Chapter 101: In a Splendid Mood

"Ding! Devour successful. Gained 48,000 evolution points."
"Ding! Gained 20 points of Water Source."

The moment the Water Elemental Lord was slain, a sharp beep echoed within the spiritual cores of all the elite water elementals.

"Our peerless, mighty Lord is dead?"
"How is this possible? In his liquefied state, the Lord is practically immortal!"

This was a reality they found incredibly hard to accept.
At this moment, all the elite water elementals felt their spiritual cores vibrating violently.

"Ah!"
"Ding! Slain..."

By then, Qin Chuan had already charged toward the elite water elementals.
Although the elite water elementals possessed the crowd-control skill "Unsettled Waves," Qin Chuan was not at all afraid.
Even if he were hit, their attacks would barely scratch him, not to mention that it was impossible for them to hit him in the first place.
A 0.5-second casting time gave Qin Chuan more than enough window to dodge endlessly.

Thus, it turned into another horrific massacre, though it required slightly more effort than usual.
Ten minutes later, Qin Chuan had slaughtered all the elite water elementals, securing another total party wipe.
After absorbing their elemental essence, Qin Chuan's Water Source was instantly filled to the brim.

Zi Zi could not help but think to herself, *Tsk, tsk. This truly is the nature of the Dark Demonic Sword!*

Having finished his harvest, Qin Chuan returned to the area where the water lilies grew.
"Holy cow, this blue liquid is probably another favorite of my little brother's."

At that moment, Zi Zi and the Sleepy Bug swam over.
Seeing the blue liquid at the bottom of the water, the Sleepy Bug's adorable eyes glued to it, unable to look away.
"Little brother, go ahead and refine it. It's another snack for you."

The Sleepy Bug nodded eagerly and threw itself at the liquid.
As the Sleepy Bug devoured the blue liquid, specks of light began to shimmer within the patch of water lilies.
"Huh, looks like there's something there. Zi Zi, let's go check it out."

Zi Zi nodded and followed Qin Chuan to a particular water lily.
This water lily was fully matured and plump, laden with numerous water lily seeds that gleamed with pulsing light.

"Ding! Discovered Tier-3 Mid-Grade Water Lily Seeds."

Hearing the system prompt, Qin Chuan was overjoyed. "Zi Zi, these are Tier-3 Mid-Grade Water Lily Seeds. They can be refined to level up."
Zi Zi's eyes also lit up with pleasant surprise. Although they were only Tier-3 Mid-Grade, they were still rare wild treasures.

"Ding! Discovered Tier-3 Mid-Grade Water Lily Seeds."
...

The system prompts continued to chime in Qin Chuan's ears. It turned out that this entire patch of water lily seeds had begun to mature.
This was an absolute windfall, and Qin Chuan was grinning from ear to ear.

Because Zi Zi could not stay underwater for too long, she gathered a few water lily seeds and floated to the surface to refine them on the shore.
Meanwhile, after devouring the blue liquid, the Sleepy Bug evolved once again, becoming a Three-Element Poison Dragon Bug.
It also gathered a small portion of the seeds and left the lakebed.

Even after Zi Zi and the Sleepy Bug had departed, the system prompts kept chiming. It was clear that the value of this water lily patch far exceeded that of five individual water lily seeds.
Water lily seeds were extremely hard and difficult to refine; even the water elementals had to spend a long time just to refine a single one.
However, this was no obstacle for Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan positioned himself in the center of the water lily patch, hovering a few meters up, and activated his Devour skill.
Instantly, undercurrents surged as countless streams of pure elemental essence poured into Qin Chuan's spiritual core.

"Ding! Devour successful. Gained 600,000 EXP and 60,000 evolution points."
...

When spiritual beasts refined spiritual cores or natural treasures, they suffered a massive loss of energy in the process.
Qin Chuan's Devour, on the other hand, allowed for one hundred percent absorption. The difference between the two was night and day.
Qin Chuan had not felt this refreshed in a long time. The vast majority of the water lily seeds were converted directly into his experience points and elemental essence.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host's evolution points are full. You may select an evolutionary path."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host has leveled up to Level 26. Gained new skill points."
...

