Chapter 40#

The Apocalypsect Master Unacquainted with the Ways of the World#

Lu Heng steadied his mind, quietly waiting for the dizziness of soul projection to fade. Once his senses sharpened and cleared, Lu Heng felt a hard object clenched firmly in his hand. He looked down and saw it was the four-finger-wide wooden sword he had spotted on the client’s back earlier. On the sword’s hilt, two characters were carved: Dichen.

This Dichen Sword was no ordinary weapon. It was left behind by an ancient power, forged from the heartwood of a thunder-struck peach tree that had cultivated for a hundred thousand years in a cultivation world. When wielded, it produced sounds of wind and thunder, and possessed the power to restrain demonic energy.

Lu Heng casually slung the Dichen Sword onto his back and sorted out his current situation. It had been exactly one month since the Heavenly Master Sect was annihilated. At the critical final moment, the remaining members of the sect had squeezed out every last drop of spiritual energy, activating the teleportation array to force Yun Lan—the one with the strongest talent and power—out by force. The array had sent him to an unknown mountain forest at random.

But it had been a full month, and this Yun Lan was still wandering around this nearby mountain forest. He should be hurrying out of these woods, finding a human settlement, and trying to gather information about the Spiritual Source’s whereabouts. How long had it been since the demonic energy outbreak? He didn’t know which super base housed the Spiritual Source either. By his calculations, the Spiritual Source should still be on that thief.

No time to waste. Lu Heng picked a direction and set off to leave the mountain forest.

Several hours later, Lu Heng stared at the familiar scenery and fell silent. Now he understood why Yun Lan was still wandering these woods after a full month. This body’s sense of direction was zero. No—calling it zero was being generous. It was essentially a negative number. This Yun Lan was a hopeless, complete and utter imbecile when it came to finding his way.

But since his soul had been projected into this body, as long as he paid a bit more attention, getting out of this forest shouldn’t be a problem. As an executor whose goal was to be promoted to the upper ranks, how could he be defeated by such a minor difficulty? Lu Heng wasn’t discouraged. He picked another path and walked on, this time paying rapt attention with the utmost vigilance to every change in the surrounding scenery.

Another few hours passed. The same scenery. The same person.

【Little Assistant, can you activate the navigation function for me?】Lu Heng gave up on going against this body’s cursed innate ability and helplessly turned to Little Assistant.

【I’ll try.】

After a moment, Little Assistant’s dejected voice came through.

【No can do. I got a warning—turning on navigation would break the character.】

With the last shred of hope severed, Lu Heng plopped down on the ground, on the verge of tears. Truly a disastrous start. Lu Heng flopped backward, gazing up at the sky, fragmentary and shattered by the tree branches overhead. He was contemplating a question of life and death: what exactly had Yun Lan been eating this past month? The flora and fauna of this world had been mostly corrupted by demonic energy and were no longer fit for consumption.

After hours of continuous travel, his stamina had been depleted, and Lu Heng felt his stomach growling. He searched through his memories and discovered that, as expected of the Heavenly Master Sect, they even had something as heaven-defying as Qi-Defying Pills. One pill could sustain a person for an entire day.

His spirits lifted. He rummaged through the small bundle he carried with him, fished out a small porcelain bottle, and cheerfully pulled out the wooden stopper, tipping it into his palm.

Empty.

A desolate gust of wind blew past Lu Heng’s hair. He felt that if a few snowflakes drifted down now, it would perfectly match his current state of mind. Was he really going to become the first executor to be kicked out of a world for starving to death after getting lost?

“Help!” A cry pierced Lu Heng’s ears.

That voice—simply like celestial music to Lu Heng’s ears. He sprang to his feet and dashed at top speed toward the source of the cry.

He saw a young man stumbling frantically through the forest, panic written all over his face, occasional cries for help escaping his lips. The terrain was treacherous, and it was immediately clear this was a refined youth from the city. He hadn’t gotten far before his feet caught and he went sprawling. The ground was thick with humus, so the fall itself caused no serious harm.

The real danger came from behind him—a mutated beast of knotted muscle and hideous, unrecognizable features lunged at him. Its razor-sharp claws, several inches long, aimed straight for the young man’s back. If that blow landed, his entire back would likely be torn open.

At the critical moment, a figure emerged from behind a tree on the right. A flying kick sent the beast—nearly two men in length—hurling several meters through the air. The young man’s legs had gone soft, and he could only sit there in a daze, watching the newcomer unleash his might. The man’s speed was astonishing. The beast hadn’t even gotten to its feet before his wooden sword pierced straight through its skull. Dead beyond any doubt.

“So strong.” The young man stupidly uttered two words. After all, this beast’s hide was incredibly tough—even bullets could only leave shallow scratches. Unless one possessed a high-level offensive ability, dealing damage to such creatures was simply the stuff of fantasy.

Yet the person before him had just used a wooden sword to cleave the beast’s skull open as easily as slicing through tofu.

