The smell of blood mixed with the burnt smell of plasma permeated the swamp, and the last monster's twitching gradually subsided, with only the blue-purple electric arcs remaining in the mud, still crackling.
Liu Yun leaned on his Thunder Blade, panting; when the blade pierced the ground, it didn't stir up dirt, but rather a few sparks of electricity that hadn't completely dissipated.
"Is…it…all…taken care of?" Xiao Wu's trembling voice came from under the car.
When he poked his head out, he saw Liu Yun turn around, the sunlight outlining his silhouette, soaked in blood; the Thunder Blade's lightning had faded, but it looked sharper than ever.
Wang Tianba propped himself up with his broken leg, looking at the monster remains scattered on the ground, then at Liu Yun, who was completely unharmed.
His throat worked, and he suddenly struggled to get up, but Liu Yun stepped forward and pressed down on his shoulder.
"Don't move around, your leg bone is dislocated."
Liu Yun squatted down, his fingertips resting on the injury on his knee, his Psychic gently probing, "The periosteum is torn; it needs to be set immediately."
The Mechanical Race Clone's basic healing function also activated; this kind of external injury could be healed directly, it wasn't a big deal.
"Liu Yun…" Wang Tianba lifted his blood-stained Face, his eyes filled with more shame than shock.
"Back then…when you were injured, I…I was afraid of delaying the mission progress, so I didn't help you…" His voice grew lower and lower, "Later, the higher-ups said they wanted to replace you with a substitute, I…I couldn't refuse either…"
"That's in the past. Besides, your external injury is easy to treat, but internal injuries require medicine." Liu Yun interrupted him, his tone calm and unwavering.
He took out another silver injection from his tactical belt and directly injected it into an Acupoint on Wang Tianba's leg, making him cry out in pain.
The moment the injection was pushed in, Wang Tianba grunted in pain, but the swelling at the fracture visibly receded at a rapid pace.
Xiao Wu watched from the side, dumbfounded, then suddenly knelt down in the mud with a 'thud'.
"Brother Yun! I…I shouldn't have taken your place before, and I shouldn't have listened to them saying your Aptitude was mediocre…" He spoke incoherently, "You used the Ninefold Thunderblade just now, didn't you? It can actually summon lightning! I'm stuck at the second stage; can you teach me too? I'll uphold your prestige…"
"It's just different weapons." Liu Yun helped Wang Tianba lean against the wreckage of the off-road vehicle, his gaze sweeping over the Dojo of Limits emblem on the car body.
"How did you end up provoking a D-rank Beast General?"
"Don't even mention it…" Wang Tianba gave a wry smile, "We found an old-era laboratory deep in the swamp, hoping to scavenge some resources, but we triggered a radiation source inside, which attracted that Lizard King… Only the two of us are left from the entire squad."
He looked at Liu Yun, his eyes suddenly becoming earnest, "Liu Yun, you're so strong now, come back to the Flying Squad! I'll give you the Captain's position, and in the future, we…"
"No need." Liu Yun stood up, patted the mud off his hands, "I've joined the HR Alliance."
These words made Wang Tianba and Xiao Wu both freeze.
The sunlight filtered through the reeds, casting dappled shadows on Liu Yun's Face; his eyes were much sharper than before, no longer that of a reserve member who needed to rely on a team.
"I have some feelings for the Flying Squad," he paused, a hint of relief in his voice, "but the path I'm on now is different from yours."
"But…" Wang Tianba wanted to say more, but Liu Yun waved his hand, cutting him off.
"All the monsters in this vicinity have been cleared; you're safe, so I'm leaving now."
With that, Liu Yun sheathed his long blade and left directly; the past team camaraderie was like driftwood in the swamp, once supporting him, but now what he needed was a blade to cleave through the waves.
"Alas, we missed out on a true powerhouse."
At this moment, Wang Tianba's Face showed bitterness and regret, but he was helpless; the rescue he had called for was also arriving soon, so he could only go back first and make other plans.
However, in this matter, besides Liu Yun's formidable combat power, his Thunder Blade also attracted attention.
That Xiao Wu also practiced the Ninefold Thunderblade, and seeing it actually summon thunder was truly astonishing.
But all of this was in the past; Liu Yun had already left, driving his jeep deeper into the wilderness.
The HR Alliance basically didn't care about anything, at least it seemed that way for now, even encouraging Liu Yun to go out and roam by himself.
Liu Yun was very satisfied; such a hands-off organization was exactly to his liking.
But just as he was achieving victory after victory with his Ninefold Thunderblade, Grinda suddenly called him, which surprised him greatly.
"Grinda, what do you need me for? I'm busy."
Liu Yun, holding his Thunder Blade, sat casually on a seven or eight-meter-tall giant tiger, looking at the communicator in his hand with great confusion, wondering why this person was contacting him.
"Ah, nothing. There's a mission here that I think might suit you. Do you want to take it?"
Grinda was very calm; she didn't even mention the mission details, just said there was a mission Liu Yun might be able to take.
Liu Yun had received quite a few benefits from the HR Alliance, so he thought it wouldn't be good to refuse.
"These people, they probably thought of this a long time ago, didn't they?"
