Buzz—!
The blade shrieked through the rain, its sound like a pulse.
Lu Xuan transformed into lightning and shot forward, covering several zhang in a single step as he pierced through an iron-armored Barbarian Bull.
Countless throwing knives hovered around him.
Drawn by his thoughts, the throwing knives began to spin rapidly. Gathering at his center, they formed the eye of a storm. Rainwater churned, wild winds surged skyward, and a tornado swept across the Wilderness.
Boom! The tornado tore through the ruined buildings, dragging the hidden monsters into the storm and shredding them to pieces in an instant.
The storm raged for several seconds before slowly dispersing.
Amidst the thunderstorm,
Lu Xuan landed steadily atop a building. As he gazed at the monster corpses scattered across the sky and the bloody stench gradually washed away by the rain, a flicker of delight appeared on his handsome face.
He gently clenched his fist, scattering the surging blood qi.
"Done!"
After instantly breaking through to a seventh-level martial artist, Lu Xuan had realized that he could use Psychic Power to draw upon the storm of heaven and earth, gather countless forces into himself, and then, using his powerful blood qi as a foundation, add blade intent... He had created a Martial Skill of his own, naming it—Storm Blade.
"My strength and skills have improved across the board, but it's still not enough!"
Lu Xuan sheathed his long blade and gazed across the vast Wilderness. "With my current strength, I might be able to run rampant in the Wilderness behind the human settlements, but the true battlefield is the front line. Even the weakest monsters there are Awakened Level. If I want to protect my family, I have to become stronger!"
The regions inhabited by humans appeared vast, but in reality, they occupied only twenty percent of the world after the disaster.
Just as mentioned at the beginning.
This world had undergone a mutation.
The entire world had changed.
Its volume had expanded to several hundred times its original size.
Take Huaxia alone. Its area had already expanded to tens of millions of square kilometers. Jinling City was the "New Jinling City" built upon the original foundation, but its actual area reached a full 200,000 square kilometers, housing three percent of the world's remaining population.
Tai Xuan Lake had originally been called Tai Lake.
Why add the character "Xuan"? Because it resembled an ocean.
Almost no one was willing to venture into its deeper reaches.
Across the entire world, sixty percent of the regions had become unfamiliar to humanity after the great disaster.
And that was where the battlefield between humans and monsters lay.
The Wilderness around the human settlements in the rear was merely an insignificant corner of the monster world.
"It's almost time."
Lu Xuan drew a deep breath. "Next, I'll temper my strength, then head to the place mentioned by Future Mail to seize the opportunity there. I have to advance to a Qi and Blood Martial Master before my little sister participates in the citywide freshman martial tournament."
With that,
he urged his Psychic Power and swept toward the depths of the Wilderness.
Over the next several days,
Lu Xuan fought nonstop, accumulating resources and coins.
He might need a great deal of money to buy the Qi and Blood Golden Elixir, so he had to stockpile as much as possible.
Along with that,
his strength became increasingly solid, while his blade techniques and Martial Skills steadily improved.
In just a few short days,
Lu Xuan had fully consolidated his cultivation.
June 13.
Satellite City No. 2.
Lu Xuan appeared at the city gates, his blood qi surging. From a distance, he looked like a ferocious tiger slowly approaching.
Unlike the weary, dispirited martial artists around him,
Lu Xuan's blood qi was abundant, and not the slightest trace of fatigue could be seen on him. Even his bright, piercing eyes held a murderous intent that made people afraid to meet his gaze.
He arrived at the resource exchange center.
This haul had been fairly good. Because he had ventured deeper into the Wilderness and grown stronger, the monsters Lu Xuan hunted were mostly High-level Monsters.
He had already stopped caring about low- and mid-level monsters.
Fortunately,
he had unexpectedly encountered a monster in the process of breaking through to Awakened Level.
Lu Xuan had not shown it any courtesy and had accepted its generous gift on the spot.
High-level Monsters generally sold for five to ten million Federal Coins.
Awakened Level monsters started at ten million.
