Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 529 - 139: Double-Edged Sword (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 529: Chapter 139: Double-Edged Sword (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Fog enveloped the area as time flowed, and Xu Shu quickly entered the whirl of the carousel of memories—

[Detecting current status...]

[Detection complete.]

[You wake up from a deep sleep, open your eyes to this world, and realize your name is Xu Shu, having just turned eighteen years old, a Second Rank Legendary Iron Armor, and today, your situation isn’t good.]

[You are now located within the lighthouse near the Northern Border’s D8B3 area, and since your advancement to the Second Rank, you have spent exactly two days and nights without any improvement in strength!]

[What’s wrong with you?]

[How can you sleep at your age?]

[In this era where ambitions are hard to fulfill, becoming a Transcendent is extremely arduous. To rise above others and make further progress is even harder than ascending to the heavens.]

[And yet, you possess two Legendary Curse Seals, so rare that calling you a phoenix’s feather or a unicorn’s horn wouldn’t be an exaggeration. But you aren’t diligently cultivating; instead, you choose to sleep in? Irresponsible! In such a dangerous world, with Demons, Evil Spirits, and Monsters lurking ominously, like the sword of Damocles hanging over your head! How the hell can you sleep with all that?!]

?

What the hell... isn’t that supposed to be called the "Sword of Damocles"? What’s with this Sword of Christina nonsense...

Xu Shu’s eyes glazed over, thinking to himself that the damn Tai Chu Scroll had become ambitious. When had it started encouraging him to strive for greatness?

Today, it’s not urging me to find a mate and produce offspring but to make something of myself?

That’s quite rare indeed!

But not leveling up isn’t for a lack of effort.

I’m just broke, aren’t I.

The First-order Erosion Crystals I’ve been consuming aren’t efficient, and these past few days, haven’t I been pondering about going hunting for some Second Rank dog food? How did that become irresponsible behavior?

After all, it’s your fault, Tai Chu Scroll, for not being able to produce a proper pioneering route for me!

Sometimes you should question whether you’re diligent enough, whether your Conquest Mode abilities have increased after such a long time, whether the rewards have increased!

You’re a mature simulator now; you ought to learn to generate your own item rewards!

Xu Shu scorned it bitterly.

[Is that so? 6, very good, you’re indeed a bona fide scumbag, true to your birth. Tai Chu Scroll did not misjudge you.]

[Today, you have a renewed sense of ambition and decide to challenge the wilderness once again. At level 21, you have quite a bit of confidence, you...]

[This time, you are far more careful and cautious, opting not to be foolhardily brave, but instead, you wake up Gu Pan and Gu Yue Ming from their slumber. After a brief rest, the three of you set off together, stepping into the wilds.]

[You notice that the wilderness is unusually quiet today, and something seems vaguely different. After careful inspection, you realize that the mountains have disappeared.]

["Could it be..." you wonder with slight suspicion, so you rush to the battlefield, risking danger, heading to the steep cliff where the Frightening Corruptor Euphlius used to hide.]

[But you can’t find it, because before you even get close, you discover that what was once a towering mountain has turned into a basin. The craggy, stony wilderness, the jungle teeming with vines, the bizarre tree trunks thick enough for several people to embrace and covered in ghost talismans—all of it has vanished.]

[As far as the eye can see, the landscape spans dozens of miles covered in charred soil, as if repeatedly scorched by flames.]

["It seems that those Fifth Rankers really did come here... Is this the aftermath of a battle between the Fifth Rankers? I wonder if Efeilus was killed or escaped..."]

[You take a deep breath. The aftermath of a mere Fifth Rank battle seems so trivial to you, who has witnessed the might of taboo gods destroying the world.]

[However, the divine is far too profound and inscrutable, and at the Fifth Rank, you, as a genius with Legendary Curse Seals, feel you have a chance to fight for it. Seeing such destructive power, you’re suddenly filled with valiant aspirations, and can’t help but think: Perhaps one could take their place!]

[Your desire to become stronger grows more urgent; you want to breeze through the cultivation bottleneck periods that others often struggle with for years, just by doing sit-ups.]

[You have great courage; you don’t see the threat of death from failed breakthroughs as a concern.]

[In your opinion, all you need are enough Erosion Crystals to force your way through a breakthrough. Is it really so? Well, let’s wait and see what Tai Chu Scroll has to say about that.]

[You wander around the charred basin, hoping to find something left behind, but after several hours, you don’t find a single stray Erosion Crystal or encounter any monsters. The place seems to have been swept clean, even cleaner than a human intestine after a clear-out.]

[Undeterred, you surmise that the residual might of the Fifth Rankers may have scared off any remaining monsters, so you choose another direction and press forward, selecting:?]

[You head west.]

[Before long, you leave the range affected by the battle. The wilderness ahead returns to the state you stereotypically remember: deep, serene valleys and forests of shifting shadows, as though monsters are lurking everywhere.]

[You activate your Spiritual Perception, beginning the search for monsters.]

[Quite soon, two hundred meters ahead, amid a clump of withered yellow weeds, you spot a pair of shining black eyes, glaring at you from beneath the sandy ground.]

[Recalling the lesson from a pregnant rattlesnake encounter, you decide to play it safe this time. You don’t charge in rashly, but instead, you slow down, quietly approaching. Once within range, you pick up a rock and hurl it like an arrow, hitting those black eyes precisely, then you turn and run without looking back, hiding at a distance to observe.]

[Splash!]

[A single stone causes a thousand ripples. Amid the bobbing weeds, you see the ground in the parched grassland sway like waves, revealing it was a carefully trimmed and disguised marsh. Countless colorful and beautiful monsters, resembling both fish and frogs, emerge en masse from below.]