Jade Crown King Snake

You consumed 20 points of Soul Power. Po Jun Sword has been raised to the second level!

You consumed 30 points of Soul Power. Po Jun Sword has been raised to the third level!

You consumed 40 points of Soul Power. Po Jun Sword has been raised to the fourth level!

Fortunately, he was in the Wilderness Area and had maintained a high frequency of combat. On top of that, killing commander-class beasts earned him double-digit Soul Power, allowing him to raise both Ghost and the Po Jun Sword.

Even so, his Soul Power was already running short.

But that was fine. He had only purchased the first four levels of the Po Jun Sword, so it could only be raised to the fourth level. He could use Soul Power to deduce the later levels, but that would consume more than ten times the Soul Power of a normal upgrade. It simply was not worth it.

He could wait until he had the chance to exchange military merit for them in the army.

He opened the system panel to check his current status.

Host: Lin Yan

Identity: First-year student at National Defense University, Second Lieutenant of the Northern Military Region in Tianjing Base City, member of the Star Special Operations Squad

Realm: Intermediate Warrior

Soul Power: 11

Skills: Mind Palace (level unknown), Guiding Technique: Supreme Induction (ultimate), Movement Technique: Ghost (SS-rank) (ninth level), Po Jun Sword (SS-rank) (fourth level), Sword Skill: All Things Severed (A-rank) (sixth level), Thunderclap Sword (A-rank) (sixth level), Thunderclap Sword (D-rank) (fifth level), Sword Skill: Radiant Light (D-rank) (fourth level)
Note: Fully leveled skills in the later skill slots will no longer have their level number specially indicated.

Passive Skills: Sword Mastery (S-rank), Firearms Specialization (F-rank)

Sword Traits: Destruction, Lightning, Sharpness, Blinding

Equipment: Heavenly Gang Battle Sword

The contents of this panel were so luxurious they could practically blind someone, not to mention that he was only an Intermediate Warrior!

I'm strong. I know!

In truth, with the Mind Palace, he could study these skills himself without using Soul Power. However, that consumed a great deal of mental energy, and his current supply was quite strained. He could not keep it up for long, so there was no need to save Soul Power.

Once he had more time and his mental energy had grown stronger, it would not be a problem.

He was not the sentimental type when it came to such things.

My achievements today naturally came entirely from my talent and hard work. Have you ever seen what Tianjing Base City looks like at four in the morning?

No?

What a coincidence. Neither have I!

Soul Power, add points!

Just take off!

The next day.

The group left their current hiding place and went to meet up with Bu Xiangyang, Chen Lian, and the others.

They had already informed them of their locations through communication devices.

Bu Xiangyang and Li Tao were currently in a factory warehouse, while Chen Lian and the others were in the basement of a private residence.

They went to find Bu Xiangyang and Li Tao first. Since it was not far, they arrived quickly. Jia Yan lightly knocked twice on the warehouse door and said in a low voice, "It's us."

The door soon opened, and the four of them entered.

Lin Yan was the first to apologize to Li Tao. "Brother Li, the situation was urgent at the time, so I made a move directly..."

Well, he should have said he used his foot.

Li Tao had been overly excited at the time, willing to throw away his life just to kill beasts. Lin Yan had directly kicked him flying.

And he had not held back much.

Li Tao flushed with embarrassment at those words. Bu Xiangyang had criticized him plenty over the matter the day before. They had known each other long before this mission, so they had no Scruples when speaking. Bu Xiangyang had thoroughly chewed him out. "I should be the one thanking you..."

After leaving the scene, his adrenaline had stopped flowing, his intelligence had reclaimed the high ground, and he had become furious with himself. What the hell had he been doing...?

It was too embarrassing!

Chu Wei said, "Li Tao, you really need to change that temper of yours. Don't always let your emotions get the better of you."

Burdened by the dignity of an old soldier, Li Tao felt that he had set a terrible example for Lin Yan. How could he argue back? "I understand. I'll definitely change!"

After chatting for a while, they did not delay any longer and headed straight for Chen Lian's group's hiding place.

Yet, an accident still happened.

There had been nothing unusual when they had just met up, but half an hour later, Bu Wenxing suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. His face turned visibly pale, and he fainted.

Bu Xiangyang was startled. He immediately propped up his brother's upper body. Though he was not a professional medic, he had received training in that area. As he examined his brother's symptoms, cold sweat broke out across his back.

Bu Xiangyang turned and urgently asked Chen Lian, "It should be poisoning. Did he eat anything unusual today, or was he bitten by a snake, insect, or something like that?"

Chen Lian panicked as well. "A Wu Zhu Qing got into the basement today, and Wenxing got bitten because he wasn't careful."

The Wu Zhu Qing was an extremely weak H-rank snake-type beast with mild venom. It should not have had any effect on an Advanced Warrior like Bu Wenxing.

"Where was he bitten?"

"On the wrist!"

Bu Xiangyang rolled up Bu Wenxing's sleeve, revealing a dark black mark with two tiny crimson dots at its center.

His pupils contracted. "It wasn't a Wu Zhu Qing. It was a Jade Crown King Snake!"

"A Jade Crown King Snake?"

No one present had heard of this kind of beast. They had only heard of the Jade Crown Snake, but that too was a low-level beast. Generally Speaking, it was only half the size of a Wu Zhu Qing, and its venom was only slightly stronger.

Bu Xiangyang explained, "It's a beast newly discovered in the Americas last year. Based on its genetic profile, it was identified as a rare variant of the Jade Crown Snake. If you don't look closely, it does resemble a Wu Zhu Qing somewhat. But apart from the one specimen discovered back then, there have been no further sightings. How could one appear here?!"

Liu Mingxuan asked, "Is the Jade Crown King Snake's venom very potent?"

Bu Xiangyang replied, "I read the paper Professor Haiman Pierce published on the Jade Crown King Snake. Its venom has no obvious symptoms in its early stages, but once it invades the brain, it causes cerebral hypoxia and sends the victim into a coma. If the venom cannot be successfully suppressed, it will cause irreversible damage to the brain's nerve cells, leaving the body permanently in a vegetative state—what we usually call a 'vegetable.'"

"The professor conducted experiments for half a year before discovering that Lin Luosu extracted from the Poplar Variant Fine Leaf Poplar could effectively break down the toxic components of Jade Crown King Snake venom."

"Lin Luosu is not scarce. If we were in a base city, this would be easy to resolve. But Wenxing's condition can only hold for six to eight hours at most. After that, his brain cells and nerves will be damaged, and then there truly won't be anything we can do!"

Bu Xiangyang was somewhat terrified. This was his younger brother. He could not accept the thought of him becoming a vegetable forever.

Lin Yan spoke up. "Fine Leaf Poplar is easy to find, but extracting Lin Luosu requires laboratory equipment."

Chu Wei immediately searched through the device. "There's a medical research institute eleven kilometers away from us. I looked through the records. During the migration period, the institute's equipment was too difficult to transport, so it was left behind. If we're lucky, there may be a way."

Bu Xiangyang said quietly, "The extraction process for Lin Luosu is extremely complicated and difficult. None of us know how to do it..."

"Leave it to me."

"Hm?"

Lin Yan looked seriously at Bu Xiangyang and repeated, "Leave it to me."