Detonating Life Essence

"Kagu!"

"Damn it! Do you really have to chase me so relentlessly?"

Su Yi activated Cloud Step and burst forth, Blood Qi flooding into the Meridians in his legs as he tried to shake off the two Fifth-Rank martial artists behind him.

After arriving at the Meat Grinder, Su Yi had not killed many enemies. He had only just slain a Fourth Grade Mid martial artist when he encountered a Fifth-Rank Initial Stage Abyss Warrior.

Su Yi was not particularly afraid of a Fifth-Rank Initial Stage opponent. After a fierce battle, however, Spiritual Power intimidation was no longer as effective. The Abyss Warrior came to his senses at the very last moment and merely sliced away half of Su Yi's shoulder.

Just as Su Yi was preparing to face the Fifth-Rank Abyss Warrior with his raw strength, a Fifth-Rank Peak Abyss Warrior suddenly appeared as well.

"This luck is really beyond words!"

Su Yi ran at breakneck speed. He had long since attained Major Achievement in Cloud Step, and the Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior behind him was already struggling to keep up, though the Fifth-Rank Peak warrior still trailed faintly behind.

"This won't do. Enemies are everywhere in the Meat Grinder. If I don't shake them off and get surrounded, things will get troublesome!"

The Abyss Warriors were not fools. Unless they were completely confident, why would they chase an opponent so brazenly? There were probably Abyss Warriors ahead as well.

Otherwise, even in the Meat Grinder, these Abyss Warriors would have to watch out for sneak attacks from human martial artists.

At that thought, Su Yi could no longer worry about whether he would damage his Meridians. At his current speed, he was only keeping pace with the pursuing warriors—he could not shake them off.

A Fifth-Rank Peak warrior possessed far more Blood Qi than he did. Even with Marrow Like Mercury, it would be difficult for him to outlast the other party. Besides, he could replenish his Blood Qi—couldn't the Abyss Warrior do the same?

Pouring Blood Qi into the Meridians in his legs, Su Yi absorbed Cultivation Energy Stones to replenish his Blood Qi as he began pushing his speed to the limit.

One minute... two minutes...

Cloud Step had undergone Optimization twice and had long become more compatible with the Meridians in Su Yi's legs. At full speed, he could cover nearly forty or fifty meters in a second.

Five minutes later, sensing that he had put some distance between himself and the Abyss Warriors, Su Yi completely lifted a patch of turf, began digging a hole, and slipped inside. Finally, he restored the turf to its original state.

All the excavated dirt was sent into the storage room. Su Yi concealed his Blood Qi and remained utterly motionless.

Time passed bit by bit, and Su Yi did not know how long had gone by.

However, he could no longer sense the aura of that warrior from before. Perhaps he had given up.

Su Yi recalled the direction in which he had fled and determined his location. Five minutes of all-out bursting had carried him more than ten kilometers.

His current position should be fifty-five kilometers from Hope City, and around twenty-five kilometers from Heaven's Gate City.

Then didn't that mean Cunning King Forest was five kilometers behind him?

A chill ran through Su Yi's heart. At his burst speed, he could have reached it in two minutes at most. He would not have entered it, but what if Cunning King had come out to hunt?

After confirming that he was safe for the moment, he checked his condition. With Cultivation Energy Stones replenishing his Blood Qi, his Blood Qi remained fairly abundant.

Some of the Meridians in his legs had shattered, but it was not a major problem. He swallowed a Healing Pill and began nourishing his Meridians.

"Hm? Is that the injured Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior from earlier?"

After recovering for a while, with his Meridians mostly repaired, Su Yi sensed a familiar energy fluctuation.

Less than five hundred meters away.

Bait?

He did not believe in such a coincidence!

But with bait this obvious, Su Yi felt as though his intelligence had been insulted.

Could it be that they had figured out he was a rookie who had only just entered the abyss?

