Chapter Eighty-One: I Only Wish for Steady Growth

Lu Sheng examined the token carefully—it was the very one he had obtained when he killed Meng Yang last time.

Shadow Token.

Now, the Shadow Token floated before him, projecting a virtual panel in midair.

[Red-quality talent detected. Shadow Token activating...]

[Please drip a drop of fresh blood...]

What on earth was this thing? It even required his own blood, and could detect his talent.

What would happen after activation?

Lu Sheng grew cautious. He had no desire to meddle with such powerful and mysterious objects right now. It might bring him benefits, which would be nice, but even if it did, in Lu Sheng’s view, it would only be the icing on the cake.

But what if it brought about a disaster he could not withstand?

At this stage, he only needed to develop steadily; all these bizarre things could wait until he was truly invincible.

Thinking this, Lu Sheng grabbed the Shadow Token, returned it to the sub-dimensional space, and, using his absolute control there, suppressed and sealed it away.

“I only want to grow steadily! No more weird things messing around!”

With this, the Shadow Token lost its luster and reverted to its ordinary, unremarkable appearance.

Seeing this, Lu Sheng finally felt at ease.

...

In the cosmic void,

Within a vast, planet-sized black palace,

"Shadow Token KE007 activation sequence interrupted."

A man clad in black armor sounded annoyed. “I really don’t know what these newly wall-broken planetary beings are thinking. There’s always someone unwilling to activate the Shadow Token—how frustrating.”

Another armored man tried to comfort him. “Newly wall-broken planets have just suffered the shock of the Fantasy Universe; caution is only natural. The Shadow Token’s location is now fixed. Let’s send a squad over.”

“There’s nothing else for it, then...”

...

After dealing with the Shadow Token, Lu Sheng lay down to sleep.

The next day,

Lu Sheng began practicing his control over the Strawman Avatar. The first thing he wanted to verify was whether the spatial anchor provided by the red-quality upgrade of the Space-Time Ant could be set upon his Strawman Avatar.

The experiment was a complete success; he managed to swap places with his Strawman Avatar on the first try. This made things much more convenient. For example, if he sent the Strawman Avatar out adventuring and the cards it held weren’t strong enough, he could simply swap places and strengthen the cards himself.

As for going out to travel in person? Impossible! Not unless he became truly invincible—then he could consider leisurely wandering the world.

He set himself a small goal: reach Tier Nine before considering any adventures.

...

In the sky, a giant eagle carried three people, coming to a stop before a magnificent, towering city.

The city walls rose dozens of meters high, within which rows upon rows of houses stretched endlessly to the horizon. The bustling crowds inside had none of the despair one might expect in an apocalypse.

Street vendors hawked their wares, adults strolled hand-in-hand with their children, their faces free of worry or hopelessness. The whole scene seemed almost dreamlike...

Wu Ming smiled as he watched Wei Liang’s shocked expression. “What do you think? Is this city grand and vast enough for you?”

After three days of travel, they had finally arrived.

Wei Liang was deeply shaken. He had never imagined that such a colossal city could still exist in the apocalypse. How many people could possibly live here?

Yet, even as awe filled his mind, he couldn’t help but question, “Sir, this doesn’t seem like a Heavenly Descent Main City. With so many people living together, if a dungeon descends, won’t it be unimaginably powerful?”

Wu Ming pointed to a massive, pitch-black vortex not far from the city. “Do you see that black hole?”

Without waiting for Wei Liang’s reply, he continued, “Because of its presence, no dungeons will appear within a hundred kilometers. But for that, we must defend against the monsters invading from the other side of the black hole. Guarding this City of Hope is the very purpose of our Dawn Legion.”

“What lies beyond the black hole?”

“That is the Monster World. Due to certain peculiar phenomena, it is sometimes called the Blood Moon World.”

...

After completing his experiment with the Strawman Avatar, Lu Sheng began cultivating, swallowing ten fourth-tier spirit fruits one by one.

The ten blue-quality fourth-tier spirit fruits elevated his cultivation to the late fourth tier. The energy feedback from two tier breakthroughs boosted his strength by a significant margin.

With his current power, even without using his hundredfold strength, he could dominate the fourth tier with the other abilities of the Space-Time Ant.

...

He did encounter a minor problem with breeding. He had only managed to upgrade two Tenfold Breeding Cards to the fourth tier, simply because he didn’t have enough cards to use for upgrades.

With just two cards, only two Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes could benefit from tenfold breeding at a time, since the effect was single-target, not group-based.

In the future, he could raise the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes to the highest level before breeding them, which would help solve the shortage of Tenfold Breeding Cards.

At noon, Lu Sheng went to Wang Xian’s house to pick up more Tenfold Breeding Cards. He’d only managed to buy fifty in the main city—not due to lack of demand, but quite the opposite. The need for these cards was immense, so even the largest guild, Frost Guild, had very little stock.

Familiar with the route, Lu Sheng arrived at Wang Xian’s home. Wang Xian was sitting in a chair, sipping tea—not real tea, but a plant with a refreshing effect.

“You’re here. These are the Tenfold Breeding Cards you wanted.”

Seeing Lu Sheng arrive, Wang Xian put down his cup and handed over two thick stacks of breeding cards.

Lu Sheng was pleasantly surprised. “Thank you, thank you!”

“By the way, your cultivation is still at peak Tier Two, isn’t it?” he asked after receiving the cards.

“That’s right. Why do you ask?” Wang Xian looked at Lu Sheng in puzzlement—what was he up to?

“Here, these are twenty Tier Two Red Pouches. I’m sure you know what they’re for.” Lu Sheng produced twenty red pouches from his spatial inventory and handed them over.

Wang Xian instinctively raised his hand to refuse. “I can’t possibly—”

Before he could finish, Lu Sheng interrupted him.

“Don’t refuse. This is your reward. I’ll be relying on you to keep making Tenfold Breeding Cards for me, and you can’t possibly do that for free every time.”

“Also, if you need other materials for the cards, just tell Lei Yan’s people to fetch them. I’ll let them know. You just focus on making cards for me. If you need anything, Warmth can always reach me.”

Bit by bit, Lu Sheng was growing accustomed to being the leader of this settlement, and he had come to understand an important principle.

He couldn’t freeload off his subordinates, nor could they freeload off him.

A little freeloading now and then was fine, but if it continued, resentment would build.

Mutual benefit was the best way.

His subordinates helped him get things done; rewarding them with resources only made them more motivated.