73: Chapter 73 Close Protection, Combat Power Soars

Lin Yuan continued to advance deeper into the Silver Pine Forest; he still had many ability points to acquire.

"Kid Lin, you sure have a grand presence," Chu Yunfeng's voice echoed in his mind.

"Old Chu, what do you mean?" Lin Yuan asked, confused.

"There were other people at the scene just now, one Seventh-Rank and one Ninth-Rank Expert."

"What? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Lin Yuan jumped in surprise. There were actually two such powerful experts watching him. If they had ill intentions, he would be in big trouble.

"Because neither of them was here to deal with you. What was I supposed to say? The Seventh-Rank followed the Tang girl; she should be her guardian. As for the other Ninth-Rank Expert, guess who it was?"

Chu Yunfeng said mysteriously. Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan immediately thought of one person.

"Could it be---Mu Qianqian?"

"That's right, it's that girl. She's still following nearby."

"It really is her. Why is she following me?"

Lin Yuan was very confused, but he felt a secret joy in his heart, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved upwards.

"That girl is probably here to protect you. I don't know what's so great about you, Kid, that you can get a Ninth-Rank Expert to secretly protect you," Chu Yunfeng said unhappily.

"What's wrong with me? Handsome, dashing, and extraordinarily talented. Maybe she's fallen for me," Lin Yuan said boastfully.

"Heh---heh---"

"Hey? Old Chu, what's with that weird laugh? Explain yourself to me!"

"It means you don't deserve her!"

"Hey, say that again if you dare, and see if I swallow you whole!" Lin Yuan was directly enraged.

"No, no, no, you deserve her, alright? You deserve her!"

Mu Qianqian followed behind Lin Yuan, not rushing or lagging. When the Silver Wolf Squad appeared earlier, she wasn't worried at all.

She knew a bit about Lin Yuan's strength; even a Mid-Stage Third-Rank might not pose a significant threat to him.

...

Lin Yuan spent a day exploring the areas inhabited by First-Rank and Second-Rank fierce beasts, acquiring all the ability points he could get.

Next up was exploring the Third-Rank fierce beast area. With his current strength, as long as he didn't encounter a Peak Third-Rank fierce beast, he could handle them easily.

Outside the Silver Pine Forest, Chen Xing was pacing restlessly in his hotel room.

"Young Master Chen, why don't you call Wild Wolf and ask if they've returned to the mercenary group directly?" one of Chen Xing's followers suggested.

"Right, ask Wild Wolf," Chen Xing quickly dialed Wild Wolf's number.

"Wild Wolf, has the Silver Wolf Squad gone back?" Chen Xing asked impatiently as the call connected.

"No, Young Master Chen. Didn't they go looking for you?" Wild Wolf replied, confused.

"Yes, I sent them into the Silver Pine Forest to kill a New Student from Qing University. They should have been out by now, but it's been a whole day, and they still haven't emerged. I'm worried something happened to them."

"What? They haven't come out? A New Student couldn't possibly stir up much trouble. Did they run into some other masters? Young Master Chen, don't worry, I'll arrange for a master to go over right now."

After hanging up, Chen Xing felt relieved. Since the other party said they would send a master, he was at ease. When that master went in to search, he would know whether Lin Yuan was dead or alive.

Even if Lin Yuan was lucky enough to survive, that master would send him on his way permanently.

...

In the Silver Pine Forest, there were only four areas in total, with the highest level containing Fourth-Rank fierce beasts.

In the Third-Rank area, Lin Yuan killed over twenty early and mid-stage Third-Rank fierce beasts, and of course, he also consumed a lot of existing soul bodies---

His ability points, combined with the 60,000 he had before entering, now totaled 130,000.

"The next area has Peak Third-Rank fierce beasts. It's time to boost my strength a bit," Lin Yuan thought to himself.

He was an SS-level ability user. Increasing his Martial Arts Level yielded double the benefits compared to directly increasing his combat power. Naturally, he would raise his Martial Arts Level first.

