stable Blueprint ×1]

"5000 gold per ticket? So expensive." Han Qiwu quickly glanced at his balance.

Thankfully, the first entry seemed to be free.

But where’s my horse?

Han Qiwu looked around, only to see Xiao Dian and Xiao Lai nearby.

Opening his inventory, he finally spotted a miniature version of the sweat-blood horse. When he tried to retrieve it, a system notification popped up.

[Please retrieve this item within the stable]

"Looks like I’ll need to build the stable first." Han Qiwu sighed as he pulled out the [Stable Blueprint] to inspect.

[Stable Blueprint]

[Materials: [Hardwood] ×100, [Iron Ingot] ×10, [Fiber] ×20]

[Note: This is a horse’s home.]

The content on the blueprint was simple—just gather the materials and build according to the design.

Iron ingots and fibers weren’t a problem.

But hardwood...

"A hundred pieces of hardwood." Han Qiwu suddenly felt his wrists ache.

He’d never intentionally collected hardwood before. Aside from being needed for the oil press blueprint, it didn’t have many uses.

His stockpile at home had at most fifteen pieces, meaning he’d have to chop down the remaining eighty-five on site.

For the sake of the little horse!

Luckily, the mist in Mist Forest had mostly cleared by now. As Han Qiwu approached its entrance, the system displayed that it was open for entry.

Wiping the blood from his arms, Han Qiwu took a deep breath.

Time to start chopping trees!

Xiao Dian and Xiao Lai eagerly followed behind Han Qiwu as they entered the forest.

Once inside Mist Forest, Han Qiwu headed straight for one of those massive trees with his axe.

Truth be told, his original intention for coming here was to check how the tenant giant squirrels were faring and to collect some rent.

But the little horse took priority now.

He’d come back for them next time.

Soon, Han Qiwu found an enormous phoenix tree that soared into the clouds.

Aiming for the base of the trunk, he swung his axe with full force.

"Clang!"

A deep cut appeared on the phoenix tree’s trunk.

But at the same time, over thirty mist worms descended from the tree, swarming toward Han Qiwu like a dark cloud.

"Xiao Dian, Xiao Lai, protect me!"

Without looking back, Han Qiwu kept his head down and sped up his chopping.

"Chirp, chirp!"

"Zap, zap!"

At the command, Xiao Lai, who already had puffed-out cheeks, raised its head and unleashed a wide beam of azure energy from its mouth.

The beam didn’t vanish upon release; it rotated in sync with Xiao Lai’s head, cutting down any mist worms in its path.

The worms fell to the ground like raindrops.

Han Qiwu glanced sideways and nodded in satisfaction.

Xiao Lai’s skill was quite impressive.

Hovering nearby, Xiao Dian, feeling competitive, rapidly flapped its wings to create an electric field, zapping the remaining mist worms one by one.

After six swings of the axe, the massive phoenix tree toppled with a groan.

[Hardwood] ×2

Keep going!

Two hours later, Han Qiwu flexed his sore wrist and bent down to pick up the hardwood scattered around.

"This name is too accurate. This wood is ridiculously hard!"

Looking at the ninety hardwood pieces in his inventory, Han Qiwu let out a sigh of relief and called over Xiao Dian and Xiao Lai.

Time to head home and build that stable!!

Ride into the sunset!