Concealing his Blood Qi, Su Yi released his Spiritual Power to sense his surroundings.

"As expected, that Fifth-Rank Peak Abyss Warrior is here too."

After sweeping his senses around, he found no trace of any other Abyss Warriors.

That shouldn't be right. It was obvious that he alone could not keep Su Yi here, yet he had not called for reinforcements?

Or were the reinforcements too far away for Su Yi to sense?

Su Yi did not make the slightest movement, allowing the Fifth-Rank Initial Stage Abyss Warrior to leave.

"Damn it, have they set their sights on me?"

Su Yi's eyes brimmed with fury. Yet only an hour later, he sensed that Abyss Warrior circling back again. This was simply bullying him beyond all measure.

He had only been in the Meat Grinder for a short while and had not even killed many enemies. Why were these two acting as though he had dug up their ancestral graves, clinging to him like restless ghosts?

Carefully reviewing everything that had happened since encountering those two warriors, Su Yi suddenly understood. They intended to nip him in the bud. A Third-Rank High Stage martial artist had actually been able to injure a Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior.

If such a genius were allowed to grow, they would be the ones in trouble. They could take advantage of his low realm now and erase him.

Su Yi extended his Spiritual Power and activated his senses at full strength. Behind the Fifth-Rank Peak warrior, another Fifth-Rank Mid warrior was hiding.

Su Yi's expression shifted uncertainly. He did not know how they had determined that he was in this area.

"This can't continue. They've only added a Fifth-Rank Mid warrior for now, but if this goes on, who knows how many powerful experts will come."

He could not be sure how long they could keep watch here. He could not hide in this hole forever.

In the open, there was one Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior; five hundred meters away, one Fifth-Rank Peak warrior and one Fifth-Rank Mid warrior.

In a direct confrontation, he had absolutely no chance of winning.

With a surprise attack, he was confident he could take down a Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior. Before, they had met head-on; now was different. At close range, with his Spiritual Power erupting at full force, Su Yi had a chance of killing his opponent.

The key was the two warriors behind him. If he could not deal with them quickly, the commotion from the battle might draw even more enemies.

Enduring the pain, Su Yi divided the Life Essence into two portions of ten grams each, then took out two Cultivation Energy Stones.

He was only at Third-Rank High Stage. The opposing Abyss Warriors would surely never imagine that he could detonate Energy Stones and Life Essence.

Having mapped out his method of battle and escape route, Su Yi began waiting for the Abyss Warriors to approach.

Two hundred meters... one hundred meters... fifty meters.

When they came within roughly twenty meters of Su Yi's position, he suddenly launched his attack.

The instant he moved, he went all out. He stepped on Cloud Step, his Spiritual Power erupting with full force.

Nearly 500 calories of Blood Qi flooded into the longsword in his hand as he slashed down viciously, a faint blood-red Sword Light trailing along its blade.

This Abyss Warrior was clearly on guard against Su Yi's spiritual intimidation. He reacted slightly faster than the last one, but by the time he came to his senses, Su Yi was already less than five meters away.

"Ah!"

With a furious roar, the Abyss Warrior raised his saber, trying to block Su Yi's descending sword.

Bang!

The tremendous force sent the saber flying from the Abyss Warrior's hand.

"Die!"

Su Yi's gaze was resolute. Borrowing the force of the collision, he swept his sword upward, nearly 300 calories of Blood Qi hurtling toward the Abyss Warrior's head.

"Kagu!"

The moment Su Yi launched his assault, the two warriors behind him roared and rushed over. Yet by the time they arrived, the battle was already over. The Fifth-Rank Initial Stage Abyss Warrior had been sent flying by the slash; his head, along with his neck, had vanished, and he lay motionless on the ground.

Dead?

The other two warriors had never expected that a Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior would fail to hold on until they arrived, already slain by a warrior from the Rebirth Land.

They exchanged shocked glances. This Rebirth Warrior absolutely could not be allowed to live. A genius like this was far too terrifying.

