CRACK, CRACK, CRACK—

A continuous stream of fine cracking sounds emanated from the large man.

Starting from the point of impact of the platinum-colored fist, a large area of spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread across the surface of the man's black armor, expanding...

The man stared in disbelief at the rapidly spreading cracks, his mind seemingly frozen.

In the visual network only he could see, various vivid, glaring red warning signals flashed madly.

BOOM!

In the jungle, a black firework violently bloomed.

A massive energy shockwave, carrying countless black metal shards, spread in all directions, sending dirt and wood splinters flying.

Before the commotion here could subside, the white figure at the center of the explosion had already made a sharp turn, rushing towards another crimson figure.

The crimson figure was now near the golden vine, preparing to harvest it.

Hearing the commotion, he turned, his eyes reflecting a white figure arriving in an instant, like a flood dragon.

The man's pupils contracted sharply as his crimson armor abruptly projected a massive, crimson energy shield.

Immediately after, a dense globe of energy, as thick as an eggshell, emanated from the armor.

But before this energy globe could expand, a fist, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder, slammed down fiercely.

BOOM!

A small, platinum-gold sun rose in the jungle.

The sun quickly extinguished, followed by the bloom of a crimson firework. The raging, violent shockwave and debris obscured everything.

Lan Chen's azure exoskeleton armor glowed so brightly it resembled a giant, luminous blue lightbulb, a sign that it was being pushed to its absolute limit. Yet, he himself remained motionless in mid-air, mouth agape, staring blankly at the scene before him.

Through Lan Chen's dazed eyes, a tall, slender, handsome figure calmly emerged from the dust and smoke of the explosion's aftermath.

In his hand, he held a segment of a strange, brilliantly golden vine.

Lu Yuan walked over to Lan Chen, glanced at the vine in his hand, then at Lan Chen, and asked, "What were you shouting just now?"

"Uh..." Lan Chen opened his mouth. His mind was buzzing, a relentless ringing in his ears, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Lan Chen was dumbfounded.

He looked at Lu Yuan, who appeared so natural, as if he had done nothing, as if nothing had happened. Then he looked at the two Distant Star Federation men lying unconscious nearby, and the armor fragments scattered everywhere.

Images of Lu Yuan, with swift and decisive movements, blasting apart the two men with a single punch each, kept flashing in his mind.

If it weren't for the potent, legendary aura emanating from the golden vine Treasure so close by—an aura so intense it nearly suffocated him—Lan Chen would have suspected he was dreaming.

What just happened? Lu Yuan defeated two Distant Star Federation experts with third-tier combat strength, and even shattered the exoskeleton armor they wore?!

Lan Chen felt dizzy.

He remembered that when he first met Lu Yuan, Lu Yuan was just a rookie who struggled even to perform the SS-rank Elephant God Walk. Although his talent was dazzling, his strength could only be described as average.

How much time had passed since then?

Lu Yuan could now thrash third-tier combatants? And after thrashing them, he looked completely unfazed, as if he'd done nothing, clearly still holding back some strength.

So what level of strength does he possess now?

Comparing himself to Lu Yuan, Lan Chen suddenly felt as if all his years of hard work in Yellow Bear had gone to waste.

HUFF... HUFF...

Lan Chen struggled to calm his turbulent emotions. He swallowed hard, then spoke, his voice outwardly calm but with a slight tremor, "Is the Starry Sky Martial Path... truly that powerful? Or is your talent just too exceptional?"

Seeing the desperate eagerness for an answer in Lan Chen's eyes, Lu Yuan paused for a moment before replying, "Do you want the truth, or a comforting lie?"

Lan Chen gritted his teeth. "What do you think?"

Lu Yuan shook his head. "Actually, I don't know if the Starry Sky Martial Path is strong or not... My talent for the Starry Sky Martial Path is also quite average... Because..."

Lu Yuan made a slightly helpless shrugging gesture towards Lan Chen and replied, "I haven't even scratched the surface."

"Huh?" Lan Chen's expression froze.

"Don't joke. Your body shows no signs of New Martial or modifications. If it's not the Starry Sky Martial Path, how did you blast them apart..." Lan Chen paused, then specifically emphasized, "and their third-tier exoskeleton armor?!"

He heavily emphasized the words "third-tier."

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have scoffed if anyone else told him someone had shattered third-tier exoskeleton armor barehanded. Do you know what materials third-tier exoskeleton armor is forged from? Do you know how terrifying the maximum defensive power of a third-tier exoskeleton armor's built-in energy shield is? You know nothing! And you still dare claim you don't practice the Starry Sky Martial Path?

"I follow the traditional Pure Martial route." Lu Yuan extended his index finger and thumb, making a pinching gesture, and explained earnestly, "It's just that my attainments in traditional Pure Martial are relatively high, so I'm just a tiny bit stronger than others..."

Lan Chen gave Lu Yuan a look that screamed, "Are you an idiot, or do you take me for one?" Disbelief was written all over his face.

Lu Yuan couldn't be bothered to explain further.

Truthfully, he wasn't surprised by the outcome of the recent battle.

His four Basic Attributes were all close to their second Break the Limit. His blood orb was as large as a wheel, and he had comprehended the Lv. 2 [Grandmaster Force] technique, complemented by the God Elephant Sect's martial arts. It was primarily a perfect fusion of technique and power, a peak performance.

