Aether Sensitivity

Over the next two days, Ji Xinghuo's group of four discovered several Stone Scythe Goblin packs. The largest had over a hundred goblins, but there was no sign of a Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill.

By then, they had ventured more than a hundred kilometers into Absolute Peak Valley.

They were being attacked with increasing frequency. Some attacks came from monsters, but far more came from venomous snakes and insects, making life miserable.

Smack! Chi Zhonglin slapped his own neck. When he opened his palm, it was stained crimson with the corpse of a thumb-sized mosquito.

He had been half a second too slow, and a large welt had already risen on his neck.

"What a venomous mosquito..."

Chi Zhonglin grimaced and looked back at his teammates.

Ren Mian and Jiangnan Caiyi had torn up spare clothes, using strips of cloth to wrap their faces and necks tightly. They had also sprayed themselves with insect repellent.

Ji Xinghuo was dressed much the same, with only his eyes exposed.

However, this had limited effect. Most mosquitoes and insects in Absolute Peak Valley were not afraid of insect repellent, and ordinary cloth could not stop their thirst for blood. They bit through it all the same.

Absolute Peak Valley was damp and sweltering, like a giant steamer. The more tightly they wrapped themselves, the hotter they became.

Ji Xinghuo and the other two were sticky with sweat and extremely uncomfortable.

Relying on his tough hide, Chi Zhonglin had chosen not to wrap himself in cloth so he could stay cooler. In two days, he had been bitten hundreds of times. The Fungus Giant physique let him recover quickly, but it still left marks all over him, and the mental torment was unavoidable.

But he cared too much about saving face to say anything.

Only now was he finally reaching his limit. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Ji Xinghuo make a gesture.

"People."

Ji Xinghuo pointed in one direction.

His teammates looked over, but the forest blocked their view. Ji Xinghuo continued, "Six people, about three hundred meters away. They should be another Hunting Team."

"Mm, they've spotted us too."

"They're coming over."

As Ji Xinghuo spoke, the group of four spread out slightly while staying close together. Chi Zhonglin stood at the front, Ren Mian placed a hand at her waist, and Jiangnan Caiyi drew her katana as well.

No one looked especially nervous.

They had already encountered a Hunting Team yesterday. They had merely seen each other from afar and gone their separate ways.

When both sides had discovered one another and neither could launch a surprise attack, and there was no conflict of interest, clashes usually did not happen.

"They don't seem hostile. They're just coming over to confirm who we are," Ji Xinghuo said.

Soon, six figures emerged through the forest and stopped a hundred meters away.

Both sides sized each other up.

Like Ji Xinghuo's group, this Hunting Team had wrapped themselves tightly, exposing only their eyes. Judging from their builds, there were five men and one woman. All of them had black pupils, so they were most likely Aberrants from the Asia-Pacific Community as well.

Chi Zhonglin, the only person present with his face uncovered, became the center of attention.

"Chi Zhonglin?"

A man on the other side suddenly called out his name.

Ji Xinghuo had noticed the man long ago. He held a traditional hunting bow, and a nimble, tall pure-black panther followed beside him. He was clearly a Tracker, with sharp vision, hearing, and smell. That was why he had detected Ji Xinghuo's group, and he was evidently the captain of this Hunting Team.

"You are?" Chi Zhonglin looked puzzled, not recognizing him at first.

"Damn it, kid, you forgot me that quickly?"

The Tracker pulled down the cloth over his face, revealing a middle-aged man's face. He cursed, "Last month, you were fighting me over a woman at the club. I thought you were a decent guy and didn't compete with you. You were calling me brother back then too. If I'd known, I would've beaten you up!"

"Ahahaha..." Chi Zhonglin looked awkward. "Brother Xue, your face was covered, and you were standing so far away. My eyesight isn't that great, so I didn't recognize you immediately. My fault."

Seeing that Xue Yi still seemed displeased, he quickly added, "Next time we get back, I'll treat you to drinks, Brother Xue. At Secret Window No. 9. I'll cover the whole bill."

"At least you're sincere."

Xue Yi's expression softened. He then looked at Ji Xinghuo and the others. "They're your teammates?"

"Yes." Chi Zhonglin nodded, but made no move to introduce them.

Both sides had their faces covered and did not reveal their true appearances.

Xue Yi had no intention of introducing his own teammates either. He suddenly asked, "Chi Zhonglin, you didn't come to Absolute Peak Valley to hunt the Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill too, did you?"

"Too?" Chi Zhonglin caught the key word.

Their expressions both changed, and they suddenly fell silent.

Ji Xinghuo glanced at Ren Mian beside him. The Thinking Necklace had already been activated. Ren-jie, it seems your information channels aren't very confidential...

"Mm." Ren Mian gave a soft acknowledgment. Xiao Chi, ask them where they got the information.

"Brother Xue, how did you learn that there's a Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill in Absolute Peak Valley?" Chi Zhonglin immediately asked.

"By the time I set out, I'd say half the Hunting Teams in the East Xia District already knew." Xue Yi did not hide it. "I don't know where the news came from either. On the way here, I already ran into three or four teams, all of them after the Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill."

