152: Zhang Xiaoli advances to Silver

The Zombie King was dead, and most of the one to two thousand zombies remaining in the mall continued to surround Qin Shilei, while a small portion fled out of the mall's main entrance.

The phantom had disappeared into bubbles as its existence time had run out.

Qin Shilei put away the treasure chest dropped by the Zombie King, as well as the crystals and ability orb from its head, then charged back towards the remaining zombies.

Most of the zombies that escaped the mall were also killed by Xiaojiang, who was guarding outside.

Another half an hour later.

There was no longer a single standing zombie around Qin Shilei.

Under his feet were zombies piled three or four layers high.

The putrid and bloody smell was so strong that Qin Shilei couldn't help but frown.

At this moment, Qin Shilei's mood was one of pain and happiness.

It took him over two hours to kill five to six thousand zombies, but nearly four hours to pick up treasure chests and dig out crystals.

However, the harvest was enormous.

There were nearly four thousand qingtong treasure chests.

There were over three thousand Level 1 crystals and several hundred Level 2 crystals, with the rest being ordinary crystals.

A Level 1 crystal could increase experience by approximately five points, while a Level 2 crystal could increase it by fifty points.

Simply put, in just one afternoon, the crystals he dug up could increase his experience by over thirty thousand points.

As a result, Zhang Xiaoli had accumulated most of the crystals needed to advance to the Silver Realm.

It seemed that Qin Shilei earned several thousand crystals easily in one afternoon.

If another person of the Silver Realm had come, they would likely have been overwhelmed or exhausted by the sheer number of zombies inside the mall.

Firstly, Qin Shilei was able to persevere for so long because Blood Soul could absorb the enemy's life force to replenish his own stamina.

Secondly, he possessed the unique skill of instantaneous movement, allowing him to break free from zombie encirclement at any time.

After clearing the battlefield, the sky had completely darkened.

Qin Shilei searched in the sky for a long time before finally finding Zhang Xiaoli and the others in a small residential area.

"Qin Ge, why are you back so late? You had me worried sick."

Zhang Xiaoli, who had been waiting at the entrance of the residential area, immediately rushed over and hugged Qin Shilei tightly the moment she saw him.

"Silly girl, your boyfriend is the top expert on Blue Star, how could anything happen to him?"

Qin Shilei gently patted her back, "Alright, let's head back to Chiyuan Mansion now."

To ensure a peaceful night's sleep, the Panshi Battle Group's members grandly returned to He Shan District by boat.

In the early hours of the morning, An Qian also advanced to the Silver Realm, becoming the second most powerful cultivator on Blue Star.

After advancing to the Silver Realm, An Qian learned a new ultimate skill called 'Shield of Blazing Fire' from Phoenix Dance Nine Heavens.

Shield of Blazing Fire: Forms a shield of blazing fire around the user using vital energy, which can automatically defend against physical and ability attacks.

After advancing, An Qian could refresh her third attribute again.

However, Qin Shilei refreshed it several times without getting any good attributes, so he temporarily settled on an 'Energetic' attribute.

"It's already 1 AM, you should go back and rest," An Qian didn't even open the treasure chest, directly pushing Qin Shilei out of the room.

"Good night!" Qin Shilei watched An Qian lock the door, then turned and opened Zhang Xiaoli's bedroom door.

"Qin Ge, can you tell which one is my true body?"

"Stop messing around, quickly dismiss your Doppelganger Technique."

"Qin Ge, why don't you try it out by hand and see if you can distinguish which one is the doppelganger?"

"This, I saw through it at a glance, quickly put them away."

"How about I have the doppelganger serve us tea and water on the side?"

"...What tea and water are you serving in the middle of the night?"

Finally, under Qin Shilei's strong objection, Zhang Xiaoli was unable to experiment with the wonderful uses of the Wood Doppelganger in daily life.

.......

For the next five consecutive days, Qin Shilei rode Xiaojiang, flying over Nanzhuang City, hunting and killing the powerful Mutated Zombies within.

