74: Chapter 74 New Mission, Fireberry

"Ding! Treasure Hunt Mission Activated. Mission Objective: Seize the fire berry. Mission Reward: One Martial Arts Gift Pack."

The system voice sounded in his mind, and Lin Yuan frowned. A fire berry? What is that thing?

He hadn't learned about it in high school textbooks, nor was it recorded in the Silver Pine manual. Is it some kind of spiritual medicine or spiritual fruit?

"Old Chu, allow me to ask, what exactly is a fire berry? Does it exist in this Silver Pine Forest?"

Lin Yuan could only seek help from Chu Yunfeng, the knowledgeable big shot from the starry sky.

"fire berry? How did you know about that fruit? That thing cannot possibly be found here. It is only produced in certain special star regions in the starry sky, and every single one is extremely precious."

Chu Yunfeng said doubtfully. How did this Lin Yuan, a native of Blue Star, learn about it?

Lin Yuan frowned upon hearing this. The system would not issue irrelevant missions. Since it was issued, it must be something he could encounter.

"Stop asking how I know! First, investigate and see if you can find any trace of the fire berry," Lin Yuan said again.

Although Chu Yunfeng felt it was impossible, he still extended his divine sense and began to investigate.

"Sigh—that thing cannot appear here. The reason it is called a fire berry is because its interior is filled with scorching magma. Even from a great distance, one can feel the terrifying heat. There is clearly no sensation at all right now; how could there be any fire berry?"

Lin Yuan felt somewhat disappointed after hearing Chu Yunfeng's words. It seemed this mission couldn't be completed anytime soon.

"Wait, holy crap! There really is one—how could this thing appear here? This is completely unscientific—"

Just as Lin Yuan was about to give up, Chu Yunfeng's astonished voice rang out again.

"Old Chu, is there news of the fire berry?" Lin Yuan asked excitedly.

"You actually guessed correctly, kid, there really is one. How did you know? If one didn't have the ability of spiritual detection, who could discover such a treasure hidden beneath this icy pool? No wonder I didn't feel any heat; it turns out there's a pool of extremely cold icy water blocking the spread of its high temperature. Huh? These two little guys certainly know how to enjoy themselves."

"What little guys?" Lin Yuan asked doubtfully.

"The fire berry is in a cold pool. In the pool water, there are two Fourth-Tier fire-attribute fierce beasts. They are currently using the flame energy released by the fire berry for their cultivation," Chu Yunfeng said unhurriedly.

"Fourth—Fourth-Tier? What should we do then?"

Lin Yuan fell into thought upon hearing this. Fourth-Tier was something he could not contend with. Even the weakest Fourth-Tier had more than double his current combat strength.

Even if he possessed numerous powerful Martial Arts, movement techniques, and defensive Martial Arts, he stood no chance against a Fourth-Tier, let alone two of them. This made it even more impossible.

Should he use the heavenly slaughter sword and have Old Chu take action? It seemed too unworthy. Old Chu was his life-saving trump card; once used, his future actions would be somewhat constrained.

There was another option: inducing Mu Qianqian to act, but Lin Yuan possessed a bit of machismo—

Relying on a woman? That was impossible! At worst, he would use the heavenly slaughter sword.

"Forget it, let's not consider that much for now. Let's first clear out all the peak Third-Tier fierce beasts, and then we'll go see if there's a way to obtain the fire berry."

Lin Yuan no longer hesitated. The swimming dragon sword was unsheathed; the time for slaughter had arrived. Lin Yuan, like a bloodthirsty beast, charged directly toward the locations of those peak Third-Tier fierce beasts.

For a time, silver light continuously flashed within the Silver Pine Forest, reaping the lives of one fierce beast after another.

...

Mu Qianqian stood atop the hundred-meter-tall Silver Pine, staring blankly at the scene before her. This Lin Yuan had actually started ruthlessly slaughtering the peak Third-Tier fierce beasts.