Lu Heng withdrew the Dichen Sword, and a pool of putrid pus and blood flowed from the wound. Fortunately, the Dichen Sword was made of special material—filth could not cling to it, and the blade remained as spotless as ever.

Sheathing the Dichen Sword, Lu Heng walked over to the young man still paralyzed on the ground and quietly looked at him.

The young man finally calmed down from his extreme terror and shock. He noticed that this swift and decisive person was surprisingly young. The stranger stared at him without a word, making the young man somewhat uneasy. But he was, after all, someone skilled at reading people. He quickly discerned what seemed to be written across those eyes in large, unmistakable letters: Talk to me, already.

“Um, thank you for saving me. My name is Pan Rongxi.” Pan Rongxi managed to stand and gave Lu Heng a bow.

“Yun Lan.” Seeing that the man before him was reasonably perceptive, Lu Heng relaxed. This original body had a bit of social anxiety—unless absolutely necessary, he would never proactively speak to a stranger.

Pan Rongxi could see that Lu Heng appeared to be traveling alone. He knew that on his own, he had no chance whatsoever of surviving this forest alive. His thoughts raced, and he said, “My friends and I got separated due to an accident. Could I trouble you to escort me to regroup with them? Whatever you want, just name it.”

Seeing no change in Lu Heng’s expression, Pan Rongxi gritted his teeth and pulled a Level-3 crystal core from his pocket. “Consider this payment for saving my life just now. If you can lead me out, I have even higher-level crystal cores back at our camp.”

Lu Heng examined the translucent crystal in Pan Rongxi’s palm and noticed a faint wisp of spiritual energy swirling around it. “What is this?”

He didn’t even know what a crystal core was? Was this person not an ability user? And if he wasn’t, how could he possess such formidable combat power? Pan Rongxi thought to himself. Well, this was common knowledge anyway—nothing to hide. Better to be honest. He could also curry favor with this powerhouse.

“It’s a crystal core that condenses in the brains of zombies or mutated beasts. It can help ability users level up their abilities. But I’m not an ability user myself, so I’m not entirely sure how to absorb them.” Pan Rongxi paused, then added, “My friend is an ability user. If you come with me to meet him, I’ll put in a good word and have him tell you the absorption method without holding anything back.”

Lu Heng nodded, gestured for Pan Rongxi to follow, and turned to leave.

“Wait—the crystal core hasn’t been taken from the beast’s brain yet.” Pan Rongxi, ever perceptive, went over to retrieve the crystal core. After wiping it clean, he placed it in Lu Heng’s hand.

Lu Heng didn’t stand on ceremony. This was his spoils of war. He took it, tucked it into his pocket, and turned to walk off.

“Um, the way out of the forest is this way…” Pan Rongxi hesitated for a moment before calling out.

A deserted little mountain village at the foot of the mountains.

After the apocalypse arrived, not a single soul in this isolated village had survived—they had all become zombies. Just in the last few days, a squad had wiped out every zombie in the village and set up camp here.

That evening, as the sky darkened, several rows of people stood in neat formation on a small clearing within the village. The man at the head was tall and broad, with thick, dark eyebrows and chiseled, angular facial features. He wore camouflage pants and a fitted olive-green T-shirt that could not conceal the explosive musculature beneath. He might not be called stunningly handsome, but he radiated raw, testosterone-fueled masculinity from head to toe.

Qin Yi did a quick sweep and noticed three people were missing from the ranks: Mu Fei, Jiang Sile, and Pan Rongxi.

These three happened to belong to the same squad. Qin Yi frowned. He was a dual-ability user with psychic and fire abilities, and when they had first set up camp, he had done a preliminary scan of the surrounding area. Apart from that mountain forest, no particularly powerful zombies or beasts had been detected anywhere else. Logically speaking, with Mu Fei’s abilities and Jiang Sile’s support, nothing should have gone wrong.

“Yu Shan, I remember Mu Fei’s squad went in the same direction as you. Have you seen them?” Qin Yi asked a burly man in the ranks.

“Boss, our squad did operate together with them for a while. Later, Mu Fei insisted on going into those mountains for some reason. I told him you had orders that no one was to enter those mountains on their own, but he wouldn’t listen. We had no choice but to split up.”

Hearing this, fury surged through Qin Yi’s chest. What the hell was Mu Fei playing at? He had emphasized repeatedly that the situation in that mountain forest was unknown and no one should act recklessly—and Mu Fei had still charged straight in.

But no matter how angry he was, he would have to go clean up this mess. Mu Fei and Jiang Sile had been shadowing him since they were children, chasing cats and teasing dogs, climbing walls and tearing off roof tiles—the bond between the three of them was anything but ordinary.

Although at sixteen, Qin Yi had been kicked out of the family to gain experience in the military and had been gone for a full ten years, only reuniting with Mu Fei and Jiang Sile after the apocalypse broke out—the friendship from their youth hadn’t changed much despite the decade apart. Qin Yi was still the big brother who looked out for them.

