Breaking Through to the Acquired Realm

Little Stone Village's square center, Lu Chengchuan stood before a point of light.

After absorbing it for a few minutes, the light cluster shrank to the size of a fingernail. Before long, he'd be able to absorb it completely, and then he would gain lifespan.

Gunshots and explosions kept coming from outside, and he even heard screams.

As the light cluster gradually faded into nothingness, Lu Chengchuan's heart grew excited. Until the last glimmer of light disappeared into the Black Mist, the System's voice finally rang out.

[Successfully absorbed energy, gained 35 years of lifespan.]

Thirty-five years of lifespan entered his body, the light cluster vanished, and the Black Mist enveloping Little Stone Village also collapsed, with countless wisps of Black Mist being sucked into an invisible space.

In less than a minute, the Black Mist dissipated from Little Stone Village, and it returned to its original state.

Only the villagers were gone, or rather, they were right there in the square, inside that pile of twisted, rotting corpses. Some villagers had even turned into Monsters.

The Black Mist dissipated, and the village regained its light. Just as Lu Chengchuan thought the Monsters had disappeared too, a scream entered his ears, and the gunshots and explosions hadn't stopped.

"The Monsters didn't disappear?"

Lu Chengchuan wasn't on the scene; he didn't know what was happening. But from the gunshots, it wasn't hard to guess.

Knowing that the Monsters hadn't disappeared with the Black Mist, Lu Chengchuan opened the System, preparing to upgrade the Giant Elephant Skill. He couldn't beat the black Zombie if he went over there now, so he might as well increase his strength first, and then go save people once he was strong enough.

He now had fifty years of lifespan, enough to upgrade the Giant Elephant Skill to the fourth level.

Seeing the words 'Can Upgrade' displayed after the Giant Elephant Skill, Lu Chengchuan immediately chose to upgrade.

The Giant Elephant Skill quickly reached the fourth level. After the martial art was upgraded, a heat surged from his dantian. This heat flowed throughout his body, rapidly strengthening his body and Inner Energy.

The heat melted his muscles, then quickly reconstructed them. In one melting and restructuring after another, his body was undergoing a transformation.

His Inner Energy doubled, and then under the 'scorching' of the heat, a large amount of Inner Energy was compressed together. The quality of his Inner Energy became stronger, and it could even be released from his body.

Both his body and his Inner Energy were transforming, but this was only the initial transformation. The heat circulated within his body several times before stopping, and all his changes also ceased at that moment.

Life-Sacrificing System

Host: Lu Chengchuan

Realm: Acquired Realm

Martial Arts: Giant Elephant Skill[Mystic Grade/4th Layer]Can Upgrade (Cost: 30 years), Everspring Skill[Yellow Grade/3rd Layer], Eagle Claw Iron Body Skill[Yellow Grade/3rd Layer].

Current Lifespan: 50 years 46 days.

Host's bodily functions restored, unknown disease not cured.

His realm had broken through, and both his strength and lifespan had been improved. The fifth layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill required thirty years of lifespan. The lifespan cost for reaching the fifth layer hadn't doubled, but the consumption was still terrifying.

Fifty years seemed like a lot, but in reality, it wasn't enough.

Lu Chengchuan didn't have time to think about these things. He set off running towards the outskirts of the village, afraid that Zhou Yaning and the others would die if he was a step late.

Bursting out of the alley, Lu Chengchuan saw a ground littered with corpses the moment he emerged. There were Monsters and humans, but mostly Monster corpses.

His gaze turned to the battlefield. Less than half of the forty-odd people remained, a heavy loss.

However, only four of the dozen or so Zombies were left. Apart from the black Zombie, the remaining three Zombies were covered in wounds, and one Zombie had even lost an arm.

Both sides seemed to have suffered heavy losses, but the Zombies wouldn't show fear because of this.

They didn't care if they died; they only wanted to kill these people.

