Zhao Xuan did not rush back to Hang City to kill the man who had colluded with the ability-user bandit group.
That matter was not urgent.
The man wasn't going anywhere.
What Zhao Xuan needed to deal with now was breaking through the next level of his Azure Dragon Fruit ability.
Although pushing the Azure Dragon Fruit to the next tier would likely cause a severe imbalance between his Spiritual Power and Physique—
Right now, Zhao Xuan's situation was already like an arrow strung on the bow, impossible to stop.
Even if he didn't intentionally try to break through—
At his current proficiency, it wouldn't be long before he advanced anyway.
So he might as well break through early.
This way, he could start adapting sooner to the problem of not being able to fully control his body's strength due to insufficient Spiritual Power.
Inside the relic space—
Zhao Xuan spent more than two hours restoring himself.
Two mid-grade energy fluids.
Four Monkey King Fruits.
Only then did his body recover to roughly eighty percent.
"This money is getting burned faster and faster…"
Zhao Xuan silently calculated.
Up to this moment—
Barely five hours had passed since he left Hang City.
Yet within those five hours, due to the ambush attack from the ability-user bandits, he had consumed:
15 pouches of mid-grade energy fluid
7 Monkey King Fruits
Mid-grade energy fluid: 2 million per pouch, fifteen was 30 million.
Monkey King Fruit: 3.7 million each, seven totaled 26 million.
Together—
He had burned through nearly 60 million in just five hours.
The thought alone made Zhao Xuan uneasy.
Five hours.
Sixty million.
Even a billionaire wouldn't dare spend like this.
If word got out, jaws would hit the floor across the entire nation.
"No. No. No. I need money. I need money! I need money!!"
Determined, Zhao Xuan opened the relic gate and left the relic space.
After checking his map, he hurried toward the location of his second bounty target.
Although his Armament Haki had broken through, and with his current strength he no longer needed to "act weak" to lure in fifth-rank Land Kings—
Zhao Xuan still chose to do things the same way.
Near the target's territory, he canceled his partial-dragon form, pretended to be a weakling, and stepped into the creature's domain.
But then—
A problem appeared.
Even without using his Azure Dragon Fruit abilities, his Master-level Armament Haki radiated such a powerful aura that the Land King could immediately sense he wasn't a mere fourth-rank insect—
But a fifth-rank existence.
So—
His fishing plan completely failed.
After trying repeatedly and failing to lure the Land King closer, Zhao Xuan changed strategies.
He would go straight to its lair.
Right in front of it—
He would smash its home to pieces.
And pluck away all the spiritual herbs it had painstakingly collected.
As expected—
The five-rank Land King immediately exploded with rage.
Damn human!
How dare you destroy my den!?
How dare you steal the spiritual herbs I spent years gathering!?
With a furious roar—
It lunged at Zhao Xuan.
"Finally losing your patience?"
A flash of cold amusement swept through Zhao Xuan's eyes.
He didn't attack immediately.
He waited calmly.
Waited until the beast closed to within a couple of meters—
Only then did Zhao Xuan suddenly strike.
The Azure Dragon Fruit flared to life.
In an instant—
His body transformed into a towering Dragonman shrouded in thunder and draconic might.
Then—
His Armament-and-lightning-infused fist slammed forward.
Before today—
Zhao Xuan's full-strength punch absolutely could not kill a fifth-rank Land King in one hit.
Even weak Land Kings possessed far sturdier defenses than humans of the same rank.
A typical fourth-rank Land King had a physique comparable to a fifth-rank human.
A typical fifth-rank Land King had physique approaching a sixth-rank human.
So previously—
At most, he could heavily injure them with a perfect ambush.
But now?
Now it was different.
With Master-level Armament Haki assisting him—
His punch—
CRACK!!
Shattered the beast's foreleg on impact.
Then the momentum of his punch didn't stop.
BOOM!
It crashed directly into the beast's skull.
The spot where his fist landed caved in deeply—
Exactly fist-sized.
The five-rank Land King collapsed instantly.
Its body convulsed.
Blood gushed from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Zhao Xuan followed up with another punch.
POP!
Its skull exploded.
A fourth-rank human—
Using two punches
To blow apart the skull of a fifth-rank Land King.
