Set Up

Mo Yanran turned into a moving crew, stuffing the corpses of all four wolves into her Storage Bag. Then she approached Hua Qiang, circled him twice, and swept her eyes over him from head to toe.

Hua Qiang felt every hair on his body stand on end beneath her stare.

What was this woman trying to do?

Just as he tried to twist his body, Mo Yanran stopped him.

"Don't move!"

Hua Qiang's body stiffened. Suspiciously, he asked, "What is it?"

Mo Yanran stroked her chin with one hand, her beautiful eyes narrowing slightly.

"Brother Qiang, why do I feel like you're thinner than before? You've gotten more handsome too, and... it feels like you've become much stronger!"

"Did you break through and advance to an intermediate martial artist?"

Hua Qiang had to admit that this woman's senses were sharp. He had only just increased his vitality and crossed the threshold into the intermediate level, yet she had already noticed.

She really was impressive!

"I just broke through." Hua Qiang nodded and admitted it.

"Wow! Brother Qiang, you're amazing! You're my idol!"

Having received Hua Qiang's confirmation, Mo Yanran immediately transformed into a starstruck fangirl and began showering him with flattery.

Her string of antics made Hua Qiang a little embarrassed.

Ahem, ahem!

He coughed twice and hurriedly changed the subject.

"Yanran, don't forget why we came out today. Come on, let's continue along the Trial Road!"

"Okay! I want to kill mutant beasts too. I want to become stronger too!"

Waving the longsword in her hand, Mo Yanran made her vow.

Next, under Hua Qiang's deliberate arrangements, Mo Yanran killed one Ironbeak Pheasant and two Red-Eyed Steeltooth Rabbits.

The girl was overjoyed after killing three mutant beasts.

She kept puffing out her chest in front of Hua Qiang, looking as though she had accomplished some earth-shaking feat.

"Brother Qiang, I killed another fierce beast! So, how was that? Aren't I amazing?"

Watching Mo Yanran continually clown around in front of him, Hua Qiang suppressed his laughter and gave her a thumbs-up. "Amazing! Yanran, you're truly fantastic!"

"I should follow your example, learn from you, and pay tribute to you!"

Why did this girl seem to have such a goofy side too?

Hee hee hee!

Mo Yanran accepted every word without the slightest embarrassment.

During this time, Hua Qiang also gained quite a bit. He killed several Greenlight Snakes and slaughtered a few more wolves.

His Slaughter Points had already accumulated to 2,200.

This time, he did not choose to increase his vitality first. Instead, he added proficiency to his combat techniques and cultivation method.

For a low-grade Yellow Grade cultivation method, going from Beginner to Minor Success required only ten Slaughter Points. Minor Success to Major Success required twenty points, while Major Success to Perfection required forty.

In other words, only seventy Slaughter Points were needed to raise one of his martial techniques to the Perfection Realm.

In one go, he raised Brute Ox Strength, Decisive Strike, Frenzied Saber Slash, and Prediction—one cultivation method and three combat techniques—to the Perfection Realm, spending 280 Slaughter Points.

At once, his understanding of those cultivation methods and combat techniques deepened. Using them now felt incomparably familiar, as effortless as moving his fingers and arms.

Furthermore, his combat power could now erupt with double its original bonus.

Hua Qiang clicked his tongue in amazement, his heart surging with excitement.

If he faced those mutant beasts from before again, then even without using Prediction, he could easily cut them down.

He now felt that he could crush high-level first-rank mutant beasts. Even peak-level ones were worth fighting, and he could even kill them.

Seeing that he still had 1,920 Slaughter Points left, he poured them all into vitality.

Immediately, his vitality soared from 332.6 to 524.6, and his realm directly crossed into the high-level martial artist stage.

Hua Qiang clenched his fists. The sensation of power filling him made him unable to resist savoring it.

With one punch, he could deliver at least 4,000 kilograms of force!

He could now even test his strength against a Martial Master.

After all, someone who had just entered the Martial Master realm only possessed 3,750 kilograms of strength.

Yet he had already surpassed that number.

Now, he could kill enemies across a major realm.

"Huh? Brother Qiang, why does it feel like you've become stronger again? And more handsome!"

"Wait, you got thinner again. What's going on?"

"Could killing mutant beasts really help you lose weight so quickly?"

"If that's true, I'm willing to keep killing alongside you until you become the most handsome guy on Blue Star!"

Hua Qiang could not help laughing. He reached out and rubbed her beautiful hair.

"Yanran, maybe it's just your imagination. How could I possibly slim down that quickly?"

"I've only lost the tiniest little bit, that's all!"

He could now feel that his weight should be close to 200 jin. After a few more times, he would reach the weight of an ordinary person.

When that time came, he would truly be brimming with high spirits—one word, handsome, enough to sweep the world undefeated!

The two tidied up, placed all their spoils into the Storage Bag, then continued wandering through the outskirts of Falling Leaf Forest.

With their current strength, they did not dare venture deeper into the central region. There were second-rank, even third-rank mutant beasts in there.

Thud, thud, thud...

A burst of hurried, chaotic footsteps came from ahead.

Looking up, they saw three people running desperately ahead in bedraggled shapes, while two Giant Apes chased closely behind them.

Tan Guoqiang ran while gasping for breath. "Brothers, push harder! As long as we get out of these woods, we'll be safe. Those beasts won't dare keep chasing us!"

Suddenly, a fat man and a beautiful woman appeared in his field of vision.

His eyes rolled, and he was immediately overjoyed.

Heaven was helping him—the cannon fodder had appeared!

"Brothers, run toward those two ahead. We'll let them hold off those mutant beasts in a moment."

Tan Guoqiang waved at Hua Qiang as he ran.

"Little brother, there you are at last!"

Originally, they had only been forty or fifty meters apart. With the stamina of people at their level, that distance vanished in the blink of an eye.

Tan Guoqiang ran up to Hua Qiang and threw him a bag.

"Brother, help me hold onto this."

Then he shot off in another direction like a wisp of smoke.

His two companions wore strange smiles as they scattered and fled in other directions.

Seeing a bag flying toward him, Hua Qiang had no idea what was happening and raised a hand to catch it.

Tan Guoqiang had already run into a dense thicket. Turning his head and seeing that the fat man had caught the bag, he could not help revealing a sinister grin.

Before Hua Qiang could see what was inside the bag, the two Giant Apes charged at him in fury.

"Brother Qiang, we've been set up!"

Mo Yanran immediately understood and said urgently, "Run! They're second-rank fierce beasts!"

Damn it!

Only then did Hua Qiang realize what had happened. By now, it was already too late for him to throw away the bag in his hand.

The bag in his hand should be a Storage Bag. Its grade was obviously high, and the space inside should be vast!

He had been desperately lacking something like this. Since someone had delivered it right to his doorstep, he would gladly accept it!

As for being set up?

It did not matter!

If these two beginner second-rank mutant beasts had appeared before, he would certainly have fled in a sorry state, perhaps even losing his life.

But now, in his eyes, these two Giant Apes were Slaughter Points.

Watching the furious, roaring Giant Apes draw closer and closer, Hua Qiang smiled.