68: Chapter 68 Frenzied Harvest! Devouring Blood Fruit, Refining Bones, and Leaping Forward Again

Spiritless Ruins, Fourth Underground Level, Ecological Planting Zone.

After shattering the parasitized armored puppet, Gu Shen did not linger. The thick scent of blood and plant sap was bound to attract more unknown Aberrations from deep within the jungle.

He leaped onto a thick steel beam, hiding his figure perfectly within the broad, mutated, color-changing leaves.

"Crab, scan this jungle. Find the place where the world-extinguishing poisonous light is densest." Gu Shen ordered coldly in his heart.

The black terminal strapped to his left leg vibrated slightly, and Crab's voice came through with a hint of confusion and panic:

"Master, have you gone mad? The plants in this hydroponic farm have become high-risk radiation sources due to absorbing heavily polluted water leaking from the lower levels for years. The place with the highest radiation concentration is the most lethal mutated core area!"

"Less nonsense. Give me directions."

Gu Shen's tone was unquestionable. What others saw as a deadly desperate situation, in his eyes, was a supreme treasure land nurturing top-grade mutated Spirit Medicine.

"...Understood. Eleven o'clock direction, four hundred meters away. That was originally the high-yield tomato cultivation room in Zone A; the radiation readings there are off the charts now." Crab had no choice but to obey.

A dark light flashed from the shadow shoes on Gu Shen's feet, and his whole body, like a nimble night owl, shuttled silently between the intricate steel supports and thick vines.

As he went deeper, the strange, sweet fragrance in the air became increasingly dense. If it were an ordinary Qi Refining Stage Cultivator, inhaling a few mouthfuls of this miasma containing poisonous light would cause their Meridians to wither.

But inside Gu Shen's body, that layer of iron-black bones vibrated slightly, repelling all the poisonous light that entered his body.

A moment later.

Gu Shen stopped in front of a glass greenhouse that had been completely crushed by vines.

On the open space in front, a massive, eerie plant with a dark red body was growing with tangled roots. Its branches and leaves resembled withered human hands, and hanging from the branches were five or six fist-sized fruits (high-radiation mutated tomatoes) emitting blinding red light and terrifying poisonous light.

The vitality contained within that red light was so immense it was heart-palpitating.

"What a top-grade mutated blood fruit!" A flash of fanaticism crossed Gu Shen's eyes.

But coiled beneath that blood fruit tree were three mutated vine pythons, as thick as water buckets and covered in dark green poisonous thorns. They had no eyes and roamed the surroundings solely based on their perception of poisonous light and the blood of living creatures.

"First-rank peak, infinitely close to second-rank wood-type Aberrations."

Gu Shen did not draw his blade. In such a dense jungle of vines, swinging a long blade would easily get stuck on surrounding obstacles.

He flipped his hands, gripping the extremely sharp second-rank shadow cat bone spike in his left hand, while pulling two first-rank mutated Yao Beast bone spikes from his Storage Ring with his right.

"Go!"

Gu Shen flicked his wrist violently, and the pure, immense strength of his Physical Body erupted.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The two first-rank bone spikes tore through the air like heavy crossbow bolts released from their strings, emitting an extremely piercing shriek!

Puchi! Puchi!

Extremely precise prediction. The two bone spikes ruthlessly pierced into the 'seven-inch' vital centers of the two outermost vine pythons, and the powerful kinetic energy pinned them firmly to the steel wall behind! Green sap sprayed wildly, and the vine pythons struggled violently, but could not break free.

Crack.

One of the first-rank bone spikes snapped in the middle because it could not withstand the violent twisting of the vine python.

Just as the two vine pythons were pinned, the third vine python had already sensed Gu Shen's aura, opened its mouth full of fangs, and bit down like a green lightning bolt!

Gu Shen did not retreat but Advanced, his body twisting strangely in mid-air at an incredible angle, brushing past those vicious mouthparts.

The flexibility and explosiveness granted by the Bone Refining Art were unrivaled in close combat!

His left hand struck like a venomous snake, and that pitch-black shadow cat bone spike ruthlessly stabbed all the way through the soft spot beneath the vine python's mouthparts!

"Die!"

He unleashed his magic power. The second-rank Evil Qi attached to the shadow cat bone spike exploded inside the vine python, directly turning its internal Meridians into mush.

Bang.

The last vine python slammed heavily onto the ground, twitched a few times, and then died completely.

