"Jin Qiaosheng is really lucky, he actually found a mutated Genetic Herb, the Qingtian Flower, for his son in Beilong Mountain."
Ding Huan hadn't even started cultivating the Luo Shijin, but upon hearing about the mutated Qingtian Flower, he immediately took an interest.
In his previous life, Ding Huan was just a gene tester who was always on the brink of death, but that didn't stop him from knowing about the mutated Qingtian Flower.
He had never truly seen a mutated Qingtian Flower in Changyi Continent, it might be a special product of Earth.
It is said that the Qingtian Flower carries genes that can perfectly fuse with the human body, and as long as one consumed the mutated Qingtian Flower, it would be possible to expand the Dantian and make the meridians clear and resilient.
Expansion of the Dantian, clear and resilient meridians, wasn't that just making martial arts cultivation easier?
Yan Xia, the first Innate Martial Artist on Earth, was said to have consumed the mutated Qingtian Flower and then soared in martial arts cultivation. In just twenty short years, he reached the peak realm of martial artists, an Innate Martial Artist.
Therefore, the value of the mutated Qingtian Flower was absurdly high, and one might say it was extremely rare. Even the best genetic potions couldn't compare in price to the mutated Qingtian Flower.
Mutated Qingtian Flowers in Beilong Mountain?
Ding Huan's gaze fell on the speaker, a middle-aged man with two others by his side, who also looked to be of similar age.
"Isn't that the truth," another person sighed by his side. "I just hope we get lucky tomorrow too. Even if we can't find a mutated Qingtian Flower, it'd still be good to find some other genetic herbs."
"Right, I just hope to find some decent genetic herbs for that useless son of mine. The assessment is in just over two months, and I'm really anxious."
From the conversation of these people, Ding Huan understood what was going on; these people were here to search Beilong Mountain for rare herbs.
As for the assessment, without asking, he knew it was the enrollment assessment of the Blue Star Ten Great Colleges.
Of course, the best of the rare herbs would be genetic herbs.
Ding Huan stood up; he couldn't just wait around here. He needed to enter Beilong Mountain overnight.
Previously, Qu Yi said she was going to Pu Hai to try her luck, which was very likely for the assessment of the Blue Star Ten Great Colleges. No, not likely, it was certain.
Because the assessment location for the Ten Great Colleges was indeed in Pu Hai.
If Qu Yi was going to Pu Hai, she would definitely leave early tomorrow morning.
As such, he needed to go into the mountain overnight to find the relevant herbs and then prepare a Spirit Root Gene potion for Qu Yi; otherwise, she would leave Anhe the next day.
Ding Huan would absolutely refuse to let anyone use the blood from his third eye to refine a Spirit Root Gene potion, but for Qu Yi, he was willing.
If Qu Yi fused with the Spirit Root Gene, that would be much better than simply directly consuming the mutated Qingtian Flower.
After fusing with the mutated Qingtian Flower, it was indeed possible for a gene cultivator or a martial artist to greatly increase their potential, but whether they could achieve Genetic Foundation Establishment was another matter.
If one were to fuse with the Spirit Root Gene, as long as it was combined with the Luo Shijin, Ding Huan estimated there was a very high probability of achieving Genetic Foundation Establishment.
Ding Huan never hesitated in what he did; once he had made a decision, he acted immediately.
He believed that with the strength of a first-level gene cultivator, coupled with his experience, as long as he was careful, he should still be safe in Beilong Mountain.
When he first entered Qianluo Mountain, he had been nothing more than a perfectly ordinary student.
...
"Yi Yi, that guy left. I thought he was waiting in the hall to see you all this time."
At Yilan Hotel, the girl who accompanied Qu Yi came back from gathering information, her tone seemingly cheerful.
Qu Yi shook her head, "Xiao Fei, you're overthinking it. He probably meant no harm. I've been trying to remember, but I just can't recall meeting him."
From Ding Huan's expression, Qu Yi could feel that Ding Huan seemed to recognize her, yet she truly couldn't remember where she had seen Ding Huan before.
Her social circle wasn't large, so if she had seen Ding Huan, she should have been able to remember.
"You just think too well of people. Nowadays, there are a lot of perverts around. Yi Yi, we should still be careful. How about we leave early tomorrow to avoid that guy coming again?"
The girl named Xiao Fei said firmly.
...
Right now, genetic beasts ran rampant, and the outdoors were extremely unsafe.
In places like Anhe, not only had they built new walls and protective gates, but they had also constructed an electronic defense system.
Every evening, when it got dark, the protective gates needed to be closed. Not only that, but there were also four soldiers guarding them. As soon as something amiss was detected, they would immediately activate the alarm system.