At this point, he spat. "None of these teams are easy to deal with. We'll probably come away empty-handed. All we can do is try our luck."

"So that's how it is." Chi Zhonglin pretended they had just arrived as well. "We haven't found anything either."

Xue Yi did not suspect him.

There was no conflict between the two sides, but they were still competitors. After exchanging a few words, they prepared to part ways. "Then we'll each rely on our own abilities."

"Good luck, Brother Xue."

Chi Zhonglin waved as he watched Xue Yi lead his team away.

Ji Xinghuo's group headed in another direction. After confirming that the other group had moved beyond Magnetic Field Induction range, he made a gesture indicating it was safe.

"It looks like this trip will be a wasted journey."

Ren Mian said, "Generally, when news like this spreads so widely, someone released it deliberately. There are only two possible motives. Either they want to use others to weaken the Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill and reap the rewards afterward, or there is no Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill at all. The person spreading the news just wants to lure their enemies out of Olympia, then ambush and attack them in secret."

Ji Xinghuo could not help thinking that Ren-jie had received the news several days before everyone else. Could this be aimed at her?

Ren Mian seemed to guess what he was thinking and shook her head. "If it's the second possibility, we aren't the target either."

"Why?" Ji Xinghuo asked.

"My enemies wouldn't use such troublesome methods. They would act directly in Olympia," Ren Mian said calmly.

Ji Xinghuo's heart skipped a beat.

Holy shit!

What kind of place was Olympia? The Asia-Pacific Community alone had at least thirty Legendary Espers stationed there permanently. General Huo Keji, who guarded Olympia, was even a Heavenly King-level Aberrant, known as the Champion Marquis! Anyone who dared to strike directly in Olympia had to be at least a Legendary Esper, right? And Ren Mian had said "they"—more than one person! Chi Zhonglin and Jiangnan Caiyi were also stunned by what Ren Mian had revealed. They exchanged glances, and Chi Zhonglin's voice was a little dry. "Ren-jie, who are your enemies?"

"I can't tell you for now." Ren Mian's tone was relaxed and full of confidence. "Don't worry. This has nothing to do with you."

Ji Xinghuo relaxed inwardly.

First, because he trusted Ren Mian. Second, because he trusted himself. He kept Magnetic Field Induction active at all times and had not detected anyone tracking or secretly watching them.

"Ren-jie, are we still going to keep looking for the Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill?" Chi Zhonglin asked.

"Of course we'll continue." Ren Mian analyzed, "It's more likely that someone wants to reap the rewards after others do the work. If we're lucky, we might be able to seize the initiative. But if anything seems wrong, we retreat immediately and return to Olympia."

Over the following days, the team continued wandering through Absolute Peak Valley.

But aside from obtaining several Ability Seeds, they found no Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill. Instead, they encountered several more Hunting Teams, some from the Asia-Pacific Community and some Aberrants from other countries.

More and more people had heard the news.

Ren Mian decided they would search for a few more days before returning. She did not want to waste any more time.

On the tenth day.

Ji Xinghuo suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

A huge rock floated overhead. Its shape was highly irregular, like a sharply contoured potato. It was wide horizontally and narrow vertically, over a hundred meters across at its widest point. Trees and weeds grew atop it, while vines hung from its edges. The entire rock drifted gently in the wind, casting a patch of shadow below.

It was a small Hanging Mountain.

There were countless Hanging Mountains in Thousand Peaks Abyss Forest. The largest stretched tens of thousands of meters, while medium-sized ones were also over a thousand meters long. All of them had been occupied by the Tianyu Royal Court and built into cities, with more than a thousand in total.

The remaining Hanging Mountains were relatively small and scattered throughout the region.

There were many in Absolute Peak Valley, but all of them were small. Some had been anchored to the ground by thick vines, and Stone Scythe Goblin packs climbed up those vines to claim the mountains as their territory.

But this one was unclaimed.

That was because it had no connection to the ground and was constantly moving.

"Xinghuo, what are you looking at it for?" Chi Zhonglin raised his head.

There seemed to be nothing special about this Hanging Mountain. They had encountered several larger ones over the past few days and found nothing.

"There's something up there."

Ji Xinghuo pointed at it, frowning. "But I don't know what it is..."

Magnetic Field Induction had detected a natural cave on the cliff face of the Hanging Mountain, hidden beneath a mass of vines and vegetation.

The magnetic field inside the cave was strange. Its magnetic field lines formed an extremely regular vortex. It did not resemble a biological magnetic field, yet it seemed alive.

Ji Xinghuo had never seen anything like it and could not identify it for the moment.

Chi Zhonglin's eyes lit up at once. He now had great faith in Ji Xinghuo's senses. If Ji Xinghuo said there was something good, there was a strong chance it was true.

"Let's go up and take a look!"

Ren Mian nodded in agreement.

However, as they looked at the Hanging Mountain more than three hundred meters overhead, they were troubled. None of them could fly, so how were they supposed to climb up? "Let me try," Ji Xinghuo said, immediately thinking of a solution.

