174: Chapter 174 Fierce Battle Against Alien Fishmen

This time, Chen Qing took the initiative to strike first.

Her sword moved with her body, crossing dozens of meters in an instant. The precious sword flashed with a cold light, stirring up fierce winds as she thrust out a sharp blow.

Seeing the ferocity of the attack, the strange man didn't try to take it head-on, instead turning sideways to dodge.

But Chen Qing's thrust was merely a probe. As the sword passed the strange man, endless sword qi scattered in all directions like a torrential rain of pear blossoms, engulfing everything within dozens of meters.

Puff, puff, puff—

The surrounding old houses were blanketed by the sword qi; the roofs disintegrated one after another, crashing toward the ground.

Caught off guard, the strange man was also engulfed by the sword qi. Amidst a flurry of sharp slicing, he let out a shrill shriek and retreated to escape the coverage of the sword qi. However, the skin across his entire body had already been shredded.

The torn skin began to bulge, looking like a fat man squeezed into a pair of tattered flesh-colored stockings, with clumps of meat squeezing out from the gaps in the skin.

This scene caused Chen Qing, who was preparing to press her advantage, to stop. A look of suspicion appeared on her face.

She was no stranger to the Cyborgs within the Organization.

None of them looked like this.

Rumble...

At that moment, the debris from the shattered buildings fell, making a loud noise.

Chen Qing ignored it, simply watching the strange man quietly. Finally, the man's skin could no longer bear the burden and let out a "tear" sound. The skin was forced open, revealing a bizarre body.

His entire body was a slimy greenish-gray, with several streaks of red fish-gill-like structures on his ribs. Fin-like structures also grew on his back and shoulders, and his height shot up to nearly 3 meters.

The strange man had turned into a monster. His aura was several notches stronger than before, increasing by about thirty percent.

However, Chen Qing's expression relaxed.

She had thought it was an assassin sent by the Organization and had prepared herself for flight, only to find out it wasn't an assassin—no, it wasn't even human.

A false alarm.

Chen Qing looked at the monster, the corners of her mouth curling into a contemptuous smile, her eyes filled with thick hostility.

“So it's just an alien puppy that's slipped into the city,” Chen Qing said.

The monster seemed to care a great deal about its skin. After it was torn open, it twisted uncomfortably a few times. Once it confirmed the skin couldn't be restored, it looked at Chen Qing in a rage.

It let out a roar.

It pounced toward Chen Qing. A unique energy folded the space into ripples. Within these ripples, the monster was like a fish in water, its speed twice as fast as before.

In an instant, the monster circled behind Chen Qing, a pair of webbed claws thrusting toward her heart and head. The energy on the claws could easily tear through the bones of a Gold-rank demon beast.

Swish!

Chen Qing's figure vanished instantly, leaving behind an afterimage.

The monster's strike missed. It looked around, and suddenly, the sky brightened. It looked up to see Chen Qing high in the air, with the bright, clear moon behind her.

“Since you aren't human, I don't have to hold back.”

As Chen Qing's voice fell, there was a "boom" as her entire aura exploded. Her aura was like the sword in her hand—sharp and bone-chilling. Everywhere it passed, the spatial ripples formed by the monster were completely shattered.

Having finished gathering her momentum, Chen Qing dove down. Her long sword slashed out furiously, carrying a crimson sword glow and a thick scent of blood. That wasn't an illusion caused by her aura, but a real, intense bloody scent surging from the blade.

That was a scent only possessed by one who had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

In an instant, the monster's face showed terror. It wanted to dodge, but this sword strike was too fast; it couldn't get away. Then it grew enraged, water ripples surfacing all over its body and converging on its palm as it struck out at Chen Qing's sword.

“Seeking death.”

Chen Qing snorted coldly. Sword qi crisscrossed as she became like a tornado, the sword blade as its tip, slamming down violently.

Boom, boom, boom...

