Chapter 17 Desperate Escape

【You are like a silent ghost.】

【Along the perilous beast path, you avoided everyone's sight and plunged directly into the heart of the canyon.】

【By this time, the canyon was already in utter chaos.】

【The private armies of the chaebols, mercenary groups, free Martial Artists, and countless mutated beasts startled by the Spiritual Qi tide, were fighting fiercely in the mist.】

【Gunfire, roars, and the thunderous explosions of Qi and Blood intertwined, turning this place into a massive meat grinder.】

【When you rushed out of the mist and reached your destination, the sight before you made your pupils contract sharply.】

【In the sky, as the phantom of the Inverted Mountain shattered, several purple streaks of light fell like a meteor shower.】

【They had no specific trajectory, but scattered randomly into various corners of the canyon.】

【You were ecstatic, your gaze fixed on the streak of light closest to you.】

【It didn't make a loud impact, but instead was like a drop of water falling into a calm lake.】

【Around the hard boulder, space instantly twisted, rippling with visible aqua-blue ripples.】

【The originally real rock became blurry in the ripples, as if separated from the real world by a layer of frosted glass.】

【"It really is a dimensional ripple!"】

【You were overjoyed, and the information about dimensional ripples you had searched for in the past few months quickly surfaced in your mind.】

【Throughout the Federation's century-long history, dimensional ripples have taken on myriad forms.】

【Some appeared singly, like the one at Changlin Park, while others, like the famous Snow Night Meteor Shower seventy years ago, produced dozens of ripples overnight, creating several top-tier powerhouses.】

【And this time's Inverted Mountain is a type never before recorded!】

【It first showed a projection precursor for half a month, accumulating immense energy, before completely erupting tonight.】

【You stared intently, and at the center of the continuously spreading aqua-blue spatial ripples, a peculiar flower, crystal clear and exuding extreme vitality, was slowly squeezing from illusion into reality.】

【With its appearance, the surrounding dry air instantly became humid, and you could even faintly hear the sound of ocean waves crashing.】

【"That's it!"】

【Without any hesitation, you pushed off with your feet, transforming into an afterimage as you rushed forward.】

【However, you were not the only one eyeing this flower.】

【"Get lost!"】

【A furious roar came from the side.】

【A tall, thin Qi and Blood Seventh Stage Martial Artist, wielding twin daggers, also darted out from the shadows on the other side.】

【He had clearly also discovered this strange flower, his eyes filled with greed.】

【"You're courting death!" The tall, thin Martial Artist roared when he saw you advancing instead of retreating, his twin daggers whistling menacingly as they aimed straight for your eyes.】

【You snorted coldly, not even drawing your blade.】

【The moment the two sides were about to collide, the Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke within your body erupted! The Eighth Stage Qi and Blood Wolf Smoke instantly pressed down on the opponent like a great mountain.】

【The tall, thin Martial Artist felt his breath catch, and his movements inevitably slowed by a beat.】

【It was this one beat that decided life or death.】

【You gave him no chance to react, suddenly ducking low to avoid the twin daggers, while simultaneously delivering a powerful, heavy whip kick squarely to his chest.】

【Bang!】

【Accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering bones, the tall, thin Martial Artist was sent flying more than ten meters backward like a kicked sandbag, spitting blood, his fate unknown.】

【Using the recoil from that kick, your speed surged again, like an arrow released from a bowstring, instantly covering the last ten meters.】

【"Clap!"】

【Your palm firmly grasped the aqua-blue strange flower.】

【Initially, your fingertips felt a sense of voidness, as if passing through air, as if you were grasping only a moon in water.】

【But the moment your five fingers closed, the surrounding aqua-blue ripples suddenly paused!】

【"Buzz—"】

【Space seemed to collapse in your palm.】

【The strange flower, which was originally illusory like a holographic projection and swaying in light and shadow, instantly transformed from virtual to real!】

【A light texture abruptly appeared in your hand, accompanied by a chilling sensation as if from the deep sea.】

【It was no longer light and shadow; the flower, which had looked somewhat illusory, at this moment transformed into an aqua-blue strange flower with real petals, stems, and even dripping dew!】

【However, before you could examine it closely, this newly materialized treasure seemed to sense your flesh and blood aura.】

【The moment you touched it, a cool and vast will rushed into your mind through your fingertips.】

【With a soft "bang," the physical flower instantly disintegrated, transforming into an extremely pure, visible aqua-blue smoke.】

【It didn't dissipate, but like finding a host, it madly drilled into your mouth, nose, and pores.】

【Boom—】

【The Qi and Blood in your body instantly boiled! The feeling of "Qi and Blood transforming into gauze," which you couldn't grasp after a month of arduous practice, appeared naturally at this moment!】

【But you dared not linger for a moment to comprehend this wonderful change.】

【You knew very well that in this canyon full of hungry wolves, once you struck, you had to retreat immediately.】

【"Go!"】

【Almost at the same second the smoke entered your body, you didn't even look back.】

【Using that surging new power, you fiercely stomped on the rock, instantly changing direction and heading towards the destination marked on your mental map!】

【Bone-Corroding Dark River】

【However, trouble still came.】

【The energy of the dimensional ripple was too vast for you to digest in a short time. The overflowing energy could not be contained and radiated directly outwards through your pores.】

