Stronger with Crimson Modifier

Chapter 470: Chapter 367: Resistance and The End (Part 1)

A dozen or so minutes later.

In the bright and spacious conference room, a man and a woman knelt before Hu Qi.

They were none other than Lu Shan and Lu Hong from the Rotten Leaf Gathering Place.

At this moment, their expressions held both awe and a faint trace of nervousness.

"...We heard you were here, Lord, so we came looking for you."

Lu Shan explained in a low voice, her head bowed and her expression one of utter respect. Yet, she secretly sized up Hu Qi out of the corner of her eye.

Hu Qi looked the same as ever.

With his current strength in this world, he no longer needed to use the Twisted Light to disguise his figure and appearance. This was why the pair had been able to find him.

With his white hair, blue eyes, and tall, burly frame, he didn’t seem to have changed much at all.

However, the powerful, oppressive aura he exuded still made Lu Shan and Lu Hong’s hearts pound and their palms sweat.

After listening to their explanation, Hu Qi understood the situation.

After he left, the three Evolvers had easily conquered the nearby Black Stone Gathering Place.

Then, they lay low to increase their strength, gradually annexing several surrounding gathering places.

In just three short years, the original Rotten Leaf Gathering Place expanded from a small settlement into a medium-sized one with tens of thousands of people.

Not long ago, during a trip to the City of Dawn, they happened to see a photo of Hu Qi. Only then did they learn that he was the City Lord, so they rushed here immediately.

As for Tong Chang, they said he had unfortunately died during a Wild Beast attack.

However, judging by the unnatural expression on Lu Shan’s face as she said this, there was probably more to the story.

’In any case, the three of them were just a whim, a casual experiment to test one of my theories. Their lives and deaths don’t matter to me.’

Additionally, over the past three years, Lu Shan’s faith had deepened, and she had reached the level of an Intermediate Believer.

Lu Hong, on the other hand, was still a Basic Level Believer.

’It seems I still need to cultivate their faith.’

However, Hu Qi was more interested in their strength.

Compared to before, the two had changed significantly.

It wasn’t hard to understand how Lu Hong had gone from Tier One to Tier Three Peak. Back when Hu Qi had stimulated his internal Essence and Qi, it had cost Lu Hong thirty years of his life, but his physical attributes now far surpassed those of ordinary people. It was only natural that the evolution of his Life Level would accelerate.

What Hu Qi hadn’t expected, however, was Lu Shan. Her strength had actually surpassed Lu Hong’s, reaching the Tier Four Early Stage.

Although her aura indicated she had only just broken through, her progress was still astonishing.

For an ordinary Evolver in this world, taking five to ten years to advance from Tier One to Tier Two was considered normal.

Only Evolvers with an Innate Awakening had a chance of reaching Tier Two within five years. The most talented among them might touch the threshold of Tier Three, but that was their limit.

Breaking through to Tier Four, however, was nearly impossible.

Yet Lu Shan’s rate of advancement had already surpassed even those Evolvers with Innate Awakenings. It was simply not normal.

At this thought, Hu Qi’s figure flickered, and he instantly appeared before Lu Shan.

His sudden movement startled the pair.

"Lord, you... what are you...?"

Hu Qi paid them no mind, placing his palm directly on Lu Shan’s head.

Feeling the warm, large palm on her head, a flicker of discomfort crossed Lu Shan’s face.

Now that her strength had increased to Tier Four, the red mark on her face was still there, but it had faded significantly. All that remained was a faint pink mark, difficult to spot unless one looked closely.

The fading of the mark made her already pleasant features seem even more charming and lovely.

Of course, Hu Qi had no interest in such things.

The moment his palm touched Lu Shan’s head, a thread of Spiritual Power flowed from his palm and into her body.

In an instant, the complete state of Lu Shan’s body was revealed to Hu Qi.

’Hmm, I really didn’t expect this kind of change...’

A peculiar glint flashed in Hu Qi’s eyes.

Then, he withdrew his hand.

When Lu Shan felt the warm hand leave her head, a faint sense of reluctance welled up inside her.

As if realizing how strange this was, she quickly pushed the feeling to the back of her mind.

After withdrawing his hand, Hu Qi repeated the process, touching Lu Hong next.

Although Lu Hong didn’t know what Hu Qi was doing, he didn’t dare resist.

A few seconds later.

Hu Qi withdrew his hand and closed his eyes slightly.

He waited for a moment.

He opened his eyes.

A look of surprise and dawning realization flashed in his eyes.

Just as he expected, comparing the two of them confirmed his theory.

The reason for their astonishing progress was that the Runes he had transplanted into their bodies had undergone some kind of unknown change.

Hu Qi had already fully constructed and absorbed these specific Runes before.

And with his memory, he knew them by heart; forgetting them was out of the question.

However, upon his inspection just now, he found the Runes in their bodies were different from when he first transplanted them; they had gained many new lines and become far more complex.

If one had to describe it...

The transplanted Rune was like a seed, and the human body was like soil. After entering the body, the Rune would begin to grow over time.

It was just that the rate of growth varied from person to person.

Take Lu Hong, for instance. His Rune had grown by about one-fifth.

While the Rune in his body had changed, it was nothing compared to Lu Shan’s.

Hers had already reached three-fifths.

Perhaps this was the reason for the difference in their cultivation progress.

The more complex the Rune, the faster an Evolver’s cultivation speed.

However, this wasn’t what interested Hu Qi. What mattered was that the grown Rune was different from the original and that it could increase the completeness of his own unknown Runes.

Perhaps...