By the end of his devouring session, Qin Chuan had actually upgraded both his elemental essence and his level at the same time.
"Oh my, this speed is a bit too fast, haha!"

In this single run, Qin Chuan had devoured nearly 2,500 water lily seeds, virtually sweeping the place clean.
By now, the water lily patch had grown much dimmer. It was hard to say how many years would have to pass before it regained its former splendor.

Although Qin Chuan had devoured so many natural treasures, the impact on his Quality Evolution remained minimal.
Thus, Qin Chuan chose Mutation Evolution. There were no real surprises, just a slight increase in all three core stats.
Afterward, he upgraded "Blink - Immunity" to Level 6 and floated to the surface, brimming with joy.

Originally, Qin Chuan could have upgraded his ultimate skill, but he decided to pass on it.
Improving his ultimate was far less practical than upgrading "Blink - Immunity."

At this moment, the attributes on his status panel had updated once again.

[Host]: Qin Chuan
[Title]: Seven-Star Elite (All Stats +35)
[Type]: Dragon-Patterned Cold Jade Sword (1)
[Tier]: Tier-3 Supreme (Bonus Sharpness +20%)
[Quality]: Unique (Bonus All Stats +15%)
[Level]: 26
[Attributes]
Sharpness: 1051+ (Base 554 + 304.7 [55%] + 193.9 [35%])
Durability: 680+ (Base 500 + 173.52 [36%])
Speed: 813+ (Base 515 + 188.48 [58%])
Evolution Points: 200,000 / 416,000,000
EXP: 36,000,000 / 3,328,000,000
Rage: 10 / 100
Slaughter Points: 9781 / 10000

Qin Chuan swam to the shore, where Zi Zi and the Sleepy Bug were still in the middle of refining.
After a moment, Zi Zi finished her cultivation and stood up, complaining slightly, "These water lily seeds are way harder to refine than Fire Crystal Fruits. I guess I'll have to wait until I have more time later."
"Patience, Zi Zi. Rome wasn't built in a day."
Qin Chuan offered some well-meaning advice, only to receive a roll of the eyes from Zi Zi.
"Hmph, look who's talking! I bet you devoured every single water lily seed down there before you came up."
"Well, hehe. That is indeed the case."

At this point, the Sleepy Bug also gave up refining, though its speed was much faster than Zi Zi's.
"Big brother, I'm going to stop refining too, so we don't waste time looking for the treasure."
At the mention of treasure, Zi Zi's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "So you guys are here to find treasure! Now *that* sounds interesting."

Qin Chuan didn't bother to explain, since the "treasure" Zi Zi was imagining was bound to be quite different from what the Sleepy Bug meant.
"Let's go!"
"Mm-hmm!"

"The King sent me to patrol the mountains, I'll take a stroll around the Spirit Realm..."
"Qin Chuan, can you stop singing? And Sleepy Bug, can you stop wiggling?"

Zi Zi's head was practically throbbing from the noise. But to her dismay, Qin Chuan and the little bug looked dead serious as they chorused in unison, "No."
This left Zi Zi completely speechless. In the end, unable to take it anymore, she started singing herself.
Her melodious voice and beautiful song immediately enchanted Qin Chuan and the Sleepy Bug.

"Zi Zi is truly multitalented. That figure, those looks, that voice... tsk, tsk, tsk."
"Mm-hmm, absolutely! It sounds amazing."
...

The three bandits traveled without any obstacles all the way to the Path of Life and Death.
However, their luck wasn't as good this time. The multicolored toxic miasma was still very dense, and according to the system prompt, it would take another day to clear.
So, the three bandits simply waited in front of the Path of Life and Death.

Zi Zi took out her water lily seeds and began to refine them, while the Sleepy Bug stared at the multicolored toxic miasma above, seemingly having discovered something.
With nothing to do, Qin Chuan simply lay down on the grass and drifted off to sleep.

After staring for a while, the Sleepy Bug slowly opened its mouth, repeatedly inhaling and exhaling toward the multicolored toxic miasma.
Gradually, a wisp of blue toxic miasma slowly entered its mouth, swirled around inside, and was spat back out.
It repeated this process over and over, showing no sign of impatience. Instead, it seemed extremely excited, savoring every moment.

*My little brother's taste is getting weirder and weirder. There is just no stopping him!*