[Grandmaster Instinct] also endowed him with near-demonic combat awareness and intuition, allowing him to perceive fleeting flaws and weaknesses in battle with crystal clarity.

Third-tier energy shields are strong, and third-tier exoskeleton armor is tough, but... even the strongest and toughest things have their weak points, don't they? It didn't seem that hard...

Lu Yuan's eyes gleamed as he recalled the sensation of shattering two sets of third-tier exoskeleton armor. Gazing at his fair, slender, almost flawless hands, he felt that, given time, manually tearing apart a Super God Level Mecha was not just an empty dream.

Collecting his wandering thoughts, Lu Yuan finally turned his attention back to the golden vine in his hand.

The vine was twelve centimeters long and two fingers thick.

The vine's surface was smooth, adorned with many beautiful, intricate patterns of unknown meaning.

The vine's skin was pale gold, and the golden light it naturally emitted flowed from these patterns.

An unprecedentedly dense concentration of Evil God factors enveloped Lu Yuan.

With each breath he took, his blood orb grew stronger.

Under the infusion of this dense aura, the vital energy and blood within him continuously swelled, surged higher, and rushed through his entire body like a tide.

He could feel his physique strengthening at every moment.

Just absorbing it passively brings such great benefits. What would happen if I ate this thing? Could this golden vine have once been a perch for a real Phoenix?!

Lu Yuan's eyes flickered. After a moment of thought, he asked Lan Chen, "How should we split this?"

Lan Chen gazed at the golden vine in Lu Yuan's hand with unconcealed envy, his expression sour, yet he shook his head righteously and refused, "Split what? I didn't contribute. You obtained this yourself, so it naturally all belongs to you..."

The Merit-seeking Boy isn't trying to take credit this time?!

Lu Yuan was surprised by Lan Chen's magnanimity.

However, in the next second, Lan Chen continued thoughtfully, "But... I did lead you all the way here, working hard without complaint, diligently guiding you and sharing all my experience. More or less, I did make a tiny contribution... If you really feel bad about it, you could consider giving me just a tiny smidgen..."

Lan Chen rubbed his hands together, looking at Lu Yuan with an expectant expression, as if waiting for him to break off a piece of the golden vine's skin on the spot and toss it to him.

Lu Yuan was a little speechless but couldn't be bothered to bicker with Lan Chen. After all, Lan Chen had come a long way to pick him up and then guided him all this way; he had indeed put in considerable effort.

"Then I'll break off a piece for you..." Lu Yuan said, about to apply force to the golden vine in his hand.

But Lan Chen suddenly grew anxious and hurriedly stopped him, exclaiming in a low voice, "Don't be rash! Just keep it for yourself. If you break it, it might become useless... If you really want to help a brother out, just transfer some Merit directly..."

As Lan Chen spoke, he glanced at the two Distant Star Federation exploration team members lying on the ground in the distance. He looked at Lu Yuan with a complex expression and sighed softly, "I still haven't gathered enough Merit to upgrade my exoskeleton armor to second-tier... Enough said. I'll go pick up some scrap materials, exchange them for Merit, and I'll share some with you later."

With that, Lan Chen headed straight for the distant battle site and began collecting the broken armor fragments scattered on the ground.

Lu Yuan couldn't be bothered with him and checked his current Ash Value ranking.

He found he had jumped from over 1,300th place to the 300-somethingth place.

The golden vine in his hand, after being recorded and assessed by the chip, had provided him with over twenty thousand Ash Value points.

But Lu Yuan had no interest whatsoever in this Ash Value; he was wondering if he could just eat the vine directly.

"After a Treasure is successfully recorded and converted into Ash Value, what happens if you can't produce the item at the end of the exploration?" Lu Yuan thought for a moment and asked Lan Chen, who was "scavenging" nearby.

Without turning his head, Lan Chen replied, "If you can't produce the item, the corresponding Ash Value will be deducted... Each Treasure can only be recorded once."

Just a deduction? Then it's no big deal. Lu Yuan's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing the answer.

The Ash Value, which was quite important to other explorers and could be exchanged for Merit, held no value for him. Instead, the Treasure itself was far more useful to him.

Rather than keeping it to exchange for Merit, it's better to just eat it directly. If the higher-ups ask me later where the item went, I'll just say I lost it, or that it was stolen...

As Lu Yuan was thinking of excuses, a very important point suddenly occurred to him.

Since my Treasure can be stolen... can I steal from others?!

His train of thought instantly broadened.

As this was a joint exploration mission, Lu Yuan believed the organizers would surely have preventive measures in place against the possibility of participants robbing each other within the Secret Realm. For example, the rule Lan Chen had just mentioned: that each Treasure could only be recorded once. It might even be that after you robbed someone, you'd still have to return the item after exiting the Secret Realm, and so on.

However, no matter how the rules were set, they had absolutely no effect on Lu Yuan.

Because his thinking was completely different from anyone else's... He had no intention of leaving the Secret Realm with any Treasure at all!

"Excellent, excellent, what a brilliant idea," Lu Yuan casually placed the golden vine from his hand into his mouth and began to chew, muttering to himself with sparkling eyes, "This way... my enthusiasm for exploring the Secret Realm has suddenly surged..."

Those experts at the top of the Ash Value rankings, carrying hundreds of thousands in Ash Value—what kind of goodies will they have in their possession? This is... truly something to look forward to.

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