Liu Yun shook his head, understanding Grinda's intention perfectly.
In fact, he wasn't absolutely against HR Alliance missions; as long as their missions were reasonable, he wouldn't refuse.
Looking at Grinda on the screen, who seemed to have known what he was thinking, Liu Yun felt an indescribable discomfort.
"Hmph, you prepared to do this a long time ago, didn't you?"
He said with some displeasure, while the beauty on the other side still smiled like a flower.
"So-called freedom is inherently limited. If you still need the resources we provide, you must complete a certain level of missions."
Grinda directly admitted her intention; there were always ways to deal with those overly lax HR Alliance members.
Afterward, she sent a piece of information to Liu Yun's terminal.
Liu Yun looked at it and realized that there were other Martial Artists in the vicinity who needed rescue.
Moreover, these people were foreigners from the HR Alliance.
Liu Yun had received similar distress calls before and simply ignored them, as they weren't people from China, and he couldn't be bothered with them.
"Oh, here! I'll definitely go rescue them when I pass by later."
Liu Yun was currently making excuses, but Grinda's smile vanished, her ability to change her expression was truly remarkable.
"There's a benefit for you if you complete this mission, don't be so quick to refuse. You've surely heard of the famous grass and wood spirit, haven't you?"
These words made even Liu Yun's expression change drastically; he hadn't expected there to be the legendary grass and wood spirit!
This item was naturally a treasure; what Liu Yun needed most right now were such things.
He also needed grass and wood spirit to synthesize evolution fluid, which was considered the highest-grade herb.
"Tell me, where is the mission location?"
This time, Liu Yun not only didn't decline but directly asked for the mission location; Grinda could be considered to have achieved her goal.
Once Liu Yun got used to this kind of thing, he would quickly realize that everything was pretty much the same!
Working for the Dojo of Limits and working for the HR Alliance, at least before reaching the High-level War General rank, there was no difference; it couldn't change the overall situation.
"The coordinates have been sent to you. It's on a volcano on a southern island, where flying monsters frequently emerge, blocking an important shipping route of ours!"
"No matter what method you use, clear them out, and after you return, you'll naturally receive your share of the grass and wood spirit."
Grinda described the mission bit by bit.
Liu Yun looked at it for a long time and felt it was within his capabilities.
Most crucially, he needed grass and wood spirit; only such things could allow him to prepare new evolution fluid, so he had no choice but to agree.
"Alright! I will wipe out all winged creatures, just you wait and see!"
Liu Yun immediately accepted the mission at this moment, unaware that everything was being seen by Li Wei through the HR Alliance's communication System, as he had misused his parents' permissions.
Speaking of Li Wei, he was also a troublemaker; it turned out that some time ago, he had somehow gotten in touch with Li Lei.
It was said that before the Great Nirvana, they were actually relatives, considered to be from the same family five hundred years ago, and thus became familiar.
Li Lei went to great lengths to flatter him, only to cling to his influence and eliminate Liu Yun.
Li Wei, young and reckless, actually agreed to this matter for the sake of Face.
At the military base, Li Wei was discussing with two High-level War Generals beside him whether they should intercept and kill Liu Yun.
For this, they looked at Liu Yun's latest communication records and even tagged Liu Yun's personal communicator with a positioning marker.
This way, no matter where Liu Yun went, as long as he was still using HR Alliance equipment, he couldn't escape.
"The tracking marker has been added; no matter how far he runs, we can find him, but Young Master, is what we're doing really worth it?"
Calone, a High-level War General, said this, holding a radar display that clearly showed the increasing distance between Liu Yun and them.
Panya also somewhat agreed with these words; after all, they merely had two lackey Martial Artists who were crippled by Liu Yun's trickery.
However, Liu Yun was also a master, so was the cost of doing this too great?
The mixed-race Li Wei stood on a collapsed bus, his expression very stern as he spoke.
"Hmph, I see this Liu Yun acts too capriciously. Wang Huifeng and Xia Lin merely said a few words to him, and he actually resorted to such vicious methods! This shows how despicable and shameless this person is, and he must be severely punished without leniency."
When Li Wei said this, a feeling of injustice welled up in his heart, and his Face was extremely grim.
"I think we should teach him a good lesson! Anyone who dares to lay hands on my subordinates must be prepared for the consequences of my retaliation. What? Are you two scared?"
He had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth his entire life and had never suffered any slight.
Now that he had someone challenging him, he naturally wanted to deal with him properly to show his authority and bolster his side's morale.
In short, these were arrogant scions who, when faced with excellent talents from the lower class, would suppress them no matter who they were!
They didn't dare to hit those with backgrounds, so who else could they hit but these grassroots talents?
"Being afraid of him is impossible!"
The white strongman Calone shook his head, reaching out to tear off his undershirt, revealing a palm-width of chest hair.
Martial Artists were all people who sought Breakthroughs on the edge of life and death; it was impossible for them to fear plotting against enemies.
Sometimes, tracking and killing enemies was even more important than tracking monsters.
Seeing that both of them had made up their minds, Calone stopped thinking too much and only considered how to eliminate Liu Yun effortlessly.
