Whoosh——!

The three Moss Monsters near the swamp hadn't even realized the danger approaching before the Poison Stinger Sword pierced through their bodies one by one, becoming food inside Chen Yu's gel stomach.

Sizzle... sizzle...

Accompanied by faint yet highly efficient dissolving sounds, the Moss Monsters were almost instantly enveloped and broken down by the powerful acid.

Chen Yu could feel them rapidly transforming into a stream of warm, pure energy that merged into his gel body.

With "Acid Secretion," this digestion efficiency was so much faster than before!

[Proficiency +1]

A transparent light screen flashed, and the acid inside him seemed to have deepened in color slightly, though not very noticeably.

Throughout the morning, Chen Yu went on to hunt over a dozen more Moss Monsters.

Before, he had to be careful of the acid sprayed by Moss Monsters and could only hunt them one by one stealthily, with very low efficiency.

Now with three Poison Stinger Swords, he wasn't afraid even if Moss Monsters came in groups.

Times had changed. When the wolf picks up a hunting rifle, the sheep in the pen are left with nothing but waiting to be slaughtered, and even the farmer guarding the sheep pen would be somewhat wary.

He began sweeping through the breeding ground under the trees extensively, and this behavior quickly angered the Poison-stinger Wasp colony in the trees. Four Poison-stinger Wasps flew down from the tree.

But Chen Yu was prepared this time. Seeing the wasps descend, he immediately jumped into the swamp muck, causing the incoming poison stingers to miss their mark.

The frustrated Poison-stinger Wasps circled above the swamp but couldn't do anything to him.

"Can't hit me, can you?"

After teasing these wasps for a while, he felt somewhat bored competing with these magical creatures. Since he couldn't go up to the surface anyway, he retreated back to his nest to rest.

In the thatched cottage of the Emerald Bamboo Forest, after eating breakfast, Chen Yu placed the porcelain bottles one by one on the table. Pressing his fingers against the palm lines, he secreted Slime Acid that dripped down his fingertips.

Before long, the acid filled exactly five bottles.

Because of this, his complexion turned somewhat pale. He hurriedly drank a bowl of plain congee, and his vitality gradually recovered.

Secreting acid consumed "magic power," as well as physical strength and nutrients. Five bottles a day was pretty much his limit; he truly couldn't produce more.

Replenishing physical strength and nutrients was relatively simple, but there were no other means to recover "magic power" except waiting slowly.

Five bottles of Slime Acid were worth 125 Broken Spirit Stones, which converted to one Spirit Stone plus 25 Broken Spirit Stones.

After deducting daily food expenses, he netted 75 Broken Spirit Stones per day—no different from the rewards for completing ordinary sect tasks.

The advantage lay in its efficiency and ease.

In a few more days, once he saved enough Spirit Stones, he could go purchase new cultivation techniques.

Anticipation.

At noon, he went to the South Bridge Market and saw Shao Qingsong already waiting, leaning against the Bridge Gate.

Seeing Chen Yu approach, he waved, afraid that Chen Yu might not recognize him.

"Junior Brother, it's me, Shao Qingsong."

"Why did you come so early?"

Shao Qingsong said politely, "I had nothing to do, so I came to the South Bridge Market early to look around."

How could he not come early? Where else could he find such a sure-profit business? He had to be diligent.

If only he weren't male and couldn't use his looks, otherwise he would have followed Chen Yu back eagerly long ago.

Chen Yu gave him a strange look; he always felt that this senior brother's gloomy eyes seemed to conceal ill intentions.

Shao Qingsong lowered his voice, "Junior Brother Chen, that Corpse Dissolution Liquid of yours really works well. How much stock do you have now? I'll take it all."

"Senior Brother, you're mistaken. This is medicinal liquid, it's really not Corpse Dissolution Liquid."

"Right, right, I forgot again," Shao Qingsong said cheerfully.

When Chen Yu took out five bottles of Slime Acid and handed them over, the man's face flashed with joy. He then carefully took out one complete Spirit Stone and a small handful of Broken Spirit Stones to complete the transaction.

Upon parting, the two agreed on the time for their next transaction.

From then on, Chen Yu's life fell into a fixed rhythm: as soon as the sun rose, he hunted in the swamp forest; when the sun slanted westward, he went to the South Bridge Market on time to trade with Shao Qingsong.

The days flowed forward like the swamp water in the forest, calm and regular.

Half a month passed in a flash.

