Weird Survival: I can devour thousands of talents

Chapter 226 225: Don’t order!
Ling Xiao stood at the entrance of the ancient ruins. Before his eyes was a desolate ruin, with the dust of time hanging among the broken walls.

This is the forgotten alchemist's testing ground, where legend says it hides endless secrets and powerful powers.

"Ling Xiao, do you really want to go in?"

Xiaoya, the companion behind him, asked with some concern.

She is a petite elf girl with lively green eyes and pointed ears, and is always afraid of the unknown.

"Of course, we've come so far, we can't stop halfway."

Ling Xiao smiled slightly, his eyes firm and confident.

He is a young adventurer with short black hair and sharp eyes. He carries a huge sword on his back, which is a relic left by his father and also his adventuring partner.

"But...it's dangerous here."

Xiaoya bit her lip. She knew Ling Xiao's character; once he made a decision, he wouldn't change it easily. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." Ling Xiao patted her shoulder and strode into the ruins.

The interior of the ruins was dim and damp, with a strange smell in the air, like the breath of ancient magic. The walls were engraved with strange symbols, as if telling ancient secrets.

"There seem to be traces of magic here."

Ling Xiao whispered, his eyes fixed on the front. Suddenly, a slight movement came from the darkness, as if something was approaching.

"What is it?" Xiaoya nervously grabbed Lingxiao's arm. "Don't be afraid, let me see."

Ling Xiao drew out the sword from behind him, and the sword flashed coldly in the dim light.

He walked forward cautiously, and suddenly, a figure emerged from the darkness.

It was a doll, about 1.5 meters tall, made entirely of metal, gleaming with a cold sheen. Its eyes were two blue gemstones, emitting an eerie glow.

The puppet held a dagger in its hand, an unknown liquid dripping from the tip. "Alchemical puppet?" Ling Xiao gasped. He knew this puppet was the work of an alchemist, possessing immense power and being extremely dangerous.

"It seems to have been awakened by some force." Xiaoya's voice trembled behind him. "Looks like we need to be careful." Ling Xiao gripped his sword tightly, knowing a battle was about to begin.

Chapter 2: Prologue to the Battle The alchemy doll stood there quietly, its eyes flashing with a cold light, as if examining the two invaders in front of it.

Suddenly, it moved and rushed towards Lingxiao at an astonishing speed.

Ling Xiao reacted quickly. He swung his sword to meet the attack, and the collision of the swords produced fierce sparks.

The puppet's power was unexpectedly strong, and Ling Xiao was shocked and took a few steps back.

"careful!"

Xiaoya exclaimed, she took out a short bow from behind, quickly pulled the bowstring, and an arrow flew towards the puppet.

The arrow hit the puppet's shoulder accurately, but it seemed unconcerned. It just paused slightly and then continued to attack Ling Xiao.

"This guy's defense is too strong!"

Ling Xiao dodged the puppet's attacks while looking for its weaknesses.

He noticed that although the puppet's movements were swift, they seemed somewhat stiff, as if it was controlled by some force.

"Xiaoya, please step back and let me deal with it."

Ling Xiao exclaimed loudly. He decided to take a chance and stabbed the puppet's joint with his sword. The tip of the sword accurately pierced the puppet's knee joint, making a crisp sound.

The puppet's movements froze for a moment, and Ling Xiao seized the opportunity to launch a fierce attack. Sword flashes rained down, forcing the puppet back repeatedly. "It seems its joints are its weak points."

Ling Xiao was secretly delighted, knowing he had found the key to defeating it. "Ling Xiao, be careful!" Xiao Ya suddenly screamed.

It turned out that a blue light suddenly shot out from the puppet's hand and went straight towards Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao reacted quickly, dodging the attack, but the light was too fast and still grazed his arm. A sharp pain shot through his body, and a deep wound appeared on his arm, bleeding profusely.

"Damn it! This guy still has this ability!" Ling Xiao gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He knew that this battle had just begun.

Chapter 3: The mysterious power puppet seemed to be shocked by Ling Xiao’s tenacity. It stopped attacking and stood there quietly, as if thinking about something.