"I saw how he performed during the assessment. Although he killed more than a dozen H-rank monsters, his movement technique was still very poor."
Calone was referring to the skills Liu Yun displayed during the Martial Artist combat assessment; that clumsy appearance was still in his eyes.
At least for them, High-level War Generals, that movement technique was very bad; if Calone were to go, he believed he could kill nearly a hundred H-rank monsters with one blade.
"Let's not alert him yet. When he's camping in the wilderness, we'll gradually close in and surely catch him off guard!"
This was Calone's plan, which could be said to be very precise in cornering Liu Yun; after all, Liu Yun's strength mainly relied on accumulating resources, and his corresponding cultivation had not received enough training.
So they decided that when Liu Yun was resting and relaxed in the wilderness, they would launch a joint attack, ensuring a fatal blow without leaving any flaws.
Liu Yun drove his off-road pickup truck at high speed on the wilderness highway until the road ahead was completely blocked by ruins, forcing him to pull over and decide to proceed on foot.
The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the broken road.
Liu Yun took his backpack from the car, carefully checked his equipment, abandoned his machine gun and rocket launcher, and hid the car in the messy bushes.
"If the base is fully built, I should be able to construct an invisible spaceship!"
He couldn't help but look forward to the completion of the base even more.
Once the base was completely built, he wouldn't have to use outdated tools like off-road vehicles anymore, and his survival ability in the wild would greatly increase.
Liu Yun knew that the road ahead would be full of unknowns and dangers, but as a Divine Rank Psyche Master, he had enough confidence and preparation.
Just as he was about to embark on his journey on foot, a subtle electromagnetic wave fluctuation caught his attention.
As a Psyche Master, he was extremely sensitive to such subtle changes, and with the Mechanical Race Clone's enhancement, he could even rival a God of War.
Liu Yun immediately closed his eyes and concentrated, scanning his surroundings with Psychic, trying to capture the source of that unusual fluctuation.
As a result, he noticed something abnormal on his personal communicator, which startled him.
"Someone from the HR Alliance is tracking me?" Liu Yun's heart tightened, but he quickly regained his composure.
He didn't know who the enemy was, but this kind of tracking was definitely not benevolent, and might even have very malicious intentions.
However, Liu Yun couldn't immediately guess that it was Li Wei tracking him.
Liu Yun currently didn't have any major life-or-death enemies, so he couldn't deduce who had hacked his communicator.
Holding the small communicator, Liu Yun's Face darkened.
Just then, a strange white bird, which also seemed to be a monster, flew up beside him.
Liu Yun directly used his Psychic to cleverly transfer the black communicator in his hand onto the white bird that was soaring high.
The large bird seemed to be unaware of any anomaly, still soaring freely in the sky, while the tracker remained tightly attached beneath its feathers, gradually moving away from Liu Yun's position with its flight path.
"You just chase this beast! I still have to go kill the Undying Bird!"
Liu Yun thought of the mission first; after all, this was his first mission, and he couldn't be interfered with by a tracker.
He then continued towards the location provided in the mission information, no longer bothering with this small matter.
Meanwhile, Li Wei and Calone were anxiously awaiting feedback from the tracker.
They had initially thought they could easily find Liu Yun and implement their interception plan, but they didn't expect the tracker to suddenly go awry.
Li Wei frowned, his gaze fixed on the constantly jumping yet gradually deviating light dot on the radar display, a premonition of ill omen rising in his heart.
He turned to Calone, his tone carrying a hint of unease: "Why did this tracker suddenly change direction? Did Liu Yun tamper with it?"
Calone also looked confused.
He shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Unlikely. We're using the HR Alliance's High-level War General permissions, and the communicator is the latest model, with extremely high stealth.
Even if he's a Psyche Master, he wouldn't easily detect it, unless…"
"Unless what?" Li Wei pressed eagerly.
"Unless his Psychic has already reached the strength of a God of War, the parameters of this tracker are such that it cannot evade the Psychic of a God of War expert." Calone speculated, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes.
As a High-level War General, he deeply understood the power and mystery of a God of War-level Psyche Master.
If that were truly the case, they wouldn't have to worry about being called cowards; it would be best to turn around and leave to save their lives.
"What should we do now? Continue tracking?" Panya asked from the side, appearing somewhat hesitant.
Li Wei pondered for a moment, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes: "Track him! I refuse to believe this Liu Yun is that formidable.
He's so young, he absolutely cannot be a God of War-level Psyche Master! At most, he accidentally discovered he was being tracked!
If it comes down to it, we'll just wait for him at his mission location."
Calone and Panya nodded in agreement upon hearing this.
They knew that this mission had already exceeded their initial expectations, but since they had decided to act, there was no turning back.
Liu Yun took on the mission to hunt the Undying Bird.
Li Wei used his parents' influence to find out about this, so Li Wei naturally knew where Liu Yun was going, and thus wasn't afraid of losing track of him; at most, it would just waste more time!
And it was clear that they were only tracking a high-flying bird.
Liu Yun had temporarily shaken off these little tails; he was very shrewd and planned to return to the base immediately after completing the mission without any delay.