When Ding Huan left Anhe County, the protective gates were just about to start closing. Ding Huan quickly sped up, treading lightly as he dashed through the protective gate.
A soldier standing guard by the protective door saw Ding Huan going out and immediately called out,
"Going out now, there's nowhere to settle down around here. And this is Anhe, not like other places."
What the soldier meant was that there were more genetic beasts outside of Anhe County, far more than in other areas. Going out here, the likelihood of encountering a genetic beast was great.
"Thanks," Ding Huan waved to the kind soldier who had warned him, but he still turned around and quickly left.
The soldier sighed. He had given his warning; all he could do now was hope that Ding Huan would look after himself.
"What are you sighing for? There are plenty of people looking to die; one more won't make a difference. This guy obviously comes from a safe zone, never been mauled by a fierce beast," one of his comrades added.
"It's not him I'm sighing for, but the state of the world. Why have we become like this in just half a century?" He wasn't even talking about his parents' generation; even when he was very young, he didn't have to worry about his own survival and safety.
...
Anhe was far more dangerous than Lo River because the Beilong Mountain Range was less than ten kilometers from Anhe County.
After leaving Anhe County, Ding Huan ran all the way. He planned to return to Anhe by tomorrow morning, then find a way to accompany Qu Yi to Puhai.
As long as he got to Puhai, he would be able to rent a gene laboratory, and then refine the Wood Element Spiritual Root gene for Qu Yi.
Ding Huan dared to run on the road mainly because his strength had increased.
If a Level 1 gene cultivator couldn't protect himself, then the situation in the wilderness was quite dire indeed.
Just as Ding Huan was thinking he could protect himself, he suddenly felt something was off, and then a bolt of white lightning rushed toward his head from the side.
In a moment of urgency, Ding Huan twisted his body and barely dodged it.
This scare made him break out in a cold sweat. He quickly stopped and took a short knife from his bag.
He was paying attention at all times and still almost got hit by that white shadow.
Before Ding Huan could steady himself, that white color charged at him again, seemingly even faster than before.
Fortunately, this time Ding Huan's attention was fully on the white shadow. At the moment the white shadow struck, he leaned slightly backward, and his knife swung out.
A sharp and mournful cry followed, and Ding Huan saw another gray shadow jumping out from the bushes on the side and disappearing in an instant.
Ding Huan's gaze fell on the white shadow; it was a mutated genetic beast. It looked a bit like a leopard, but Ding Huan was certain it wasn't a leopard.
Not because of the color—after gene mutation, a white leopard could appear.
The wild beast he killed should be a mutated lynx.
What a terrifying creature, Ding Huan thought, looking in the direction where the gray shadow had fled, a chill in his heart.
It wasn't that the lynx's ambush had nearly succeeded, but the lynx's strategy made him feel cold inside.
It's no wonder that villages had been wiped out by genetic beasts, one after another.
If he wasn't a Level 1 gene cultivator, in other words, if he still had the strength he had when he previously entered Qianluo Mountain, he would already be dead.
The white lynx suddenly ambushed because he was a Level 1 gene cultivator, and that's why he was able to lean back and draw his knife. Otherwise, he could only have dodged to the side.
And even that was if he could manage to dodge to the side; otherwise, he would have been killed straight away.
Should he have dodged to the side, he surely would have fallen into the jaws of the gray lynx lurking nearby.
Seeing that he had killed its companion, the gray lynx decided that Ding Huan was not an opponent it could handle and turned to flee decisively.
Given Ding Huan's knowledge of these genetic beasts, it was very likely that the fleeing lynx would continue to ambush him.
Ding Huan didn't care whether the lynx would seek revenge or not; he did not put the knife back in his bag but continued towards Beilong Mountain with it in hand, though he did slow his pace slightly.
The soldier hadn't lied to him; the outskirts of Anhe were far more dangerous than those outside Luoh River City, by more than tenfold.
Along the way, Ding Huan encountered several more fierce beast ambushes. Although they were all common genetic beasts, this further highlighted the danger of Beilong Mountain.
It also showed that the true threat of genetic beasts to humans had not yet arrived. In his past life, once his eyes had recovered, he was taken by the Genetic Alliance into the vast universe.
Of course, they took him because the Genetic Alliance needed to conduct gene experiments while looking for new life planets.
One hour later, Ding Huan arrived at the foot of Beilong Mountain. On the way, he had killed at least seven genetic beasts, the most formidable of which was a mutated wild boar.
Otherwise, this distance would have taken Ding Huan only about fifteen minutes.
(Today's update ends here, good night friends!)