At Martial Vein Mountain, Li Wanran looked at the news on her phone, her hands trembling slightly.
Almost everywhere were news articles praising Ding Huan and his disciples, yet her name was nowhere to be found. Was she not considered a disciple of Ding Huan?
But that wasn’t what made her the most upset. What troubled her most was that Qu Yi, a disciple of Ding Huan, had been invited by Pu Hai Security Department to take the position of director due to his outstanding combat achievements.
Not only that, but Qu Yi had also become an international Star Guardian Rank holder, with a rank of two stars, for his service on the human corridor defense line.
The director of the Pu Hai Security Department? She would feel uneasy just standing in front of the director, let alone sitting in that position.
Such a high status, you can just ascend to it?
And since when had Qu Yi been a disciple of Master Ding Huan?
Fang Chong and Ai Xi had become stars in the same way; they, too, had been awarded international Star Guardian Ranks for their merits on the human corridor defense line, both at the rank of one star.
Fang Chong was a disciple of Master Ding Huan, but when had Ai Xi become a disciple of Master Ding Huan?
And the news said that Qu Yi, Fang Chong, Ai Xi, and even Lv Zi had all become Fourth or even Fifth Level gene cultivators.
Why was that?
She cultivated like mad every day, using almost all of her time, energy, and resources on cultivation, but even now, she was only a barely Second Level gene cultivator.
Not to mention, Master Ding Huan had only taught them the first three layers of the Thousand Luo Gene Technique, so how did Fang Chong and the others manage to cultivate to the Fourth Level as gene cultivators?
No, she had to go find Fang Chong and Lv Zi.
With that thought, Li Wanran couldn’t stay seated any longer.
She couldn’t settle down and cultivate until she had got a clear answer to this matter.
…
When the last piece of Primordial Qi Stone in Ding Huan’s hand shattered, he sighed.
The Primordial Qi Stones were used up, yet he was still just a Fifth Level gene cultivator. Not to speak of the Seventh Level, even the Sixth was still out of reach.
He seemed different from the others; perhaps it was an issue with the fusion of several contrary Genetic Potions. Each time he advanced, the Primordial Qi stored in his Dantian would increase exponentially.
His veins would also become more unobstructed, allowing his strength to soar after each advancement.
That was good news, but it also increased the consumption of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.
He should be able to leave this place now; he wondered if that giant ape would wait for him by the sea.
Based on his understanding of these Fierce Beasts, the giant ape would definitely not let things go easily.
However, the giant ape must have been seriously injured and had not recovered its strength so quickly.
Ding Huan was about to call Qi Xinyue when he found that she was cultivating and seemed to be striving to become a Second Level gene cultivator.
Cultivating the Thousand Luo Gene Technique so fast?
When Ding Huan’s Divine Will touched Qi Xinyue, he immediately knew she wasn’t cultivating the Thousand Luo Gene Technique, but rather the Luo Shijin.
Wasn’t Qi Xinyue lacking a Spirit Root and unable to cultivate the Luo Shijin? How could she suddenly do it now?
Ding Huan didn’t disturb Qi Xinyue and walked out of the reef cave.
The reef island was very calm, the fish and beasts in the vicinity seem to know not to mess with Ding Huan, not even coming near the edge.
Waiting for Qi Xinyue to finish cultivating, he planned to leave the reef island. In any case, he had to try to leave this sea.
Only by leaving could he find more Primordial Qi Stones and have the chance to reach higher levels.
A piece of broken ship debris caught Ding Huan’s attention, the fragment had collided with his reef island and got stuck between the rocks, with Chinese characters written on it.
Ding Huan landed on the edge of the reef, reached out and grabbed the piece:
"I won’t make it back to shore in this lifetime. If someone sees the words I’m writing here, please tell the Security Department or tell the Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch Qu Weimin.
I, Zhong Chi, was schemed against, and the one who plotted against me is Shi Changyi of the Genetic Alliance. Zhong Chi remains."
Zhong Chi? The name sounded very familiar.
Ding Huan quickly remembered. Zhong Chi, Hua Xia’s strongest fighter, rumored to have disappeared in a confrontation with a Genetic Beast.
According to everyone’s guess, Zhong Chi was killed by a Genetic Beast.
Zhong Chi should have been one of the Innate Strong People; the narrative of an Innate Strong Person being killed by a Fierce Beast Tide didn’t quite add up.
Not to mention an Innate Strong Person, even when he was just a Fourth Level gene cultivator faced with the onslaught of Fierce Beasts, he had been able to break out.
If it hadn’t been for that giant ape, he wouldn’t even have had to flee to the sea.
Discarding the fragment, Ding Huan gazed out to sea. Everywhere was vast and monotonous, the waves beating against the rocks, making a monotonous crashing sound.
But Ding Huan was pondering whether Zhong Chi might be alive, like Qi Xinyue, taking refuge on some reef island?
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There weren’t a few reef islands nearby—if that was really the case, he would still have to go and rescue him.
With that thought, Ding Huan retrieved his Starry Sky Blade from the cave and kicked up the log, dashing out of the reef island.
Qi Xinyue still had some time to finish her cultivation; he would go searching first.
As Ding Huan left the reef island, a dozen arrow lights shot out from the sea, heading straight for him.
This time, Ding Huan didn’t speed up at all; his Starry Sky Blade cast a dozen shadows, almost instantaneously tearing through the dozen arrows.
