After his second Physical Constitution Limit Break, Lu Yuan's teeth were so strong they could even chew through steel, let alone a small vine.

Lu Yuan ripped off a piece of the golden vine and chewed it, making a "CRUNCH, CRUNCH" noise. Honestly, the taste was awful, like chewing a cold, hard, tasteless piece of rubber.

However, during this process, the Evil God Factors contained within the golden vine surged into his body like water from an opened faucet, pouring madly down his throat.

RUMBLE—

It felt as if a storm had suddenly erupted in Lu Yuan's chest. His organs glowed, his flesh and bones vibrated, and the sound of thunder was incessant. The Blood Sphere in his chest grew rapidly amidst this storm of Evil God Factors.

This ultimate sensation of growth!

However...

After a brief surge, the influx of Evil God Factors stopped abruptly.

"Ptoo—"

Lu Yuan spat out the chewed remains of the golden vine. He could no longer sense any residual Evil God Factors in it; even the vine's original golden color had vanished, revealing a light gray, woody texture.

It was like... a piece of sugarcane chewed to a pulp.

"SNAP—"

Lu Yuan spat out the residue and bit into another piece of the golden vine. He didn't actually need to "eat" it to absorb the Evil God Factors, but that method was far too inefficient compared to chewing. So, Lu Yuan opted for this rather crude and barbaric approach.

As Lu Yuan ate the golden vine mouthful by mouthful, the Blood Sphere inside him continued to expand rapidly...

Lu Yuan was still very cautious. To avoid the chip and photobrain in his body capturing the scene of him "raw-chewing" this Treasure, he had specifically used his Spiritual Power to envelop and shield them both before eating.

When Lu Yuan had consumed about one-third of the golden vine, the power of the Blood Sphere within him seemed to reach a certain threshold.

BOOM!

CRACK—

A series of bone-cracking sounds echoed throughout Lu Yuan's body. His physique seemed to become more well-proportioned and slender, and the aura he exuded grew more restrained.

Agility +1.

The Evil God Factors contained in one-third of the golden vine naturally increased Lu Yuan's agility attribute by 1 point, from the original 28 to 29 points, leaving him just one step away from the 30-point Limit Break.

Lu Yuan still had 6 unused attribute points. If he wished, he could now elevate both his strength and agility attributes to the realm of the second Limit Break. But now, in Ash Mountain, resources for upgrading were everywhere, so he wasn't in a hurry to spend these attribute points.

After the second Limit Break, increasing an attribute by 1 point costs 3 attribute points... The expenditure is getting larger and larger...

Lost in thought, Lu Yuan bit off another piece of the golden vine. He glanced at Lan Chen in the distance, who was searching for armor fragments, and a question suddenly popped into his mind.

How did this golden vine-like Treasure come into being?

Probably everyone participating in this expedition was curious about this. Yet, those who knew the answer... might not exist at all.

Looking at the golden vine, still more than half remaining in his hand, Lu Yuan's eyes glinted as he gently activated a skill towards it—

[Mysterious Scholar (Extraordinary)] Class Skill: Lv1 [Mysterious Perception]!

The [Mysterious Perception] skill had a chance to obtain hidden information from an object that normal methods couldn't detect. Lu Yuan felt he might glean some unique clues this way.

With the activation of Lv1 [Mysterious Perception], vague and jumbled information immediately flooded Lu Yuan's mind. As his mind processed it, this information gradually pieced together a series of fragmented images.

In these images, Lu Yuan seemed to see a faint, golden-red wisp drift down from mid-air, land on a vine, and then rapidly merge with it. The originally ordinary vine, under the influence of the mysterious golden-red smoke, gradually transformed into something extraordinary, eventually growing into its current form...

What exactly is that golden-red substance that looks like smoke, mist, or light? Does it have something to do with the Phoenix?

While mulling this over, Lu Yuan silently "ate" the remaining half of the golden vine.

Once the Evil God Factors from the entire golden vine were in his stomach, Lu Yuan's Blood Sphere had expanded by a significant margin, its density nearly doubling. The rapid growth of the Blood Sphere caused the qi and blood in his body to surge. Although the values on his attribute panel hadn't changed again, Lu Yuan sensed he wasn't far from another natural attribute increase.

My Lv7 [Martial Arts Grandmaster (Extraordinary)] is about to reach Lv8. This place is truly an unparalleled leveling ground.

Lu Yuan let out a light sigh. With nothing else to do, he watched Lan Chen clean up the battlefield.

By now, Lan Chen had already collected all the scattered Tier 3 armor fragments. However, he wasn't ready to leave. Instead, he went over to the two Distant Star Federation men lying on the ground and stealthily began stripping the remaining armor pieces from their bodies.

As Lu Yuan watched Lan Chen tug at the groin guard and leg armor of one of the Distant Star Federation men, he noticed the man's face twitch slightly, though his eyes remained tightly shut. Lu Yuan's previous attack had been measured. Most of the force was unleashed on their exoskeleton armor, with the residual power merely injuring and knocking them unconscious, not fatally. It seemed the two were now regaining consciousness.

Lan Chen, completely absorbed in the joy of his "harvest," seemed oblivious to this. He stripped every last removable component of exoskeleton armor from the two men, then returned, beaming, with a large pile of loot.

"Okay!" Lan Chen gave Lu Yuan a thumbs-up, then added, "Wait here a sec, I'll call a drone to take this stuff back... And let me tell you, this stuff is quite heavy..."

Lu Yuan was silent for a moment, then couldn't help but ask Lan Chen, "Isn't this a bit too much?"

Lan Chen waved his hand dismissively. "Too much? How is it too much? They've done far worse things to us Yellow Bear members. At most, I'm just collecting some interest..."

