Chapter 43. Qingyang City, Gaining Yet Another Divine Artifact

Zhu Qingyu and her companions had their fair share of experience with mutated beasts, so they instantly understood the meaning behind that roar.

It was a cry of fury and an urge to unleash slaughter.

Moreover, the pair of Monohorn Giant Wolves long terrorized nearby towns, rampaging and wreaking havoc wherever they went.

Now that one of them had been slain, the surviving wolf, stronger than its mate, would never let the matter rest. Its vengeance would be even more savage.

And this time was different from before.

The Blue Giant Wolf King was summoning a beast tide. The meaning was clear—annihilation.

"The nearest city...should be Qingyang City," Senior Brother Wu said gravely. "There are hundreds of thousands living there. If the Wolf King is gathering a beast tide, its target can only be Qingyang City."

The towns it had struck before were already left in ruins. It would have no interest in them. To vent its wrath, it would undoubtedly head toward a place with a higher population.

For mutated beasts regarded humanity as their greatest enemy. Once enraged, they would almost always direct their fury toward human settlements.

And Qingyang City had a population in the hundreds of thousands; it could be considered one of the bigger cities within the area.

"Qingyu, what should we do?" Qin Lan's voice trembled with urgency.

Their mission had been to track the wolf king's trail. None of them expected to face a calamity of this scale. With their strength, there was no way they could stop it.

"We leave at once and contact Professor Zhao," Zhu Qingyu said in a calm tone. "It will take time for the Wolf King to summon a beast tide. That window is our chance to warn the city and help evacuate the people before our teachers arrive."

The Blue Giant Wolf King was at least Foundation Realm IX, making it the strongest mutated beast in this entire region.

Once it moved, its destruction would be unimaginable, and the casualties would be beyond measure.

At this moment, they had no other solution.

All they could do was to wait for their teachers to arrive and try to minimize the damage.

"Alright." Everyone nodded. This was the wisest choice.

Aurora Academy had several instructors stationed not far from Qingyang City. If notified now, they could surely rush over within a few hours.

As for Zhu Qingyu and the others, even if they were not strong enough, they were still Awakened and could at least do something to help.

With that, the group didn't hesitate for another second. They quietly withdrew from the area and hastened their pace toward Qingyang City.

But along the way, a single question kept weighing down on Zhu Qingyu's mind.

Who had slain the Crimson Monohorn Giant Wolf?

The beast had been the king of this region. And from the looks of it, its death was not from a battle with another beast. Rather...it seemed to have been slain by someone.

Yet, she had not heard of the appearance of any powerful Awakened in the area.

Even if such a person existed, they should be rushing over to Chang'an and waiting for the opening of the Mausoleum of Mount Li.

Could it be...

All of a sudden, a silhouette surfaced in Zhu Qingyu's mind.

He was the man they had just encountered not too long ago. And it seemed like only he had the time to do such a thing.

But Zhu Qingyu quickly shook her head to dismiss the possibility.

That man looked weak and was unable even to handle a first or second-tier mutated beast. How could he possibly slay the Wolf King?

She was definitely overthinking it. Right now, the most important task was to reach Qingyang City and spread word of the incoming beast tide.

While Zhu Qingyu and her companions moved at their fastest speed...

Meanwhile, atop a steep cliff, Lu Yuan stood bathed in the glow of dusk, his gaze fixed on a small city in the distance.

Most of its buildings rose only a dozen stories high, with a handful of taller towers clustered in the central district. As night crept in, lights began to flicker on one by one, illuminating the cityscape and revealing that a considerable number of civilians still resided there.

"Qingyang City, huh?" Lu Yuan muttered to himself.

The five supercities were still under construction and not many had moved over. Even though everyone knew that dangers now lurked in every corner, and beast attacks could strike anytime, they had little choice.

For ordinary folk, simply surviving was already good enough. To abandon the city where their families had lived for generations and move to a totally different place, was hard to adapt even with government subsidies.

As such, in most cities across the land, the population had not changed much. And for the exact same reason, it led to the grievous death toll in the future.

Without further thought, Lu Yuan stepped forward and leapt off the hundred-meter cliff.

He had not traveled all the way here to seek a human settlement to rest. At his current level, he could survive anywhere in the world, and nothing would pose a threat.

The reason he chose Qingyang City was simple. According to the memories of his past life, he remembered that several fine spiritual herbs grew within this city.

If he could obtain them, it would be of great help to his cultivation.

Upon entering the city, Lu Yuan maintained a low profile and avoided contact with anyone.

According to what I remember in my past life, those herbs should be in the eastern district. No one should have found them yet, but that won't be the case for long. I need to hurry

.

Lu Yuan's thoughts churned as he hurried forward. However, he did not walk the common streets. With his current physique, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop instead.

They were still in the early days of the Global Awakening and Awakened were still rare. Even so, they mostly appeared in larger cities. As such, his movements drew no attention.

However, the eastern district was a vast area. Without precise coordinates, it was hard to pinpoint where exactly the herbs were and searching would take considerable time.

Of course, it was a different matter for Lu Yuan.

Firstly, he had the memories of his past life. And most importantly, he had a special method at his disposal.

Once he reached the general vicinity of the herbs, he halted in his tracks and pulled out the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace.

With a light tap, the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace instantly expanded, its height reaching to that of an adult man. Then, Lu Yuan took out the ancient tome left behind by Immortal Ge.