"Kagu!"

With two more roars, one saber and one spear shot straight toward Su Yi.

After swiftly killing the Fifth-Rank Initial Stage warrior, Su Yi saw the two Abyss Warriors charging over. Just as they attacked, he pulled a bottle of Life Essence and two Cultivation Energy Stones from his storage space and hurled them at the Abyss Warriors.

The distance between them was only a little over ten meters. The Abyss Warriors noticed the bottle and Energy Stones Su Yi had thrown, but did not care. After all, the brat from the Rebirth Land was only Third-Rank.

Though he had killed Gu Si, the Blood Qi throughout his body was nearly exhausted. How could he possibly still withstand the two of them?

At that moment, Su Yi's Spiritual Power burst outward in an instant, directly detonating the Life Essence and Cultivation Energy Stones as his body rapidly retreated.

Boom!

The massive explosion heavily wounded both Abyss Warriors. They knew Su Yi's Spiritual Power was powerful, but they never could have imagined that he could project it outward to detonate Energy Stones.

The enormous energy explosion made Su Yi cough up a huge mouthful of blood as his internal organs suffered severe damage. Even Su Yi, who had been farther away, was in such a state; the Abyss Warriors were worse off. The Fifth-Rank Peak warrior had a huge hole blown from his neck to his jaw, his aura withering.

The Fifth-Rank Mid warrior was even more miserable. A crater had been blasted into his face, and he looked unlikely to survive.

Su Yi had swallowed a Third-Rank Blood Qi Pill long ago and had been constantly absorbing energy from a Cultivation Energy Stone. The instant the explosion ended, he immediately gripped his sword and rushed back onto the battlefield.

Strike while he's sick—take his life!

He had spent so many resources. If he could not kill them, he would be losing out terribly.

With two slashes, he killed the Abyss Warriors, gathered the resources, and fled the battlefield at top speed.

After running some distance, he quickly dug a hole and crawled inside.

His Blood Qi was nearly depleted, and his internal organs had suffered severe damage. The enormous energy explosion had shaken them badly; even each breath was filled with a tearing pain.

He hurriedly swallowed a Life-Returning Pill and began absorbing energy from an Energy Stone to heal.

"I'm badly hurt. I'll need at least several days of rest!"

Enduring the pain, Su Yi poured one gram of Life Essence into his mouth. He was still deep within the Meat Grinder; he had no time to recover slowly.

If he ran into several more Fifth-Rank Abyss Warriors along the way, he feared he would not even be able to escape.

The Life-Returning Pill's effects were indeed good, but it would still take a day or two for him to fully recover. Life Essence was the true sacred medicine for healing.

Under the effects of the Life-Returning Pill and Life Essence, his internal injuries began recovering at great speed.

Only then did Su Yi have time to tally his gains. He had spent quite a lot of resources this time: one hundred grams of Cultivation Energy Stones alone cost 3,000 Credit Points, and with the additional eleven grams of Life Essence, the total came to two hundred million.

Compared to that, the Life-Returning Pill, Blood Qi Pill, and healing pills were hardly worth mentioning.

One B-Grade Strength saber, two C-Grade Strength weapons—a saber and a spear—and three Fifth-Rank Energy Hearts.

Three small cloth bags, three Fifth-Rank Medals, and two wooden boxes found on the Abyss Warriors.

Su Yi did not inspect the wooden boxes first. Naturally, the good stuff had to be saved for last. He did not believe ordinary items would be stored in wooden boxes; they should contain Energy Fruits, medicinal herbs, or the like.

After tallying the resources in the cloth bags, he found 230 grams of Cultivation Energy Stones and 600 grams of basic Energy Stones.

Full of anticipation, Su Yi opened the two wooden boxes.

Four Hundred-Tempering Fruits and two Vein-Shaping Flowers in total!

Good stuff. This haul was no loss!