Chapter 170: Walking Alone
Boom!
Riding a low-altitude flying vehicle, Li Yuan quickly left the war fortress, crossing over 100 kilometers and numerous mountain ranges and rivers.
Within a 100-kilometer radius of the war fortress, there were still signs of human activity. Beyond that, roads gradually disappeared, trees grew taller, and the mountains stretched into what resembled a primeval forest.
"Xu An, martial artist, we can only take you this far," the driver said with a smile. "Further out, you might encounter flying alien species."
"Alright," Li Yuan nodded and smiled. "Thank you for your trouble."
In the Bright Ruins Astral Realm, the native alien species that could cultivate and absorb source energy were primarily beast-like, with a few humanoid species among them. Each race was unique and bizarre... Because of this, they fought fiercely among themselves and didn't focus on human civilization.
Second-tier aliens generally had intelligence comparable to humans. To most native aliens, a human civilization outpost within a radius of several hundred kilometers was considered the territory of another special race. Therefore, unless they wanted to provoke a war, other second-tier aliens would rarely invade the '100-kilometer' range of the outpost.
As for first-tier aliens? They weren't very intelligent, but after being killed and cleared out over the years, they understood that a very powerful force was entrenched in this area and should not be provoked.
"Whoosh!"
Li Yuan, holding a spear and a battle sword, with a large pack and wearing a full set of combat gear, dropped from dozens of meters high directly to the ground.
The jungle was not very dense.
Watching the flying vehicle quickly depart, Li Yuan muttered to himself, "Next, it's up to walking. According to previous experience, if I want to quickly increase my spiritual awakening level, I need to kill stronger aliens to get more spiritual nourishment."
"I need to leave the war base and get 300 kilometers away as soon as possible."
Within 100 kilometers of the base, aliens were almost extinct; within 300 kilometers, they were repeatedly killed and cleared by martial artist squads, so the number of tiered aliens was very few.
Under the two suns, the earth was not scorching.
"200 kilometers, I should be able to reach it within 3 hours," Li Yuan moved swiftly, covering dozens of meters in a single stride.
High cliffs and wide rivers were easily crossed with a single leap. Maintaining a speed of 20 to 30 meters per second was like a leisurely walk for Li Yuan.
"Unity with the heavens and the earth."
While on the move, Li Yuan was also contemplating the mystery of unity with the heavens. He tried to understand the natural world through various activities like practicing with his spear, standing, sitting, lying down, and walking.
After traveling for more than ten kilometers, suddenly, several shadows flashed through a pile of broken, withered grass. The air exploded with a roar as they charged towards Li Yuan.
"Swish!"
These shadows were fast, but Li Yuan's spear was faster, slicing through the air with a single thrust.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!" Blood splattered as six serpent-like aliens were torn apart and fell to the ground.
"Feathered Serpent Clan?" Li Yuan glanced at them. The six aliens looked somewhat like the Bloodwing Serpent Clan but had smaller, shorter wings used only for gliding.
"With a life level less than ten, how dare they attack me?" Li Yuan shook his head, not bothering to collect their items.
...
The roads in the Bright Ruins Astral Realm were harder to navigate than Li Yuan had imagined. The high mountains, which seemed to be only one or two kilometers away in a straight line, were very time-consuming to cross. Some canyons and great rivers were also difficult to traverse.
However, with Li Yuan's strength, after nearly four hours, he had finally left the range of human civilization activities and truly entered the wilderness.
This journey also made Li Yuan understand the true meaning of a 'high-source environment.'
During these 200 kilometers, more than 100 aliens had died at his hands, mostly lower-tier ones. Most had actively ambushed him.
"With the rich source energy, these astral realm creatures don't need to consume much to be influenced by it and grow and reproduce rapidly," Li Yuan sighed.
He had reviewed a lot of data. Compared to many astral realm life forms, human growth and reproduction rates were much slower.
The greatest advantage of human martial artists was their perceptiveness.
"Astral realm creatures might reach tiered status upon maturity, but often it takes tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to produce one second-tier strong individual," Li Yuan mused. "Human martial artists, on the other hand, can produce one second-tier strong individual for every few hundred first-tier warriors."
Humans lack powerful bloodlines but possess extraordinary overall perceptiveness. At least among the many alien civilizations encountered by human civilization, there were almost none that surpassed humans in perceptiveness.
...
While wandering in the wilderness, Li Yuan suddenly stopped, his keen mental power sensing a large group of powerful alien life forms gathering a few hundred meters away.
"Finally."
"Some interesting opponents," Li Yuan smiled slightly.
Boom!
His figure darted forward, shattering the rock beneath him and then leaping off a large tree, using it to propel himself further as the tree collapsed.
Battle! Erupt!
...
"Roar!" "Howl!" "Howl!" A large number of wolf-like aliens roared and charged at Li Yuan.
They were all tiered beings. As the dominant race in this area, they would naturally not retreat from a provocation by another alien life form.
"Kill!"
Li Yuan's spear danced, the spear shadows shifting like a rolling star, vast and imposing.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Blood splattered as alien bodies fell to the ground, crashing into rocks, the earth, or trees.
"Not good."
"These aliens are still too weak, mostly level 12 or 13, with few reaching level 14," Li Yuan shook his head slightly. "I can easily crush them without using source energy."
"No challenge."
Whoosh!
Li Yuan immediately adjusted, suppressing his strength and speed to level 11.
