Chapter 70: A New World Outside Your Doorstep

Amidst the desolate mountains and wilderness, artillery fire raged. Over ten thousand beasts swarmed out, unleashing a merciless barrage on the two intruders who had strayed into the mountainous region. Courageous lion-headed beasts charged ahead, while massive bears and nimble monkeys joined forces. In perfect coordination, infantry and tanks clashed, while birds with extraordinary wings soared overhead, laying down cover fire with explosive metal eggs. This was truly a well-organized, tactical, and modern beast army!

Faced with such an attack, Chu Hengkong ran without hesitation. His speed was as fast as riding the wind, leaving even the fastest beast far behind. Fander, who was hanging on his legs, was dazzled and screamed: "I'm going to be thrown off! Save me——"

Chu Hengkong retracted his tentacles and stuffed it into his pocket: "What is this?"

"I don't know!" Fander was speechless. "I've never seen this thing before going up the mountain! No intelligence, no information!"

"Can you be any more useless?" Chu Hengkong sighed.

"My specialty isn't fighting and killing..."

Vander poked half an eyeball out of his pocket to observe the movement, but was frightened back by a burst of bullets. These damn things were actually equipped with live ammunition, and the rain of bullets swept up an overwhelming cloud of dust.

It huddled in its windbreaker pocket, thought for a moment, and then said hesitantly, "It might be a strange beast... but I've never seen anything like it..."

"Explain it in one sentence."

"They're a race that's essentially the equivalent of a mutator!" Vander said quickly. "You know, races like ancient dragons and giants are born with high-quality semen, and mutating is just a process of growth. Alien beasts are a super-degraded version of this ideal race, born with semen but unable to ascend. They're stuck there, neither up nor down. Judging by the appearance of those creatures, they're probably keystone beasts created by external factors..."

Chu Hengkong thought the word "foundation beast" was quite powerful, and its force might drive Jie An crazy: "Has the Senluo Secret Realm been swept up to the point where even a dog is a particle?"

Vander was deeply shocked: "Dude, can you please have some common sense? This is the world's largest dust island, Senluo Secret Realm. In this damn place, a particle is no different from a dog..."

"You must apologize to all the Sephiroth 1s who have worked so hard in the entire world. In this world, there are 'foundations' who are still working hard even after they are over 60 years old."

"If you're still a cornerstone at 60, you have absolutely no talent at all. Old man, stop pushing yourself and go have some tea with your grandson!"

"The old man is also ambitious. Even though he is 60 years old, he can still fight on the front line of fraud with full energy..." Chu Hengkong said casually.

"Isn't he just an old liar? If he had used that energy in research, he should have been able to upgrade to the Strange Blade long ago!" Vander made a series of fierce complaints.

"Um……"

Chu Hengkong didn't say anything else, he closed his mouth vigilantly.

Something was wrong. He was not an idiot who would chatter and tell crosstalk during a fight. How could he naturally start chatting with this eyeball?

There must be something wrong when things are abnormal. This happened while we were fighting. Could it be that he was infected by this idiot?

Chu Hengkong broke out in a cold sweat. This conjecture gave him a sense of danger far greater than the mechanized beasts behind him. But there was no time to delve into the situation. Seeing that they were about to lose their target, the beasts suddenly shot out long flames from their rear ends, accelerating, and the distance between the two pursuers was shortened.

"Oh my god, they're speeding up!" Vander was horrified. "Look, their farts are burning!"

"Shut up first!" Chu Hengkong pinched the Fander in his pocket, "Do you know the way out of the mountain?"

"I came up from the bottom of the mountain, and now we are running all the way up the mountain. How can we get out?!" Vander screamed, "The way out is behind the herd!"

Chu Hengkong, needing no explanation from Fan De, was already aware of his current predicament. Escaping the beasts was no problem for the time being, but fighting his way back down the mountain was another challenge. There were tens of thousands of exotic beasts, not just pigs. Unless he instantly became a hard-bone warrior, he wouldn't be able to fight his way out.

"Uncle, look, there is a cave." Vander suddenly said in surprise.

There was a cave not far ahead, with a faint light visible, seemingly leading to the back of the rock. Chu Hengkong thought it might be worth a try. If he had a place to hide, he could at least use the Turtle Breathing Technique to temporarily avoid detection by the strange beasts.

