Lu Yuan didn't respond but intently scanned the rankings on the light screen.

Among the top twenty on the list, the Sum Country held three spots, with the highest being occupied by a person named Ding Can, who ranked fourth on the Ash List. Four spots were held by Havel, two by other powerful nations just behind the top three hegemonies, and the Distant Star Federation claimed the rest. The Supernova List that Xiao Rui had previously passed on to Lu Yuan was incomplete; the information on the top thirty had been concealed.

Ding Can was clearly one of the powerhouses in the top thirty of the Supernova List. Lu Yuan searched the list for familiar names.

He spotted Lan Chen's name, ranked over six hundredth on the Ash List.

To think Lan Chen, with his SSS-level strength, is only ranked over six hundredth... Lu Yuan was somewhat surprised. But considering the Ash List ranking wasn't solely based on strength but also tied to exploration time, luck, and other factors, he understood.

Perhaps noticing Lu Yuan's gaze, Lan Chen explained, "I was originally in the top five hundred, but then I received orders to pick you up. That round trip made my ranking plummet..."

Lu Yuan didn't pay attention to him, instead scanning the light screen from top to bottom. In total, there were over thirteen hundred ranks.

Seems like a lot at first glance, doesn't it? But considering that over a hundred Extraordinary organizations are participating in this joint exploration of Ash Mountain, it's not that many when distributed among each country. This ranking was after a large group of 'martyrs' had already been excluded. At the beginning of the exploration, the list had even more names.

In the short time Lu Yuan spent examining the list, several rankings in the Ash List's top fifty had already changed, highlighting the fierce competition.

Lan Chen urged Lu Yuan to enter the Yellow Bear Base, collect a recording chip specialized for this joint exploration, load it into his portable optical computer, and gather some necessary supplies. Afterwards, he led him through multiple layers of defense and headed out of the base.

"A Flying Bear Lord with six wings just led a team out three hours ago. It's a shame we couldn't catch up; this trip would have been much safer..."

As they exited the base, Lan Chen kept sighing regretfully, prompting Lu Yuan to ask who this Lord was.

To his surprise, Lan Chen mentioned a familiar name—Yin Muqing!

"...She's a one-in-ten-million Supernova Member, incredibly powerful, young, with limitless potential, not to mention her top-notch looks and figure..." Lan Chen sighed with admiration. "It's a pity we missed that boat. Having such a goddess in the team would be a feast for the eyes, even just to look at."

Lu Yuan shot Lan Chen a speechless glance.

He couldn't agree with Lan Chen's words. In his opinion, Yin Muqing's strength, figure, and looks were all merely average, nowhere near goddess-level. It was purely the Supernova halo effect. He'd seen real goddesses before; Crow God and Yu Wentong were what truly qualified.

As soon as they stepped out of the base's main gate, a vast, dense primeval forest stretched before them. The forest floor showed traces of many people having passed through. As Lu Yuan and Lan Chen paused to decide which direction to take, several humanoid mechas ROARED overhead.

"Since this is your first time in the Secret Realm, this initial exploration is mainly for familiarization. We'll choose a relatively safer route..." Lan Chen said, studying the Secret Realm map while instructing Lu Yuan, "Once we're inside, you must follow my commands. This place is too uncanny; sometimes you won't even know how you died. If anything happens to you, I'll have a hard time explaining it to Lord Tong..."

Listening to Lan Chen's chatter, Lu Yuan thought he should update his mental note on Lan Chen, adding 'talkative' after 'Merit-seeking Boy.'

Lu Yuan casually glanced around. Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a particular spot.

His eyes flickered. Pointing in the direction he was looking, he asked, "How about we head that way?"

"Huh?" Lan Chen looked up, compared the direction Lu Yuan indicated with the map, and frowned. "Why that way?"

"No reason..." Lu Yuan replied, his eyes still fixed ahead, a faint, strange light flickering within them. "Just a feeling that our luck might be better if we go in that direction."

He saw an orange bird with an ornate crest perched atop a tall tree at the edge of the Ash Forest.

A Hoopoe! The Chaos Divination he performed before coming to Ash Mountain, to foresee his upcoming fortune, had resulted in the Hoopoe pattern, a symbol of good luck. Although this leans a bit towards superstition, in a world where Gods genuinely exist, what if this truly was a hint from the Goddess of Luck? He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but Lu Yuan thought he saw the Hoopoe glance at him intentionally before flapping its wings and disappearing into the forest.

After a moment's hesitation, Lan Chen decided to respect Lu Yuan's decision. "Alright then. That route is relatively safe anyway..."

Without further ado, they strode into the primeval forest.

The Ash Mountain Secret Realm had no distinction between day and night. There was no sun, yet it wasn't dim.

Lu Yuan followed Lan Chen into the primeval forest. They were surrounded by unfamiliar ancient trees, each so large it would take several people to encircle its trunk. Fallen leaves from these trees formed a thick carpet underfoot. Occasionally, they spotted insects and small animals. Despite their peculiar appearances, the overall atmosphere was relatively relaxed.

This was especially true for Lu Yuan. The concentration of Evil God factors in the primeval forest was about two to three times higher than outside. As soon as Lu Yuan entered the forest, he felt an unusual "excitement," and his Bloodcells were constantly growing stronger. This was reflected on his personal attribute panel: his four Basic Attributes were slowly and steadily increasing.

