Chapter 37: Piercing the Void and Shattering Illusion

Not only them, but Tang Xiaoxiao also slowly stepped out from the main group.

The soldiers of the Seventh Army ran past, and finally, a man wearing black-rimmed glasses emerged from the end of the line. It was the same young man who, outside the military district, had seen through the invisibility of Li Ye’s "Candlelight Guidance."

The head instructor frowned, scanned the few who had gathered, and said in a deep voice, "Are you very unconvinced?"

Of the six people, not one uttered a sound.

"I’ll give you God-Chosen ones a chance. One by one. As long as one of you can land a hit on me, you won’t have to participate in today’s training."

After Fei Mingjie finished speaking, he threw a small wooden stick onto the ground. His imposing physique allowed him to look down at the new recruits.

Shen Zhihong stood not far from the training ground with the Legion Commander, watching the spectacle with interest.

"Has Mingjie’s physical strength increased again?"

Shen Zhihong nodded and replied, "Indeed. Although Mingjie hasn't awakened any God-Chosen abilities, his physical strength has evolved to an incredible degree."

"It’s good to dampen the arrogance of these recruits; it will save them from dying at the hands of those variants later. There won't be any chance for regret then..."

...

On the side of the training ground, Fei Mingjie repeated himself to the group, saying mockingly, "Afraid?"

He kicked the wooden stick toward Suo Hao’s feet.

"Hit me, just once, and today’s training is waived, you losers."

Lu Xuening was the first to step out of the crowd. She solemnly picked up the stick from Suo Hao’s feet and closed her eyes.

"Mind’s Eye" ability activated.

As she swung the stick, she followed the trajectory of the instructor’s dodges every time, but due to her lack of strength, she missed by a hair’s breadth. After swinging with all her might dozens of times, she couldn't help but gasp for air and stepped back.

Instructor Fei chuckled, took the stick back from Lu Xuening’s hand, and stood before Suo Hao.

"What a loser. Aren't you ashamed? Letting a woman go first."

Suo Hao spat, snatched the stick, and swung it wildly toward Fei Mingjie.

"Go to hell! Do you think you're something special!?"

The strength reinforced by his God-Chosen ability caused the stick to whistle through the air. The instructor chuckled disdainfully, dodging with continuous, small, rhythmic shifts. The stick in Suo Hao’s hand missed his body by mere millimeters every time. Having just finished his run, Suo Hao was already winded and drenched in sweat, yet he gritted his teeth and persisted.

"Bang."

Fei Mingjie impatiently kicked Suo Hao to the ground.

"Brainless idiots like you, who don’t know how to strive to become stronger, will only get your teammates killed when you reach a real life-or-death situation! Do you understand!?"

The instructor humiliated Suo Hao while glancing coldly at the others.

"Let me try."

The young man with black-rimmed glasses stepped forward and slowly took the stick.

"Come on."

"Snap."

The entire training ground fell into an eerie silence.

This strike had landed squarely in the palm of Fei Mingjie’s hand. The scene was inverted, looking as if a teacher were disciplining a student.

Chi Shaomu, one of the three future pillars of the Dongming Military District, "The Insightful."

God-Chosen Ability Trait: Insight into the Void and Breaking Illusions.

...

"Roar—"

A low roar came from the foot of Lingxiu Mountain.

A fierce, massively built tiger blocked the path into the mountain for Li Ye and the gorilla. The tiger’s fur was a vibrant, deep red; from a distance, it looked as dazzling as a burning fire.

A Tier 2 variant!

Beside this fierce tiger were countless zombies and animal variants. Unlike the golden eagle, this tiger clearly didn't need to kill its own kind to prove its strength.

But Li Ye did not stop; instead, he urged Da Hei, the gorilla under him, to run even faster. The intense thudding of their approach made the variants restless. The powerful aura emanating from the human made them instinctively want to turn and flee.

The lead tiger variant let out a long howl toward the sky, a look of human-like trepidation flashing in its sharp eyes. Its keen biological instincts made it fear this human’s aura!

The tiger’s roar bolstered their courage, and the majority of the zombie variants began to swarm toward Li Ye, their numbers vast like a surging tide.

Li Ye’s expression remained unchanged, but Da Hei beneath him was not having as easy a time. The pressure of the hundreds of beasts surrounding them forced it to a halt, its iron-like fists trembling involuntarily. A foul, fishy wind hit them, and Da Hei looked up, its bead-like eyes showing a hint of fear.

The fierce tiger took the lead, biting down with the momentum of a tiger leaping over a mountain stream.

Li Ye remained unfazed. His lips curled into a smile, and he raised his right arm high. The myriad rays of light rapidly gathering in his palm made the sentient tiger pause for a moment.

The last thing reflected in the tiger’s eyes was the form of Li Ye, looking like a god.

...

"Swish—"

The blade of light descended, and the last variant was decapitated.

Li Ye reached out and grasped at the empty air toward the corpse, extracting a blood crystal marrow the size of a quail egg. Not far from him, the massive tiger carcass lay on the ground.

Divine-tier God-Chosen abilities were simply crushing when facing enemies of the same rank!

This overlord of the Jiangning Zoo hadn't even lasted as long as the golden eagle.

The gorilla that had been under Li Ye was shivering. After all, it was one thing to be surrounded, but it was another to see its own kind being "surrounded" by a single person...

Li Ye glanced at Da Hei, ignored it, and dashed toward the mountain alone.

A blood crystal marrow that barely reached Tier 1 was useless.

Li Ye roughly estimated that his "Treasure Vault" space now contained about a hundred unranked blood crystal marrows, while there were only four Tier 1 ones. Not to mention Tier 2—only the tiger he had just killed had provided one.

These materials were incomparable to the milky jade bones provided by the blight-fiend swarm a few days ago.

Thus, he was determined to secure the immortal fruit on Lingxiu Mountain!

"Don't let me down," Li Ye thought to himself.

As he went higher, the tall forest almost swallowed him up, and a faint, fresh fragrance drifted into his nostrils. Strictly speaking, Lingxiu Mountain, no more than a hundred meters high, was merely a hill.

So, after just another ten minutes, Li Ye could see the towering, massive ancient tree through the gaps between the treetops.

This was the legendary immortal tree of Jiangning City, and it was said that the immortal fruit bestowed by a celestial being grew upon it.

Walking out of the dense forest, if nothing went wrong... there should be a mount of the legendary immortal beneath the tree.

It was a crane-shaped mutant variant!