Lingquan City, the capital of Dongming Province, was one of the few large cities in the nation left untouched by the flames of war after the Abyss invasion.
It had served as the temporary capital for several years in the early days, until the new imperial capital was rebuilt.
Because of that, compared with famous cities rebuilt on their original sites or relocated and rebuilt elsewhere, it had preserved many symbols of the old era, such as... urban villages.
The house the siblings rented stood inside an urban village, in a place that could barely be considered a "commercial street."
The shabby little building beside the street had three floors. It was terribly old, with large patches of its outer walls peeling away, exposing red bricks that had oxidized and turned black.
The first floor was rented to a shopkeeper who ran a supermarket, Grandma Wang lived on the second floor, and the attic added onto the top floor belonged to Li Wei and Li Cheng.
To avoid disturbing each other, the staircase on one side of the interior had originally been partitioned off, becoming a narrow, independent stairwell facing the street.
Feeling her way up to the third floor in the dark, Li Wei carried Li Cheng with one arm and twisted the key with the other to open the door.
The old security door had barely creaked open when that familiar moldy smell of waterlogged plaster drifted out.
After switching on the ceiling light with its missing lampshade and looking at the shabby room of less than twenty square meters, Li Wei grinned foolishly in delight.
Her state of mind had changed, and everything looked pleasing to the eye.
She did not immediately study her golden finger. Instead, she first lifted the half-damp blanket and, ignoring Li Cheng's vehement objections, forcibly stripped the little boy naked and shoved him into the "luxurious" one-square-meter bathroom, then tugged the showerhead over and gave him a hot bath.
When Li Wei carried Li Cheng back to his little bed, the boy's expression looked as if he had been ravaged by countless burly men.
"Hahahaha~" Li Wei cackled grotesquely as she drew the bed curtain around him, then returned to the bathroom and rinsed herself off as well.
After pulling on the cartoon-print cotton nightdress that the original body had worn at fourteen, she sat cross-legged on the bed. It was already close to three in the morning.
Li Wei stretched and noticed the tightness in her chest.
Unable to resist lowering her head, she happened to see the faded cartoon animal's cheeks stretched round by her breasts. Her face grew a little hot, and she hurriedly shook her head, clearing out those lewd thoughts, then took a deep breath and looked toward the system panel.
Ignoring the personal information section, she stared at the Abyss Essence: 357 entry and thought of the black light that had flown out of the ambulance.
That light should be the so-called Abyss Essence, she thought. The black light only flew out after the ambulance reached me, so my system can only absorb "essence" within a certain range.
She analyzed the matter, estimating the distance between herself and the ambulance at the time.
"It should have been eight or nine meters... Maybe six or seven? Forget it. I can test it later. I was too shocked at the time and didn't pay attention to the distance."
"Next question: what is 'Abyss Essence'?"
"With the word 'Abyss' in it, it must be related to the Abyss."
Two hundred years ago, after the Abyss invasion, countless rifts of all sizes appeared across the surface. Monsters from the Abyss poured out through them, threatening the entire human world.
Later, as the number of martial artists grew and their strength increased, humanity finally stabilized its footing.
Those rifts were either destroyed through the united efforts of martial artists or placed under control and opened for all martial artists to explore.
However, to enter one and test how essence was obtained, she first needed the official Martial Artist Certificate issued by the Martial Arts Alliance.
Li Wei curled her jade-white toes and nervously picked between them, deeply troubled.
"I'm not an official martial artist yet, so I can't enter an Abyss Rift. Besides, I don't have a Combat Method or any practical combat experience. Someone like me would only be throwing her life away by entering a rift."
"I've hit a dead end. No, I need to reason this out from another angle."
She pulled her little finger out from between her toes and unconsciously sniffed it. Hmm, it smelled of soap.
"The black SUV leading the way in front of the ambulance had a blue-gray emblem on its door, with crossed blades running diagonally across a shield. It must have been a vehicle from the Rift Investigation Bureau!"
"The Rift Investigation Bureau used a government vehicle to clear the way, so the person in the ambulance must have been one of their people, right? As a department fighting on the front line against the Abyss invasion, if that person was wounded..."
