017
Outside the valley.
The four martial artists pushed their speed to the limit.
They ran all the way back to the edge of the Blank Zone before stopping.
All four braced their hands on their knees, gasping for breath.
"Did you see clearly... what exactly happened back there?!"
"Left legs! Ten left legs!"
"I'm certain they were left legs!"
"And then they all died!"
As they spoke.
The four exchanged glances.
Each saw the fear of the unknown in the others' eyes.
One of them cautiously looked toward a burly man with a vicious-looking face.
"Brother Hu, what do we do now? Go back?"
Brother Hu gritted his teeth.
"Let's wait a little longer!"
"Just now, Jiang Fu's reaction speed and running speed were already approaching those of a mid-tier martial artist!"
"But his build, his movements, even the way he ran—he was clearly an ordinary person, not even a martial artist!"
"He had no idea how to properly exert his strength!"
"Whatever Jiang Fu found, it definitely wasn't an ordinary Tier 1 spiritual fruit!"
"It was very likely a Tier 2, or even a Tier 3 spiritual fruit!"
When the other three heard the words Tier 2 and Tier 3 spiritual fruit.
Their breathing instantly grew heavy.
The Martial Artist Guild offered one million for even the most ordinary Tier 1 Mist Ripple Fruit.
The minimum purchase price for a Tier 2 spiritual fruit was ten million!
The minimum purchase price for a Tier 3 spiritual fruit was one hundred million!
For ordinary, bottom-rung martial artists like them.
That was undoubtedly a fortune.
Besides, spiritual fruits were immensely beneficial to martial artists as well.
"But... those ten left legs..."
Brother Hu gritted his teeth. "It must have something to do with that valley!"
"When Dapeng first sprouted ten left legs, we were already close to the valley."
"Back then, Dapeng's ten left legs lasted for 0.1 seconds!"
"It wasn't until we entered that valley that things really went wrong..."
"We'll stay away from the valley and wait for Jiang Fu around here!"
"That brat has to return to the city by nightfall!"
"And besides..."
A gleam of greed flashed through Brother Hu's eyes.
"Don't you want to know how their left legs turned into ten?"
"If we can find whatever turns someone's left leg into ten..."
Those words from Brother Hu.
Instantly awakened the greed deep within their hearts.
Fortune favors the bold!
Let's risk it!
Meanwhile.
Inside the valley.
Jiang Fu held up a pair of pants with eleven legs, feeling a headache coming on.
They were Zhao Dapeng's pants.
Earlier, he had applied permanent Multiply by Ten to Zhao Dapeng's left leg.
Along with it, the man's pants had become a pair with eleven legs.
"Nobody would want pants with eleven legs, would they?"
"Or maybe I could secretly multiply someone's left leg by ten, then sell him the pants?"
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have made the Multiply by Ten permanent..."
With that thought.
Jiang Fu started stuffing the eleven-legged pants back into his backpack.
Unfortunately.
It was only a small backpack, just a little larger than an ordinary one.
Earlier.
Jiang Fu had only managed to cram everything inside using his Spirit Power.
Looking at the bulging backpack on the ground.
Jiang Fu pondered for a moment.
Then he tried saying, "Keep the backpack's size unchanged. Multiply its capacity by ten."
As his words fell.
The bulging backpack immediately deflated.
Jiang Fu's eyes widened, and his hands trembled.
He opened the backpack again.
The combat uniforms, battle knives, and various other odds and ends lay inside, perfectly intact.
But the backpack's internal capacity was ten times greater than before!
And from the outside, its size hadn't changed at all!
"Holy shit... it actually worked!"
Jiang Fu put the eleven-legged pants inside.
Then he lifted the bag by hand.
...It was lighter!
The bag contained three battle knives, each weighing over fifty kilograms.
But now.
The weight of those three battle knives, along with the three sets of combat uniforms.
Had completely vanished.
Only the backpack's own weight remained.
"Keeping the backpack's size unchanged while multiplying its internal capacity by ten... that kind of multiplication doesn't make sense to begin with."
"So it just multiplied it into a Space Backpack?"
Jiang Fu slung the Space Backpack onto his back.
He took a battle knife out of it.
...Over fifty kilograms. Pretty heavy.
But now, Jiang Fu had the physical abilities of a Quasi-Martial Artist.
Lifting it took little effort.
First, Jiang Fu swung it a few times by hand.
Then he let his Spirit Power take control of the battle knife.
"Toughness, Multiply by Ten!"
"Hardness, Multiply by Ten!"
"Sharpness, Multiply by Ten!"
"Material quality, Multiply by Ten!"
"Grade, Multiply by Ten!"
"Defense penetration, Multiply by Ten!"
Bzz—
The next instant.
A soft hum erupted from the battle knife.
Tiny specks of light appeared across its pitch-black blade.
Jiang Fu looked at the battle knife hovering before him.
He couldn't help smacking his lips. "Too bad it's a knife, not a sword."
If it were a sword.
I could soar on it with Sword Flight, my white robes fluttering...
"Once I have money, I'll find someone to forge me a sword!"
"Swords are lighter and thinner than battle knives, so they're better suited to a Psychic Master."
"Then I can fulfill my dream of being a Sword Immortal..."
As a Chinese man from Earth.
Jiang Fu naturally dreamed of becoming a Sword Immortal.
But now wasn't the time to think about that.
He quickly put those fanciful thoughts out of his mind.
"It's been about half an hour since I left the city."
"I still have an hour and a half to hunt Red-tailed Rats!"
"But will those other four martial artists be waiting outside to ambush me... probably."
Jiang Fu glanced at his attribute panel.
His Spirit Power.
Had 986 remaining.
However, his Spirit Power still covered a sphere with a radius of one hundred meters.
That hadn't been affected.
Jiang Fu took a moment to settle his emotions.
Then he searched the little valley for traces of the Red-tailed Rat from earlier.
"Hm?"
"Found you!"
Suddenly.
Jiang Fu's eyes lit up.
The Red-tailed Rat had reached a spot roughly forty meters underground.
It was lying inside a burrow.
Jiang Fu controlled the battle knife with his Spirit Power.
It gently cut through the soil on the surface.
And headed underground.
Before this battle knife, enhanced by all those applications of Multiply by Ten, the hard underground soil.
Was as flimsy as tofu.
Before long.
The battle knife reached the Red-tailed Rat's burrow.
The Red-tailed Rat was still lying inside, fast asleep.
It had no idea danger had arrived.
"The System Panel says the Red-tailed Rat's weak point is its navel."
"But..."
Pfft!
The battle knife moved slightly.
And the Red-tailed Rat's head was sliced off.
"Hmph. Against absolute strength, every spot is a weak point!"
The next instant.
The battle knife cleared a path ahead.
The headless Red-tailed Rat followed close behind.
And soon arrived before Jiang Fu.
Jiang Fu looked at the Red-tailed Rat's headless body, his eyes gleaming.
The Red-tailed Rat looked much like the rats from his previous life, both in size and appearance.
Except it had a long red tail.
That was also the only valuable part of a Red-tailed Rat.
"Number of tails, Multiply by Ten!"
Whoosh!
The next moment.
The Red-tailed Rat's crimson tail became ten tails in an instant!
"Red-tailed Rat quantity, Multiply by Ten!"
Whoosh!
And then.
Ten more headless Red-tailed Rat corpses appeared before Jiang Fu, each with ten tails.
No Spirit Power had been consumed.
Before you continue