WHOOSH—!
The three Moss Monsters near the swamp had yet to realize the danger before they were pierced one by one by the Poisonous Sting swords, becoming food inside Chen Yu's Gel stomach.
SIZZLE... SIZZLE...
Accompanied by the faint yet efficient sound of dissolving, the Moss Monsters were almost instantly enveloped and broken down by the powerful acid.
Chen Yu could feel them rapidly transform into a warm, pure stream of energy that merged with his Gel body.
'With Acid Secretion, my digestion is so much faster than before!'
[Proficiency +1]
[Proficiency +1]
A transparent light screen flashed. The acid inside his body seemed to have deepened in color, though it wasn't very noticeable.
Over the course of the morning, Chen Yu hunted another dozen or so Moss Monsters.
Before, he had to be careful of the acid the Moss Monsters spat, forcing him to hunt them stealthily one by one, which was very inefficient.
Now that he had three Poisonous Sting swords, he wasn't afraid even if the Moss Monsters came in groups.
The times had changed. When the wolf picks up a shotgun, the sheep in the pen are only fit for slaughter, and even the farmer guarding the pen has to be wary.
He began wantonly clearing out the "farm" under the tree. This action quickly angered the swarm of Poisonous Sting Bees in the tree, and four of them flew down.
But Chen Yu was prepared this time. Seeing the Poisonous Sting Bees descend, he immediately jumped into the swamp's muck, causing the fired Poisonous Stings to miss.
The enraged Poisonous Sting Bees circled above the swamp, but there was nothing they could do to him.
'Can't hit me.'
After toying with the Poisonous Sting Bees for a while, he felt it was a bit boring to keep fighting with these monsters. Since he couldn't get to the surface anyway, he burrowed back into his nest to rest.
In the thatched hut in the Bamboo Forest, after eating breakfast, Chen Yu lined up several porcelain vials on the table. He pressed a finger to the lines on his palm, and Slime Acid secreted from his fingertip, dripping down.
Before long, the acid had filled five entire vials.
His face turned a little pale as a result. He quickly drank a bowl of white congee, and his vitality gradually returned.
Secreting the acid consumed Magic Power, as well as physical strength and nutrients. Five vials a day was pretty much his limit; he truly couldn't produce any more.
Replenishing his physical strength and nutrients was relatively simple, but there was no other way to restore his Magic Power besides waiting for it to recover slowly.
Five vials of Slime Acid were worth 125 Shattered Spirits, which converted to one Spirit Stone plus 25 Shattered Spirits.
After deducting daily food expenses, he had a net profit of 75 Shattered Spirits a day—no different from the reward for completing an ordinary sect mission.
The advantage was that it was efficient and easy.
In a few more days, once he saved up enough Spirit Stones, he could go purchase a new Daoist Skill.
'I'm looking forward to it.'
At noon, he made a trip to South Bridge Market and saw Shao Qingsong already leaning against the Bridge Gate, waiting for him.
Seeing Chen Yu approach, he waved, as if afraid Chen Yu wouldn't recognize him.
"Junior Brother, it's me, Shao Qingsong."
"Why are you here so early?"
Shao Qingsong replied politely, "I had nothing better to do, so I came to South Bridge Market to have a look around."
'Could he afford not to come early? Where else could he find such a surefire, profitable deal? He had to be a bit more eager.'
'The only reason he hadn't resorted to using his charms was that he was a man.'
'Otherwise, he would have already been following Chen Yu back home like an eager puppy.'
Chen Yu gave him a strange look. He couldn't shake the feeling that this senior brother's gloomy eyes held a hint of ill intent.
Shao Qingsong lowered his voice. "Junior Brother Chen, that corpse-dissolving water of yours is really effective. How much stock do you have right now? I'll take it all."
"Senior Brother, you misunderstand. This is a medicinal fluid, not some corpse-dissolving water."
"Right, right. Silly me, I forgot again," Shao Qingsong said with a chuckle.
When Chen Yu took out five vials of Slime Acid and handed them over, a flash of delight crossed the man's face. He then carefully took out a complete Spirit Stone and a small handful of Shattered Spirits, completing the transaction.
Before parting, the two agreed on a time for their next trade.
From then on, Chen Yu's life fell into a fixed rhythm: at sunrise, he would hunt in the Swamp Forest; as the sun set in the west, he would head to South Bridge Market on time to trade with Shao Qingsong.
His days flowed by as peacefully and regularly as the swamp water flowing through the forest.
「Half a month passed in a flash.」
Chen Yu had just finished a delicious breakfast in the Swamp Forest when a subtle change occurred in his body.
