On the street.
At those words, Luo Feng's shock gave way to curiosity.
He even felt a hint of anticipation.
"There's a great place like that? Teacher, where is it? Is it an Ancient Civilization Ruin?"
Lin Mo merely smiled faintly.
But to Luo Feng, his laughter had a distinctly strange quality that made his skin crawl.
"You'll know when we get there."
Lin Mo kept him in suspense.
"Don't worry, just follow the route I give you. Now turn around and head for the outskirts of the Base City."
Luo Feng was skeptical, but he trusted his teacher.
And deep down, he longed for power.
Luo Feng turned around and headed for an exit on the outskirts of the Base City.
The farther he went, the more deserted it became. Towering buildings gradually gave way to low structures and fortifications.
After passing through layer upon layer of security checks, Luo Feng finally emerged through Hongning Base City's immensely thick steel gates.
He had truly entered the Wilderness Zone.
Looking back, he saw the Base City's enormous silhouette crouching beneath the setting sun like a colossal beast.
Ahead lay a stretch of barren land with no end in sight.
A cold wind blew toward him, carrying the earthy smell unique to the wilderness and a faint scent of blood.
Luo Feng couldn't help asking:
"Teacher, we've left the Base City. How am I supposed to attend classes at the Training Camp?"
"It's hundreds of kilometers there and back every day. I'm a person, not a beast of burden!"
"Classes? None of that matters."
"Just show your face once a week, kill the monsters you need to and keep your ranking steady."
"At your current strength and rate of improvement, the Training Camp's regular courses can only help you so much."
"Don't worry. As long as your monthly ranking is high enough, they won't expel you."
Luo Feng had no answer and could only steel himself.
Following Lin Mo's directions in his sea of consciousness, precise down to every step, he raced off in a certain direction.
He moved swiftly, crossing the wilderness as if it were level ground.
The farther he got from Hongning Base City, however, the stronger his unease grew.
Night gradually fell, and the wilderness became more dangerous and deathly still.
From time to time, bloodcurdling beast roars rang out in the distance.
Luo Feng began to regret listening to Lin Mo's coaxing.
He had run off to this godforsaken place, with no village ahead and no inn behind, without even a safe place to stay.
Was it too late to turn back now?
Looking behind him at the Base City's lights, which had long since vanished below the horizon,
Luo Feng knew it was all too late.
"Teacher, where exactly are we going?"
Luo Feng couldn't help asking again, his voice sounding a little dry in the wind of the Wilderness Zone.
"Soon. It's just ahead."
Lin Mo's voice remained calm, even carrying a hint of anticipation.
After running for a long while, Luo Feng finally arrived near his destination in the evening.
It was the ruins of a coastal city, seemingly quite a large one.
Before he had truly entered the city center,
Wave after wave of deep, savage, piercing monster roars
Rumbled from the depths of the city like muffled thunder.
They rose and fell in succession. Clearly, quite a few powerful monsters had made their lairs there.
The sea breeze struck his face, carrying a salty, fishy scent and a heavy stench of rot.
Luo Feng stood on an abandoned elevated roadway.
Gazing down at the pitch-black city ruins below, he felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
"Teacher, this is the great place you were talking about?"
Luo Feng watched the enormous beastly silhouettes that occasionally flashed through the darkness in the distance.
Listening to those heart-stopping roars, Luo Feng felt his heart pounding wildly.
How was this a treasure land for cultivation? It was clearly a monster's den!
"That's right!"
"See that tallest skyscraper, the one that's half collapsed?"
"There's a Lord-level Monster there, and quite a few Beast General Level monsters around it. You can stay there."
Luo Feng was instantly speechless. Was that something a person should say???
Luo Feng gazed at the tall building in the distance.
Then he sensed Lin Mo's unquestionable attitude in his sea of consciousness.
In the end, he could only sigh helplessly.
"All right, Teacher. You're the one in charge."
As if resigned to his fate, Luo Feng leaped off the elevated roadway.
His figure slipped like a ghost into the shadows of the ruined city.
He stealthily made his way toward the tallest ruined skyscraper.
At last, Luo Feng arrived at the foot of the half-collapsed skyscraper.
Luo Feng could now smell a powerful stench in the air.
It was a mixture of monster droppings and their own secretions.
Luo Feng frowned and instinctively held his breath.
This place was practically like living in a stinking sewer.
"What? You can't take it already?"
Lin Mo's voice rang out.
"Only by enduring the bitterest of hardships can one rise above others."
"This little bit of stink is nothing compared to the life-and-death crises you'll face in the future."
"Remember, every bit of discomfort you endure now is so you can stand higher and go farther in the future."
Hearing this, Luo Feng took a deep breath.
Although the smell made his stomach churn, his gaze grew firm again.
"Teacher, I understand. Thank you for planning all this for me and putting up with it alongside me."
"Alongside you?"
Lin Mo seemed stunned for a moment, then spoke in an almost shameless tone.
"Who said I was going to smell that with you? As long as I don't want to smell it, I won't."
The corner of Luo Feng's mouth twitched again.
He decided not to argue with this teacher who had no respect for his age.
After adjusting his mindset, Luo Feng spread out his Spiritual Force.
He carefully sensed the conditions inside the enormous structure.
The building's interior was complex, and many floors had collapsed and become blocked.
But there were still plenty of spaces suitable for shelter.
Just as Lin Mo had said, quite a few monsters had made their lairs here.
Judging by their auras, most were Beast General Level, spread across different floors.
And in a certain area in the upper-middle part of the building,
There was an aura more powerful than those of the Beast General Level monsters.
Thus, Luo Feng ultimately chose the 22nd floor.
This floor was relatively intact, and there weren't many monsters.
Having chosen his target, Luo Feng applied his Spiritual Force to his combat boots.
He slipped silently into the 22nd floor through a broken window.
In the darkness, several pairs of glowing green eyes lit up at once.
Luo Feng's gaze turned cold. He didn't even draw his saber.
With a thought, six throwing knives became six streaks of light.
They darted through the narrow corridors and rooms at incredible angles!
The sounds of blades entering flesh rang out one after another, accompanied by brief howls of pain.
The battle ended within seconds.
Luo Feng used his Spiritual Force to clear a relatively clean area.
He chose a room with a good view and a load-bearing wall at his back.
He took a waterproof mat he had prepared earlier from his backpack and spread it on the floor.
This would be his home for the time being.
He had barely settled in when a powerful wave of hunger struck.
Luo Feng instinctively reached for the high-energy compressed biscuits in his backpack.
"Wait."
Lin Mo's voice stopped him.
"Teacher?"
"Once you're full, it's easy to grow lax and want to rest."
"Cultivate! Absorb cosmic energy! Once you immerse yourself completely in cultivation, you naturally won't feel hungry anymore."
"Hunger can also be a way to temper your will and bring out your potential."
Luo Feng's hand froze in midair, the biscuit in his grasp. In the end, he helplessly put it back.
What Teacher said seemed to make some sense?
He gave a wry smile and sat cross-legged.
He began absorbing cosmic energy.