"Fifth Elder, a fine bird chooses its tree to perch. Everyone has their own choice. Besides, I seem to remember that you once betrayed your own clan and came to our Lin Clan!"
Lin Yao faced the scolding of the two elders without the slightest concern.
What kind of bullshit clan was that?
Being with Chen Jie was naturally far better.
He had his own measure in his heart.
"Hmph! Lin Yao, are you even worthy of comparison?"
The Fifth Elder, exposed and humiliated, immediately flew into a rage.
He opened his mouth, and a long tongue covered in backward barbs and filthy saliva shot out at Lin Yao.
The tongue moved at an incredible speed, almost rivaling the lightning speed of the Azure Scale Longsword.
Whoosh!
Lin Yao sidestepped and narrowly avoided the strike.
But…
The next second, Lin Fei's attack arrived.
He sprayed a massive cloud of mist, directly enveloping Lin Yao.
Lin Yao didn't even have time to react.
The coordination between the two was already quite mature: the Fifth Elder handled frontal assaults, while Lin Fei specialized in sneak attacks.
Such a combination would almost certainly hit any ordinary awakened.
"Brother Chen… save me!"
Lin Yao accidentally inhaled Lin Fei's gas cloud, his whole body going limp, and he called out with his last strength.
The gas was far too strange.
"You traitor, die! Why are you waiting for someone to save you?"
The Fifth Elder retracted his tongue and shot it out again.
The target was precisely Lin Yao's energy core.
Now completely exhausted, Lin Yao had no chance to evade.
Seeing the barbed tongue about to pierce his core, Lin Yao chose to close his eyes.
Leave it to fate!
Whoosh!
Slice!
A massive axe flew through the air, cutting the Fifth Elder's tongue clean off.
Purple blood splattered across Lin Yao's face.
When he opened his eyes, Chen Jie was already standing before him.
"Boss…"
Tears welled up in Lin Yao's eyes.
He had thought Chen Jie wouldn't intervene, and that he was doomed.
"Enough. From now on, work hard to improve. I, Chen Jie, don't need deadweight!"
Chen Jie said coldly.
"You're Chen Jie?"
Lin Fei stared at Chen Jie, his eyes full of cruelty.
As a bounty target, Chen Jie's head was worth countless resources.
Lin Fei wished he could chop Chen Jie's head off immediately and collect the reward.
"You two trash, come at me together. I'm in a hurry!"
Chen Jie swung the Kai Tian Axe and charged at them.
"What audacity!"
The two immediately summoned their mimic war spirits simultaneously.
"Try this!"
The Fifth Elder retracted his severed tongue, opened his mouth wide, and let out piercing shrieks.
These cries were unique to him.
Anyone hearing them would feel their head splitting and immediately lose combat effectiveness.
However…
Chen Jie didn't flinch in the slightest and charged straight ahead, enduring the shrieks.
"You're shrieking at me?"
Chen Jie found it amusing.
The Heaven-Opening Axe in his hand merely flicked toward the Elder's position.
A golden blade shot directly at him.
The Fifth Elder, thinking it was just a casual strike, used his belly to block.
Of course, his belly was his strongest part.
"Hahaha, your attack is nothing…"
Slice!
The moment Chen Jie's axe touched the Fifth Elder's belly…
He could no longer laugh.
The Elder's pride—his belly—was instantly sliced open by Chen Jie's blade.
Inside, white and red matter splattered everywhere.
It was a gruesome sight.
Seeing the Fifth Elder's fate, Lin Fei felt a chill run down his spine.
Wasn't Chen Jie only a peak third-stage awakened?
One strike had killed the Fifth Elder outright?
The intelligence must be wrong!
Panicked, Lin Fei sprayed more poisonous mist into the air, hoping to slow Chen Jie's advance.
Unfortunately…
The mist seemed to have little effect on Chen Jie.
With a light brush of Hongmeng Purity Qi, the toxic clouds vanished instantly—or their poison was nullified.
"What kind of monster is this!"
Lin Fei was utterly panicked.
Before he could fully react, Chen Jie had already raised the Heaven-Opening Axe and appeared beside him.
Chen Jie's gaze turned cold, and he brought the axe down on Lin Fei's head.
Lin Fei didn't even get a chance to beg for mercy.
From a distance, Lin Yao watched Lin Fei split in two and swallowed hard.
If he hadn't begged Chen Jie before, he might now be in Lin Fei's place!
"Search them. See if there's anything usable on them."
Chen Jie, carrying Lin Yao, retracted the Kai Tian Axe.
His words were for Lin Yao, who had now recovered.
Hearing the instruction, Lin Yao immediately began clearing the battlefield.
Chen Jie flew back into the hospital for a short rest.
Soon…
Excited shouts came from outside the hospital.
"Boss! I found something good! I found something good!"
Lin Yao ran in, holding a golden token that radiated faint light.
Chen Jie felt immediately that the token was no ordinary object.
"This is indeed something valuable. Hand it over."
Chen Jie took the token, reading the four characters on it: Huanggu Secret Realm.
He was somewhat shocked.
He had heard of this secret realm in his previous life.
After the apocalypse mutations began, parts of Earth experienced spatial collapses.
Tokens like this one were scattered in those locations.
Those who possessed the tokens could enter the collapsed spaces unharmed.
It was said that the treasures inside were far better than killing mutated monsters outside.
However…
The environments inside were extremely dangerous.
In the previous life, over a hundred fourth-stage awakened entered, but only two or three came out alive.
Of course, he could choose to continue hunting mutated monsters outside and slowly grow stronger.
Yet even more powerful mutated monsters would appear later…
Increasing strength had become urgent.
Chen Jie found himself in a dilemma.
"Better to put this away for now. How to use it can be decided later."
He pocketed the token.
"Good. Found something valuable. These spirit crystals are for you."
Chen Jie tossed 50 more crystals to Lin Yao.
With the previous 100, it should be enough for Lin Yao to break through to the fourth stage.
Of course, for Chen Jie, this amount was trivial.
He now wanted to reach the fifth stage, and these crystals were far from enough.
Unless…
He could obtain more medium-grade spirit crystals.
Otherwise, to absorb enough from these ordinary crystals alone, he would need a mountain of them—at least tens of thousands.
Thinking of the spirit crystals, Chen Jie's mind turned back to the secret realm token in his pocket…