Zhu Qingyu and the others had dealt with Mutant Beasts plenty of times.
So they immediately understood what the roar meant.
It was clearly an outburst of rage, a furious venting.
Besides,
those two Unicorn Giant Wolves had repeatedly charged into towns and wreaked havoc.
Now that one of them had been slain, the other, even more powerful one, was sure not to 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. It was probably heading there with the goal of destroying a city.
"The nearest inhabited place seems to be Qingyang City. There are hundreds of thousands of people there. The Giant Wolf King is summoning a Beast Tide, so it must be heading for Qingyang City." Senior Brother Wu spoke up, identifying the place that was about to be hit.
The previous towns had already been nearly destroyed. The Beast King surely had no interest in them.
And to vent its fury, it would definitely head for somewhere with more people.
There was no helping it. Mutant Beasts regarded humans as their greatest enemy.
Whenever they were enraged,
they almost always made towns their targets.
Qingyang City still had hundreds of thousands of people. It was a major city in the area.
"Qingyu, what do we do?" Qin Lan was anxious too. They had originally been tracking the Wolf King.
They hadn't expected to run into this. With their abilities, there was no way they could deal with it.
"We leave now and contact Teacher Zhao."
Zhu Qingyu remained calm. She continued, "It'll take some time for it to summon the Beast Tide. We'll find a way to evacuate the people, then wait for the teachers to arrive."
That Blue Giant Wolf King was comparable to a Ninth Order Initial Realm expert. It was the strongest Mutant Beast in the region.
If it made a move, the destruction would be immense, and countless people would die or be injured.
There was nothing they could do right now.
They could only have their teacher come, while trying to minimize the losses.
"Okay."
They nodded.
It was the wisest choice.
Some teachers from Zhendan Academy were not far from Qingyang City.
If they sent word now, those teachers would surely arrive within a few hours.
And as Awakened, though they weren't strong, they could still do something.
Without further hesitation,
they quietly left the area and headed toward Qingyang City.
But as they traveled, Zhu Qingyu kept thinking about one thing.
Who had killed the Red Unicorn Giant Wolf? It was the king of this region, and from the looks of it, it hadn't died fighting another Mutant Beast. It looked more like someone had slain it.
But she hadn't heard that any powerful Awakened had appeared nearby recently.
Even if someone had,
they should have been rushing to Chang'an to await the full opening of the Mount Li Imperial Tomb.
"Could it be..."
Suddenly, a figure came to Zhu Qingyu's mind.
It was the person they had met not long ago. He seemed to be the only one who could have had the time.
Impossible.
Zhu Qingyu quickly shook her head.
That person hadn't looked strong. He couldn't even deal with a First or Second Order Mutant Beast. How could he possibly take on a Giant Wolf King?
She must have been overthinking it. The most important thing now was to get to Qingyang City
and spread the news that a Beast Tide was coming.
While Zhu Qingyu and the others rushed toward the city,
on the other side,
atop a cliff,
Lu Yuan stood in the dusk, looking into the distance.
There lay a small city, made up mostly of buildings ten or so stories tall.
There were more high-rises in the center, and with nightfall, the lights had come on. It looked like many people lived there.
Qingyang City?
Lu Yuan murmured as he looked at the city in the distance.
The Five Super Cities were still being built, and not many people had moved there yet.
Even knowing that danger lurked everywhere and they might come under attack, ordinary people had little choice. They were fortunate just to be alive. Even with government subsidies, leaving the cities where their families had lived for generations would be difficult to adapt to.
So for now, the population of most cities in the country had barely changed.
And that was precisely what would lead to massive casualties later.
Without another thought,
Lu Yuan stepped forward.
He leaped straight down from the hundred-meter-high cliff.
He hadn't come here looking for an inhabited city to rest in.
After all, Lu Yuan could survive anywhere now, and he wouldn't be in much danger.
He had chosen Qingyang City because, according to his memories, several fine Exotic Grasses grew here.
Finding them would help his cultivation and evolution.
After entering the city,
Lu Yuan kept a low profile and didn't approach anyone.
"According to the information from my previous life, those Exotic Grasses grow in East City. No one's discovered them yet, but it won't be long. I need to hurry." He thought as he moved ahead.
Lu Yuan didn't take the usual route. With his physique, he leaped from rooftop to rooftop.
At the beginning of the global mutation, Awakened were still rare, and those who did appear were usually in major cities.
So nobody noticed his movements.
It was just that
the Exotic Grasses grew across a wide area.
Without their exact locations, finding them would take a long time.
Of course, Lu Yuan had an advantage.
First, he had memories from his previous life.
And he also had a special method.
So once he reached the general area, he stopped and brought out Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu.
After he tapped it, Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu instantly grew larger, until it stood as tall as a person.
Then Lu Yuan took out the old book Immortal Master Ge had left behind.
