Chapter 102 - 101: Success, Approaching

Chapter 102: Chapter 101: Success, Approaching

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Ji Zhixing continuously refined the power of the Underground Blood Ginseng. Whenever his Spiritual Power was about to run out, he drank a Spiritual Power potion and resumed refining.

The power of the Blood Ginseng felt endless, and its effects were extraordinary. After just a few hours, Ji Zhixing felt his Willow Tree gene give a slight tremor before blooming with a faint light. The light surged from his gene aperture, spread through every limb and bone in his body, and then sank into the earth beneath his feet.

He could feel a wondrous connection forming between himself and the ground below. It wasn’t a simple physical contact, but a deep resonance. It was as if the earth wasn’t just cold, heartless rock and soil, but a living whole—and he was a part of it.

"This is..."

An irrepressible joy surged in Ji Zhixing’s heart.

The next moment, his consciousness received a new piece of information.

"Root of the Earth. Passive gene ability. Three-star quality. As long as the body is in contact with the earth, one can continuously draw power from it to restore their own gene source power."

"I did it!"

The Root of the Earth ability had finally been unlocked! Ji Zhixing took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement. Previously, he had to condense illusory roots and plunge them deep into the soil to draw power, and the process was incredibly slow. Because of that, he had only experimented with the Willow Tree’s rooting ability when he first acquired it, never using it again since.

But the Root of the Earth was different. Now, he didn’t need to actively cast a skill or condense illusory roots. He could simply draw power from the ground to restore himself.

"As long as I stand on the ground, my source power will almost never run dry," he thought to himself. "This is practically a divine skill for wars of attrition, especially since my Gigantification ability consumes so much gene source power."

He turned his head to look at Xiao Mingyue beside him. Over the past few hours, out of sheer boredom, she had shifted her posture every little while. Right now, she was leaning against him, seemingly drowsy, her head resting on his shoulder every so often.

Seeing Ji Zhixing stop his cultivation and look her way, her eyes lit up slightly. She mouthed wordlessly, "Did it work?"

Ji Zhixing nodded gently.

Sitting close to the Blood Ginseng, the two of them could see each other clearly in the light it radiated. Xiao Mingyue immediately revealed a look of delight. However, her joy faded as she remembered the giant snake still resting nearby. Realizing that she and Ji Zhixing would probably have to stay trapped here, her expression turned bitter.

"What do we do?" she asked, looking at Ji Zhixing inquiringly.

Ji Zhixing also looked helpless. Under these circumstances, there was nothing he could do. Even though he had unlocked the Root of the Earth ability, escaping this Snake Cave would still be incredibly difficult. The only way out would be to fight the giant snake head-on and be forcibly expelled from the secret realm by it.

Ji Zhixing shook his head. Unless he had absolutely no other choice, he definitely wouldn’t choose that option.

He listened to the sounds of the giant snake. Several hours had passed, and the creature was still coiled up on the opposite side. Its breathing was deep and even, showing no signs of leaving.

"I’m so bored. I wonder when this snake will leave," Xiao Mingyue suddenly leaned in and whispered into Ji Zhixing’s ear. "If it doesn’t, we’ll probably have to stay here until the Blood Beast Secret Realm closes."

Ji Zhixing’s expression immediately froze. He turned his head and stared at her, eyes wide.

"Is this really the place to be talking?" he thought.

Although he knew that most snake-type gene beasts had poor hearing and could only detect loud noises, actually speaking in this place was way too bold.

Ji Zhixing took a deep breath, held it, and perked up his ears to listen to the movement on the opposite side. After a few seconds, the giant snake still showed no reaction, its breathing remaining steady.

He breathed a sigh of relief, his heart still palpitating.

Seeing his expression, a smug smile appeared in Xiao Mingyue’s eyes.

"Let’s just wait a bit longer," Ji Zhixing said, unable to do anything about her. He leaned close to her ear and spoke in an extremely low voice. "If it doesn’t leave, we really might have to wait until the secret realm closes to be teleported out."

"#%&@!?"

Hearing this, Xiao Mingyue glanced at him. Her lips moved, and she suddenly said something. However, her words were completely muffled, her voice so soft it practically didn’t exist. Ji Zhixing didn’t catch a single word; he could only guess based on the shape of her mouth.

"Did you say...?" Ji Zhixing’s heart skipped a beat.

"Guess."

Xiao Mingyue smiled at his expression. With a proud and aloof look, she turned her head away.

Helpless, Ji Zhixing could only take a deep breath to calm himself down.

SCRAPE!

At that moment, the giant snake suddenly moved.

The sound of snake scales rubbing against the rock echoed in the quiet Snake Cave, like something being dragged across a rough cave wall. The two of them tensed up, not daring to move a muscle. They even held their breath. In the silence, only their heartbeats seemed to grow louder and louder.

The next moment, they heard the sounds of the giant snake growing further away, moving toward the passageway.

"Is it leaving?" Ji Zhixing thought, a wave of wild joy surging in his heart.