"Sir, that comes to a total of one hundred and ten million Federal Coins!"
"Transfer it into my martial artist account."
Lu Xuan was in an excellent mood. The past several days had not been wasted.
His assets had finally surpassed one hundred million.
After transferring all the money into his martial artist account,
"With this money, I'll at least have some confidence at the auction."
Lu Xuan pondered inwardly.
Future Mail had clearly stated that the Qi and Blood Golden Elixir should not be auctioned directly. Otherwise, it definitely would not have used the words "find a bargain."
That meant it was very likely hidden inside some item, just like last time.
He simply had no idea how much that item would be worth.
As he was thinking,
he had just turned around when a surprised voice came from the side.
"Lu Xuan?"
Lu Xuan turned his head. Several figures appeared in his field of vision, with the bald man at the front standing out the most.
"Uncle Scarhead?" he called out in delight.
That's right. The newcomers were none other than Scarhead's martial artist squad.
"Hahaha!"
Scarhead burst into hearty laughter. He walked over, draped an arm over Lu Xuan's shoulder, and said, "I didn't expect to run into you here. I didn't have time to contact you when we returned to Jinling City last time, and then we took on a new mission..."
Lu Xuan always felt that the older man harbored some indescribable emotion toward him.
He immediately felt a little uncomfortable.
He chuckled.
"We've got plenty of time ahead of us! And look, we ran into everyone again, didn't we? I'm treating today. I absolutely have to buy everyone a good meal!"
"Hahaha! Well said! Let's go!"
An unexpected reunion was a pleasant surprise.
Lu Xuan was very happy, and so were Scarhead and the others.
"How did you end up in Satellite City No. 2?"
Scarhead was puzzled.
Lu Xuan shrugged. "I went too far last time and got beaten into submission by the monsters, so I came somewhere closer to temper myself."
He deliberately used Mental Power to conceal his cultivation.
Scarhead smiled without saying anything.
Lu Xuan continued, "By the way, Uncle Scarhead, what mission did you take?"
If it happened to be on his way, he could help them out.
After all, they had once saved his life.
Now, he could not claim to be invincible in the Wilderness around Jinling City, but absolutely no one could kill him.
Helping out along the way was still within his ability.
After entering the restaurant,
Scarhead did not hide anything. He smiled and said, "We're following a team to escort some goods. It's one of the missions we often take. We happened to pass through here, and when the company heard there was an auction, they came over to join in the excitement."
"An auction?"
Lu Xuan pretended not to know.
Of course,
strictly speaking, he truly did not know the details of the auction.
If Future Mail had not mentioned it, he would not even have bothered to learn about it. After all, an occasion like this was genuinely unsuitable for a minor martial artist like him. Normally, it was a battlefield where the major companies competed.
"That's right." Scarhead lit a cigarette and explained:
"Auction houses can be found everywhere. They specialize in auctioning special spirit objects and materials. The lots mainly consist of special and rare spirit objects. However, auctions in ordinary satellite cities aren't usually very grand. This time, Satellite City No. 2 found two special materials that happened to be needed by the company's boss, so we stopped to participate in the auction."
As they spoke,
the group had already entered a private room.
Only then did Lu Xuan notice that the other side of the private room opened onto a gigantic, bird's-nest-shaped plaza resembling a soccer stadium. The bottom level was packed with people, while the second and third floors held various private rooms.
"This is..."
He was somewhat puzzled.
Scarhead smiled. "This is the auction venue. The company specially arranged a private room for us..."
"How can I let you do that? I said I was treating..."
"All right, do you really think your uncle is short of that little bit of money?" Scarhead pressed Lu Xuan down onto the sofa with a laugh, then grinned mischievously. "Besides, it's the company's money. If you don't spend it, it'll go to waste."
"..."
That made sense.
Lu Xuan did not dwell on it and simply sat down.
There happened to be a spot where he could place bids. If he sat below, he would have to raise a sign to bid.
After a moment of bewilderment, Lu Xuan looked up.
"Uncle, if I bid, is the money coming from the company too?"
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