After enjoying a delicious breakfast in the swamp forest, Chen Yu's body quietly underwent subtle changes.

[Proficiency +1]

[Acid Secretion Lv.1 → Acid Secretion Lv.2]

——

Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.2

Skill List: Open Yuan Treasure Scroll Lv.4, Object Manipulation Lv.3

——

After this period of hunting, the slime body had expanded to the size of two palms put together. Inside his transparent body, darker-colored acid sloshed with his bouncing.

The corrosive power of Lv.2 Slime Acid was now no different from Moss Monster acid and could be sold for a higher price.

Moreover, due to frequent hunting during this period, Object Manipulation had also risen to Lv.3.

The range of Object Manipulation was still half a meter, but the interval for controlling the Poison Stinger Swords had shortened. He could now shoot four Poison Stinger Swords in one breath without any problem.

He had practically become a walking land-based sword immortal, killing one insect with each step. When Moss Monsters under the twisted oak trees saw something green emerging from the swamp, they would shrink back into the gaps between tree roots in fear.

Their simple nervous systems couldn't understand why their former prey had become so terrifying, but their instincts had already recorded the fear of slimes.

From then on, the slime's status in the swamp forest would be elevated a notch higher.

Hmm... at least from weak food to food with some resistance.

In the afternoon, Chen Yu went to the South Bridge Market as usual to trade and purchase supplies...

Feeling the twelve Spirit Stones he had saved up over these days in his pocket, he finally got to experience the feeling of being wealthy.

Although he didn't earn much, the advantage was the steady, continuous flow, much better than laboriously going on training journeys or doing tasks.

But today he felt his body's energy flow wasn't smooth. At first, he thought it was because he had become wealthier recently and was overfull, but he later realized it was because his cultivation was about to break through.

So he didn't stay long at the South Bridge Market, returning to the thatched cottage to eat an early dinner, then lying back on the hard wooden bed to meditate and regulate his breathing, seeking the opportunity for breakthrough.

The breakthrough itself didn't require much effort, but over in the swamp forest, it seemed the first heavy rain since the start of spring was about to fall.

Zeyarila.

The sky hung heavy with lead-gray clouds, layer upon layer, as if about to press down.

The forest below had been swallowed by thick darkness. The air among the trees was stagnant, sultry and sticky, without a trace of wind.

Squelch, squelch...

Chen Yu swallowed the last Moss Monster and, before nightfall, bounced back to the swamp to take shelter from the rain.

The swamp forest at night was much more terrifying than during the day. Even Chen Yu didn't dare stay on the surface.

The predators here weren't limited to just Poison-stinger Wasps; magical creatures with "darkvision" usually emerged at night, waiting for opportunities to prey.

After jumping into the swamp, he only left his head and a pair of small bean-like eyes above the swamp pool, observing the movements in the darkness.

After who knows how long, he saw that the ordinary dark green moss of daytime began emitting a faint fluorescent glow at night, slightly dispersing the gloom before the storm.

Some lurking magical creatures also began their nocturnal activities.

There were giant leeches moving through the dark swamp like pythons, seemingly avoiding something; there were fluorescent blue frogs ignoring the mosquitoes above them, hurriedly seeking shelter from the rain...

There were also fluorescent mushrooms glowing with an eerie blue light pulling themselves up from the ground, hopping through the forest on small legs.

These Fluorescent Mycenen might look delicious, but the fluorescent powder they scattered behind them had powerful hallucinogenic effects.

If magical creatures accidentally came into contact with it, they would fall into hallucinations and then be forcibly buried in the soil by the Mycenen to be sucked dry as nutrients.

Chen Yu had seen beetles fly by, get contaminated with the fluorescent powder, wobble and fall to the ground, then be pressed down by Fluorescent Mycenen and never get up again.

Although he craved a taste, he didn't dare provoke these Mycenen casually.

However, not many magical creatures came out tonight. Usually, he could hear eerie howls from the depths of the swamp, but now they had all disappeared. It seemed the creatures in the depths had sensed the approaching heavy rain in advance and gone into hiding.

A strange restlessness and oppression rose from within Chen Yu; he seemed to be craving something.

Looking up at the sky, gray mist had unknowingly spread throughout the entire forest.

Even though the forest was already very dark, his pair of bean-like eyes could clearly see this gray mist.

A word inexplicably popped into his mind.

Mana.

This didn't seem like an ordinary heavy rain, but more like an impending carnival of mana.

No matter what,

tonight was destined not to be peaceful.