Seeing Lan Chen's expression, still simmering with unresolved resentment, Lu Yuan guessed he might have suffered greatly at the hands of Distant Star Federation explorers in the past. The higher-ups likely turned a blind eye to conflicts between members of different organizations within the Secret Realms. Otherwise, Lan Chen wouldn't act so audaciously.

When the drone summoned by Lan Chen arrived, he asked Lu Yuan if he wanted to continue exploring deeper. Lu Yuan's answer was, naturally, affirmative. After a moment's hesitation, Lan Chen had the drone take back the collected exoskeleton armor fragments and components, ultimately deciding to accompany Lu Yuan.

If this had been before, Lan Chen would undoubtedly have chosen to turn back now and secure his gains. But now, Lu Yuan, the "newbie" he was supposed to guide, had suddenly transformed into a formidable master capable of bare-handedly crushing Tier 3 combatants. Naturally, Lan Chen wanted to seize this golden opportunity to cling to such a powerhouse.

The two left the spot where the golden vine grew and continued onward. Along the way, they encountered two Ancient Evil God creatures, but their strength was mediocre. The Evil God Factors in their Flesh and Blood Essence were far inferior to those in the golden vine, and even less potent than the Ancient Evil God creatures Lu Yuan had faced in the Elephant God Secret Realm.

Thinking about it carefully, the creatures remaining in the Elephant God Secret Realm had all been filtered twice—once by the Elephantman race and once by the Elephant God's Will—so it was normal for their average strength to be formidable.

After walking for about fifteen kilometers, Lu Yuan stopped by a small stream in the forest. Here, a beam of sunlight pierced through the dense primeval forest, dyeing the entire stream a clear, refreshing orange-red. Finger-length silver fish darted through the water, creating a beautiful scene.

Lu Yuan checked the map of Ash Mountain and saw that beyond this stream lay the "Foggy Area." This meant it was an area shrouded by the fog of war, almost completely unexplored, where everything was unknown.

"Do you want to continue?" Lu Yuan turned to ask Lan Chen.

Lan Chen looked conflicted, but finally gritted his teeth and said resolutely, "I'll follow for a bit longer. Just a bit longer."

"Alright."

Lu Yuan said nothing more. The role reversal between them—from "veteran and newbie," to "expert and rookie," to "guide and guided"—had occurred quite naturally.

Lu Yuan was about to lead Lan Chen across the stream, officially entering the "Foggy Area."

Just then...

"COO! COO!"

A strange bird call suddenly reached his ears.

Lu Yuan whipped his head around, looking in the direction of the sound. Catching a faint orange flicker in his peripheral vision, he didn't hesitate. With a powerful push from his feet, he shot forward like a Swimming Dragon toward the spot where the orange shadow had flashed.

Lan Chen, standing beside Lu Yuan, hadn't even reacted before Lu Yuan vanished from sight as he turned his head.

"Damn!" Lan Chen cursed under his breath, hastily activating his exoskeleton to give chase.

"COO! COO!"

"COO! COO!"

The bird's calls echoed continuously in Lu Yuan's ears. His figure moved like the wind, his speed pushed to the absolute limit. He broke the sound barrier, continuously leaving behind expanding white shockwaves in the forest, even generating blurry afterimages. Yet, he could not catch up to that ethereal and somewhat melodious birdcall. The calls seemed to come from all directions, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes to his left, sometimes to his right...

After a while, Lu Yuan finally gave up the chase. The moment he stopped, the bird calls ceased completely.

It's the call of a Hoopoe...

Lu Yuan stood on a moss-covered boulder, his eyes flickering, but his expression remained calm. He didn't know why he had suddenly decided to chase the bird call. Was it a whim? Or a subconscious instinct?

In any case, after this chase, Lu Yuan was certain that the Hoopoe making the calls was the same one he had seen at the forest entrance when he first arrived.

This bird is strange. It seems to be intentionally or unintentionally leading me in a specific direction... The crucial part is, I can't even catch it. How could an ordinary bird possess such speed?

Lu Yuan once again recalled the image of the Hoopoe he had obtained through Chaos Divination. Although the Hoopoe was a symbol of "luck," this was merely his own interpretation of the divination result. Who knew what the divination truly signified? It was like the four-character maxim "To find life in death" that he had divined; he still hadn't figured out its true meaning.

I can't shake this feeling that ever since I entered the Ash Mountain Secret Realm, something has been watching me... I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing...

Lu Yuan mused. To be safe, he decided he would no longer follow any "guidance" from the Hoopoe. If it tried to lead him in a certain direction, he would deliberately go the opposite way, just to see how it would react.

As he was thinking, a streak of sapphire light WHOOSHED out from the forest.

Before Lu Yuan could figure out how to explain his earlier erratic behavior to Lan Chen, he saw Lan Chen's face alight with excitement and exhilaration. Lan Chen stared at him, eyes shining, and said breathlessly, "A Treasure! Lu Yuan! While I was chasing you, I detected another energy fluctuation, likely from a Treasure! It's even stronger than the previous one! Our luck... it's simply off the charts!"

Again?!

Hearing Lan Chen's words, Lu Yuan felt no joy. Instead, he frowned.

This was a blatant scheme, plain and simple. This thing... is definitely problematic!

Lu Yuan steeled his resolve, about to tell Lan Chen they shouldn't go.

Suddenly...

He saw Lan Chen, standing before him, begin to tremble all over. Lan Chen's eyes were fixed on a point somewhere above and behind Lu Yuan, as if he had seen something utterly incredible. Even his voice trembled as he spoke.

"Lu... Lu Yuan..." Lan Chen, his expression peculiar, slowly raised a hand and pointed. "Look... over there."

Lu Yuan turned his head. When he saw what Lan Chen was pointing at, his pupils instantly constricted, and he too was overcome with profound shock.

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