Then, Ding Huan raised his hand and sent out a dozen Wind Blades.
As if on cue, at the same moment Ding Huan unleashed the dozen Wind Blades, another fifty or sixty arrow lights were directed at him.
Ding Huan knew that the fifty or sixty arrow beams following behind and the dozen or so arrow beams in front weren’t shot by the same batch of Swordback Fish.
After shooting an arrow beam, these Swordback Fish needed several seconds to prepare before they could fire again.
The dozen or so Wind Blades that Ding Huan had launched seemed to have eyes of their own, accurately and without error slashing to death all the Swordback Fish that had fired the arrow beams.
After splitting these fifty or sixty arrow beams with the Starry Sky Blade once again, Ding Huan followed up with another fifty or sixty Wind Blades.
At the same time, a few more arrow beams shot out from the sea.
Blood flowers scattered across the surface of the sea, and Ding Huan’s fifty or sixty Wind Blade Skills still didn’t miss a single Swordback Fish, slaying all of them.
These Swordback Fish had fearsome arrow beams, but there was a fatal flaw: to shoot the arrow beams, the Swordback Fish had to stretch their heads out of the water, which made it easy for Ding Huan to kill them accurately.
For the third round of arrow beams, Ding Huan was too lazy to even use his Starry Sky Blade and simply dodged them with ease before dispatching a few more Wind Blade Skills.
The sea surface eventually became completely quiet.
Ding Huan did not speed up. He hated these arrow-shooting Swordback Fish intensely and was now hoping for them to come to him and deliver their deaths.
The Swordback Fish weren’t completely brainless either. Once they understood that facing Ding Huan was akin to seeking death, they basically fled far away.
There were many Swordback Fish, but very few could shoot arrow beams.
This kind of Swordback Fish needed to evolve time and again, and only after much difficulty could they evolve the ability to shoot arrow beams.
Easily killed by Ding Huan, even the foolish Swordback Fish dared not come to seek death again.
Without the Swordback Fish lurking for an ambush, Ding Huan carefully searched the area.
There were quite a few reef islands in this part of the sea, and whenever there was a reef island, Ding Huan would go up and take a look.
…
Qi Xinyue stood up excitedly, she was now a Second Level gene cultivator.
She had heard Ding Huan say that it took one to two months to cultivate to the Second Level, but it seemed she had only used a few days. Was this because her aptitude was better?
Hmm, where was Ding Huan?
Qi Xinyue then realized that Ding Huan was not inside the reef cave.
Qi Xinyue’s heart tightened, and she hurriedly rushed out.
Immediately she felt an emptiness inside her; Ding Huan was not outside either. This reef island wasn’t big, and having survived here for so long, she naturally knew it very well.
With Ding Huan’s strength, it was, of course, impossible for him to fall prey to the fish. The only possibility was that Ding Huan had left.
Qi Xinyue looked somewhat blankly at the boundless sea. When she first escaped here, she didn’t feel lonely, only fearful that those people would chase her to this place.
Now, she actually felt lonely. Although Ding Huan had not communicated much with her here, just a few short days had made her accustomed to his presence.
Now that Ding Huan had suddenly disappeared, she was not used to it.
She didn’t blame Ding Huan. It was hard enough for one person to leave this place, let alone with her in tow.
Besides, on Earth, other than Ding Huan, who wouldn’t capture her?
On the contrary, she felt that Ding Huan was too kind-hearted; surely he had left quietly because he didn’t want to upset her by saying it to her face.
"Good luck, I hope you can return to the place you wish to be," Qi Xinyue murmured, her entire demeanor lacking spirit.
Perhaps it would be best to go back to cultivation now, but she had lost the heart to cultivate.
…
Ding Huan stopped at another reef island, but this time he didn’t go up to search directly because he was sure that someone had lived there.
There were signs of life around the edges of the reef island.
Ding Huan’s Divine Will penetrated in, and soon he found a man holding a short dagger, warily watching in his direction.
His arrival had also drawn the other party’s attention.
Is this Zhong Chi?
The man looked to be in his thirties and didn’t seem to be a practitioner of Martial Arts; he had more of a scholarly air about him, reminiscent of a scientific researcher.
However, from his aura, he was indeed a strong individual.
Ding Huan straightforwardly stepped onto the reef island.
"Who are you?" Zhong Chi didn’t continue to hide; he stepped out from behind the rocks and looked at Ding Huan.
There was a long scar on his neck, which stretched down from his throat.
Although the wound had already scabbed over, Ding Huan could still see how terrible the scar was.
"Are you Zhong Chi?" Ding Huan asked.
"Yes, who are you?" Zhong Chi sensed Ding Huan’s youth; he appeared to be only in his twenties. How could someone so young come to this place alone?
"I’m Ding Huan. I saw your message left behind not long ago and came to check it out. I didn’t expect to actually find you," Ding Huan said with a smile.
Zhong Chi’s eyes widened, his gaze falling on the piece of wood behind Ding Huan for a long moment before speaking, "You mean to say you travel through the sea just with a piece of wood?"
"Yep," Ding Huan nodded.
"How old are you to have cultivated to the Innate level?"
Zhong Chi was even more shocked. Being Innate could indeed make such travel possible, but it was because of his severe injuries and deep poisoning that he couldn’t leave this place.
"I’m not Innate. If the senior doesn’t mind and trusts me, you can leave with me, and we’ll head to the shore immediately," Ding Huan said frankly.