Building 3!
Lu Xuan's pupils contracted, and several glaring characters swayed in his vision.
Building 3. Wasn't this exactly the place he had been looking for?
It was actually hidden underground?
Ignoring his cuts and bruises, Lu Xuan leaned against the ruins wall and staggered to his feet.
"Ha ha..."
He rubbed his eyes to make sure he had not seen wrong. Then he immediately began breathing rapidly and shouted:
"Found it!"
"Ha ha ha, heaven hasn't treated me unfairly!"
The Building 3 mentioned in the Future Mail.
It was actually hidden underground!
There was a Spiritual Item here that could allow an ordinary person to cross a threshold in one step and become a martial artist.
One only had to swallow the Spiritual Item to become a martial artist.
How could this not delight him?
"Where was the Spiritual Item again?"
"The pharmacy. Right, Pharmacy No. 007!"
Muttering to himself, Lu Xuan hurriedly strode into Building 3.
Thinking the light was swaying, he directly tore off the damaged Mechanical Exoskeleton, stepped over the Ghost-faced Monkey's corpse, and dashed forward impatiently.
He completely ignored the Ghost-faced Monkey.
With a Spiritual Item here, this fellow was nothing worth mentioning.
After a few steps, Lu Xuan arrived in the ruins beneath the signboard. The building was still relatively intact.
Light shone inside, revealing passages extending in all directions.
An entire underground labyrinth.
Lu Xuan used his Mental Power to probe the area slightly. After confirming there were no other living creatures, he felt his way forward.
"Pharmacy No. 007..."
He raised the lamp and shone it around.
Mold covered the walls, while moss concealed the identification numbers that had once been there.
He reached out and wiped it away.
Ward No. 001.
"No, it's the pharmacy."
He turned and began searching through the dim corridor.
Only after wiping the sixth room did the number he wanted finally appear: Pharmacy No. 001.
"That's right. This way."
Lu Xuan muttered to himself, his voice sometimes lively and sometimes weary. Finally, after advancing ten meters deeper, his Mental Power detected an unusual aura.
That aura was like a heart pounding furiously, answering his call.
"Found it!"
Joy bubbled up in Lu Xuan's eyes like a spring. He raised his saber and raced over.
Fortunately, there were no monsters.
The closer he got, the more intensely he could feel the dense energy surrounding him.
A moment later, he appeared at the entrance of Pharmacy No. 007. Looking inside, he saw faint points of light flickering like fireflies. At the center of those many specks, a Bronze Gourd lay in a medicine cabinet filled with sludge.
The Bronze Gourd's stopper had fallen to one side.
A dark-green vine grew from the gourd's mouth, its length covered in poisonous thorns.
The tips of the thorns glimmered like stars scattered across the sky.
At the vine's tip, nestled among clusters of leaves, hung a red fruit the size of a fist.
Lu Xuan approached, and hot air rushed against his face.
This was the power of Spiritual Energy.
"What dense Spiritual Energy. No wonder it's a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item!"
Although Lu Xuan could not absorb Spiritual Energy, he knew exactly what form it took and what kind of energy it was.
"It's often said that Heaven and Earth Spiritual Items are guarded by demon beasts. That Ghost-faced Monkey hurried into the pit, probably to swallow this fruit."
Without hesitation, Lu Xuan plucked the fruit.
He swallowed it in an instant.
As the fruit entered his body, energy poured into his limbs and bones like a trickling stream.
A true cleansing of the sinews and marrow!
"Hiss!"
As pain emerged, Lu Xuan gritted his teeth and endured it.
Perhaps because he had swallowed the Qi and Blood Golden Elixir last time, consuming this Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item was not nearly as painful as the first time.
Time flew.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Within Lu Xuan, who had been sitting cross-legged in silence, a burst of energy suddenly erupted and spread outward like ripples on water.
His aura climbed steadily!
At 1,000 qi and blood, the body became as tough as copper skin and could withstand blades.
At 2,000 qi and blood, the skin gleamed with golden light, able to shatter stone and break through earth.
At 3,000 qi and blood, the qi moved like a roaming dragon, forming a protective aura.
A Third-order Martial Artist—achieved!
Bang!
With a muffled boom, the waves of qi around Lu Xuan crushed the hard stone and steel within a one-meter radius.
He clenched his fists, overjoyed. "The peak of a Tier 3 Low-level Martial Artist. With one more step, I can break into the ranks of an Intermediate Martial Artist!"
This was the wondrous quality of a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item.
The Spiritual Energy injected into his body would not cause his qi and blood to drain.
In short, even if Lu Xuan did not cultivate and simply lay flat every day, his qi and blood would never decrease.
Unless the foundation of his martial path was damaged.
Only circumstances such as losing an arm or leg, or suffering internal-organ damage, could cause his qi and blood to drain.
Not only that.
Lu Xuan felt that his Mental Power had grown another notch.
His Mental Power had originally been able to spread ten meters outward. Now, it had reached twenty meters.
His strength had undergone a qualitative leap.
"Ha ha ha!"
He had become a martial artist!