"Brat, what is your limit?---"

Mid Third-Tier was one thing, but these were peak Third-Tier fierce beasts, beasts with combat strength exceeding 1.28 million. When his combat strength was measured before, wasn't it only 230,000? Did he only measure a fraction of it---

It had to be over 1.23 million---

"Did you hide your strength before? Or did you improve too quickly?--- But neither makes sense---"

Mu Qianqian felt her brain wasn't sufficient. Hiding strength? An eighteen-year-old youth hiding peak Third-Tier strength? How was that possible? Who would believe it if this got out?

But to say he improved by over a million in combat strength in just over ten days was even more preposterous. Was he riding a rocket? Or was he cheating?

...

Not long after, Lin Yuan stopped. Not a single peak Third-Tier fierce beast in this area escaped his deadly grasp.

With Chu's radar, they couldn't escape even if they wanted to---

Looking at the sixty thousand ability points on the system panel, Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

Next, he should go check on the fire berry. Not only for the Martial Arts Gift Pack rewarded by the system, but the fire berry itself was extremely useful to him. His Heaven Burning Body Refining Art required a lot of flame energy.

With such an amazing spiritual fruit, didn't he have a chance to break through to the Bone Refining Realm?

Lin Yuan deeply understood the power of body refinement techniques; compared to the advancement of Martial Dao, they held greater appeal.

"Old Chu, lead the way. Let's go see the Fourth-Tier fierce beast area," Lin Yuan said to Chu Yunfeng.

He then rushed toward the Fourth-Tier fierce beast area.

...

Mu Qianqian thought Lin Yuan was about to leave, but unexpectedly, that brat initiated rampage mode once again, charging directly into the Fourth-Tier fierce beast area.

This left Mu Qianqian completely baffled. Fourth-Tier fierce beasts, what was he thinking? He's going to get himself killed---

So, she quickly followed, ready to step in for a rescue at any moment.

Lin Yuan once again displayed his skill at evading fierce beasts. He ran wildly, though it wasn't clear what he was running from---

In the Fourth-Tier fierce beast area, there weren't many soul bodies. After all, fierce beasts of this level were not something ordinary people could kill; only true masters came here to hunt.

After running around, he devoured the soul bodies of three early Fourth-Tier beasts and four mid Fourth-Tier beasts.

Early Fourth-Tier provided 3000 ability points, and mid Fourth-Tier provided 4000 ability points, totaling 25,000 ability points. Combined with the previous 60,000, that made 85,000 ability points.

Lin Yuan did not immediately increase his combat strength. Even if he did, an increase of over eighty thousand combat strength would not provide much help in the current situation.

"Old Chu, let's go check on the fire berry," Lin Yuan said to Chu Yunfeng.

"Are we really going? Do you want me to make a move?" Chu Yunfeng replied.

"Let's go take a look first. It's best if I don't have to ask you to act."

The fire berry was located in the deepest part of the Silver Pine Forest, not far from the teleportation gate leading out of the deepest area.

Moments later, Lin Yuan arrived near that extremely cold icy pool.

Lin Yuan concealed his figure, even holding his breath, afraid of startling the two fierce beasts in the pool.

The pool was not very large, with a diameter of only nearly a hundred meters, but a thick layer of ice had already formed on the surface of the water.

Even the shore area extending about ten meters around the pool was covered in a layer of ice condensed by the cold air.

In such freezing water, a faint crimson glow could vaguely be seen emanating from within, creating a sharp contradiction.

Faint sounds of fierce beast breathing could also be heard from the pool, revealing a ferocious aura.

"Fourth-Tier---Peak?"

Lin Yuan murmured as he sensed the aura of the fierce beasts.

"That's right, peak Fourth-Tier," Chu Yunfeng confirmed.

"Is Mu Qianqian still following?" Lin Yuan asked.

"She is right above you, on top of the Silver Pine."

Lin Yuan felt a warmth in his heart upon hearing this. He hadn't expected her to still be following, but Lin Yuan really didn't want to borrow her strength.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Yuan directly stored the swimming dragon sword into his storage space and placed his right hand on the hilt of the heavenly slaughter sword.

Then, he quietly moved toward the icy pool, step by careful step...