mchenry-crisis.org Chapter 68 Arrival at Tianhai
Chapter 68 Arrival at Tianhai
Twenty days later.
On the outskirts of Tianhai City, in a riverbed that has long since dried up.
A figure was squatting on the cracked soil, using the tip of a knife to pry open the carapace of a second-tier mutated scorpion and pick out a grayish-white life crystal core.
The figure was disheveled, with tangled hair, a face covered in thick mud and dried blood, and clothes so tattered they looked as if they had been torn apart by a pack of wild beasts.
The left sleeve was torn at the shoulder, revealing the solid muscles underneath, and there was a fresh scar left by a third-tier alien beast seven days ago.
That wild-looking figure was none other than Song Chen.
Twenty days had passed since he obtained the blue crystal, and he finally arrived in Tianhai City.
The final destination, Tianhai University in Tianhai City, is only a little over 100 kilometers away.
Song Chen casually stuffed the crystal core into his pocket, stood up, and felt quite excited. They had finally arrived.
He has been through so much in these past twenty days.
Since leaving the dead forest, he has actually traveled more than 3,000 kilometers.
It wasn't that he wanted to take a detour, but that the wilderness forced him to.
He once encountered a large migrating pack of Ironback Wolves on a plain. Thousands of wolves surged across the plain, and he squatted on a big tree for an entire afternoon, only daring to come down after the pack had all left.
I once tried to cross a seemingly peaceful meadow, but after walking only two hundred meters, my True Sight revealed a fourth-tier earth dragon sleeping three meters underground.
He held his breath and backed out step by step, his back covered in cold sweat.
Another time, I was blocked by a collapsed bridge.
The river water under the bridge had mutated into a highly corrosive acid. He walked along the riverbank for a whole day before finding a shallow spot where he could cross the river.
The most dangerous encounter was with a mutated mandrill at the peak of the third tier.
In that battle, he used almost all his trump cards, combining the Thunderclap Blade with the Sky-Splitting Thunder and unleashing the full power of the Bloodbath Blade Technique. It took him nearly twenty minutes to kill it.
The price was that the B-grade armor was shattered, three deep, bone-revealing wounds were torn open on the left arm, and two ribs on the chest were broken.
He found a cave and, relying on the healing medicine he obtained from the system and the restorative power of the blue crystal, endured the pain for three days before recovering.
They even stumbled into the territory of a mutated plant.
The vines seemed to come alive, suddenly bursting out from the ground, wrapping around his ankles and dragging him upwards. It took him more than a day to cut through the vines before he could break free.
……
Song Chen had only one thought: the wilderness is truly dangerous.
He looks completely different now compared to when he left the Deadwood Forest half a month ago.
Song Chen looked down at his reflection in the puddle and remained silent for two seconds.
Then he squatted down and washed his face with the little water left at the bottom of the riverbed.
He washed off most of the dirt from his face, revealing skin that was much darker than it had been two weeks ago, with more prominent cheekbones, and he had lost a lot of weight.
Song Chen found a large rock sheltered from the wind and sat down. He took out a piece of compressed dry food from his backpack, broke off a small piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly.
The dry rations were as hard as rocks, but he was used to it.
This two-week solo journey through the wilderness taught him more than he had learned in the past few years.
He learned how to determine the location of monster lairs by observing the direction of the flow of psionic particles.
The psionic particles slowly converge toward the high-level alien beasts, forming an invisible "psionic river." If you follow the river, you can find a water source; if you go against the river, you can avoid the high-level alien beasts.
He learned how to leave his scent mark at the edge of a beast's territory.
He mixed the urine of strange beasts with his own sweat and smeared it on the borders of his territory.
Most alien beasts, upon smelling this mixed scent, will assume that another powerful alien beast has occupied the area and will therefore detour around it.
He learned how to judge the size and distance of underground beasts by observing the slight vibrations in the ground.
Place your palm flat on the ground, close your eyes, and use your qi and blood to sense the vibration frequency. A low and heavy frequency indicates a large beast, while a high and fragmented frequency indicates a small group of beasts.
He learned how to recover as quickly as possible with minimal medication after an injury.
When a blue crystal is placed next to a wound, the spiritual energy ripples released by the crystal are guided by blood and qi to penetrate the wound, resulting in a recovery speed three times faster than simply using medicine.
He also learned to judge whether a person is trustworthy in the wilderness.
Observe where the other person's gaze falls.
If someone's eyes keep shifting between your weapon, backpack, and pockets, keep your distance.
If someone keeps their eyes fixed on you, you're actually relatively safe; at least they see you as a human being.
These experiences cannot be found in books or taught in martial arts schools; they can only be taught in the wilderness.
After finishing the last bite of dry food, Song Chen unscrewed the water bottle, took a sip of water, closed his eyes, and opened the system panel.
[Host: Song Chen]
[Rank: Second Rank]
[Qi and Blood Value: 88.3]
【Mental Power: 78.6】
[Combat Skills: Bloodbath Blade Technique (Grandmaster Level), Whirlwind Wings (Master Level)]
[Special Abilities: Thunderous Roar of the Nine Heavens (Rank A), Eye of True Sight (Rank B)]
[Kill Value: 12450 points]
Twenty days of non-stop killing led to a qualitative breakthrough in his strength.
Qi and blood reached 88.3, and mental strength reached 78.6.
He also upgraded the Sky-Splitter from Grade B to Grade A.
The upgrade of the Sky-Splitting Thunder represents a qualitative leap.
At Rank B, he can release up to three electric arcs simultaneously, each with a power roughly equivalent to a full-force strike from a second-tier martial artist.
After upgrading to Rank A, he renamed his superpower "Nine Heavens Thunder".
He can now unleash nine electric arcs simultaneously, each one as powerful as a third-tier martial artist's full-force attack.
More importantly, he can now continuously unleash the power of lightning, instead of only being able to deliver a one-time burst as before.
The cost was also enormous. His body spent three days adapting to the new power level after the upgrade, and he was tormented by the backlash of lightning every night, making it impossible for him to sleep.
Muscle spasms, involuntary electric shocks in fingertips, even drinking water causes electric arcs to reach the lips.
It wasn't until the last two days that my body gradually adapted to the intensity of my A-level superpower.
Song Chen opened her eyes and took a rope made of shoelaces from her neck.
The blue crystal was tied to the end of the rope.
The written symbols are still clearly visible.
Song Chen placed the crystal in his palm, feeling the faint ripples of spiritual energy seeping out from it and spreading along the meridians of his palm throughout his body.
It wasn't warm, nor was it cool; it was a feeling that was hard to describe, like every cell in my body was being slowly and continuously "refreshed."
In the past two weeks, he discovered the only use for this crystal: rapid recovery.
It's not about restoring qi and blood or mental strength, but about restoring the body's own damage.
Muscle strains, bone fractures, and skin injuries can be treated by placing a crystal near the wound and guiding its released spiritual energy ripples with your blood and qi, which can increase the recovery speed by three to five times.
The injuries I sustained previously were healed quickly thanks to this method.
Aside from that, he found no other use for the crystal.
It cannot be used for cultivation, nor for combat, and it will not even release spiritual energy on its own. It must be "activated" with blood and qi before it will release that restorative ripple.
Song Chen studied those densely packed characters and symbols for half a month, but still couldn't understand a single one.