Returning After Leaving

Floating within the colorful bubbles in the sky were a full three hundred thousand herbs, along with spiritual materials harvested from nearly one hundred thousand monsters.

There were no ores or metals containing spiritual energy, however.

Ultimately, it was because Earth was far too barren.

Chu He also remembered Babata saying that the best metal on Earth was only Grade A6, which was the Blue Gold discovered on the moon.

With a thought, most of the herbs, which had been harvested along with their root systems, descended to locations suitable for their growth and took root once again.

Naturally, under Chu He's control, the areas where these herbs landed were all designated as the Herb Garden.

As for the herbs that had not been harvested with their root systems, some remained floating in the colorful bubbles in the air.

The other portion of the herbs—those that could be combined to brew Spirit Wine—were gathered together with the corresponding monster materials, merging into massive bubbles.

Suddenly, white mist descended from the sky, and upon contacting the bubbles, it rapidly transformed into Dissolving Spirit Liquid inside, enveloping all the materials within.

During this process of brewing the Spirit Wine, wisps of white mist would occasionally emerge from the surfaces of the giant bubbles.

"So that's how it is!"

Chu He's Spiritual Force "looked" toward the white mist floating around the periphery of the entire world.

That endless white mist... if it were all this universal Dissolving Spirit Liquid, wouldn't that mean it was already a perpetual motion machine?

"Good! Good! Good!" Chu He exclaimed repeatedly.

Although this World in the Pot didn't provide much of a boost to his strength, it was incredible news for his logistics.

Even if he simply used this place as a base for cultivating medicinal herbs, it would be of immense significance.

However, at this moment, Chu He suddenly sensed seven or eight people entering the valley from the outside, vaguely surrounding him.

As the seven or eight people closed in, the one leading them was none other than the Advanced War General, Adams Whiteman.

"Whiteman?" Chu He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the group before finally landing on Whiteman, who had stepped forward. "I had considered that you might be a problem, but..."

As he spoke, Chu He shook his head. "You've already witnessed my strength, yet you actually think you can take me down with just these few people?"

"Mr. Chu, you are a good man. If I could help it, I wouldn't want to do this." There was a hint of helplessness in Whiteman's tone.

"Ha!" Chu He sneered.

By this day and age, he was no longer the kind-hearted, upstanding youth he had been in his past life.

"Don't want to? Then what are you doing right now?"

Adams Whiteman looked back at the seven people beside him.

Before he could even speak, however, one of the seven people behind him, a red-haired brute clad in a black S-rank Combat Suit, stepped forward.

"Enough, Whiteman. Why are you wasting your breath on this dying man!"

The red-haired brute held a Wolf Tooth Mace in his hand. He looked at Chu He brazenly and said in a loud voice, "You brat, still talking about strength? You were sitting on the ground unable to move just a moment ago. What? You're all better now after such a short time?"

"Hahahaha! Boss, I think he's just putting on an act!"

"That's right, that's right! Before that Mountain Giant Ape came here, we used that cave to trap and kill plenty of War Gods. Which one of them ever got away?"

"Exactly! Hey, you surnamed Chu, don't say I'm not giving you the respect due a War God. We brothers are all very grateful to you!"

"Hahahaha, thank you for killing that Mountain Giant Ape! This place is back in the hands of our Blood Flame Mercenary Group again!"

Listening to the red-haired brute and his subordinates chiming in one after another, Chu He managed to piece together the full picture of the situation.

These people were all from the Blood Flame Mercenary Group. The Lingzhi in that cave seemed to be a trap of theirs.

Having personally harvested that Lingzhi, Chu He naturally knew that the plant's attack range was limited.

Therefore, these people only needed to lure a War God to this location, wait for them to enter the cave and be parasitized by the Lingzhi's spores, and then guard the entrance to collect the corpse.

As for the Lord Rank Mountain Giant Ape, it hadn't evolved by consuming the Spirit of Vegetation in the cave; it had simply arrived from somewhere unknown two years ago and occupied this valley.

However...

Chu He turned his gaze toward Adams Whiteman and asked with confusion, "You didn't tell them?"

Chu He was certain that Adams knew he was a Spirit Reader and should have been able to guess that he wouldn't be parasitized by the Lingzhi's spores at all.

But why hadn't Adams told those people about this?

"Mr. Chu, I said it before: if I could avoid it, I wouldn't want to do this." Whiteman shrugged. "Besides, you're a good man."

"Wait!"

At this moment, the red-haired brute finally realized something was wrong.

Why was this War God still alive?

"Adams! What did you do?" The red-haired brute pointed his Wolf Tooth Mace at Adams Whiteman, his expression panicked.

"Boss, what's wrong with you?"

"Boss, Adams is one of the veterans, there's no need for this, right?"

The group began to treat Chu He as if he were invisible again, chatting among themselves.

However, having roughly grasped the situation, Chu He had no interest in listening any further.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Seven Flying Daggers scattered from Chu He's body, transforming into seven streaks of black light as they flew toward the necks of the red-haired man and the other six.

Seeing the Flying Daggers, the red-haired man seemed to suddenly realize something, his eyes splitting as he glared at Adams.

"Adams, you..."

Puchi!

Without exception, the seven Flying Daggers pierced the throats of everyone except Adams Whiteman.

Fountains of blood bloomed.

Aside from the red-haired man, who was an Elementary War God, the others weren't even War Gods. Under Chu He's Advanced War God-level Spiritual Force, they had nowhere to hide.

Swish, swish, swish!

The seven streaks of light returned to the Flying Dagger Pouch.

"Whiteman, tell me, what were you trying to do?"

Seeing Chu He kill all the others without a word, Adams's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

When his companion's blood sprayed onto his face, he couldn't help but shiver, his knees even beginning to go weak.

He seemed to have... miscalculated!

"Mr. Chu, I wanted to acknowledge you as my boss! Bringing them here was just to give myself a chance to survive," Adams answered, trembling.

"I thought... I thought you would only kill Burns..."

"Borrowing a knife to kill? Or driving a tiger to devour a wolf?" Chu He raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm a good person, that's why you dared to do this?"

Seeing Whiteman still trembling and silent, Chu He used his Spiritual Force to make a Flying Dagger hover by his side, then shook his head.

"Heh! Your study of Chinese culture... is clearly lacking!"

A black streak of light tore through the air, and a flower of blood bloomed.

Watching Whiteman lying on the ground with his eyes wide open, filled with terror, his hand struggling to reach up and cover his neck, Chu He asked, feeling quite puzzled:

"Tell me, if you didn't want to die, couldn't you have just left? I wouldn't have hunted you down. Why did you have to come back?"

In his final moment, hearing this question, Adams Whiteman's eyes finally lost their terror. Spitting out blood-flecked foam, he said word by word:

"Stre... ngth... after all!"