Ling Xiao took the opportunity to catch his breath. He looked at his wound. Although the pain was unbearable, it wasn't enough to affect his ability to fight. "Xiaoya, can you still fight?" Ling Xiao asked in a low voice. "I'm fine. I'll help you." Xiaoya nodded, a determined look on her face.

"Okay, let's go together again." Ling Xiao nodded. He knew that this battle had to be resolved quickly, otherwise they might be in greater danger.

The puppet moved again, its movements becoming even more ferocious, the dagger in its hand flashing with an eerie light. Ling Xiao and Xiao Ya coordinated their movements tacitly, Xiao Ya's arrows constantly disrupting the puppet's movements, while Ling Xiao seized the opportunity to launch an attack.

However, the puppet's power seemed to be growing, its movements becoming more and more agile, and its attacks becoming more and more fierce. Ling Xiao and Xiao Ya gradually fell into trouble. Their physical strength was constantly depleting, while the puppet seemed to show no signs of fatigue.

"This isn't a solution," Ling Xiao thought to himself. He noticed the puppet's eyes flickering with a strange light, as if controlling its actions. He suddenly remembered something his father once said: "Sometimes, true power lies in the most inconspicuous places."

"Xiaoya, you attract its attention, and I will attack its eyes."

Ling Xiao whispered. "Okay!" Xiaoya nodded. She quickly drew the bowstring and shot several arrows in succession, attracting the puppet's attention.

Ling Xiao took the opportunity to rush towards the puppet, his sword pointing directly at the puppet's eyes.

However, the puppet seemed to sense his intention and swung the dagger in its hand violently, forcing Ling Xiao to stop attacking and dodge its counterattack. "Damn, this guy is too difficult!"

Ling Xiao cursed inwardly. He knew he had to find a way to truly defeat it. Suddenly, he remembered the sword his father had left him. It was engraved with mysterious runes and was said to contain powerful powers. He decided to take a risk and unleash the sword's power.

"Sword, show your strength!" Ling Xiao shouted loudly. He raised the sword high. The sword body suddenly flashed with dazzling light. A powerful force surged out from the sword and surrounded him completely.

"What kind of power is this?" Xiaoya looked at Ling Xiao in surprise. She had never seen such a powerful force before. The puppet was also shocked by this power. It stopped attacking and stood there quietly, as if feeling this power.

"Now!" Ling Xiao shouted, swinging his sword towards the puppet's eyes. The tip of the sword pierced accurately into the puppet's eye, making a crisp sound. The puppet's body suddenly trembled, its movements gradually becoming slower, and finally stopped.

"We won!" Xiaoya ran over excitedly and hugged Lingxiao. Lingxiao also breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had finally defeated this powerful opponent. However, just when they thought the battle was over, the puppet's body suddenly emitted a dazzling light, and a deep voice came from the light: "You won, but you haven't truly understood my power yet."

"What does this mean?" Ling Xiao frowned, feeling a sense of foreboding. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the light. It was a man in a black robe, with a strange smile on his face and a cold glint in his eyes. "Who are you?" Ling Xiao asked warily.

"I am the creator of this alchemical doll and the owner of these ruins." The man's voice was low and cold. "You defeated the doll, but you have not truly understood my power." "What do you want?" Ling Xiao gripped the sword tightly in his hand. He knew that this man was the real enemy.

"It's simple. You must accept my test to truly gain my approval." There was a hint of sarcasm in the man's voice, "Otherwise, you will be trapped here forever." "We accept your test." Ling Xiao said without hesitation.

He knew this was their only option. "Very well, then, the test begins now." The man's voice was filled with excitement, and his figure gradually disappeared into the light. Chapter 4: Mysterious Reward Ling Xiao and Xiao Ya stood in the center of the ruins, surrounded by silence, only the sound of their breathing echoing in the air.

The man's voice echoed in their minds: "You must solve the puzzle here to truly gain my approval." "Puzzle?" Xiaoya frowned. "How are we supposed to solve it?" "Don't worry, I'll find a way."

Ling Xiao nodded, his eyes fixed on the surrounding walls. The walls were covered with strange symbols that seemed to contain some kind of secret.

"These symbols seem to be an ancient magical text." Xiaoya whispered, her eyes fixed on the wall.