This wasn't strength.
This was outrageous.
Even killing across ranks was rare—
But killing across ranks in two punches was outright monstrous.
Skulls were the toughest part of nearly every creature.
And he shattered one like clay.
If news of this spread, the entire world would be stunned.
"So my strength has already reached this level…?"
After admiring the corpse for a moment, Zhao Xuan suddenly froze.
A bad thought struck him.
"Sh*t… don't tell me—!"
He quickly bent down and rummaged through the remains.
Seconds later—
He exhaled in relief.
"Good… good… good. The Land King Core didn't break. If it had, I'd have lost big time…"
A fourth-rank Land King Core sold for 3 million.
A fifth-rank one sold for 8 million.
Eight million…
Enough to buy four mid-grade energy pouches.
After storing the core and tossing the corpse into his relic space, Zhao Xuan left for the third bounty target.
This time—
He went straight for the lair again.
Burst in.
Stole all the herbs.
Smashed the nest with a fist.
Then he ran.
The beast roared in fury and chased him.
Once it closed the distance—
Zhao Xuan transformed and crushed it with two punches, just like the last one.
One hour later—
Aside from the very first Land King earlier, he had completed all four remaining bounties.
Four fifth-rank Land Kings.
All killed with two punches each.
It didn't matter whether the mission difficulty was labeled low, mid, or high among fifth-rank targets—
They all died the same.
This alone showed how terrifying Zhao Xuan's current strength was.
"What the hell? You're all fifth-rank Land Kings! I'm only fourth-rank! How are you this fragile!? I worked for an hour and only gained twenty proficiency points on my Azure Dragon Fruit!?"
Zhao Xuan frowned at his attribute panel.
"No. This won't do. Fifth-rank Land Kings can't give me any pressure anymore. If I want to improve through combat, I have to go deeper into Lingyin Mountain."
Decision made—
He took a moment to think.
Only about 300 proficiency points remained before his Azure Dragon Fruit would break through to Master level.
He tightened his fist.
"A sixth-rank… With my current power, I should be able to fight one head-on."
Do it!!!
With that—
Zhao Xuan turned toward the true depths of Lingyin Mountain.
Half an hour later—
After climbing five or six mountain ridges, he finally reached a region marked in red on the map—
The territory of sixth-rank Land Kings.
He was deep—
Truly deep inside the mountain range now.
All around him—
Ancient trees as wide as seven or eight men stood like pillars of a green temple.
Occasionally—
He found spiritual herbs scattered along the forest floor.
The reason was simple:
This was a forbidden zone for ordinary humans.
Only fifth-rank, sixth-rank, or stronger ability users ever came this far.
And those people—
Could casually kill a fourth-rank Land King worth several million.
Why would they bother picking up herbs worth only tens of thousands?
The herbs here were all low-grade.
High-grade herbs required extremely dense spiritual energy.
This environment wasn't strong enough to nurture them.
And even if a high-grade herb somehow appeared, the sixth-rank Land Kings living here would have eaten or collected them long ago.
"How does the map describe it…? Oh right. There's a valley to the west inhabited by a hive of Spirit Bees."
"Spirit Bee honey… now that's good stuff."
"A hundred grams costs—what? Twenty or thirty million?"
"Money aside, Spirit Bee honey is an excellent spiritual-power tonic."
Thinking about the massive imbalance between his physique and spiritual power made Zhao Xuan's heart itch.
"But there's also a sixth-rank Berserk Bear living in that same valley…"
He frowned.
Bear-type beasts were known for absurd attack power and ridiculous defense.
"Can I handle a sixth-rank bear with my current strength…?"
He did not act recklessly.
He was not a fool.
A bear was no simple opponent.
Even in his previous life, bears were apex predators.
A big enough bear could slap a tree into two pieces.
Its power was unimaginable.
And he was about to face a sixth-rank bear.
He refused to let arrogance kill him.
"I'll test it first. Bears are high-attack, high-defense, low-speed creatures. If I can't beat it, I can definitely outrun it."
"The Spirit Bees won't move their hive anyway."
"If I can't win, I'll just come back after my Azure Dragon Fruit breaks through."
"If I can win, even better—
I'll get the honey,
and possibly push my Fruit straight into the Master tier!"
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