He skimmed through a few pages briefly before forming several hand seals. They resembled that of pill refinement, yet distinctly different.

With that, the power in him surged forth and flowed into the furnace.

Woong!

With the series of hand seals completed, the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace began to tremble lightly before slowly drifting toward a certain direction.

"There it is."

Lu Yuan's eyes lit up as he followed closely behind.

This was the other ability of the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace. Within a limited range, it could sense the approximate location of spiritual fruits and exotic herbs. In other words, it was an automatic treasure detector.

However, its use was restricted to naturally born treasures, and even then, it was far from perfectly accurate. Its sensing range was limited, making it effective only in specific situations.

Just like now. After activating the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace, Lu Yuan had missed the mark at least ten times.

Only after half an hour did he finally discover a tiny stalk of violet grass hidden in a shadowed corner.

The grass bore three leaves, each crystalline and translucent, glowing faintly in the darkness. Yet the light was so dim that without careful observation, it would have been nearly impossible to notice.

"One down, two more to go."

The corners of Lu Yuan's lips lifted into a faint smile.

In Qingyang City, there were three such herbs in total, known as the Tri-leaf Violet Resonance.

In his previous life, after finally adapting to the Global Awakening, he sought out all methods to gain extraordinary power.

He spent countless hours familiarizing himself with divine artifacts. As such, he learned many things that ordinary people did not.

After being reborn, he had used this knowledge, considered his own situation and tailored the most suitable plan for himself.

The Tri-Leaf Violet Resonance was one he could easily recognize, and he knew its properties well.

When consumed by an ordinary folk, it could greatly enhance one's physique. Upon ingesting enough in quantity, one could even embark on the path of evolution.

Indeed, not all spiritual fruits and herbs directly made one an Awakened. Some continued too little essence and had minute effects.

After all, divine artifacts like the ancient Bodhi Tree were exceedingly rare even in the New Era after the Global Awakening.

After taking the first stalk of Tri-leaf Violet Resonance, Lu Yuan spent another hour searching and eventually found the remaining two stalks.

But just as he was about to leave, he noticed that the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace was still hovering up and down. On top of that, it even shimmered with streaks of multicolored radiance as if it had sensed something else.

Could it be...that there's an even more powerful spiritual herb or fruit nearby?

A spark of intrigue lit up Lu Yuan's eyes.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He had already thought his harvest was enough and hadn't expected an additional surprise.

Without hesitation, he combed through the area once more. Most of what he found were ordinary herbs with no special traits.

Then, after another ten minutes of careful observation, he finally caught sight of a faint golden gleam flickering in the distance.

At once, he moved closer.

When his gaze fell upon the herb, a ripple of astonishment flashed through his eyes.

It was a small stalk of grass, almost identical in size and shape to the Tri-leaf Violet Resonance he had just collected. But unlike the former, this one glowed with a golden radiance. It bore not three leaves, but nine. Each leaf translucent, shimmering with brilliance, exuding an extraordinary aura.

"Nine-leaf Golden Resonance?"

Lu Yuan recognized it instantly. This was no ordinary herb, but an incomparably rare treasure.

Though it belonged to the same lineage as the Tri-leaf Violet Resonance, its effects were worlds apart. Rumor had it that out of ten thousand Tri-leaf Violet Resonance, only one Nine-leaf Golden Resonance would be born. The energy contained within it was unimaginably dense, enough to be hailed as a true divine artifact.

An ordinary man who consumed it would instantly become an Awakened. Moreover, it could cleanse the body, purify one's bloodline, and elevate one's Talent to an entirely new level.

"Excellent. Truly excellent. This trip was worth it."

Lu Yuan smiled as he carefully plucked the herb.

The Nine-leaf Golden Resonance held essence vast beyond measure. If consumed now, he could surely break through multiple genetic shackles in one stroke.

But he had no intention of eating it yet. This herb carried greater value for the future.

He placed it into the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace for safekeeping.

Immortal Ge's relic was truly marvelous. It could automatically seek treasures, refine pills, and even serve as storage.

In his past life, he had lacked such means, forced to guard a divine artifact in vain, its potential wasted.

Shaking his head lightly, Lu Yuan left the spot without another word. Soon, he found a hidden corner within the city and sat cross-legged in silence.

Fusing with spiritual fruits and herbs required absolute focus. Any disturbance would greatly reduce the effect.

After making his preparations, Lu Yuan did not hesitate. He swallowed all three stalks of Tri-leaf Violet Resonance in one go.

If he had refined them into pills using the Meridian Heavenmend Furnace, the effect might have been slightly stronger. But he chose not to. The Tri-leaf Violet Resonance was not rare enough to justify the effort. Whether refined or not, the difference in efficacy was negligible.

Of course, no one else would dare to consume three stalks at once as he had. The essence within them was fierce and unruly, far beyond what an ordinary Awakened could endure. A single mistake could place an unbearable burden on the body, and in severe cases, cripple one's path of evolution entirely.

But Lu Yuan was different. His physique was unshakable, his five viscera and six organs tempered and fused with the Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda. His body inside and out was practically indestructible. The raging essence of three mere herbs was nothing before such a foundation.

This energy is good. Once I finish refining it, I should be able to try shattering the fourth genetic shackle.

Feeling the violent power surge through his body as the herbs dissolved in his stomach, a faint smile tugged at Lu Yuan's lips. He closed his eyes and sank fully into meditation, focusing entirely on the refinement process.