Chapter 95: Return to Base!

Chapter 95: Return to Base! After Yifa dumped all the points she had into Cultivation, raising it from 3 to 540, she quickly sat down and meditated. Unlike the first time, she didn’t find any difficulty circulating her Qi. She now had better control over the cultivation technique and the path for her Qi circulation. With every cycle, every breath, the Qi melded into her meridians, gradually becoming part of her. "Phew..." Just ten minutes was all it took before she opened her eyes, ending her meditation. Her lips curled into a happy smile, realizing the jump in her cultivation. "I’m Bronze Level 9 now! That’s so fast~!" she exclaimed, almost unable to believe it herself. Though in truth, it was mostly thanks to her sudden level spike—and dumping all her stats into Cultivation! ’At this rate, won’t I break past Platinum in a few days? Maybe even reach the mysterious level beyond it by the time I can log out?!’ She was so giddy that her thoughts began spiraling into wild possibilities! "All right. With your current level, you can at least survive a few hits, right?" But then, Xu Tao’s words brought her back to reality. "Now, let’s move for real. Let’s head toward that tall mountain!" It was a blessing that their landmark was so easy to identify. Without it, getting lost in the desert would’ve been the norm. After all, nothing but brown sand dunes and dust storms surrounded them—nothing else that could act as a guidepost or reference! "Right..." By then, Yifa returned to her senses. "You did mention something about a base earlier." She nodded, already imagining what sort of place it could be. "Don’t expect too much. It’s just a few buildings surrounded by an earthen wall, nothing else," Xu Tao revealed, trying to temper her expectations and prevent disappointment. The two began walking north—judging by the direction the sun was now leaning toward. Of course, the distance they had to cover was far. Xu Tao had gotten a bit too excited and over-hunted the monsters around the area earlier. However— "Now, there’s more of them..." Xu Tao sighed, watching as more and more Death Stingers popped up from within the sand. With a casual count, there were already a hundred of them posed to block the two’s path. "Should I help...?" Yifa, who was being carried by the Xu Tao Bus, asked curiously. With her current cultivation, she might manage a weaker Death Stinger one-on-one. Even so, Xu Tao simply shook his head. "That’s gonna take too long. And will be extremely dangerous to boot. Leave these walking loot boxes to me." He’d walked through this route before, which meant he could walk through it again. Increased numbers? That didn’t matter now that he had a trusty weapon in hand—the Celestial Fan of 108 Formation! Walking forward, Xu Tao eyed all the scorpions surrounding him. Then, he came to a stop before unfolding the 2nd and 17th ribs of the fan, activating a new formation. From his feet, a new complex pattern appeared, glowing with a faint blue light. It expanded rapidly, covering him and Yifa, stopping just before it reached the closest scorpion. "The desert’s a bit too hot. Chill out for a bit." With a faint grin, Xu Tao folded the fan and then reopened it. However, this time, it wasn’t as simple as unfolding several ribs at once—no, it was a series of inputs, opening and closing ribs one after another in rapid succession! The entire process took only a few seconds and cycled through over a dozen patterns before he spread the fan fully, pointing it toward the ground. "Feel the cold of the tundra in the deepest north: Absolute Frost Wave Formation!" As his words echoed, chaos began. From the edge of the formation, ice crystals appeared. They began forming rapidly—like shredded ice in an ice cream maker—before— BOOM! —rushing outward with explosive momentum! A tsunami of ice surged across the desert, freezing everything in its path—even the Death Stingers caught mid-attack. The sand, the monsters—even the air itself. "Haaa..." Xu Tao exhaled, but his breath instantly turned frosty white. The temperature around them plummeted from scorching hot to freezing cold in mere moments, making even Yifa shiver from the sudden chill. As for the Death Stingers... they all turned into loot boxes without putting up a fight. The cold froze not just their exteriors, but even their internal organs! Of the hundreds of monsters, none survived. "Good..." Xu Tao nodded, unfazed by the spectacle he created. "Let’s pick up the loot and move on." "..." Yifa was impressed beyond words. She once believed she was already at the peak of the cultivation world... but now she realized she had only ever seen the tip of the iceberg. ’I still have a long way to go.’ She scoffed at herself, shaking her head. ???????????? Xu Tao and Yifa continued walking straight, with the mountain serving as both their destination and landmark. At some point, the monsters stopped feeling like threats and started feeling like unskippable ads—annoying, predictable, and way too many. Their levels rapidly diminished, making the effort of killing them less and less worth it. Even the items they dropped seldom reached Rare or above, turning the long march into a tedious chore. "We’re almost there." After six grueling hours, Xu Tao finally muttered—by now, the desert was bathed in the orange light of the setting sun. "Finally..." Yifa sighed, her breathing labored, and was practically dragging her feet. The decision to pour all her stats into Cultivation and not add a single point to either STR or VIT had come back to bite her hard. With her trembling legs, it was only her pride that stopped her from asking Xu Tao to carry her on his back. "Huh?" But just as they neared the spot where he had set up a formation before... something moved ahead of them. A monster? Xu Tao thought at first, readying his fan to strike. However, as the figure approached, he began seeing color. A green object, bouncing like a wild basketball, heading straight toward him. "That’s...!" Xu Tao quickly recognized it. The little green pumpkin, his old pal and companion—Pepe! "PUI~!!!" With an energetic squeal, the little pumpkin slammed into Xu Tao’s face like a bullet, crying loudly and repeatedly. "Agh! Hey, stop it! Pepe, get off my face...!" Xu Tao gently pushed it away, but the pumpkin’s excitement was overwhelming. Even after being scolded, it didn’t stop. With great difficulty, Xu Tao finally pulled Pepe aside, only to see its large golden eyes trembling, with tears welling up at the corners. "Pui! Pui!!!" It cried angrily, making Xu Tao grimace. "All right, all right. I’m sorry. I’m back, at least." But of course... it didn’t end there. "Sir... Tao?" "..." A familiar voice called out—making him freeze instantly. A voice that stirred something deep in his chest...