【Running across the dark Cobble Beach at this moment, you were enveloped in a dazzling aqua-blue halo. In this pitch-black night, you were like a giant, moving firefly, so conspicuous it was almost blinding!】

【"Damn it! Can't suppress it!"】

【You gritted your teeth and sprinted desperately. Three hundred meters! Six hundred meters!】

【"Hm? Little friend, why are you running so fast?"】

【A cold voice exploded in the night sky.】

【Out of the corner of your eye, you glimpsed a tall figure in an exoskeleton battle suit rapidly approaching from a cliff hundreds of meters away. Although he couldn't fly, each step he took covered nearly ten meters, like a terrifying giant ape bouncing across the land.】

【A Kaiyuan Realm Expert! A Tannan Heavy Industry Enshrined!】

【His eyes, hidden behind the tactical helmet, were fixed on you, who were radiating a faint blue light.】

【Seeing that the treasure had already been swallowed by you, his eyes not only showed no anger but instead flashed with an even more greedy cold light.】

【Without any further words, the opponent's speed surged even more!】

【Your heart sank.】

【In this world where the strong prey on the weak, although a dimensional secret treasure cannot be stripped away, there is a "golden digestion period" before it is completely integrated.】

【Usually only 24 hours.】

【Within these 24 hours, the immense power of rules has not yet been fully inscribed into your gene chain, but is still free-floating between your blood and bone marrow.】

【At this moment, in the eyes of the chaebols, you are not a person at all, but a "human elixir" that has just emerged from the earth, with the most potent medicinal effects!】

【As long as they catch you before the time runs out, drain your blood, and refine your bone marrow, they can still obtain nearly a seventh of the medicinal effect!】

【But once 24 hours pass, the medicinal power and the Origin of life are completely locked, and killing you would be meaningless.】

【"He's racing against time!"】

【Understanding this, you pushed your Hardworking and Enduring to the extreme, squeezing every last bit of strength from your bones.】

【Escape!】

【"Want to run? Stay!"】

【Seeing you getting closer to the entrance of the dark river, the Origin Opening Realm Enshrined snorted coldly.】

【He was still two or three hundred meters away from you, a distance too far for a Qi and Blood Martial Artist.】

【But for a Kaiyuan Realm Expert who had already opened the human secret treasury and could project Origin Power, it was barely within reach!】

【"Lie down for me!"】

【He suddenly stopped, his right arm muscles bulging, and the exoskeleton battle suit groaned under the strain.】

【The surrounding Origin Power wildly converged on his right fist, and he unleashed a punch through the air at your fleeing back!】

【Boom!】

【The air was compressed to its limit, forming an Origin Power cannon, carrying terrifying, overwhelming force, whistling towards your back.】

【Too fast! Unavoidable!】

【"I'll risk it!"】

【The roar of the dark river was already at your doorstep. At the last moment of life and death, using the terrifying wind pressure from behind, you suddenly lunged forward!】

【Splash!】

【You plunged headfirst into the icy, bone-chilling, rapidly flowing Bone-Corroding Dark River.】

【Rumble!!!】

【Just seconds after you entered the water, that terrifying Origin Power air cannon slammed heavily onto the river surface.】

【The enormous impact instantly blasted water columns several meters high, as if a bomb had detonated on the river.】

【Although buffered by the river water, this was still a furious strike from a Kaiyuan Realm Expert.】

【The penetrating shockwave still slammed onto your back like a heavy hammer, through the layer of water.】

【"Pfft!"】

【You spat out a large mouthful of blood in the water, your internal organs feeling displaced, and excruciating pain swept through your entire body.】

【The immense impact instantly knocked you unconscious, and your consciousness plunged into darkness.】

【On the shore.】

【The Tannan Heavy Industry Enshrined arrived at the riverbank after a few leaps.】

【He looked at the churning, turbid, bottomless Bone-Corroding Dark River, his brows tightly furrowed.】

【This dark river connected to a complex underground cave water system, with surging undercurrents and many shade-loving aquatic mutated beasts.】

【Even a Kaiyuan Realm Expert like him might not fare well if he jumped in rashly, let alone trying to fish someone out of the vast water.】

【"Consider yourself lucky, you died a full ghost."】

【Just as he was hesitating whether to search along the riverbank,】

【"Buzz—!!"】

【In the depths of the canyon not far away, an even thicker, more dazzling purple beam of light suddenly lit up again! The brilliance was so intense that it even caused a small earthquake.】

【"That is..."】

【The Enshrined's gaze was instantly drawn, his eyes erupting with a hundred times more greed than before.】

【He glanced at you, whose fate was unknown and who had already been swept into the deep underground, then looked at the confirmed top-tier treasure over there.】

【Weighing the pros and cons, it was clear at a glance.】

【Don't lose the big picture for the small.】

【"Hmph!"】

【He snorted coldly, no longer paying attention to the dark river, turned around, and rushed towards the purple beam of light.】

【In the murky, dark depths of the river, the figure bobbing with the turbulent currents had not died.】

【A faint, soft aqua-blue glow slowly emerged from within you, like a pale blue cocoon, tightly encasing your body.】

【Under the protection of that light cocoon, the shock injuries were repairing at an incredible speed.】

【And the vast, undigested energy, with the flow of blood, began to truly integrate into the depths of your bone marrow, undergoing a transformative metamorphosis.】

【You thus drifted with the strong currents of the dark river, passing through the deep underground caves, towards an unknown direction...】