"What the hell kind of 'head-cracking convention' is this? I'll crack your head first!"
Su Shu roared, grabbing the lecherous bald man and widening his mouth, tearing at the corners. He bit down on the man's crown.
"Boss, no... ah..."
Amidst a scream, blood and brains sprayed out.
"You idiot, it's been over 20 years, I don't want to stay in this hellhole any longer..."
...
Night had almost completely fallen.
The Bald Gang was gathering their forces, preparing to search for Ye Feng and his party.
In the sand dunes, within the frenzied zombie zone,
"Snore!~"
As a burst of intense flame dissipated, a zombie fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Big Brother, done. There are no more zombies nearby!"
Xiao Xiao, who had just finished off another zombie with flames, excitedly ran to Ye Feng.
As the three of them walked, Ye Feng had killed most of the zombies, and Xiao Xiao, to train her control over arcane energy, had also killed quite a few...
"Is Xiao Xiao's arcane energy fire-elemental?"
Looking at the flames dancing at the tip of Xiao Xiao's finger, Ye Feng began to understand.
At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of what Bing had said before about awakening intrinsic arcane energy in all sorts of strange ways.
Because Xiao Xiao seemed to have awakened by looking at birthday candles...
Although Ye Feng found the intrinsic arcane energy on Xiao Xiao a bit strange...
Afterward, the three began to set up camp, lay alarm traps, and eat dinner.
...
After dinner, the somewhat tired Xiao Xiao quickly fell asleep.
Ye Feng, however, sat at the entrance of the tent, looking up at the night sky, his consciousness actually turned to the personal information panel in his mind.
Seeing the number 2003 in the available points section, Ye Feng was quite pleased.
He had previously absorbed arcane energy from arcane origin stones, and his available points had only decreased by four or five hundred.
The zombies encountered in the frenzied zombie zone today, due to the reinforcement serum, were mostly not ordinary zombies, but basically tier one or above. The available points gained were quite considerable.
"Hoo~"
Ye Feng let out a light breath, and a flash of light appeared on his hand, revealing an arcane origin stone.
Immediately, Ye Feng's gaze sharpened. The arcane energy within his body surged, slowly covering the arcane origin stone in his hand, drawing wisps of arcane energy into his body...
Ye Feng also closed his eyes, sensing the wisps of arcane energy moving within his body, and the sense of strength from all over his muscles...
Time passed second by second.
"En?!"
As an uncomfortable throbbing pain spread through his body, Ye Feng stopped absorbing arcane energy and opened his eyes.
He was in a good mood now, because both [Strength (Black Iron Beginner)] and [Agility (Black Iron Beginner)] on his personal information panel had reached the first stage of the three segments.
Two more segments, and he should be able to reach Black Iron Intermediate...
"The progress today seems to be much faster than before~"
Looking at his watch, Ye Feng was slightly surprised.
"Could it be related to the tempering of my body by arcane energy when fighting the tier three zombie today?"
"Before, I didn't fight much, and simply absorbing arcane energy didn't seem to yield much progress..."
"And this time, absorbing arcane energy is consuming more available points~"
Many speculations flashed through Ye Feng's mind.
"You two are really strange people!~"
At this moment, Xue Yuli's voice rang out.
She looked at Ye Feng, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, with a strange and surprised gaze, then turned her head to look at Xiao Xiao sleeping soundly in her sleeping bag.
"Strange? How is it strange?"
Ye Feng looked at Xue Yuli, frowning slightly.
"Xiao Xiao is fine~ It's you..."
Xue Yuli hesitated for a moment and then said, "Not only is the arcane energy fluctuation on your body strange, but your cultivation method is also..."
"Normal arcane energy cultivators temper the arcane energy in arcane origin stones with their own intrinsic arcane energy to convert it into what they possess~"
"But your cultivation method just now was to simply and roughly ingest the arcane energy from the arcane origin stone into your own body... and in such large quantities..."
"Doesn't it hurt at all?"
Xue Yuli looked at Ye Feng with the gaze of a monster, "The arcane energy you just absorbed, if it were a normal person, their meridians would have been shattered, their origin points damaged, and they would have exploded and died on the spot..."
"Meridian shattering? Meridians... Origin points..."
Hearing these two words, Ye Feng's expression became very conflicted, even a bit depressed.
This wasn't the first time he had heard these words. Before, in the City of Frost, Lin had used various methods to try to make him awaken intrinsic arcane energy and had told him about the cultivation of arcane energy.
Meridians referred to the channels through which intrinsic arcane energy circulated within the human body. Before awakening intrinsic arcane energy, they were considered the channels through which qi and blood circulated.
Both Bing and Lin had told Ye Feng that arcane energy, which everyone possessed, was actually present everywhere in this world.
It's just that some people could naturally use it, while others couldn't even sense it...
So, meridians, referring to the channels of circulation for intrinsic arcane energy and qi and blood within the human body, were actually not contradictory!
Origin points were the primary storage areas for intrinsic arcane energy in the human body. Although meridians could also store intrinsic arcane energy, they were far inferior to origin points...
Meridians and origin points, unlike blood vessels, could not be directly observed with the naked eye or microscopes, but could only be sensed in a certain way...
According to Lin's explanation, Ye Feng would be able to feel meridians and origin points after awakening intrinsic arcane energy...
This was also the reason for Ye Feng's confusion and depression!
He had indeed awakened intrinsic arcane energy, but he hadn't felt the trajectory of arcane energy circulation within his body, i.e., the meridians, as Lin had said, nor had he felt the arcane energy gathering near the origin points...
Ye Feng's arcane energy... seemed to be just in his physical body...
"Uh... Ye Feng, since you are an arcane energy cultivator, you wouldn't not know about meridians and origin points, would you?"
Seeing Ye Feng's silence and his changing expression, Xue Yuli's gaze towards him became even more peculiar.
"Uh... I really don't know~"
Ye Feng scratched his head, deciding to extract some information from this Xue Yuli.
After all, this Xue Yuli was somewhat mysterious, and it was unlikely that she was simply acting as his guide. Even the two bottles of skincare cream and three packets of Ganmaoling effervescent powder he had given her seemed to hold great appeal for her!
"This... you..."
Xue Yuli's lips twitched slightly, but she still explained, "Meridians refer to the channels through which arcane energy circulates within the human body. They..."
Soon, Xue Yuli quickly "educated" Ye Feng, and Ye Feng listened attentively.
"It's the same as what Bing and Lin said~"
After more than ten minutes, Ye Feng compared the information and found that Xue Yuli was not trying to fool him with fabricated information.
"Ye Feng, you didn't understand what I was talking about, did you?"
"This is something that as soon as you awaken intrinsic arcane energy, you can perceive very clearly and understand easily!"
Seeing Ye Feng's furrowed brow, Xue Yuli couldn't help but speak.
"I... seem to have no meridians or origin points~"
After a slight hesitation, Ye Feng said.
As he spoke, he extended his hand towards Xue Yuli, exposing his wrist.
Xue Yuli was slightly taken aback, then reached out and placed her hand on Ye Feng's wrist. Arcane energy instantly appeared and gently covered Ye Feng's wrist.
"Ye Feng, you..."
After a long while, Xue Yuli looked at Ye Feng with an extremely astonished expression.
...