Qin Yi said in a low voice, “Dismissed. You all rest. I’m going to find Mu Fei and the others. Don’t let your guard down—keep the night watch as previously arranged.”

Seeing Qin Yi turn and head out of the village, Yu Shan hurriedly called after him, “Boss, it’s almost dark!”

After dark, the strength of zombies and beasts nearly doubled compared to daytime. Going out at this hour was genuinely risky.

Qin Yi didn’t look back, simply waving his hand. “Don’t worry. those things around here—even with double the power, they can’t hurt me.”

Before he had even left the village, Qin Yi spotted two familiar figures striding toward him. The one in front moved quickly, his refined and handsome face etched with anxiety. The one trailing two steps behind looked somewhat impatient, but he was strikingly good-looking, so even this slightly petulant expression didn’t make him off-putting.

These two were, naturally, Mu Fei and Jiang Sile.

The moment Mu Fei saw Qin Yi, he asked urgently, “Qin Yi, has Rongxi come back?”

When Qin Yi shook his head, the anxiety on Mu Fei’s face deepened. “Rongxi got separated from us. I’m not confident going out at night on my own—I’ll have to trouble you to come with us.”

“Tch, Mu Fei, why don’t you just go find him yourself? Dragging Qin Yi out to go looking for your little lover—have you no shame?” Jiang Sile rolled his eyes without an ounce of restraint.

“Xiao Le, stop being difficult. You know I just treat him as a younger brother.” Mu Fei patted Jiang Sile’s shoulder in a soothing manner.

Jiang Sile’s words were sharp, yet Mu Fei wasn’t the least bit annoyed, because he knew Jiang Sile was just a bit spoiled by nature—his heart was in the right place.

“If it weren’t for our twenty years of friendship, I couldn’t be bothered with you.” Jiang Sile slapped Mu Fei’s hand away without tact, grabbed Qin Yi, and headed out of the village.

Qin Yi felt a bit puzzled. Jiang Sile had been coddled by his family since childhood, cultivating a somewhat coddled temperament. Qin Yi himself had always been rough around the edges and had little patience—nothing like Mu Fei’s gentleness and attentiveness. On top of the ten years apart, Jiang Sile had always been closer to Mu Fei. Yet in the past few days, Jiang Sile had been reluctant to talk to Mu Fei, finding fault with everything he said and did. Conversely, he had started clinging to Qin Yi for no apparent reason.

Qin Yi couldn’t be bothered to pry into these petty squabbles. Men, after all—what conflict couldn’t be settled with a good fight? Once it was done, everyone was still brothers.

All three were ability users, their physical prowess far surpassing ordinary people.

The sky hadn’t fully darkened yet, and the mountain forest was already within sight. Upon reaching its edge, Qin Yi noticed something different about the forest. That faint sense of danger that had lingered within it had disappeared.

“We got separated from Rongxi in these woods. He should still be inside.” Looking at Mu Fei’s expression, he clearly wanted to rush in right that instant to find the man.

“Mu Fei, I warned you not to enter this forest. This doesn’t seem like something you’d do.” Now that he had sensed the danger within the forest had dissipated, Qin Yi was in no rush to go in either. Whatever the outcome was inside, it had already been decided.

Mu Fei hesitated for a moment, but knowing Qin Yi’s temperament, he spoke up anyway. “I received some intelligence that there’s a rare psychic-type mutated beast in these woods…”

“You really are thorough. The common crystal cores couldn’t awaken that useless person no matter how many he tried, and yet you’re still scrambling to get him a psychic-type crystal core.” Jiang Sile let out a derisive snort.

“Xiao Le, I know you’ve never liked Rongxi. I was just thinking that once he awakens his abilities, he won’t need me to look after him anymore, and he won’t be in your way either.”

Qin Yi felt the atmosphere between these two was far too strange. Mu Fei looked almost like he was coaxing his own wife. The thought had barely formed in his mind before he strangled it himself. What was he thinking? Jiang Sile was a man.

“Rongxi!” Mu Fei suddenly exclaimed in surprise and delight.

He saw Pan Rongxi emerging from the forest alongside a stranger. The young man had a baby face that made his age hard to pin down—one could only infer from his build that he was already an adult. His eyes were slightly round with upswept corners, his pupils an unusual amber, and his hair a shade lighter, a tousled and fluffy mop slightly on the long side, casually tied into a small tail at the back.

The young man’s attire was bizarre. He actually wore a fitted martial tunic with narrow sleeves and carried a four-finger-wide wooden sword on his back. He looked as if he had time-traveled straight from ancient times.

Mu Fei’s and Jiang Sile’s attention was completely captured by this stranger’s outlandish appearance.

But the moment Qin Yi laid eyes on this young man, his entire heart and mind were filled with only two words: “Cream Puff!”