101: Evolution begins!
In the short span of less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the entire chest of Low-Grade Spirit Stones was devoured clean by the Profound Water Overlord!
And the evolution value had also skyrocketed to 48,710 points!
Only a little over a thousand points remained until the next evolution!
"Awesome! So awesome!"
Li Qing felt as if his entire being was about to float away.
This rocket-like speed of improvement was truly intoxicating.
At this moment, still unsatisfied, he then turned his gaze towards the jade boxes containing the Spirit Medicines.
The evolution value from these before him was bound to be substantial!
"Crack! Crack!"
Like a wild boar barging into a vegetable garden, he began a frantic sweep.
One jade box after another was pried open with its claws, and the Spirit Medicines inside, along with the boxes themselves, were swallowed whole.
[Devoured Snow Ginseng (First-Grade Spiritual Plant), evolution value +280!]
[Devoured Crimson Flame Fruit (First-Grade Spiritual Plant), evolution value +260!]
[Devoured Polygonum Multiflorum (Second-Grade Precious Herb), evolution value +750!]
...The evolution value was rapidly increasing.
Soon, all the Spirit Medicines on the shelves were swept clean... Adhering to the principle of 'plucking feathers from a passing goose, leaving not a blade of grass,' Li Qing devoured everything in the entire treasury that contained energy.
As for those Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals, gold, silver, and jewels, he left them untouched.
After all, City Lord Zhuang Bai had treated him decently.
One mustn't be so ungrateful in one's actions!
After the frantic sweep.
The originally dazzling, mountain-like treasury now lacked Spirit Stones, Spiritual Plants, and precious herbs.
Everything else remained untouched.
And on Li Qing's evolution value panel, the number finally settled.
At that moment, a System notification tone rang in his mind.
"Ding!"
[System Prompt: evolution value Full 53,980/50,000!]
[System Prompt: Evolution conditions met. Begin evolution?]
Over fifty thousand!
It's here!
It's finally here!
An incredibly brilliant light erupted in Li Qing's eyes!
His heart began to beat violently.
Evolution!
This was the primary goal of his trip here!
But, evolve here?
In the City Lord's mansion treasury?
That would be nothing short of a crazy, high-stakes gamble!
Li Qing knew very well that every evolution of his Clone would trigger a massive energy tide, and the commotion would absolutely not be small.
Last time, evolving at the bottom of the river still attracted a siege from the City Lord's mansion.
If he evolved this time at the very heart of the City Lord's mansion, the consequences... once discovered, he would face the combined assault of Jinling City's highest combat forces!
Among them, including the Spirit Transformation Realm City Lord, Zhuang Bai!
The risk was too great!
The safest course of action now was to immediately control the Clone, return the same way, sneak back to the bottom of the Qiu River, and then proceed with the evolution.
Having made up his mind.
Li Qing began the return journey.
Of course, he didn't forget to use Mystic Water Manipulation to block the path he came from.
After a while.
Li Qing returned to his cave.
He summoned the Ten Great Generals to Guard the vicinity of the cave.
Once everything was arranged.
Li Qing looked at the "Yes" option on the panel, shimmering with golden light.
Feeling the restless, transformative power surging from within the Clone's body.
"Evolve!"
With a thought, he resolutely and decisively chose "Yes"!
"Hum!"
The instant he made the choice, the Clone's massive body shuddered violently!
An indescribably vast energy erupted from within it!
Dazzling golden light instantly shot out from the gaps in the turtle shell, illuminating the entire empty cave as bright as day!
An enormous golden cocoon of light began to rapidly coalesce, completely enveloping the Profound Water Overlord... Simultaneously.
Outside the treasury.
A patrol of Guards happened to be passing by.
The leader of the Guard squad was a Condensing Essence Realm Early Stage Martial Artist, with senses far more acute than ordinary people.
Just a moment ago, he seemed to feel an extremely faint tremor pass through the ground beneath his feet.
The Spiritual Qi in the air also seemed to experience a slight, abnormal disturbance.
"Halt!"
He abruptly raised his hand, signaling the team to stop.
"What's wrong, Captain?"
A nearby squad member asked, puzzled.
The Guard Captain frowned, carefully sensing his surroundings.
"Did any of you... feel anything unusual just now?"
"Unusual? No."
"Everything's normal, Captain. Are you perhaps too tense?"
The squad members all shook their heads.
The Guard Captain closed his eyes, concentrating his senses once more.
That tremor and Spiritual Qi disturbance came and went quickly, now vanished without a trace as if it were just his imagination.
"Strange..."
He glanced somewhat doubtfully at the heavily guarded treasury not far away.
The treasury doors were tightly shut, and the protective Formation at the entrance shone with a stable spiritual light, showing no signs of being triggered.
"Probably just an illusion from being too tired lately."
The Guard Captain laughed self-deprecatingly.
The treasury was the City Lord's mansion's top priority, guarded layer upon layer, with the Spirit Transformation Realm City Lord himself overseeing it. How could anything happen.
"Let's go, continue the patrol."
He waved his hand, leading the team forward.
At this moment, as the command issued by Li Qing took effect.
An indescribable burning sensation erupted from within the Clone's body and instantly transmitted back to his original body in the Attendant's room at the martial arts school!
Li Qing's body shuddered violently.
Hunger, extreme hunger.
He took out the white porcelain bottle he had prepared earlier, poured out ten Blood Qi Pills, and stuffed them into his mouth.
The pills dissolved instantly upon entering his mouth, transforming into a torrential warm current that rushed into his body.
The body-scorching hunger slightly subsided.
But in an instant, the hunger struck again.
He continued taking out Blood Qi Pills and stuffing them into his mouth.
Thankfully he was rich now and had prepared plenty just in case!
In the cave.
Boom!
An unimaginable torrent of energy raged within the Clone's body.
Crack!
Crack!
The sounds of bones shattering and reforming echoed in the water.
Indestructible cracks formed from within the turtle shell.
Excruciating pain surged like a tide, almost tearing Li Qing's consciousness apart.
He gritted his teeth, enduring desperately.
This was the pain necessary for metamorphosis!
His originally four-meter-long body now swelled madly like a balloon, breaking through eight meters in an instant and continuing to expand!
Ten meters!
A massive body a full ten meters long.
The originally spacious cave now seemed cramped.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely at this moment.
Every second felt like a century to Li Qing.
His mind was firmly locked onto the giant sphere in the treasury.
"Hum——!"
A deep, resonant hum, as if from the primordial chaos of antiquity, suddenly emanated from the core of the golden sphere!
Immediately after, all energy fluctuations, all light, were completely withdrawn in that instant!
As if swallowed entirely by an invisible black hole.
The vibration of the golden sphere stopped.
That heart-palpitating pressure also vanished without a trace.