Qingyang City, Another Divine Artifact Obtained

Zhu Qingyu and her companions were no strangers to dealing with aberrant beasts.

So they immediately understood the meaning behind that roar.

It was clearly born of fury, a desire to vent.

Moreover.

Earlier, these two Unicorn Giant Wolves had repeatedly charged into towns, causing widespread destruction.

Now that one of them had been slain, the other, stronger one would certainly not let the matter rest—it would be even more vicious than before.

And this time was different from before.

The Blue Giant Wolf King.

Was summoning a Beast Tide, likely with the goal of destroying an entire city.

"The nearest inhabited place is probably Qingyang City. There are hundreds of thousands of people there. This Giant Wolf King is summoning a Beast Tide, so it must be heading for Qingyang City," Senior Brother Wu spoke up, identifying the likely target of the disaster.

The previous few towns had already been mostly destroyed, so this beast king would have no interest in them.

And to vent its rage, it would definitely head for a place with more people.

There was no helping it—aberrant beasts saw humans as their mortal enemies.

Whenever anger stirred within them.

They almost invariably targeted towns.

Qingyang City still had hundreds of thousands of people; it was a major city in the region.

"Qingyu, what do we do?" Qin Lan was also growing anxious. They had originally been tracking the wolf king's trail.

But they never expected to run into this situation. With their abilities, there was simply no way to handle it.

"We leave now, and contact Teacher Zhao."

Zhu Qingyu remained relatively calm, continuing, "It'll take some time for it to summon the Beast Tide. We'll find a way to evacuate the people in the meantime, then wait for the teachers to arrive."

That Blue Giant Wolf King was comparable to the Ninth Order of the Initial Realm—the most powerful aberrant beast in this region.

Once it moved, its destructive power would be absolutely terrifying, causing countless casualties.

Right now, there was nothing they could do.

They could only have the teachers rush over while minimizing the losses.

"Alright."

The others nodded.

This was the wisest choice.

Some teachers from Zhendan Academy were not far from Qingyang City.

If they notified them now, they could definitely arrive within a few hours.

And as Awakened, though they weren't strong, they could still do something.

With that, the group hesitated no longer.

After quietly leaving the area, they headed toward Qingyang City.

However, along the way, Zhu Qingyu kept pondering one question.

Who had killed the Red Unicorn Giant Wolf? It was the king of this region, and from the looks of it, it didn't seem to have died in a fight with another aberrant beast—it seemed more like it had been slain by a person.

But she hadn't heard of any powerful Awakened appearing nearby recently.

Even if there were.

They should be rushing at full speed to Chang'an, waiting for the Mount Li Imperial Tomb to fully open.

"Could it be..."

Suddenly, a figure flashed through Zhu Qingyu's mind.

It was that person they had encountered not long ago. It seemed he was the only one who would have had the time.

No, that's impossible.

But quickly, Zhu Qingyu shook her head.

That person didn't seem strong—he couldn't even handle first- or second-order aberrant beasts. How could he possibly deal with the Giant Wolf King?

She must be overthinking things. The most important thing now was to get to Qingyang City.

And spread the news that a Beast Tide was about to strike.

While Zhu Qingyu and her group were rushing at full speed.

On the other side.

On a cliff.

Lu Yuan stood in the twilight, gazing into the distance.

There, a small city lay, mostly made up of buildings a dozen or so stories tall.

Only the central area had many tall buildings, and because night had fallen, the lights were lit, suggesting a fair number of residents living there.

Qingyang City?

Looking at the small city not far away, Lu Yuan muttered to himself.

The five super cities were still under construction, and not many people had moved there yet.

Even knowing that danger lurked everywhere and attacks might come, there was no choice—for ordinary people, just being alive was already good enough. If they left the cities where generations of their families had lived, even with official subsidies, it would be hard to adapt.

So now, in most cities across the country, the population had barely changed.

And precisely because of this, it would lead to enormous casualties in the future.

Without thinking further.

Lu Yuan took a step forward.

He leaped directly from the hundred-meter-high cliff.

He hadn't come here to find a populated city to rest in.

After all, for Lu Yuan as he was now, he could survive anywhere, and there wouldn't be much danger.

The reason he chose to enter Qingyang City was that, in his memory, there were several good Exotic Grasses here.

If he obtained them, they would help somewhat with his cultivation and evolution.

After entering the city.

Lu Yuan kept a low profile and didn't contact anyone.

"According to the information from my past life, those few Exotic Grasses grow in the East City. No one has discovered them yet, but it won't be long. I have to hurry." As he thought, he moved forward.

But Lu Yuan didn't take the ordinary roads. Instead, using his current physique, he leaped up and down across the rooftops of the city.

At the beginning of the mutation, Awakened were still rare, and even if there were any, they would appear in the big cities.

So his movements went unnoticed by anyone.

However.

The range where the Exotic Grasses grew was somewhat large.

Unless he had a specific location, it would take a lot of time.

Of course, for Lu Yuan, this was different.

First, he had memories from his past life.

And also a special method.

So after reaching the general area, he stopped directly, then took out the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu.