Li Wei's spirits jolted. She hammered her right fist into her left palm with a crisp smack.
Because she had used too much force, the two rabbits beneath her nightdress bounced along with it, like a pair of enormous jelly molds.
"There must have been a Rift monster invading the city just now. The wounded person must have taken part in the frontline battle, then after being injured, had the essence drawn out by me!"
"There are two possibilities!"
"First, he killed a Rift monster and 'brought' the essence to me!"
"Second, Rift monsters themselves can spread essence, and he fought one at close range, so some of it got on him."
With a general idea in mind, Li Wei stopped dwelling on it and planned to find an opportunity to test it tomorrow. Of course, the more important question was how to get thirty million.
"Forget it. I'll spend the points first!"
Her attention moved upward to the Vitality: 53 (+) entry.
Staring at the little plus sign behind it, Li Wei began to fidget with excitement.
"Hehehe, hehehehe, hahahaha, keh-keh-keh-keh-keh~"
"Deep Blue, give me some points!"
Li Wei excitedly "clicked" once. The "+" sign flashed, her Vitality Value became 54, and her Abyss Essence decreased by 10 points, leaving a balance of 347.
At the instant the numbers changed, she clearly felt a warm current rise from her lower abdomen and course through her entire body in an instant. Her whole body grew warm and comfortable, as if she had soaked in a hot spring.
"Holy crap, this is awesome!"
Li Wei was thrilled!
Ten points of essence could be exchanged for one point of vitality. Wouldn't that mean she was about to take off?
One had to know that the vitality of a Quasi-Martial Artist in the blood-nourishing stage was far more important than vitality during the official martial artist stage.
It represented talent. It represented the future!
A Vitality Value of 60 was enough to choose to break through and become an official martial artist. However, martial artists who broke through that way found it extremely difficult to enter the middle order, let alone become grandmasters. Basically, they would spend their entire lives spinning their wheels in the Lower Third Order.
Once their Vitality Value reached 70, their entire bodies would produce the ringing of muscles and bones. Breaking through at that point would not only make the Lower Third Order smooth sailing, but also make the middle-order bottleneck far less difficult. Even becoming a grandmaster would be within reach.
The minimum admission standard for Hua Nation's three top martial arts universities was a Vitality Value of 70 during the martial arts examination.
As for the later stages—a Vitality Value of 80 for Minor Perfection, 90 for Great Perfection, and 99 for the Dao-Approaching Body—they were nothing but urban legends to Li Wei, a bottom-ranked graduate of an ordinary martial arts high school.
Looking at the system panel, Li Wei wore a knowing, delighted smile. She had never expected that she, too, would have a day when she could become a "legend."
"Deep Blue, keep adding points!"
Smack smack smack smack smack!!!
Her Vitality shot all the way up to 69!
Abyss Essence: 197
Li Wei's fair skin suddenly flushed crimson. Her damp hair began to drift as if stirred by an unseen wind, and the remaining droplets of water quickly evaporated into nothing.
Then, 70!
This time, her essence decreased by 30 points!
In an instant, something inside her body seemed to shatter.
Bang bang bang—!
Starting from her tailbone, twenty-six reverberations like bowstrings snapping burst forth.
Immediately afterward came the ringing of her bones, like blades and swords clashing, accompanied by the mournful cries of her great sinews being torn, pulled, and reforged.
"Ah—!"
The veins on Li Wei's forehead bulged. Her entire body curled into a ball, and the violent pain forced a wail from her.
"Big sis..."
Li Cheng's feeble call came from behind the bed curtain, but the only response he received was Li Wei's suppressed groan of pain.
A few seconds later, the gap in the curtain was tugged open, revealing Li Cheng's little head.
He looked at Li Wei's body, constantly erupting with explosive sounds, and at the beads of sweat mixed with filthy blood seeping from her pores.
The concern that had filled Li Cheng's face vanished as he suddenly froze. His expression shifted several times before settling into astonishment.
That little look in his eyes was as if he were staring at an alien.
"Mu... muscles and bones ringing in harmony? Li Wei, were you reborn as an Immortal Emperor?"
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