Sure enough, the sound gradually retreated, becoming fainter and fainter until it disappeared completely. The two looked at each other, both seeing the pleasant surprise in the other’s eyes.

"Let’s go!" Ji Zhixing mouthed silently, throwing off the Chameleon Cloth.

They crawled out from behind the Blood Ginseng and, without a moment’s hesitation, crouched low and dashed toward the tunnel entrance. Once they left the space illuminated by the Underground Blood Ginseng, their surroundings plunged into darkness.

They paused in their tracks. They had no choice but to double back and each put a drop of Eye-Clearing Potion in their eyes. Only then did they sprint wildly back up the path they had come from. Ji Zhixing activated his Fallen Feather Moon-Treading Boots, and Xiao Mingyue’s footsteps were equally silent.

"The snake isn’t here!"

The two charged all the way up to the underground space above the passageway. It was completely empty; the giant snake was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on, let’s get out of here." Xiao Mingyue grabbed Ji Zhixing’s hand. They hurried to the edge of the Blood River and leaped into the water.

The freezing bloody water enveloped their bodies as they sank to the bottom and quickly swam back the way they came.

A few minutes later, they finally returned to the space inhabited by the Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles. Several of the crocodiles spotted them and seemed tempted to attack, but as if recalling something, they ultimately didn’t dare, keeping their distance instead.

The two ignored the Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles. After emerging from the waterway, they immediately climbed ashore and found the familiar crack in the mountain.

"Let’s go!" Without hesitation, Ji Zhixing pulled Xiao Mingyue into the crevice, climbing straight up.

The light grew brighter, and the air grew fresher.

Finally, they squeezed out of the mountain fissure and stood on the surface once again.

PHEW!

Ji Zhixing let out a long breath. Looking up at the blood sun in the sky, he felt entirely relieved.

"We’re finally out!" Xiao Mingyue also breathed a sigh of relief, her expression relaxing.

"I thought we were going to be stuck in there until the secret realm closed." She smiled, looking at Ji Zhixing. "We still have some time. There should be a few hours left before it ends. What do we do now?

"If you can take first place on the secret realm leaderboard, the rewards you get should be a lot better. But we don’t have much time left. Even if we go all out hunting for Blood Beasts, we might not be able to overtake that Cao Zhenxing."

"I know," Ji Zhixing nodded.

Yesterday, Cao Zhenxing’s score was 645,000. His own score was 625,000. There was a 20,000-point gap between them.

Twenty thousand points was equivalent to twenty Tier One Blood Crystals, or two Tier Two Blood Crystals. This amount wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t a little either. If he had more time left, given that he had already secured second place and made a huge splash, he wouldn’t have minded fighting for first place to get more rewards. But the remaining time was simply too short. Unless he submitted the Blood Crystals he had held back previously, he probably wouldn’t be able to beat Cao Zhenxing even if he tried.

"Let’s just stroll around for the rest of the time, then. If we run into any Blood Beasts, we’ll kill them. If we don’t, whatever," Xiao Mingyue suggested.

Although she wanted Ji Zhixing to take first place too, there just wasn’t much time left. Unless they got incredibly lucky and stumbled upon a massive pack of Blood Beasts or a few Tier Two Blood Beasts, it would be extremely difficult. Rather than exhausting themselves searching, they might as well take a casual walk.

Even though they had already spent ten days in the Blood Beast Secret Realm, and the place didn’t exactly have much in the way of scenery, this place...

Once they left this time, they might never be able to return.

"Okay," Ji Zhixing nodded.

The two chatted as they wandered aimlessly through the Blood Beast Secret Realm. Along the way, they encountered a few Tier One Blood Beasts, which Ji Zhixing casually killed. He refined them and obtained some Tier One Blood Crystals, but it was highly unlikely that he could claim first place relying on these alone.

After all, a whole day had passed today. There was no way Cao Zhenxing’s score had remained stagnant.

"Huh? It looks like there are two Tier Two Blood Beasts fighting over there."

Suddenly, as they crested a hill, Xiao Mingyue’s eyes lit up, and she pointed ahead. Ji Zhixing followed her gaze. In the valley ahead, two massive Blood Wolves were locked in a fierce battle. One wolf was entirely dark red, while the other’s fur was slightly blackened.

"They really do look like Tier Two Blood Beasts." Ji Zhixing’s eyes also lit up. Looking closely, the two Blood Wolves did indeed seem to be Tier Two Blood Beasts. One of them was even wounded, clearly indicating they had been fighting for quite some time.

"Are we really this lucky?"

Xiao Mingyue’s expression filled with excitement. She and Ji Zhixing had basically given up, so she never expected them to stumble upon two Tier Two Blood Beasts at a time like this. If Ji Zhixing could kill them and refine one or two Tier Two Blood Crystals, there was a real chance they could actually clinch first place!

"Let’s attack together! We need to take them down as quickly as possible before time runs out!" Thinking this, she immediately grabbed Ji Zhixing and pulled him forward.