Now, most of the powerful Mutated Zombies in Nanzhuang City, except for those hiding inside buildings, had been cleared.

The military had also established more than a dozen small bases here, and using these bases as their stronghold, they were gradually reclaiming and conquering Nanzhuang City.

These days, civilian Evolution users, with the help of boats provided by the military, crossed the river to participate in the reclamation efforts of Nanzhuang City.

Five Villa.

Zhang Xiaoli said with a depressed look, "Why is the drop rate for cultivation techniques so low? We've opened over five thousand treasure chests and haven't even gotten a single Yellow-grade cultivation technique."

She had already reached Bronze Nine Stars yesterday and only needed a cultivation technique to advance to the Silver Realm.

Everything was ready, except for the crucial last step; she hadn't even seen a shadow of a cultivation technique.

"No wonder those few people on the leaderboard have also been stuck at Bronze Nine Stars, unable to progress."

An Qian stretched her somewhat sore wrists; she never thought she would open treasure chests until her hands ached.

On the leaderboard, perhaps stimulated by Qin Shilei, Caesar the Great, Steve, Mary, and Ito Hirobumi were bravely catching up, and all were now at Bronze Nine Stars.

But currently, only An Qian was Silver One Star, and Qin Shilei was Silver Two Stars.

Qin Shilei now needed thirty thousand experience points to level up once.

Although he had killed many Mutated Zombies these past few days, he had only barely advanced one star.

Qin Shilei casually put the ordinary items obtained from opening treasure chests into his Qiankun Ring, while also casually opening a qingtong treasure chest.

"A cultivation technique, and it's a wood-attribute cultivation technique that I can use!"

Zhang Xiaoli took out a milky-white stone from the treasure chest, glanced at it casually, then suddenly exclaimed excitedly.

Azure Wood Art: A wood-attribute Profound-grade cultivation technique, with five layers in total, allowing cultivation up to the Platinum Realm.

Qin Shilei frowned and said regretfully, "I finally got something good, but it's only a Profound-grade cultivation technique."

Zhang Xiaoli, however, didn't mind at all: "It's good enough to have it, why be picky? Should I learn it now?"

"Wait, let me take another look."

Qin Shilei reached out and took the cultivation technique.

[Do you want to refresh the attributes?]

[Refresh.]

Revival of All Things (Red): The ability cultivated with the Azure Wood Art can promote plant growth.

Extraction (Red): Can extract the essence of plants to enhance one's cultivation.

Advancement (Purple): Azure Wood Art advances to Earth-grade cultivation technique, Spirit Wood Art.

Nice!

Qin Shilei fixed the 'Advancement' attribute for the cultivation technique, then handed it back to Zhang Xiaoli: "You can learn it."

Zhang Xiaoli lightly tapped it, and the Spirit Wood Art transformed into a white light that rushed into her body.

Then, she held a Level 2 crystal in each hand and began absorbing them.

An Qian continued to open the remaining treasure chests.

Two hours later.

An Qian finally finished opening the last treasure chest.

She finally got two cultivation techniques, both attribute-less Yellow-grade techniques, which somewhat salvaged her title as the European Emperor.

It was unclear whether the overall drop rate had decreased, or if the treasure chests dropped by low-level monsters when one's level was high were also reduced in quality.

Nearly ten thousand treasure chests accumulated over these past few days, with the vast majority opened by the European Emperor An Qian. After counting, only five purple items were obtained, and not even one orange item.

Among the five purple items, three were equipment and two were special items, which Qin Shilei temporarily held.

At this time, Zhang Xiaoli also successfully advanced to the Silver Realm, becoming the third most powerful expert on Blue Star in terms of cultivation.

She also learned two ultimate skills from the Spirit Wood Art: Purification and Poisoning.

Poisoning: Can be used to poison skills like Thousand Vine Technique, or to poison weapons.

Purification: Emits a ray of purifying light at a single target, which can purify the target's abnormal status.