He tapped it, and the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu instantly grew larger, reaching the height of a person.

Then, Lu Yuan took out the ancient book left by Immortal Master Ge.

After glancing at it briefly.

He formed several special hand seals, somewhat similar to alchemy, but completely different.

The power within his body was also stirred at this moment, beginning to merge into the furnace.

Hum~

After completing this series of actions.

The Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu began to vibrate gently, slowly moving toward a certain place.

"Got it." Seeing this, Lu Yuan's eyes lit up, and he followed behind.

This was another function of the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu.

It could sense the general location of certain Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses within a limited distance.

In simple terms, it was automatic treasure hunting.

But it was limited to things born of heaven and earth, and sometimes it wasn't very accurate, and the sensing range was very limited, so it was only useful under certain circumstances.

Just like now, after Lu Yuan activated the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu, he came up empty more than ten times in a row.

It wasn't until more than half an hour later.

That he found a small purple grass in a certain corner.

The grass had three leaves, looked crystal clear, and emitted a faint glow in the darkness.

But the light was too dim—if you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't see it at all.

"First one. Two more to go."

Seeing this.

Lu Yuan revealed a smile.

In this Qingyang City, there were three such Exotic Grasses in total, called Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme.

In his past life, after he adapted to the global mutation...

He sought out every possible method.

His goal was to obtain extraordinary power.

So he had spent a great deal of time learning about certain divine objects.

And because of this, Lu Yuan came to know many things that ordinary people did not.

After being reborn, he could also tailor his approach to his own situation.

Formulating the most suitable plan.

He could accurately identify the Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme and knew its effects.

If an ordinary person consumed it, it could greatly enhance their physique. If they consumed enough of it, they could set foot on the path of evolution.

That was right—even with some Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses, eating them did not guarantee becoming an Awakened.

Some contained too thin a concentration of power, so their effects were not obvious.

After all.

A divine object like the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Even in the new era after the mutation, it was absolutely unique.

After taking it away, he spent another hour searching for the remaining two Exotic Grasses.

However.

Just as Lu Yuan was about to leave.

He noticed that the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu was still shaking up and down.

And its entire body was beginning to emit wisps of rosy light, as if it had sensed something.

"Could it be... there are more powerful Spiritual Fruits or Exotic Grasses here?" Seeing this, Lu Yuan immediately became interested.

He had originally thought it was good enough, but he hadn't expected an unexpected gain.

Without overthinking.

He continued searching this area.

But most things were very ordinary, with nothing special.

It wasn't until he observed carefully for over ten more minutes that he noticed a faint golden light flickering not far away.

Immediately, Lu Yuan moved closer.

The next moment.

A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.

It was also a small plant, its shape and size almost identical to the previous Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme.

But the difference was that this plant was entirely golden, and it had nine leaves. Each leaf was nearly transparent, looking very extraordinary.

"Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme?"

Lu Yuan recognized it instantly.

He understood that this was no ordinary Exotic Grass; it could be called extremely rare.

It belonged to the same species as the Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme, but their effects were worlds apart. Legend said that out of ten thousand Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme plants, only one such Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme would be born alongside them, containing an extremely dense amount of energy.

It could almost be called a divine object.

If an ordinary person ate it, they could immediately become an Awakened.

And it could wash the body, completely purifying the bloodline and enhancing talent!

"Not bad, not bad. This trip wasn't wasted."

Lu Yuan smiled and directly plucked it.

The energy contained in the Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme was immense. If he consumed it, he would surely be able to break multiple Gene Shackles.

But he didn't plan to eat it right away, because this item would play an even greater role in the near future.

Then, Lu Yuan placed it into the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu to preserve it.

This immortal's artifact was far too useful.

It could automatically seek treasures, automatically refine pills, and also serve as storage.

In his past life, he had no method and sat idle with a wondrous item, wasting it completely.

He shook his head.

Lu Yuan said nothing more and left this place.

Immediately after, he found a very secluded corner within the city and directly sat down cross-legged.

Merging Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses and such.

Required complete concentration.

Otherwise, if he was disturbed, the effect would be greatly diminished.

Once ready, Lu Yuan didn't hesitate in the slightest.

He directly swallowed the three Exotic Grasses into his stomach.

Normally, using the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu to refine them into pills might have yielded slightly better results.

But he didn't do that, for one simple reason—the Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme wasn't all that precious.

So whether he turned them into pills or not made hardly any difference.

Of course.

No one else would be like Lu Yuan, swallowing three whole plants at once like that.

Because the power contained within them was extremely violent.

Ordinary Awakened ones would find it hard to endure.

If things went poorly, it could place a heavy burden on the body, and in severe cases, even affect the path of evolution later on.

But Lu Yuan was different. His physique was too solid, and his five viscera and six bowels were fused with the Eleven-story Pagoda.

His entire being could be said to be indestructible.

The power contained in just a few Exotic Grasses was nothing to him at all.

"This power is decent. Once fully refined, I can try to break the Fourth Gene Lock."

Feeling the energy radiating from the Exotic Grasses after they entered his stomach, a smile spread across Lu Yuan's eyes. Then he closed his eyes and focused on refining them.