[Proficiency +1]
[Acid Secretion Level 1 → Acid Secretion Lv.2]
—
Other Talents: Acid Secretion Lv.2
Skill List: Kaiyuan Treasure Scroll Lv.4, Artifact Manipulation Skill Lv.3
—
After this period of hunting, his Slime body had swelled to the size of two cupped hands. Inside his transparent body, the darker-colored acid sloshed around as he bounced.
The corrosiveness of Lv.2 Slime Acid was now no different from that of the Moss Monsters' acid, and it could be sold for a higher price.
Moreover, thanks to his frequent hunting during this time, his Artifact Manipulation Skill had also risen to Lv.3.
The range of the Artifact Manipulation Skill was still half a meter, but the interval between controlling the Poisonous Sting swords had shortened. He could now fire four Poisonous Sting swords in one go without a problem.
He had practically become a walking Land Sword Immortal. He could kill a bug with every step. The Moss Monsters under the Twisted Oak Tree would see something green pop up in the swamp and shrink back into the gaps between the tree roots in fear.
Their simple nervous systems couldn't comprehend how their former prey had become so terrifying, but their instincts had already recorded a fear of the Slime.
From now on, the Slime's status in the Swamp Forest was set to rise.
'Hmm... at least from weak food to food with a little bit of fighting power.'
In the afternoon, Chen Yu went to South Bridge Market to trade and purchase goods as usual...
Feeling the twelve Spirit Stones he had saved up in his pocket over the past few days, he got a taste of what it felt like to be rich.
Although it wasn't a huge amount, the key was that it was a slow but steady stream of income. It was far better than miserably going out on adventures or doing missions.
However, he felt that the energy flow in his body was sluggish today. At first, he thought it was just because he had been well-off and overeating recently, but he belatedly realized that his Cultivation was about to break through.
So, he didn't linger in South Bridge Market. He returned to his thatched hut, ate an early dinner, and lay down on his hardwood bed to meditate and regulate his breathing, searching for the opportunity to break through.
The breakthrough itself wasn't much to worry about. But over in the Swamp Forest, it seemed the first major rainstorm since the beginning of spring was about to hit.
「Zeyarira.」
The sky was heavy with lead-gray clouds, layered so thick they seemed about to collapse.
The forest below had been swallowed by a thick darkness. The air in the woods was stagnant, muggy, and sticky, without a single breeze.
SQUISH, SQUISH...
Chen Yu swallowed the last Moss Monster and, before night fully fell, bounced back to the swamp to take shelter from the rain.
The Swamp Forest at night was far more terrifying than during the day. Even Chen Yu didn't dare stay on the surface.
The predators here weren't limited to Poisonous Sting Bees. Monsters with "Darkness Vision" usually came out at night, waiting for a chance to hunt prey.
After jumping into the swamp, he left only the top of his head and his pair of beady green eyes poking out of the marshy pool, observing the movements in the darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, he saw the ordinary-looking, dark green moss from the daytime begin to emit a faint fluorescent glow at night, slightly dispelling the gloom that preceded the storm.
Some hibernating monsters also began their nightly activities.
Giant leeches slithered through the murky swamp like pythons, seemingly avoiding something. Blue frogs, their bodies glowing, ignored the insects overhead and hurriedly sought shelter from the rain...
There were also fluorescent mushrooms glowing with a faint blue light that pulled themselves out of the ground and hopped through the forest on a pair of small legs.
These Fluorescent Mushroom People looked delicious, but the glowing powder they scattered behind them had a powerful hallucinogenic effect.
If a monster accidentally came into contact with it, it would fall into a hallucination, then be forcibly buried in the ground by the Mushroom People and sucked dry for nutrients.
Chen Yu had once seen a Beetle fly by, get dusted with the fluorescent powder, and then fall to the ground, swaying. It was pinned down by a Fluorescent Mushroom Person and never got up again.
Although he craved a bite, he didn't dare provoke these Mushroom People casually.
But not many monsters were out tonight. Usually, he could hear terrifying howls from the depths of the swamp, but now they were all gone. It seemed the monsters in the deeper regions had sensed the impending storm and gone into hiding.
A strange, restless urge rose up from within Chen Yu. He felt as if he were longing for something.
He looked up at the sky. A gray mist had unknowingly filled the entire forest.
The forest was already very dark, but his pair of beady green eyes could clearly see this gray mist.
A word inexplicably popped into his mind.
Magic Power.
This didn't seem like an ordinary rainstorm. It was more like an impending carnival of Magic Power.
In any case, tonight was destined to be anything but peaceful.