After glancing through it,
he formed several strange hand seals. They were somewhat like those used in alchemy, but also completely different.
The power within him was stirred, then began to flow into the furnace.
Hum~
After he finished,
Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu began to tremble gently, slowly moving in a certain direction.
"There it is." Lu Yuan's eyes lit up, and he followed behind it.
This was another function of Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu.
Within a limited range, it could sense the general locations of certain Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses.
In other words, it automatically sought out treasures.
But it only worked on things that grew naturally, and even then, it wasn't always accurate. Its range was limited, so it was only useful in certain situations.
Just then, after Lu Yuan activated Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu, it had led him astray more than ten times.
It wasn't until over half an hour later
that he found a small purple plant in a corner.
It had three leaves and looked crystal clear, glowing faintly in the dark.
But the light was so dim that it was almost impossible to see without looking closely.
"The first one. Two more to go."
At the sight of it,
Lu Yuan smiled.
There were three such Exotic Grasses in Qingyang City, called Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme.
In his previous life, after adapting to the global mutation,
he had searched for every way he could
to obtain extraordinary power.
So he had spent a great deal of time learning about divine treasures.
That was why Lu Yuan knew many things ordinary people didn't.
After returning to life, he could make the most suitable plans for his circumstances.
He could recognize Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme at a glance, and he knew what it did.
When ordinary people consumed it, it greatly enhanced their physique. If they consumed enough, they could embark on the path of evolution.
That was right. Even some Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses couldn't turn someone into an Awakened just by eating them.
Some contained such little energy that their effects were barely noticeable.
After all,
a divine treasure like the Bodhi Ancient Tree
was one of a kind, even in the new era after the mutation.
After taking it, he spent another hour finding the other two Exotic Grasses.
However,
just as Lu Yuan was about to leave,
he noticed that Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu was still trembling.
Wisps of rosy light began to radiate from it, as if it had sensed something.
"Could there be a more powerful Spiritual Fruit or Exotic Grass here?" Lu Yuan's interest was piqued.
He had thought that was probably enough, but he hadn't expected an unexpected find.
Without overthinking it,
he continued searching the area.
Most of what he found was ordinary, with nothing special about it.
Then, after carefully searching for another ten minutes, he spotted a faint golden glimmer in the distance.
Lu Yuan immediately went over.
The next moment,
a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.
It was another small plant, about the same size and shape as the Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme.
But unlike that plant, this one was golden all over and had nine leaves. Each leaf was almost transparent, giving it an extraordinary appearance.
"Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme?"
Lu Yuan recognized it at once.
He knew it wasn't an ordinary Exotic Grass. It was incredibly rare.
It belonged to the same species as Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme, but its effects were worlds apart. It was said that only one Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme grew alongside every ten thousand Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme plants, and it contained a tremendous amount of energy.
It could practically be called a divine treasure.
An ordinary person who ate it could become an Awakened immediately.
It could also cleanse the body, completely purify one's bloodline, and raise one's talent!
"Excellent. This trip was worth it."
Lu Yuan smiled and plucked it.
Nine-leaf Golden Rhyme contained an enormous amount of energy. If he consumed it, he would surely break through several Gene Shackles.
But he didn't plan to eat it right away, because it would be even more useful in the near future.
Then Lu Yuan placed it inside Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu for safekeeping.
This Immortal Master Ge's item was incredibly useful.
It could automatically seek out treasures, automatically refine pills, and even store things.
In his previous life, he hadn't known how to use it. He had possessed a rare treasure but let it go to waste.
Lu Yuan shook his head
and said nothing more as he left.
Soon after, he found a secluded corner in the city and sat down cross-legged.
Absorbing Spiritual Fruits, Exotic Grasses, and the like
required absolute concentration.
Otherwise, if someone interrupted him, their effects would be greatly reduced.
Once he was ready, Lu Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment.
He swallowed all three Exotic Grasses in one go.
Originally, refining them into pills with the Zi Wu Bu Tian Lu might have made them more effective.
But he hadn't done that, for a simple reason: Three-Leaf Purple Rhyme wasn't all that precious.
So whether he refined them into pills made little difference.
Of course.
No one else would swallow three at once the way Lu Yuan had.
The power they contained was incredibly violent.
Ordinary Awakened could hardly withstand it.
One wrong move, and it could put a great strain on the body. In more severe cases, it might even affect their future path of evolution.
But Lu Yuan was different. His body was exceptionally sturdy, and his internal organs had even fused with the Eleven-story Pagoda.
He was practically indestructible.
The power contained in a few mere Exotic Grasses was nothing to him.
"This energy is pretty good. Once I've fully refined it, I can try to break the Fourth Gene Lock."
Feeling the energy released by the Exotic Grasses in his stomach, a smile spread across Lu Yuan's eyes. Then he closed them and focused on refining it.
Before you continue