The Black Mist's dissipation had initially made Zhou Yaning very happy, but when she saw that the Zombies hadn't disappeared with the Black Mist, her happy mood instantly turned into pure fear.

Little Stone Village had regained its light, and Lu Chengchuan had undoubtedly succeeded. But this time was different from before; the Monsters hadn't disappeared.

The black Zombie, having broken free of its chains, had killed ten soldiers in a row. No one could stop it, until Lu Chengchuan appeared.

Lu Chengchuan had just broken through to a new realm, and he wanted to see if he could now fight the black Zombie.

With a forceful leap, Lu Chengchuan crossed a distance of more than ten meters, his body landing near the black Zombie. He caught up to the Zombie, stopping it before it could kill the next person.

Someone dared to come forward on their own initiative, and the Zombie immediately waved its claws to grab at him.

Lu Chengchuan also raised his hand and threw a punch. In the instant he raised his hand, Inner Energy circulated from his dantian to his arm, and invisible Inner Energy covered the skin of his arm, forming a protective layer.

With Inner Energy protecting his arm, Lu Chengchuan fearlessly clashed with the Zombie's claws.

Claws and palm collided, and a huge force rebounded onto both sides. Lu Chengchuan took a step back, while the Zombie retreated three steps.

After taking a step back and steadying himself, a hint of joy flashed across Lu Chengchuan's face.

The Zombie was strong, but he was even stronger after his breakthrough. At least in a contest of strength, he had won.

Putting away the expression on his face, Lu Chengchuan took the initiative to attack the Zombie.

The Zombie let out a low growl. It ran up, wanting to grab him, but Lu Chengchuan easily dodged the incoming claws, and then punched the Zombie back several steps again.

Seeing that he could fight the Zombie to a standstill, Zhou Yaning looked like she had seen a ghost. What was going on? In less than fifteen minutes, how had Lu Chengchuan's strength improved by leaps and bounds, to the point where he could now fight the Zombie head-on?

She couldn't figure it out, and she didn't have time to think about it now.

Lu Chengchuan was blocking the most powerful black Zombie, but the remaining two Zombies weren't Monsters that could be easily handled either. Their battle was too intense for Zhou Yaning and the others to join in, so they could only lead the others to besiege the other two Zombies.

With a single punch, Lu Chengchuan knocked the Zombie back, then pressed his attack, his five fingers reaching out to grab at the Zombie's body.

Five wounds appeared on the black Zombie's body. Enhanced by Inner Energy, Lu Chengchuan's fingers were harder than refined steel, and combined with his immense strength, he could tear through the Zombie's freakish defense.

Lu Chengchuan aimed for the Zombie's throat, intending to tear it open and release the Tainted Qi within. Even the strongest black Zombie would die if that happened.

But the Zombie knew to protect its weak point. Under Lu Chengchuan's fierce offensive, the Zombie retreated continuously, but Lu Chengchuan couldn't find an opportunity to kill it.

Then two explosions sounded behind him. Zhou Yaning and the others had taken care of two Zombies and brought out iron chains to help.

The Zombie swung its hand, stabbing towards him. Lu Chengchuan raised his hand and grabbed its arm, while Chen Long and a few other strong individuals picked up the iron chains and hurled them at the Zombie's body.

Several chains wrapped around the Zombie, and the black Zombie used its strength to drag Chen Long and the others to the ground.

After fighting for so long, Chen Long and the others had little stamina left. Zombies, however, didn't have such limitations. As long as the Tainted Qi within them didn't dissipate, they could maintain their strongest state.

The five people fell to the ground, but still gripped the chains tightly. The Zombie was pulled back a step. As the retreating Zombie waved its arms, Lu Chengchuan seized the opportunity and charged in front of it.

His five fingers like Eagle Claws, Lu Chengchuan viciously clamped down on the Zombie's neck.

The Zombie's body was harder than refined steel; armor-piercing rounds could only break the skin, unable to inflict effective damage.