Lu Yuan felt that even if he did nothing but stay here, the natural increase in his attributes would make this trip worthwhile.

"...We're currently in the 'safe zone,' which spans about ten kilometers. Don't be fooled by how calm and danger-free it seems now; when we first entered, this place was teeming with man-eating Evil God creatures... It took a great deal of effort to clear them out..." Lan Chen walked ahead of Lu Yuan, a faint blue light emanating from the prismatic gemstone on his chest.

Lu Yuan felt Lan Chen's second-tier Spiritual Power spreading out entirely. Lan Chen's finely modified body had multiple modules ready to activate at any moment, and he appeared extremely cautious.

Lu Yuan had a general understanding of the path Lan Chen had taken. It was a relatively high-end modification path. The core of his system was an exoskeleton armor, with an implanted energy field and numerous intelligent combat-assist modules. This path had two upper branches: "Human-Machine Integration," completely transforming oneself into a combat Mecha, and "Human-Machine Separation," following the path of a Mecha pilot. Both paths, regardless of direction, required the backing of a large organization; an individual's resources were insufficient for step-by-step advancement. And no matter the path, there were strict requirements for Spiritual Power.

My Spiritual Power, from my 31 points in Intelligence, is much higher than ordinary second-tier Spiritual Power, but not quite third-tier... His own Spiritual Power wasn't particularly outstanding; it didn't constitute a large part of his overall strength, which mostly relied on techniques and raw power for bursts. However, Lu Yuan felt he could catch up quickly. Each point added to Intelligence caused his Spiritual Power intensity to surge. He estimated that with just a few more points in his Intelligence attribute, his Spiritual Power could break through to the third tier. After all, Intelligence didn't just represent Spiritual Power; it covered a wide range of abilities.

While following Lan Chen, Lu Yuan kept trying to find the Hoopoe he had seen outside the forest, but to no avail; he had no idea where it had flown.

"Further ahead, we'll enter the 'unsafe zone.'" Lan Chen suddenly stopped, his expression serious as he warned Lu Yuan, "This area hasn't been fully explored and still holds many dangers. You must stay close to me. If something happens to me, don't try to save me... just turn back the way we came..."

Lu Yuan's eyes flickered; he nodded without speaking.

CLICK. CLICK.

After instructing Lu Yuan, the gemstone on Lan Chen's chest glowed, as if a start button had been pressed. Pieces of azure alloy armor emerged from various parts of his body, firmly protecting his joints and vital areas.

"First stage activated..."

After completing this, Lan Chen cautiously took a step forward. His caution level visibly increased severalfold on the subsequent journey. He frequently paused to deliberate before taking the next step. Their progress became rather slow.

Lu Yuan wasn't in a hurry, silently absorbing the ambient Evil God factors, seizing every moment to strengthen himself.

After walking for about ten minutes, covering roughly one to two kilometers, a series of RUSTLES suddenly came from some nearby bushes.

Lan Chen's nerves tensed instantly. He whipped around, aiming his hands in the direction of the sound. Orbs of blue energy flickered in both his palms.

Almost simultaneously, two figures bolted out from the source of the sound. They wore white combat suits with a black diamond pattern on the chest and looked distinctly different from Sum Countrymen.

Lu Yuan recognized the pattern; it was the insignia of an Extraordinary organization called Black Spirit.

Fellow members of an exploration team... Brief identity information about the two people opposite him automatically popped up in Lu Yuan's vision: Name, country/organization, Ash List ranking...

The two Black Spirit organization members who had burst from the bushes looked as tense as Lan Chen. The two groups made eye contact. Without any verbal communication, and after only a brief glance, they tacitly went their separate ways.

As soon as the two Black Spirit organization members left, Lan Chen immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Two of them, ranked in the seven hundreds..." he said, then began to share his experience with Lu Yuan: "One of the benefits of the recording chip we just loaded is that as soon as you meet someone, you can instantly check their Ash List ranking. To a large extent, this also reflects their combat power..."

Lu Yuan was noncommittal.

After the false alarm, the two continued forward.

At some point, Lu Yuan's peripheral vision caught an orange shadow flashing through the trees.

A Hoopoe?!

Lu Yuan's Spiritual Power shot out, but he failed to locate its figure.

His eyes flickered. After a moment's thought, he grabbed Lan Chen's arm and, pointing in the direction where the Hoopoe had possibly appeared, asked, "Shall we head over there for a bit?"

Lan Chen gave him a peculiar look. "Why does a rookie like you, on your first trip into the Secret Realm, have so many inexplicable suggestions?" He took a couple of steps in the direction Lu Yuan indicated, pushing aside the obstructing vines as he spoke, "What's so special about this place? Why insist on going this way... Huh?!"

Lan Chen hadn't finished speaking when his entire body suddenly trembled violently. His eyes then locked onto a spot ahead, a look of shocked ecstasy flashing wildly in them.

"Such... such powerful energy fluctuations! The chip indicates a high-value Treasure might be within five kilometers ahead! Good heavens, Lu Yuan... have we hit the jackpot this time?!"

Lu Yuan remained silent, also taking a couple of steps forward. As he reached Lan Chen's side, the exploration chip installed in his body indeed displayed a similar notification.

Upon seeing the notification, Lu Yuan felt a strange sense of relief and inevitability, for some reason. He felt like he had truly made the right gamble this time. Could that elusive Hoopoe really be his lucky messenger?!

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