Gu Shen landed and walked nimbly to the two vine pythons pinned to the wall, finishing them off with a bone spike.

Afterward, he walked decisively to the dark red blood fruit tree and carefully plucked the five mutated blood fruits emitting blinding red light using the shadow cat bone spike.

"Got it. Retreat."

Gu Shen had no greed; the commotion here had already caused a stir among more vines in the depths.

He retreated rapidly along the original path and finally found a sealed monitoring room suspended in mid-air at the edge of the fourth level.

The iron door was welded shut. A soundproof Restriction was set up.

Gu Shen sat cross-legged on the cold floor, placing the five mutated blood fruits in front of him.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] roared into operation.

Pale white fire of rules emerged from thin air, instantly engulfing the five fruits containing lethal poisonous light. The toxicity was mercilessly obliterated, and the Impurities turned into flying ash.

[Refining complete. Obtained: Two drops of dark green marrow fluid.]

Adding the one drop of marrow fluid remaining in his Storage Ring, as well as that mass of mutated wood marrow.

Gu Shen looked at the four treasures floating in his palm, which were emitting terrifying vitality, his eyes as firm as iron.

"Strike while the iron is hot. Today, I will use the fortune of this underground Spirit plant garden to break through the second level of the Bone Refining Art!"

Gu Shen looked up and swallowed the three drops of marrow fluid and the mass of wood marrow in one gulp!

Boom!

A torrent of vitality, far more violent and vast than the last time, exploded in his stomach! The wood-type essence contained in that mass of mutated wood marrow was like countless crazily growing vines, piercing directly into his Meridians!

"Ugh!"

Gu Shen's whole body shook violently, and countless tiny bloody gashes cracked open on the surface of his skin.

He gritted his teeth tightly and crazily operated the technique of the Bone Refining Art.

That massive medicinal power turned into heavy, invisible giant hammers, beginning a more cruel and thorough forging of the iron-black bones in his body.

Crack! Clang!

In the secret room, dense clanging sounds like a blacksmith's shop came from Gu Shen's body. Those violent mutated Origins were forcefully pressed into the depths of his bone marrow by him.

The originally pitch-black bones, under the crazy compression and tempering of this power, began to change color toward an extremely deep, dark gold-like luster. The density of the bone mass climbed crazily at an inhuman speed.

Three hours later.

The blood scabs on Gu Shen's body peeled off like dried mud.

He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long, scorching breath of turbid air. This breath sprayed onto the iron table in front of him, leaving a white mark.

Click.

Gu Shen clenched his right fist casually. There was no sonic boom in the air, because his control over his physical strength had reached an extremely introverted, microscopic level.

"Bone Refining Art, first level Great Perfection. Bones like dark gold!"

Gu Shen's eyes were full of ecstasy. He could clearly feel that his current Physical Body would not be damaged at its Origin even if it took a direct hit from a top-grade Magical Artifact!

More importantly, the baptism of this deep mutated medicinal power made his resistance to the world-extinguishing poisonous light soar again. The radiation of this fourth level was like a breeze to him, posing no threat at all.

"Master..." The terminal strapped to his leg transmitted Crab's extremely weak voice, sounding as if its worldview had collapsed, "Your bone density... has already surpassed the highest-level armored synthetic material of the Shelter... Are you still a carbon-based life form?"

Gu Shen gave a cold smile and ignored it.

He walked to the dust-covered glass window of the monitoring room and looked down at the crazy mutated jungle below.

The roots of those thick vines were still piercing deep into the ground, tearing through the hard black iron floor slabs.

"I've scavenged enough Spirit Medicine from the fourth level for now; I must be steady and not drain the pond to catch the fish. The roots of this earth vein are all below."

Gu Shen's gaze followed the bottomless cracks in the ground, looking into the deeper darkness.

"Crab, what is the fifth level?"

"Reporting to Master... The fifth level is the water circulation and sewage treatment center." Crab's voice quickly returned to professionalism, "It is flooded all year round, and after the reactor leaked, all the heavily polluted cooling water backflowed into there. It is a complete biochemical water prison, and the aquatic Aberrations inside are ten times more disgusting than the plants above."

"A water prison, huh."

Gu Shen drew the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade, and the ghostly blue lightning illuminated his cold, ruthless face in the dimness.

"Perfect, my lightning method is the best at countering water evils. But before that, there is one more thing to do."