Instantly, he felt the pressure as the aliens seemed to be able to attack him at any moment.
"The spear like a rolling star." Li Yuan immersed himself in the spear technique, fighting fiercely with these aliens.
For Li Yuan, exploring the star realm to increase his spiritual awakening level was one aspect.
The most important thing was to engage in life-and-death battles with numerous aliens, tempering his mind and courage through these encounters, and understanding the mysteries of nature in the wilderness.
Eventually, after killing over sixty wolf-shaped aliens, the remaining dozen or so aliens could no longer hold out and fled with desperate roars.
Li Yuan did not pursue them.
"After killing so many."
"My spiritual awakening level didn't even increase by 0.1%?" Li Yuan glanced at the divine palace panel, muttering to himself. "Or is it that these aliens are too weak to provide spiritual nourishment?"
After some calculation, Li Yuan realized that raising his spiritual awakening level from 25.4% to 30% would be a long and arduous process.
He did not bother to cut up the alien corpses. Instead, he uploaded the battle video and continued on his way.
The so-called 'cutting and providing evidence' would be done after leaving the war fortress by 1000 kilometers.
Before that, as long as Li Yuan didn't mind, he could choose to upload battle videos.
Reducing the burden.
...
"Slow! Too slow, move faster!" Li Yuan shouted angrily, battling numerous winged humanoid life forms.
These humanoid beings had very strong limbs, sharp as weapons. Facing Li Yuan's spear, they fell one by one, blood staining the earth.
"[You have continuously killed tiered beings and gained spiritual nourishment, spiritual awakening level reached 25.8%]" a divine palace notification flashed.
...
As time passed day by day, Li Yuan continued his journey in the wilderness.
He gradually adapted to this environment.
Hungry? Eat some beast meat, and practice the "Heavenly Star" to nourish his body with source energy, needing to eat very little.
Thirsty? Drink mountain spring water directly.
Tired? Practice the "Great Sun Starry Sky Sutra," which not only strengthens mental power but also relieves fatigue.
Li Yuan did not need to return to a fixed observation point or base for rest.
The rest of the time, Li Yuan was either fighting alien life forms or searching for them.
Or if he occasionally felt something from the natural world, he would stop, silently practice his spear technique, and then continue his journey and battles.
Such training efficiency was extremely remarkable.
With the increasing number and strength of the alien life forms he killed, including even level 17 and 18 aliens, Li Yuan's spiritual awakening level, though difficult to improve, surged rapidly through the killing of vast numbers of aliens.
Quantitative changes led to qualitative changes, gradually breaking through from 25.4% to 26%, 26.5%, and beyond.
Li Yuan's spear technique and physical abilities were continuously improving, seemingly without any bottlenecks.
...
At the main officer's office on the ninth floor of the third outpost base in the Bright Ruins Astral Realm.
"Sir."
"In the past ten days, except for the martial artists who died in battle, most of the registered and outward-bound martial artist teams at the base have records of returning to the observation points for rest," a tall, lean military officer said seriously. "But Xu An has no such records. It seems he has vanished into thin air."
"No records of him? He didn't return to the observation point?" Liu Jing inquired.
"No records," the lean officer said. "We can only locate him through the smart ring, confirming that he has been moving and should still be alive."
"Alright, I understand. You may leave," Liu Jing said, giving no further instructions.
Once alone in the room, Liu Jing clicked on the projection, and numerous videos appeared, showing scenes of Li Yuan fighting countless aliens from a first-person perspective.
All these had been uploaded to Liu Jing.
"Really insane."
"In ten days, the number of kills is more than a normal team," Liu Jing thought, feeling quite amazed. "From the comprehensive information, could he really be going without rest?"
"Well, it's enough to give a full score for life-and-death exploration."
For an eighteen-year-old, Liu Jing felt there was no need to be overly critical.
Excessive demands were counterproductive.
...
On January 13, 2044.
At the top of an inconspicuous mountain about 600 kilometers from the third outpost base.
On a large rock.
Li Yuan stood there, gripping his spear tightly, the spear tip pointing forward, as if sensing something.
Gradually, Li Yuan's presence became less conspicuous, blending subtly with the surrounding scene, a very mysterious phenomenon.
"Whoosh!" The spear moved forward with a swift thrust, slicing through the air in a circular motion before retracting instantly.
Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes. His peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the divine palace panel:
Life Level: 16.8 (First Tier)
Punch Force: 24,400 kilograms
Speed: 70.2 meters/second
Mental Power: 26.9
Willpower: 30
Spiritual Awakening Level: 28.9% (Current Limit 30%)
Star Meridian: Level 10
Skill Realms: Spear Technique (5th Stage 5%), Movement Technique (5th Stage 6%), Fist Technique (Perfect)
"..."
"I feel like I'm making progress quickly."
"But the improvement from the fifth stage of spear technique is still much slower compared to when I was at the fourth stage," Li Yuan mused. "I'm still 1.1% short of my spiritual awakening level. I need to keep working hard."
Whoosh!
Li Yuan leaped lightly, swiftly descending the mountain like a monkey, searching for other alien life forms.
Moments later, Li Yuan extended his mental power, sensing all around him. Suddenly, he stopped and turned his gaze toward the nearby forest.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
In the distance, three human figures dressed in light purple robes appeared, each wielding a weapon, and rapidly approached.
"Human martial artists?" Li Yuan thought, puzzled. "Something's not right. Why hasn't the smart ring alerted me to their approach?"