From this moment onward, Lu Xuan was no longer a pitiful insect at the mercy of others.
He had turned the tables and become a superior man!
After his excitement faded, he adjusted his condition.
His gaze fell on the Bronze Gourd, and he narrowed his eyes. "Since this thing can grow such a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item, it must be extraordinary as well."
Lu Xuan carefully severed the vine at its root and picked up the Bronze Gourd.
In an instant, a strange energy flowed into his palm.
"Hm?" Lu Xuan carefully sensed the power and discovered that it was actually nourishing the qi and blood within his body. "Interesting. No wonder it can hasten the growth of a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Item. It really is fated to be mine!"
He put the gourd away.
Now was not the time to study the gourd. He would leave this underground palace first.
With that thought, he walked outside.
After taking only a few steps, his heartbeat suddenly skipped half a beat. An impossible-to-hide sense of panic rose from the depths of his heart, as if someone were staring at him from behind.
"A monster?"
He hurriedly turned his head to investigate, even sweeping the area with his Mental Power.
He found nothing.
Yet that feeling of dread only grew more intense.
"This place isn't safe to stay in!" Lu Xuan quickened his pace. When he reached the place where he had fought the Ghost-faced Monkey, he quickly picked up the Ghost-faced Monkey's corpse, then took his earpiece and saber.
He did not dare delay in the slightest.
He bent down and sprang upward, leaping three meters in a single step.
Like a monkey, he bounded out of the pit.
After quite some time,
Lu Xuan successfully escaped the pit, and the fear lingering in his heart gradually faded along with it.
Standing at the edge of the pit, Lu Xuan's expression was solemn.
"There's definitely something terrifying at the bottom of this pit. If I'd been any slower, I'm afraid I would have met my end there."
Fortunately, whether now or in the future,
he had not lost his life because of it.
"There's no new Future Mail. This trip went perfectly..."
Lu Xuan patted the Ghost-faced Monkey slung over his shoulder. "Now that I've become a martial artist, the 100,000 Federal Coins are in hand!"
The Ghost-faced Monkey was a low-level monster.
The most valuable part was its hide. It kept out the cold and could also provide defense, making it extremely popular when crafted into ornaments.
Then there was its face.
He had heard that it could be used to cultivate Martial Skills, though he did not know whether that was true.
"As for the flesh..."
Lu Xuan set down the Ghost-faced Monkey's corpse, drew his saber, and peeled off the monkey hide and face.
As for the flesh, he kicked it back into the pit.
"I don't eat monkey meat!"
To Lu Xuan, who had already stepped into the ranks of a Third-order Martial Artist, a low-level monster was no longer enough to replenish his qi and blood.
If he wanted to eat, it had to be at least an Intermediate Monster.
Otherwise, the effect would be pitifully low.
As for bringing it home for his little sister...
Lu Xuan was already a Third-order Martial Artist.
The strongest monster within ten miles of this area was an Intermediate Monster.
With his strength, even if he could not defeat it, he could still retreat unscathed.
The qi and blood his sister needed would soon be within easy reach!
He was not lacking this one monkey.
"It's time to make money."
After dealing with everything, Lu Xuan did not forget the purpose of this trip.
His parents were still lying in the Recovery Pod, and his little sister was still fretting over the martial arts exam.
Now that he had become a martial artist, he naturally had to make money and change his family's fate.
With that thought, he put on his earpiece, folded the monkey hide, and was just about to pack it together with the monkey face when the earpiece suddenly erupted with a blast.
"Damn!"
Lu Xuan covered his ears. Before he could take it off, he heard Xu Xin's urgent and terrified voice coming through it: "Everyone in Class 6, evacuate Ruins City! A High-level Monster has appeared. Everyone evacuate immediately!"
"Evacuate immediately!"
The sounds of artillery fire and cold weapons clashing also came through the earpiece.
A High-level Monster?!
Lu Xuan looked toward the place Xu Xin had run to earlier. There was no disturbance there. Instead, a mushroom cloud rose from deeper within.
Was there a High-level Monster in the depths of Ruins City?
Should he go?
Lu Xuan tightened his grip on the saber and stood motionless.
Only after confirming that no Future Mail had appeared did he smile calmly. "It seems that whether I go or not, there's no threat to me at all... Fortune favors those who brave danger!"
He lowered his head and looked at the Ghost-faced Monkey face in his hand.
"I'm too weak now. I can't expose my strength and identity for the time being." Lu Xuan pondered.
Before setting out, he had been an ordinary person, yet he had become a martial artist in half a day.
Anyone who saw such a situation would grow curious. It was bound to attract the attention of powerful figures.
At best, they would question him about his opportunity.
At worst, they would torture him and seize his opportunity.
"Besides, there are martial artists from more than just Jiangnan Martial University in Ruins City. As long as I don't say anything, who would know who I am?"
With that thought, Lu Xuan released his Psychic Power and attached it to the Ghost-faced Monkey face. He then set it onto his own face, and in an instant, he became a ghost-faced figure.
"From now on, my name is Ghost-face!"
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