Chapter 423: The Forerunner
"Sandalwood Leaves, Moluo Flowers, Kormo Grass... just this haul alone is worth half the cost of a breakthrough method. This gamble paid off!"
After abandoning his subordinates and entering the forest, Ke Mu strode forward rapidly, occasionally plucking one or two precious materials with incredible speed. Without the harassment of mutated creatures, he effortlessly reaped countless benefits.
The spiritual materials in his hand, normally, perhaps every single point's acquisition would require a life-or-death struggle. But now, in the interim while the guardians were absent, Ke Mu, without the slightest effort, collected enough to fill half a backpack.
"Good thing I was the first to enter. Those who follow can only eat dust."
With his heart already brimming with joy, he was extremely grateful that he had chosen to take a gamble instead of hesitating like others, staring at a treasure mountain yet holding back.
"Fifth-tier Mage... I'm coming!"
Ke Mu hummed a little tune, sweeping through the area with a relaxed attitude akin to a leisurely outing. His initial flicker of caution was dulled by the boundless treasury that offered whatever he desired.
Without the various dangerous mutated creatures, the ordinary wild beasts and insects within the forest simply couldn't pose any threat to him, a Fourth-tier Mage.
Just the defense provided by his Life Field alone meant that even if he stood still and let them attack, it was highly unlikely they could break through.
After years of exploration, it was now widely believed across various systems that the Life Field was an extension of the concept of "self." The differing emphasis in the direction of this extension ultimately led to the varied forms of transcendent transformation beyond the Fifth Tier.
From the First to Fourth Tier, whether they were cultivators of the Spirit Hub System, Mages of the Wizardry System, martial artists of the Martial Path System, or spellcasters of the Spellcasting System—all were in an initial stage of evolution, still possessing mortal bodies.
Essentially, they could be seen as mortals possessing partially transcendent bodies, and thus could not escape humanity's inherent weaknesses: the need for food, water, and air.
Without external supplies, they would still die within a short period. In the absence of air, Fourth-tier superhumans could, on average, only last two to three days.
But starting from the Fifth Tier, the essence of life underwent its first leap, and they would begin to attempt to thoroughly break free from these human bodily constraints.
In the Spirit Hub System, Xuanhua appeared—a powerful protective layer capable of even allowing its possessor to survive briefly on the surface of the Sun. The need for air became extremely low; even in the void of space, one could persist for about a month.
At the Chemosynthesis level, a Primal Spirit appeared. If the Primal Spirit was immortal, the cultivator was immortal, completely breaking free from humanity's great obstacle in space exploration: the need for air.
As for martial artists in the Dharma Body stage, starting from the second turn of their Nine Revolutions, their ever-changing Dharma Body would continuously nourish and transform their physical body, paving the way for step-by-step breakthroughs of deeper limits.
Then there was the Spellcaster System: upon reaching the Super-class Mage level, connected to the Sea of Primal Force, they could control an incredibly vast amount of energy to serve themselves...
Of course, this also included using that energy to further modify themselves, gradually approaching the elementization they theorized.
Besides these, there were several other paths explored by the pioneers, such as the Knight System, the Divine Path System, and the Wizardry System. Without exception, their goal was always to become stronger and harder to kill.
It was precisely because the watershed between the Fourth and Fifth Tiers was so immense that, regardless of the faction, entering the Fifth Tier was a requirement to become a core member of an organization. The greatest wish of countless Fourth-tier organizational stalwarts like Ke Mu was to advance another level.
Although breakthrough methods became increasingly mature, as the concentration of spirit qi continuously declined, the difficulty of breaking through still increased exponentially.
More and more cultivators found themselves trapped, unable to advance, only able to slowly grind their way forward over time. The dividends of the high spirit qi era had been completely devoured; the days when one could recklessly pursue breakthroughs without fear of death were long gone.
The world to come belonged to true geniuses, no longer to luck...
Humanity's research into spirit qi still remained in the rudimentary, inductive stage. With their current technological level, attempting to analyze spirit qi—an existence capable of overturning all established laws and even altering the fundamental principles of physics—their hopes remained too slim.
"Damn it! He got ahead of us!" A few minutes later, a group of people who had been slower to decide to enter the forest cursed in exasperation.
Ke Mu, who had gone ahead, naturally chose to take the easiest to obtain and most precious items.
There were very few traversable paths in the dense forest, so what later arrivals could find were mostly either things Ke Mu disdained, or the remnants left after he had collected what he desired.
"If only I'd known, I would've been the first to charge in," a young man grumbled indignantly. "I had the chance just now!"
"If I'd known earlier, I would've been waiting here two days ago," someone beside him scoffed, and the surroundings immediately erupted in laughter.
Facing this situation, the group temporarily halted in the forest, considering their next move.
Soon, people began to break off in twos and threes, choosing to depart from the main group and head towards directions where there were no paths at all.
Following behind Ke Mu would surely yield nothing but leftovers; it was better to take their chances and blaze their own trail.
More and more people realized this, but not many had the resolve to take the risk.
Regardless, Ke Mu's path was certainly the easiest to follow, and he was just one person; he couldn't possibly take much. It was much less trouble to hitch a ride and pick up some easy gains.
The area outside the Amazon Secret Realm grew increasingly bustling. As the news leaked, spreading like wildfire from one to ten, then ten to a hundred, a large group of profit-driven opportunists, like vultures, quickly gathered.
Among them were those who had flown themselves, those who had sped over in cars, those who had taken helicopters, and even some who had directly parachuted from planes.
A bustling crowd thronged outside the entrance of the Amazon Secret Realm. Each harboring their own thoughts and aspirations, they hurriedly entered the forest.
"When I come out, let's get married," a man got out of a jeep and gently kissed the tip of the girl's nose beside him.
"Promise me, this is the last time," the girl tenderly caressed the scar on the man's nape, a hint of worry in her eyes.
"Don't worry, I have reliable information. All the monsters inside have disappeared. This time, it's purely a money grab."
"Go quickly and come back soon." She lightly kissed his cheek and silently began to bless him.
The man was a professional adventurer; years of adventuring had brought him a considerable fortune, and of course, a body full of scars.
This time, upon receiving news from a friend, he hurriedly dropped everything, drove furiously to the Amazon Secret Realm, intending to do one last job before washing his hands of it all.
Adventuring was, after all, playing with his life. He already had the person he loved most in life and felt he couldn't continue like this....
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