In the Heavenly Dao, those without the experience of death are not true experts.
As an expert, encountering enemy players in the wild, searching for treasures, or adventuring, death is inevitable.
If one has never died, even if they continuously grind monsters and level up, becoming number one on the level rankings or even the world's top player, they are still considered a novice by experts.
True powerhouses have almost all undergone constant death, continuous improvement, and one by one, have forged their own combat styles.
At this moment, Chu Tian was gradually approaching a Shell Beetle Leader, about six meters away.
The Shell Beetle Leader suddenly stopped its movement underground, flipped over, and emerged from the ground.
It turned around and looked in the direction of Chu Tian's hiding place.
His black leopard form was currently concealed in the shadows by the wall, providing him with excellent cover.
Chu Tian's heart grew extremely tense. He stopped breathing, remained prone on the ground, and pressed himself against the wall.
However, this Shell Beetle Leader seemed to see through the darkness. It spread its chitinous wings and let out a squeaking sound.
A swarm of young flying insects flew out from its body and surged directly towards Chu Tian.
"Damn it, I've been discovered!"
Chu Tian's heart leaped, and he stood up.
In that instant, the small flying insects surrounded him.
-1, -1, -1...
Hundreds of one-point damage numbers floated above his head.
In his ancient book form, he cast "Regrowth" and "Wild Growth."
Two instant cast, sustained healing skills were applied to himself.
At this time, three other Shell Beetle Leaders emerged from the ground and lunged towards him.
The first Shell Beetle to discover him thrust its pointed mouth into the ground.
It unleashed a piercing skill towards Chu Tian.
He felt the rock beneath his feet stir, and a sense of danger radiated from below.
He transformed back into his leopard form and used the skill "Leap" from his Dark Gold grade boots.
Leap: Increases jump height by 300% for 10 seconds, with a 10-minute cooldown.
With his hind legs slightly bent, he sprang forward with all his might.
The leopard's natural jumping ability was already much higher than that of its human form. Coupled with the "Leap" buff, he shot up to nearly four meters in height.
However, facing the massive Shell Beetle Leader, this height only reached its back.
He continued to use the boots' skill "Second Jump." While the Leap buff was still active, he stomped in mid-air, and his body rose another four meters or so.
He successfully leaped over the head of the Shell Beetle Leader in front of him.
This Shell Beetle quickly turned around, while the other three also lunged at Chu Tian.
He activated the "Swiftness" skill, increasing his movement speed by 70% for 15 seconds, with a 5-minute cooldown.
Chu Tian's figure turned into an afterimage as he rapidly evaded.
The four giant Shell Beetle Leaders collided with each other.
The immense impact sent them tumbling backward, landing on their backs.
Creatures with massive bodies and short legs are most vulnerable when landing on their backs.
Their four large bodies writhed on the ground, unable to flip over for the moment.
However, their four bulky bodies had almost completely blocked all escape routes.
With the boost from "Swiftness," Chu Tian's movement speed exceeded 200%, allowing him to dart through the gaps between them.
He was surrounded by countless young insects, continuously losing health each second. Fortunately, he had cast two sustained healing skills at the start.
Otherwise, he would have been ground down and killed.
Just as his health dropped to 10%, he finally reached the edge of the water pool.
One of the Shell Beetle Leaders had already flipped over and spewed a stream of venom at Chu Tian.
Chu Tian leaped to dodge, then plunged into the pool with a splash.
The young flying insects, at the moment Chu Tian fell into the water, all took flight.
Some of the slower ones were carried into the water with him, flailed for a few moments, and drowned on the surface.
The four Shell Beetle Leaders hovered around the water pool for a while, but ultimately did not dare to enter the water. They slowly moved away from the pool and burrowed back underground.
"That was terrifying..." Chu Tian's heart pounded erratically.
If he hadn't obtained these Dark Gold grade boots, he wouldn't have dared to come here. These boots perfectly compensated for his lack of burst mobility skills.
Chu Tian entered the water and directly activated his travel form, transforming into a seal and diving down.
The light at the bottom of the water was dim. Although the seal form provided enhanced vision underwater, it was still very blurry due to the extreme darkness.
There were also many underwater currents. The surging water made it very difficult for Chu Tian, in his seal form, to swim. When he stopped moving, his body would involuntarily drift backward.
The seal stabilized itself, observed, identified the direction, and swam forward.
There weren't many monsters here. Chu Tian thought to himself that he had been here before in his past life, but that was much later in the game, and this place had already been explored countless times.
In the Heavenly Dao, many locations were very dangerous during their initial exploration, with unknown monsters guarding certain areas.
Once killed for the first time, they would no longer respawn. He wondered if that was the case here.
After swimming for about ten minutes, he saw a beam of light emanating from the rock wall ahead.
Upon closer inspection, Chu Tian saw that it was the light from a silver treasure chest.
He had heard before that there was an unlocked treasure chest here; it seemed this was it.
He opened the chest and rummaged through it, taking out a skill book.
Checking its attributes, it turned out to be the ultimate skill for his leopard form, "Rend."
Rend: Ultimate skill. Causes target to suffer continuous bleeding damage. The more energy points, the longer the duration.
1 point: Inflicts a total of 200% of attack power in damage over 8 seconds.
For each additional energy point thereafter, the duration is extended by 4 seconds, and the attack power damage increases by 100%.
Skill completion also affects the total damage dealt.
Usable by Classes: Rogue, Druid.
This skill book was an unexpected bonus. Chu Tian was severely lacking in skills.
He had previously asked Meng De Bi An. That young girl told him that she had learned all her skills.
Furthermore, they were all automatically learned as she leveled up.
She had no idea that skills even needed to be learned using skill books.
Indeed, everyone's fortuitous encounters were different.
No wonder she could learn the skill "Forbidden Spell: Mass Resurrection" later on.
It was likely that she would automatically learn this skill simply by reaching a certain level.
He immediately learned the skill book and then plunged into the deeper lake bottom, swimming towards the darkness. It was pitch black, and Chu Tian could only grope his way forward by feel.
He was swimming along the lakebed, and a few protruding rocks bumped into Chu Tian, causing him slight pain.
As he fumbled among the rocks at the bottom of the lake, he suddenly touched a circular object.