He took out the Nano Rope and selected his heaviest arrow, tying one end of the rope securely to the arrow's tail.

The Nano Rope was thin and light, and it was over a thousand meters long, certainly long enough.

The problem was shooting the arrow onto the Hanging Mountain and getting it stuck there. That would be difficult.

Ji Xinghuo did not shoot directly beneath the Hanging Mountain. Instead, he moved over two hundred meters away. This would reduce the effects of gravity and let the arrow travel farther. He aimed diagonally at the sky. A faint ring of light flickered in his upturned eyes as he activated Myriad Aspects of the Universe.

His arrowhead shifted back and forth as if searching for a suitable landing point.

Suddenly, he fired.

The arrow shot into the air, with the long Nano Rope trailing behind it like a tail. As it rose higher, its speed rapidly slowed.

"It's going to fail, but we can try a few more times." Watching the arrow's path, Chi Zhonglin could clearly see it would not reach the Hanging Mountain and was beginning to fall.

The next second, he froze.

The arrow became entangled with a vine hanging down from the mountain.

Ji Xinghuo gripped the Nano Rope with both hands and gave it a skillful shake, immediately winding it around the vine. He tugged hard several times, and it held firm.

"That worked?" Chi Zhonglin stared in disbelief.

Ji Xinghuo took the Nano Rope back beneath the Hanging Mountain and said, "I'll go up first."

The Nano Rope was extremely thin, only three millimeters in diameter, but it could support several tons. However, it could cut his hands when strained. Ji Xinghuo put on gloves to solve that problem.

He wrapped the rope around his palm twice and pulled himself upward, then switched hands and wrapped the rope around the other palm, climbing in alternating motions.

When he was halfway up, his entire body hung in midair. A light breeze made him sway.

His teammates below could not help breaking into a cold sweat.

Fortunately, Ji Xinghuo quickly reached the top. He grabbed the vines and continued climbing until he arrived at the summit of the Hanging Mountain. The rest was easy. Ji Xinghuo had his teammates tie the rope around their waists, then pulled them up one by one. Finally, he retrieved the rope as well to avoid any accidents.

"Where is the place you mentioned?" Chi Zhonglin asked eagerly.

"Follow me."

Ji Xinghuo led his teammates across the summit. The forest here was no different from the one on the ground. Other than birds, there were no traces of any animals.

He arrived at the other side of the Hanging Mountain, climbed down more than ten meters along the vines, and pushed aside the grass to reveal an opening.

Chi Zhonglin and the other two followed him inside.

This was a natural cave, several dozen square meters in area and three to four meters high. The light inside was dim. Their arrival startled a swarm of bats, which flew out in a flurry.

Ji Xinghuo stood in the middle of the cave.

Before him, a stalactite hung from the ceiling, while a bamboo-shoot-shaped stone spike rose from the ground. They faced each other vertically, their tips only about ten centimeters apart.

Within that ten-centimeter gap was a cluster of light.

The glow was faint, like firefly light, but it was also pure.

At the center of the light source was a tiny crystal. It was irregularly oval and only the size of a mung bean. It hovered there without moving, flickering gently once every few seconds.

Chi Zhonglin's eyes widened. He observed it for several seconds but could not make out anything.

"Is this an oddity?"

He voiced the question everyone was thinking.

There were many oddities in the Star Realm. Some formed naturally, while others were nurtured by living beings. Expansion Oddities were one type, while many other treasures possessed even stranger functions.

Ji Xinghuo saw a hint of a smile in Ren Mian's eyes. "Ren-jie, do you recognize it?"

Ren Mian nodded. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be a naturally formed Ability Seed: Aether Sensitivity."

"Huh?" Chi Zhonglin was greatly disappointed.

He had thought it was some priceless treasure, but it was merely an Aether Sensitivity Ability Seed.

Aether Sensitivity was an outstanding ability, but it was the most valuable among outstanding abilities, even more expensive than an Outstanding Ability.

It could increase an Aberrant's Stellar Force limit and improve Stellar Force recovery speed. This was equivalent to improving cultivation efficiency, and it also made one highly sensitive to the distribution and flow of Ether energy.

Many Class Templates included Aether Sensitivity, making it highly sought after.

Aether Sensitivity could come from many sources, but naturally formed ones were extremely rare, so Chi Zhonglin had not recognized it at first.

Yet no matter how rare it was, it was still only an outstanding ability.

When they first saw this Ability Seed, their expectations had risen without limit. Now that they knew it was merely an outstanding ability, the enormous sense of loss left everyone disappointed.

"It's still worth over two million. It's basically free money."

Ji Xinghuo chuckled and stepped forward, gently taking hold of the crystal at the center of the light.

As soon as it moved, the glow rapidly dimmed, turning into an inconspicuous white crystal like a piece of quartz.

A moment later, an information panel appeared before his eyes.

Ability Seed: Aether Sensitivity

Grade: Outstanding

Fusion Success Rate: 100%

Upgradeable: Yes

Ji Xinghuo's gaze froze slightly. A 100% fusion success rate!