But the environment didn't seem to want him to go out. As they approached, the cave moved back strangely.

"We can't be so unlucky..." Vander's eyes turned green.

The cave moved again, this time vanishing completely as the arch of rock that formed it collapsed to the ground, blocking the path. It felt as if an earthquake had struck the desolate mountain. The surrounding walls began to tremble, and a steady stream of gray dust fell in the tremors. The texture of the rock became clearer, smooth as the shells of arthropods. The boulders, the strange rocks, the mountain walls, seemed to "flow" as if connected, sprouting sharp legs.

An extremely huge black-armored centipede climbed down from the mountain wall, raised its head as big as a building, and stared at the two people who tried to leave the mountain!

Now there was no way up the mountain; the centipede had completely blocked the way out. Fander had misunderstood. The "cave" was actually the centipede's arched body, and the light was its half-open eyes. It had been dozing on the mountain. But now, the sound of artillery fire startled the giant centipede awake, and the first thing it saw were these two unfamiliar creatures. Its eyes gleamed with hunger.

"Do you think it's possible for us to talk to it?" Vander's voice was as thin as a mosquito.

The giant centipede's shells opened and closed, revealing countless white muzzles. All of them fired simultaneously as it charged towards the two men with unstoppable force, like an armed train with no blind spots!

"Hold on tight." Chu Hengkong said in a deep voice.

With the centipede in front and the beasts behind, he remained calm. The environment was unforgiving. At this point, running was pointless; he might as well risk his life. He sped toward the centipede, hurling the leaf again. This time, the leaf rapidly expanded upon impact, dispersing into a green halo. The halo enveloped Chu Hengkong, deflecting all the bullets and lasers.

【Leaves fall off the roots】

Rating: 2

[Origin: Heavenly Prison Border - Despair Wilderness]

[Effect: 1. Infuse energy to generate falling leaf knives, up to 5 pieces at a time.

2. Can only be used once within 15 days. Infuse a large amount of energy, causing fallen leaves to return to their roots, and isolate low-intensity attacks for 3 seconds.

[Missing: After the new hunters took office, Warrior Chief Silar retired successfully. He followed the ancient traditions of the tribe, sending weapons into the trend and providing assistance to strangers in distant places.]

The defense of Fallen Leaves Returning to Their Roots helped Chu Hengkong avoid the most dangerous first batch of attacks. In just three seconds, he closed the distance and jumped up, using the explosive force as strong as a spring to jump high up and onto the body of the giant centipede.

The cannons that emerged from the centipede's shell could not aim at his own body. Chu Hengkong stepped into a blind spot and ran all the way up, stepping on the body of the giant insect!

"Don't even think about it!" Finder screamed, "That's a bone beast! You can't do anything—"

Chu Hengkong reached into his pocket and pulled out another relic from the trembling Fander. It was a cyan crystal shaped like a flame, the remnant of the demon of ambition. He brushed the crystal against his tentacles, and the fire of ambition instantly ignited within the silver tentacles. The flames burned fiercely as soon as they appeared, and Chu Hengkong's tentacles shone like torches, illuminating the entire mountain range in a cyan glow.

At such a breakneck speed, Chu Hengkong practically vanished into a phantom. The azure flames, like the long tail of a comet, lingered in his afterimage. As he ran, he channeled his secret techniques, filling his tentacles with the "spirit" of battle and murder. The surging spirit hardened the tentacles, extending and entwining under his control, forming a blazing "hammer."

The giant centipede instinctively sensed danger and violently shook and rolled, attempting to throw Chu Hengkong off his feet. However, Chu Hengkong maintained his balance with exceptional agility. He leaped onto the black shell and unleashed a powerful blow into the centipede's skull!

The tentacle hammer shattered the carapace, and a powerful blow first destroyed the brain, the fire of ambition coursing through the nerves. The giant centipede ignited from within, transforming into a torch as long as a mountain road!

This brutal blow killed it instantly, and the centipede's massive body fell into the mountain, forming a natural bridge. Chu Hengkong jumped off the centipede's corpse and landed on a steep rocky slope above the mountain. In his pocket, Fan De was stunned.

"Dead...dead, dead?"

"Dead." Chu Hengkong said.

"No, buddy." Vander stammered, "You, you killed a particle 2, in a second?"

"right."

The beasts didn't pursue him, so he put away the remaining demonic fire and began to breathe deeply. After just one strike, he felt noticeably weaker, and the fire of ambition quietly burned in his heart.

