Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures

In the blink of an eye, Fang Yu, Bai Chen, and the rest had already spent several days in the vicinity of Mount Daling. Time reached August 23, two o'clock in the afternoon. On a hillside offering an excellent vantage point, the members of the Scarlet Flame Squad were resting, taking turns eating while chatting cheerfully. "Hahaha, that battle just now was exhilarating!" "Especially Fang Yu. Unleashing his Dark Force, he was truly fierce. The speed at which he slaughtered those smaller snakes was every bit equal to the Captain's. And at the end, he was so formidable that he hacked one of the heads clean off that Level 25 two-headed wire snake while it was still alive." Xia Yao wore an exaggerated expression. "Inviting Fang Yu into our squad was really the right choice." "Indeed. Without Fang Yu, our haul would be smaller by a wide margin," Bai Chen laughed as well. Fang Yu smiled. "Don't praise me too much, everyone, or I'll float right up to heaven. Besides, you all helped me tremendously. Take just now—if the Captain hadn't saved me when that two-headed wire snake lunged to bite, even with my combat suit's protection, I probably would have been badly injured." Everyone laughed. Fang Yu felt quite relaxed inside. Having spent several days at Mount Daling, he got along very well with his teammates. Their personalities meshed, they backed each other up, and up to this point, none of them had suffered any injury. Though they had known one another for only a few days, their camaraderie had grown increasingly deep. Over the past few days, the Scarlet Flame Squad had hunted and killed over a dozen intermediate dire beasts, while the low-level dire beasts they had slain numbered well over a hundred. It was a tremendous haul. In particular, slaying that Level 25 two-headed wire snake not long ago had earned everyone a substantial amount of Primordial Points. Fang Yu's freshman ranking had once again surpassed Yan Hezhou's, placing him second. At the same time, Fang Yu had become the second freshman after Fan Xing to raise his coefficient score to 1.3. *My overall ranking has shot straight past 760,* Fang Yu thought to himself. *If I keep up this pace, breaking into the top 500 overall by the end of the practical combat period should be quite easy.* The total score was the base score multiplied by the coefficient score. Fang Yu's base score was already very high, and the final base score assessment on the last day of the practical combat period would raise it even further. Now that his coefficient score had increased once again, his overall ranking naturally surged. *With constant killing over these past few days, my physical constitution hasn't progressed much, but my control over Dark Force has grown increasingly refined. My peak explosive strength can now reach 1.8 times my base strength,* Fang Yu mused inwardly. *I'm also one step closer to executing Entering the Minute secret techniques.* Lessons taught by words rarely take hold, but lessons taught by reality are learned instantly. Under the life-and-death pressure of actual combat in the Wilderness Zone, martial artists often saw their techniques advance at astonishing speed. On the other hand, remaining constantly in the perilous deep mountains and vast marshes kept a martial artist's spirit under immense strain. It was impossible to settle down and cultivate with peace of mind, let alone forcibly channel Dark Force to stimulate their bones and tendons. Consequently, advancement in Life Level slowed down. This was also why martial arts universities arranged only two practical combat periods each year, each lasting just one month. Martial artists in their Golden Age Bracket still needed to prioritize elevating their Life Levels. After resting for a good while, Bai Chen spoke. "Alright." "Everyone should be well-rested by now." Bai Chen swept his gaze over the group. "This is already our fourth day out. Our harvest of various spoils isn't small either—we've even gathered over a dozen stalks of Crimson Star Grass. Just now, I had Xia Yao make an estimate, and the total value of our spoils this time should be close to 200,000 Star Coins." "Divided among each of us, that's not a small sum." Everyone's eyes lit up. The main reason they had fought so desperately earlier to assault the wire snake nest—with Fang Yu, Bai Chen, and Xiong Meng sparing no expense to unleash bursts of Dark Force to besiege that Level 25 two-headed wire snake—was to seize those dozen-plus stalks of Crimson Star Grass guarded by the nest. Fang Yu also marveled internally. Crimson Star Grass was the raw material for Crimson Star Pills, so its value was naturally substantial. A single stalk was worth over ten thousand Star Coins. By staking everything on this single encounter, each of them had gained tens of thousands of Star Coins, matching the hard work of hunting for several days. This was the true worth of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. In fact, Crimson Star Grass was among the lower-value Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Some rare treasures were truly priceless, enough to make intermediate martial artists rich overnight. Of course, the probability of such rare treasures appearing around Mount Daling was very low. The denser the star force in an area, the higher the probability of nurturing Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and rare wonders. Likewise, areas rich in star force were gathering spots for powerful dire beasts, making them vastly more dangerous. "I plan to head back now and liquidate all our spoils first. What do you all think?" Bai Chen asked. "Sounds good." "Carrying so many spoils really does hinder our mobility." "We can rest and regroup for a few days, cultivate properly, and then come back out to hunt dire beasts," Fang Yu, Xiong Meng, Qin Yang, and Xia Yao all agreed. "Good, then we head back immediately," Bai Chen said decisively. "On the way back, everyone must remain cautious and alert. We absolutely cannot let our guard down." "Understood." Fang Yu and the others nodded one after another. Ninety li was only half of a hundred-li journey; until they were fully back inside the Safe Zone, they could not relax their vigilance. This was an experience paid for with the blood of countless senior martial artists. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Led by Xia Yao, the group advanced through the mountain valleys, continually making their way toward the space base. After traveling nearly ten kilometers, Fang Yu spoke up. "Hold." "On guard," Bai Chen whispered urgently. The two spoke almost simultaneously. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Without the slightest hesitation, all five scattered in an instant, ducking behind trees or diving into the bushes. More than ten seconds later, a faint sound came from the woods ahead. Rustle, rustle... Six human martial artists were advancing cautiously, vigilantly scanning the dense mountain forest around them. Suddenly, they also stopped, sensing something amiss. "Dong Qi?" Xia Yao called out tentatively from behind a tree. "Xia Yao?" The slight, slender captain at their head was also startled. "Your squad is here?" "Captain, no need to be too tense, they're classmates from our class." Xia Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing this, Fang Yu and Bai Chen emerged from hiding. However, Xiong Meng and Qin Yang still remained concealed. "Zhang Tao?" Fang Yu unexpectedly spotted an acquaintance among the other team—it was Zhang Tao, who had advanced with him from the vocational college. He had joined a martial artist squad too? "Fang Yu?" Zhang Tao was quite surprised as well. The other martial artists in both squads, seeing that there were several familiar friends between them, lowered their guard slightly and conversed across a distance of more than ten meters. Fang Yu also learned about Zhang Tao's circumstances from him. Zhang Tao had managed to join a martial artist squad, but the squad's strength was not equal to the Scarlet Flame Squad's, so most of the time they only dared hunt dire beasts along the periphery of the Safe Zone. This was the norm for most martial artist squads. Those like the Scarlet Flame Squad who dared venture tens of kilometers into the Wilderness Zone were a minority. "You guys sure have a lot of spoils," Zhang Tao said with deep feeling. "No wonder your coefficient score is rising so fast. Looks like among our freshman class, first place will definitely be decided between you and Fan Xing." "The practical combat period has only just begun a few days ago; nothing is set in stone yet," Fang Yu smiled. "I see your ranking isn't low either. Put in the effort, and you've got a shot at pushing into the top ten." "Yeah, I really am working hard," Zhang Tao nodded heavily. If he had not wanted to break into the top ten for coefficient score, he would not have taken the risk of joining a martial artist squad and entering the Wilderness Zone. People like Wang Mo stayed in the Safe Zone hunting low-level dire beasts, taking no risks at all. The two squads exchanged pleasantries for a little longer. Dong Qi and Zhang Tao's squad was the first to depart. Only after they had completely walked out of sight did Qin Yang and Xiong Meng emerge from the shadows. From start to finish, Qin Yang's hand had never left his bowstring, keeping ready for combat at any moment. "Captain, do we need to be so cautious?" Xia Yao could not help asking. "It's never wrong to be careful," Bai Chen said softly. "Although the Alliance and the university have strict orders prohibiting us from killing one another, and the space base imposes penalties as well... is bloodshed between martial artists in the Wilderness Zone really rare?" "I've seen it with my own eyes," Bai Chen said in a low voice. "It wasn't even fighting over treasure, but an outright ambush to loot, followed by an attempt to silence the witnesses." Fang Yu felt a chill in his heart. The space base had explicit regulations: if members of the same martial artist squad slaughtered one another, the punishment was terrifying. Because of this, members of the same squad could maintain basic trust. But between warriors who merely belonged to the same civilization, if they killed one another, while there was still punishment, the severity was far less. They would merely be deducted a certain amount of Primordial Points, or at worst have their Civilization Warrior rank demoted. Although the Blue Moon Alliance's laws explicitly forbade infighting, outside the space base's Safe Zone, with no surveillance cameras or audio and video recordings, direct evidence was impossible to obtain. Therefore, killing among Primordial Star martial artists over treasures or grudges was a common occurrence. "It goes back to what I said." "In the Wilderness Zone, you can place appropriate trust in your teammates," Bai Chen said in a low tone. "Beyond that, maintain absolute vigilance against all other martial artists. We won't proactively cause trouble, nor will we plunder others... but we must never let ourselves be harmed by anyone else." "Let's go." The group continued on their way. *** Almost at the exact same moment. In a stretch of mountain forest several kilometers away from the Scarlet Flame Squad. A bloody battle had just concluded. "My arm!" A tall, burly middle-aged martial artist lay on the ground wailing in agony. One of his arms had been severed, and blood was gushing from the wound. Not far away, a female martial artist was also collapsed on the ground, severely injured, with a massive laceration across her abdomen carved out by a sharp blade. The scene was exceedingly gory. "Fourth Brother!" "Old Four!" The other civilian martial artists in the squad were filled with grief and fury, glaring at the six young martial artists standing around them. These six young martial artists all held weapons. Two of them were archers, looking down at these civilian martial artists with mocking expressions, as if playing a cat-and-mouse game. "I already said, as long as you take out all your treasures and let us inspect them obediently," the leading youth in black sighed softly. "We only want the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures; we can return the rest of the dire beast materials to you. Everyone stays safe. Why couldn't you just agree?" "This is robbery!" A scar-faced man in his thirties could hardly suppress the grief and rage in his heart. "And to think you're students of a martial arts university!" "Without us hunting the strongest dire beasts and clearing away the lurking threats for you, could you have gathered those Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in peace?" The youth in black looked at him, his voice sounding gentler instead. "Handing over the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to us as compensation—how fair is that?" "Yet you insisted on drawing your weapons against us, trying to kill us, leaving us no choice but to strike back in self-defense," the youth in black said with a look of regret. "Ending up like this, why bother?" "Shameless scoundrels!" the scar-faced man roared in grief and indignation. "Sigh!" "Sub-par martial artists are sub-par martial artists after all—always so lacking in upbringing. Since you have a foul mouth, you must pay the price for it," the youth in black sighed. The next moment, his voice turned chilled to the extreme: "Fan Xing, go cut off this foul-mouthed sub-par martial artist's legs." "Yes, Captain." Standing perched above, Fan Jin leaped down.