Chapter 24: S-011, The Walker

"This is strange."

Not believing his eyes, Li Ye picked up a piece of milky jade bone himself. He focused his mind, sensing the flow of energy. The seal hidden on his left arm began to grow warm, and the energy from the jade bone converged toward his chest. Looking at that familiar spot, Li Ye suddenly remembered: could it be the Heaven-Mending Stone?

As if to confirm his suspicion, a stone shimmering with a mythical, five-colored halo appeared before him. At the same time, the warmth in his left arm finally caught his attention; a golden light flared, and Li Ye instinctively raised his hand. A phantom image of a key-shaped longsword appeared in his grasp, but it lasted only three seconds before vanishing instantly.

Li Ye’s pupils contracted—it was the longsword from that strange dream the other night. Concentrating his mind once more, he felt the aura of the sword again, residing right there in his left arm.

"The [Vault of the Gods]... I’d almost forgotten you. So, it was you all along."

Li Ye muttered to himself, breaking into a foolish grin. With a light wave of his left arm, the Heaven-Mending Stone was drawn into the golden seal.

"So that’s how it is. It really is literal—the [Vault of the Gods]..."

Li Ye stood up, gathered all the remaining milky jade bones, and gritted his teeth. "I want to see how much you can eat!"

*Rustle... rustle...*

One by one, the jade bones turned into ash and vanished. Counting the thirteen from before, it took a total of twenty jade bones for Li Ye to barely advance the [Vault of the Gods] by one rank. One had to realize these were milky jade bones; if converted into first-rank blood crystal marrow, it would be well over forty pieces, and that was just for a single rank's advancement.

Li Ye suppressed the pain in his heart and counted the remaining bones. "What a gold-devourer. I could have left some for Xue Ning and the others."

Having said that, Li Ye naturally didn't leave any for them; he simply absorbed the rest of the bones, finally letting out a long, heavy breath.

"Hoo..."

He lifted his right arm slightly, and an orange-red arrow of light condensed above his head. With a single breath, the arrow shot out in a straight line for twenty meters. Only after twenty meters did the light arrow's trajectory begin to flicker and falter. This meant the range of [Candlelight Guidance] had increased to twenty meters—he had stepped into the realm of a Second-Rank God-Chosen!

Based on the intensity of [Candlelight Guidance], at the second rank, he could almost ignore ninety percent of human firearms. While others hadn't even reached the first rank, or hadn't even awakened yet, Li Ye’s [Candlelight Guidance] had already ascended to the second rank.

Furthermore, although the [Vault of the Gods] currently only held the Heaven-Mending Stone, he believed the potential of this ability was even more formidable than [Candlelight Guidance]! To be able to turn a one-time-use artifact like the Heaven-Mending Stone into his own "mana-regeneration" tool meant the future of the [Vault of the Gods] was truly terrifying.

"If I could get that Ruyi Jingu Bang from the Youdu..." Li Ye’s eyes grew bright. "But before that, I have to slaughter that 'monkey.' It’s a bit... difficult. Neither the Penglai Immortal Island nor Yanze can afford any mistakes."

"The monkey" was Li Ye’s nickname for the terrifying fallen god in the deep mountains of Youdu: S-011, the Traveler! In his past life, half the factions of the Xia Kingdom gathered in Youdu, yet no one could claim the Ruyi Jingu Bang; it simply vanished before everyone's eyes upon the Traveler’s death. Now, the advancement of the [Vault of the Gods] gave Li Ye hope of subduing that staff.

***

The sweep by the Dongming Military District was not entirely smooth. While the six-person team strategy maximized their field of vision, Jiangning was so vast that it was impossible not to miss many places. In the final tally, the biggest surprise was the number of God-Chosen individuals the Legion Commander had managed to recruit.

Inside a warehouse at the Dongming Military District:

"Is this what you called the key to transcendence?" Shen Zhihong asked, pointing skeptically at the small mountain of blood crystal marrow stacked before Li Ye.

"Yes. You can have Legion Commander Chen try it. As far as I know, his body is reaching its limit, right?"

As soon as he spoke, Shen Zhihong’s gaze locked onto Li Ye, his expression turning gloomy. "How do you know that?" Shen Zhihong leaned back slightly, his fists clenched tight.

Li Ye shrugged nonchalantly and countered, "What, do you take me for one of those ordinary God-Chosen?"

"Ahem." The clenched fists instantly relaxed into a loose grip, raised to his mouth for two light coughs. "Never mind, that’s not important. Let’s talk about the division of these spoils."

The tension from a moment ago seemed like an illusion; Shen Zhihong had returned to being the same calculating old fox.

But could Li Ye be an ordinary person to be trifled with?

"What? Does Counselor Shen mean you don’t trust me, your partner?"

"Of course not. Little brother Li Ye is an important partner to our Dongming."

"Is that so? Then I’m sure Counselor Shen will accept me, this important partner, taking seventy percent of the blood crystal marrow." Li Ye smiled, watching the old fox’s reaction with interest.

"What! Seventy..."

"Oh? I believe I recognize some of the God-Chosen your military district just recruited."

"Seventy percent is fine, of course. It’s only blood crystal marrow. Following the plan you provided, we will leave ten percent of every future sweep to you!" Shen Zhihong spoke with righteous indignation, as if he were truly looking out for Li Ye. After all, compared to the blood crystal marrow that could be collected at any time, the scarce God-Chosen were far more important at this stage.

After finalizing the distribution, Shen Zhihong’s face calmed down. "Brother Li Ye, there is something I need to tell you. That person who awakened [Gluttony] left the military district this morning and headed into the city alone."

"Yu Chen?"

Shen Zhihong nodded. He hadn't followed the main force out this morning for this very reason. The [Gluttony] ability was extremely peculiar, and this middle-aged man named Yu Chen had eaten a month’s worth of rations for a regular soldier, only to leave a note and vanish in the middle of the night. He was telling Li Ye now, clearly dissatisfied with Yu Chen’s behavior.

Li Ye nodded thoughtfully. "It’s fine. I’ll go find him. Counselor Shen, you should bring the Legion Commander over; I can keep an eye on things from the side."

"Very well."

Counselor Shen had no reason to doubt him; in his mind, Li Ye was already on par with a prophet. Li Ye remained in the warehouse, though his "keeping an eye on things" was only part of the reason. He stayed primarily because he wanted to see the peak of ordinary-tier abilities—the [Demon Body] that had caused so many people to break down in his past life—what kind of magic did it truly hold?