Ji Qiufeng had repeatedly told him that demonic power was taboo, and the facts had proven it was indeed so. He couldn't use it for at least today. If anything else came his way, he wouldn't fight it for now.

"Hero! Master! You can definitely kill that thing in seconds, right?" Vander was full of anticipation.

Chu Hengkong slowly turned his head and saw a new beast emerging from the fog-shrouded mountaintop. It had a fox head and a long tail, its body lithe and graceful, a near-jade-like white. The jade fox grinned, baring its sharp fangs. Its aura surpassed all previous beasts, and the sense of danger it felt reminded Chu Hengkong of the Fire-Fearing Serpent.

"This is hopeless." Chu Hengkong took a deep breath and said, "Prepare for a strategic shift!"

Fander said with tears in his eyes: "We are already at the edge of the cliff, where else can we move to?!"

The Jade Fox leaped down the mountaintop with a swift movement, its fangs and claws gleaming in the mist. Chu Hengkong kicked several stones off the cliff and remained motionless, as if frightened. Fander was nearly crying in his pocket, "Move! Chu Hengkong! Why aren't you moving?"

Chu Hengkong's ears twitched, catching a faint echo from the valley floor. After estimating the distance and preparing his body, he leaped with all his might, leaping towards the thousand-foot cliff beneath the rocks!

The sound of wind. The mist. Fander's screams and cries. The fishy smell behind him. The receding sense of danger. The Jade Fox didn't pursue him. A beast wouldn't abandon its territory for a mere prey. After making ample preparations, Chu Hengkong opened his eyes. He had ample experience with leaps. Blood pooled in his head, and the ground approached like a ceiling. Estimating the distance. 10 seconds left. 3 seconds. 1 second!

Chu Hengkong curled up into a ball and landed like a landing pod! As he landed, he used a vortex to unload the force, and the reaction force allowed him to leap back up! He bounced seven times like a skipping stone on the ground before stopping! This was the unique skill Chu Hengkong had perfected after his previous rescue jump, specifically designed to counter the effects of a skipping stone falling from a height: the "Big Take"!

But it wasn't over yet. The Jade Fox on the mountaintop was relentless in pursuit! A single tap of its tail caused a massive earthquake in the mountain. Out of Chu Hengkong's sight, streams of tiny characters sank into the cliff face, causing the rock to bulge and coalesce into a smooth, jade-white ball. This jade ball rushed down the steep cliff, triggering a massive earthquake like the collapse of the heavens. As it fell, it grew larger and larger...

Chu Hengkong barely managed to look up when he landed on the ground. He saw a jade ball as big as a house pressing down on his head! Fander let out a scream as if he was about to die!

There was no need for intuition; just looking at the proportions, he knew a hit from this thing would be disastrous. In a moment of desperation, he extended his tentacles and brushed against the edge of the jade ball, using the rebound force of the impact to launch himself into the air! The jade ball rumbled away, and Chu Hengkong spun frantically in mid-air to absorb the force!

"I'm going to vomit... vomit... help..." The voice in the pocket gradually became weaker.

After nearly thirty turns, Chu Hengkong landed narrowly on the ground, completing another perfect backflip. The various relics in his pockets fell to the ground, and Fander shakily climbed out of his pockets and began vomiting a strange rainbow-colored mucus on the spot.

The Jade Fox on the mountaintop disappeared into the mist, seemingly losing interest in the two creatures. Chu Hengkong lay sprawled on the ground, his tentacles aching as if they were about to break. He thought to himself that if another Shadow-Reversing Beast showed up, he'd be done for.

He didn't see the strange beast, but in his reversed vision, he saw a pair of translucent white stockings wrapped around slender, well-proportioned calves. Moving his vision upward, he could see a pleated skirt of moderate length and a royal blue tunic that resembled a priest's robe. A little girl with green hair crouched beside them, a malicious smile on her face.

She looked at Chu Hengkong's tentacles, then at the vomiting Fan De, and hammered her palm with her small hand.

“At this time, falling from the mountain again…” The green-haired girl suddenly realized, “You must be the squid couple who are having a big time!”

"no."

"How could I possibly vomit!"

Chu Hengkong and Fan De expressed their protest with the greatest force they had ever exerted in their lives.

(End of this chapter)