The terrifying sword qi engulfed the monster and swept in all directions, grinding the houses within a dozens-of-meters radius into fine powder. From within the sword qi tornado, the monster's roar rang out, filled with intense terror and confusion.

It had only wanted to take advantage of the night to find some food with a bit of energy to eat; it never expected to provoke such a terrifying person.

Shouldn't powerful people constantly radiate their aura?

Why are you pretending to be prey!

Shua!

The monster exploded with all its power, rushing out of the blade storm and fleeing toward the distance at full speed.

“Want to leave? Stay right here!”

Chen Qing gave a light shout and chased after the monster. All along the way, she slashed with her blade and sent sword qi flying, while the monster alternated between parrying and dodging.

The two sides chased and fled, heading further toward the outskirts. This allowed Chen Qing to have fewer reservations. She unleashed sword qi as if it cost nothing, bombarding the area like a one-woman demolition crew.

Boom, boom, boom, boom...

As she chased, Chen Qing saw a lake not far away and suddenly realized.

Not good!

This guy is going to escape!

She exploded with her full power, letting out a sharp sonic boom as she closed in on the monster. Meanwhile, the monster's speed also increased by several levels as it lunged toward the lake like crazy.

It had still been holding back.

Chen Qing's eyes narrowed. The precious sword felt her will and shot out like a streak of silver light, flying across the lake.

Puff!

A webbed arm flew into the air, splashing blue blood.

The monster plunged into the lake with a "splash." A few streaks of blue blood spread out before disappearing without a trace.

Chen Qing stopped above the lake, feeling the disappearance of that fluctuating aura within the water.

It got away.

“It's not the Organization, it's an alien.” Chen Qing didn't know whether this counted as good news or bad news.

The origin of the aliens remained a mystery to this day, but one thing was certain: their desire for ruins was even more intense and crazed than that of humans.

As soon as the blood jade appeared, an alien showed up in the city.

It was hard not to believe it was coming for Li Yu. It seemed she absolutely had to fight for a spot as a ruins team member this time.

The sound of sirens echoed in the distance.

Chen Qing looked back at the flashing red and blue lights and shook her head slightly.

Too slow.

However, she understood; after all, even she had found it difficult to catch that monster.

Chen Qing didn't want to get involved. She checked her direction and, with a "shua," vanished from above the lake.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was the weekend.

Chen Qing had taken time off, and her younger sister was also at school for special training. Only Li Yu and his two spirit beasts were at home.

The Bubble Fish was lying in a pile of demon cores in the corner, rolling around every now and then and letting out a comfortable gurgle. It was clearly high on the energy.

Li Yu was holding the Spirit Diagram Armor, lying on the sofa in a slumped posture. His attributes appeared before his eyes.

Name: Li Yu

Spirit Beasts: Golden Scale Bubble Fish, Spirit Diagram Armor

cultivation value: 5877 (View Log)

Abilities: Mastery of All Languages, High-Rank Spirit Probing Hand, Intermediate Spirit Stripping Hand, Basic Theory of Beast Taming Treatment

Without realizing it, Li Yu had acquired quite a few abilities. Any one of them, if taken outside, would cause the world to fight over him.

But all these abilities were for cultivation; he didn't have a single combat ability.

With 5,877 cultivation value, he had enough for 5 intermediate gacha draws and 8 primary gacha draws.

Li Yu took a deep breath and murmured, “System, oh System, can we be a bit flexible? If I can't get through the Blood Refining Ruins, I'm really dead. If we're brothers, give me something that can save my life.”

The Spirit Diagram Armor lifted its head from its curled position, its watery black eyes looking at Li Yu in confusion: “Wu?”

“It's nothing, go back to sleep.”

“Wu!”

The Spirit Diagram Armor curled up again, lying on Li Yu's lap. Li Yu tucked the small blanket around it.

“System, start the low-level gacha, 8 times,” Li Yu said.