SSS-Rank Unique Talent: Yi!

The place where the BOSS died shimmered with treasure light as several items radiating golden brilliance dropped out.

Gold equipment!

Jiang Chuan's eyes seemed to gleam gold as well.

At the Artisan Pavilion, a single piece of gold equipment could cost hundreds of thousands, even over a million. Yet this Nightmare BOSS had dropped three or four pieces outright!

One of the bows was especially eye-catching, its lines sharp and fierce, as though light flowed across it.

Jiang Chuan's heartbeat quickened. He rushed over in two strides, bent down, and picked it up.

[Sun-Piercing Divine Bow: Gold, Level 10, Attack 179–198, Attack Speed +35%, Critical Hit +25%, Trait: Rainbow Piercing Sun (Active: Fires a sun-piercing arrow, dealing 1100% piercing damage to enemies in a straight line. Cooldown: 4 hours)]

"Powerful!"

After seeing the attributes of this golden divine bow, Jiang Chuan looked at the black iron longbow he had been carrying... Was that fucking thing even a bow? It was practically a fire poker!

Without the slightest hesitation, he equipped the Sun-Piercing Divine Bow.

Then.

He took the remaining two pieces of gold equipment.

Although he had no use for them, they were still gleaming silver. Selling them at the Artisan Pavilion later would bring him another million-plus windfall!

And the truly good stuff.

Was still to come.

Jiang Chuan's gaze slowly shifted toward the BOSS's remains.

No, more accurately, the broken remains of that boundless divine tree!

This tree had grown to an utterly exaggerated scale. Even as a dead object, its rank had to be unimaginably high!

"I wonder if this thing can be extracted...?"

He swallowed and walked over to a section of trunk, laying a trembling hand upon it.

Golden light spread.

A prompt appeared before his eyes. In an instant, Jiang Chuan's pupils expanded tenfold!

[Extractable talent detected: Yi (SSS-Rank, Unique)! Absorb immediately?]

[Yi · SSS-Rank]

[Rank: One Star]

[Effect ①: Passive. Your ranged attacks can ignore the target's defense, ignore distance, and will always hit.]

[Effect ②: Passive. Each attack additionally deals damage equal to 10% of your maximum HP.]

[Description: The divine bow used by the legendary heavenly god "Yi" to shoot down the suns. It later fell into the mortal world, becoming a divine tree and opening a realm of its own. Yet when the final calamity descended, this realm ultimately perished.]

"Holy shit...!"

Jiang Chuan was so shocked that he felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

He had expected to extract something incredible, but he still had not imagined it would be this absurd!

An SSS-rank talent!

If one appeared during an awakening ceremony, it would alarm the entire upper echelon of humanity!

These effects were way too overpowered!

Ignore defense!

Ignore distance!

Guaranteed hit!

And every attack could additionally deal damage equal to 10% of his maximum HP!

Even without counting the title bonus from [Lord of the Source Realm], Jiang Chuan already had fifteen thousand HP.

That meant an extra 1,500 damage per arrow.

And with the title...

Every one of his attacks could carry a full hundred thousand additional damage! And it was true damage that ignored defense!

With this talent, he had practically become a humanoid Barrett sniper rifle.

Point at someone, and they died!

He was invincible!

Without any hesitation, Jiang Chuan roared inwardly, "Absorb!!!"

In an instant, an indescribably immense golden light erupted from the divine tree's remains and surged toward him like a raging tidal wave!

At the same time.

The tree realm began to shake violently.

The ground collapsed. Tree roots as thick as mountains burst upward. The sky tore apart, and howling void currents poured in, carrying a fury that threatened to destroy everything.

The divine tree was the foundation of this world. Now that Jiang Chuan had uprooted that foundation, this tree realm was headed for complete destruction.

Jiang Chuan opened his eyes and looked upon the world that was about to collapse. There was not a trace of reluctance in his heart.

He had already taken every greatest benefit.

What was there left to covet?

Just before the world completely crumbled, Jiang Chuan decisively chose to exit.

Outside the secret realm.

There were less than five minutes left before the half-hour Lu Qingshan had set.

Chen Duhu yawned, his heavy eyelids half-open. "That's about enough. I'm an old man—I can't stay up like you young people."

Zhou Yuan looked at his watch. "Four and a half minutes left."

Yuan Ziyi was even more anxious than they were. "It's been so long. Anyone who can come out has basically already come out. City Lord Lu, order the secret realm sealed!"

Lu Qingshan hesitated for a moment. "Then—"

RUMBLE!!

A sudden boom interrupted their conversation, and all four immediately turned toward the entrance to the secret realm.

Only to discover.

That stone arch covered in dark red cracks had collapsed...

Zhou Yuan was the first to rush over, disbelief written all over his face. "The secret realm collapsed on its own? What happened?!"

A thousand miles away, Jiang Chuan, whose teleportation destination had gone awry because of the secret realm's collapse, was experiencing free fall with a dumbfounded expression.

"Ah! Fuck...!"

Thud!

He plunged headfirst into a patch of bushes.

Fortunately, his physique was now strong enough that he was not injured. Only his already damaged leather armor had been completely shredded by the branches.

"Ptooey...!!"

Jiang Chuan spat out the dirt in his mouth and finally crawled out of the bushes, only to stare blankly at his surroundings.

"Where the hell is this?!"

Standing where he was.

Jiang Chuan turned in a full circle.

Before him stretched an endless mountain forest, with rolling mountain ranges in the distance. There were no official roads, no signposts, and not even a single person in sight.

"Can secret realm teleportation actually go wrong?"

Jiang Chuan opened his map.

Even the system map connected to the network displayed nothing but blank space.

In other words, this place had already gone beyond Tianyuan City's signal coverage. It might not even be within humanity's territory!

"I'm screwed."

Still, Jiang Chuan was not panicked.

With his current attributes, unless he encountered a top-tier powerhouse, there should not be many creatures capable of threatening his safety.

The only problem was that he had not prepared food or water for a long journey.

What was he supposed to eat?

"First, I need to figure out where I am... Then I'll find a way back."

Jiang Chuan got his bearings. He remembered that Tianyuan City was to the south, so he headed southward.

After walking for about half an hour, the forest ahead became sparse, and he heard the sound of running water.

He quickened his pace, passed through the last patch of trees, and suddenly found his view opening up.

A river lay ahead.

It was not especially wide, perhaps around twenty meters across. The current was gentle and the water crystal clear, revealing the pebbles at the riverbed and small fish swimming through it.

Jiang Chuan looked down at himself. Blood and grime covered him from head to toe, his clothes were nearly in tatters, and his face felt sticky as well.

He had not noticed it during the battle.

But now that he had stopped moving, the stench of blood rushed straight up his nose, making even him want to throw up.

"Perfect time for a bath!"

Jiang Chuan quickly stripped off his clothes and jumped naked into the river.

The water was neither cold nor hot, just the right temperature. As it washed over him, it cleared away most of the bloodstains and exhaustion covering his body.

Jiang Chuan sighed in comfort, splashed several handfuls of water over himself, then dunked his head underwater and thoroughly washed his hair.

Just as he was washing.

He suddenly caught a sound with his keen senses.

Splash!

Jiang Chuan poked his head out of the water and carefully identified where the noise was coming from. Then he grew excited. "The sound of fighting—there are people nearby!"