With a thought, his Martial Arts Level immediately increased to Mid-Stage Second-Rank, and his combat power surged instantly, making Lin Yuan feel refreshed all over.

[Martial Arts]: Warrior Second-Rank Mid-Stage (0%)

[Combat Power]: 1.03 Million

[ability points]: 50,000 Points

Looking at the values on the system panel, Lin Yuan shook his head in dissatisfaction. Although his combat power increased by over one hundred thousand, there was still a huge gap of 250,000 to meet the standard for Peak Third-Rank combat power.

"I have fifty thousand ability points left. I'll put them all into combat power, then go check out the Peak Third-Rank area and try to gain some more ability points," Lin Yuan decided.

Lin Yuan's mind moved, and all his ability points were consumed. His combat power increased by another 50,000, reaching 1.08 million.

...

At this moment, Mu Qianqian was hiding atop a hundred-meter-tall silver pine behind Lin Yuan, looking down at him. She felt a sense of shock in her heart.

She had been following him ever since Lin Yuan left Qing University, fearing that the Reincarnation Cult might make a move against him.

In reality, she had been overly worried. Huo Ping's attempt to kill Lin Yuan back then was just a spur-of-the-moment decision driven by his eagerness to earn merit; it wasn't because the Reincarnation Cult was truly targeting Lin Yuan.

Currently, Lin Yuan had not yet entered the Reincarnation Cult's scope of attention.

But Mu Qianqian couldn't afford to be careless; Lin Yuan was her only hope now.

Although she herself was talented enough, the time required to reach above Martial God was immeasurable.

Moreover, for some unknown reason, whenever she thought of Lin Yuan facing danger constantly, her heart could not remain calm---

That's why she refused Hua Hongfeng's suggestion to send people to protect Lin Yuan; instead, she chose to protect him personally.

A few days ago during testing, Lin Yuan instantly killed Huo Ping and defeated Niu Zhen, but they were both Early-Stage Third-Rank martial artists.

Now, seeing Lin Yuan slaughtering Mid-Stage Third-Rank fierce beasts as easily as chopping vegetables, she was shocked again. How much more was Lin Yuan hiding? In just a few days, he could instantly kill Mid-Stage Third-Ranks---

What about Peak Third-Ranks? Could he slaughter them just as easily?

"Huh? Why did he stop moving? Is he contemplating whether to continue?"

Mu Qianqian saw Lin Yuan standing still and assumed he was hesitating, but in reality, Lin Yuan was breaking through---

A dozen seconds later, Lin Yuan exerted force from his feet and instantly shot toward the depths of the Silver Pine Forest. Mu Qianqian immediately followed, her eyes full of anticipation.

...

The reason Lin Yuan advanced so quickly was because he had Chu Yunfeng, the living radar, who could easily help him avoid fierce beasts.

His goal was simple: consume the readily available soul bodies first to boost his combat power, and then hunt the fierce beasts.

It wasn't that Lin Yuan couldn't defeat Peak Third-Rank fierce beasts, but why fight desperately when he could save energy? It wasn't efficient.

This way, efficiency would reach its maximum. Furthermore, if he encountered pack-hunting fierce beasts, with his current combat power, it would indeed be difficult to kill them all.

Mu Qianqian gracefully moved across the tops of the silver pines at this time, looking down at Lin Yuan with confusion.

"What is this kid doing? His route completely avoids those fierce beasts. How is he managing that?"

After more than half an hour, Lin Yuan finally traversed the entire area and consumed all the soul bodies he could devour.

Each Devouring of a Peak Third-Rank soul body yielded 2,000 ability points. After devouring over a hundred of them, Lin Yuan added all the ability points to his combat power.

His combat power now reached 1.3 million, successfully surpassing the 1.28 million standard for Peak Third-Rank combat power. Lin Yuan nodded with satisfaction.

"Next up is the hunting time!" Lin Yuan's mouth curved up unconsciously.

But just then, the system prompt sounded in Lin Yuan's mind; the system had issued a new mission...