"Yes, I feel the same way." Ling Xiao nodded. "We have to find the meaning of these symbols to solve the puzzle." They began to carefully study the symbols on the wall, trying to find the pattern among them. The symbols seemed to represent some kind of power, and when combined, they formed a powerful magic circle.

"I understand!" Xiaoya suddenly shouted, "These symbols represent the power of elements. We need to find the corresponding elements to solve the puzzle."

"The power of elements?" Ling Xiao frowned. "How can we find these elements?" "I think these elements should be hidden in this relic."

Xiaoya's eyes sparkled, "We have to look carefully." They began to look for clues in the ruins. The power of elements might be hidden on the walls, on the ground, and even in the air.

Ling Xiao's alchemical gloves brushed against the rock wall, and the moss turned into fluorescent powder at his fingertips.

This was the path-finding technique his master had taught him—when the powder floated in the air to form a misty star map, it meant there was an elemental anomaly within thirty meters ahead.

The young man stared at the distorted red spots on the star map and adjusted his filter mask to level three protection. The bronze pipes on the third floor of the catacombs resembled the blood vessels of a giant beast. Pipes inlaid with amethyst valves gurgled with black liquid, and the pungent smell of sulfur and rust filled the corridor.

When turning the seventh corner, something strange happened.

Knoss's massive granite fist burst through the wall without warning, its metal knuckles grazing Ling Xiao's nose, the poisonous mist instantly corroding the outer layer of his mask like a honeycomb. The young man leaned back almost parallel to the ground, his short knife spinning in his palm, a half-circle of cold light. The blade collided with the pursuing magnetized copper whiskers, producing blue-purple sparks.

"Warning: Unauthorized lifeform." A mechanical voice rang out, accompanied by a strange electrical hum. Ling Xiao rolled away, the pale golden lines of the Eye of Secrets illuminating deep within his pupils.

Purple light flowed in the puppet's hexagonal pupils, and the copper whiskers on its left arm were disintegrating and reorganizing in a way that violated the laws of physics. Hundreds of metal sections were woven into a thorn cage in the air.

"Transmutation intuition activated!" The image of his master debugging the alchemy array flashed through Ling Xiao's mind.

He swung out three test tubes. Indigo Frost froze the poisonous miasma on the left, while crimson sulfur powder caused an explosion on the right. He then soared into the air, stepping on the copper whisker fragments in the center that had not yet landed. The metal fragments exploded into tiny alchemical sparks on the soles of his boots, forming a short, suspended staircase.

The moment the dagger pierced the acorn's core, Knoss suddenly let out an unmechanical howl. This agonized roar caused Ling Xiao to pause slightly, and the tip of the blade deflected three centimeters before piercing the seam between the shoulder armor. Purple slime gushed out, condensing in the air into a torrential rain of poisonous stings.

"Does it hurt?" the boy weaved through Bronzebeard's dance of death, his prying eyes capturing the torrent of data flashing across the core's surface. In response, the granite shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, the entire catacombs trembling with the impact wave.

When the seventh bronze pipe shattered, the truth came to light. The black liquid formed purple crystal clusters upon contact with Knos's body, and each crystal growth made the puppet's attack pattern more frantic.

Ling Xiao ventured closer to the puppet's chest, allowing the mercury and silver poisonous miasma to corrode the shoulder guard. The black liquid collected in the sampling bottle glowed with a strange oily luster under the moonstone.

"So this is the source of the contamination." The boy licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. The six-eyed rock lizard responded by ripping open Knoss's back armor. Frost sprayed the overloaded gears. Amidst the whining of brittle metal, the short blade hilt struck a crucial joint.

The tremor of Knoss's fall to his knees stirred ripples of mercury and silver. Ling Xiao's prying eyes suddenly stung—the blood-colored formula was rewriting the underlying protection agreement of the core. The young man bit his tongue, spraying blood onto the blade. The red light of the Burning Blood Blade collided with the purple light, creating a blinding arc of electricity.

"Master's contract is being overwritten!" As the blade collided with the granite for the third time, Ling Xiao deliberately exposed a flaw. The moment Knoss lunged, he ducked and rolled into the puppet's blind spot, stabbing his poisoned dagger into the gap between the gears.

When the last purple crystal was removed, Knoss's pupils returned to emerald. A petrified mechanical arm lifted the prismatic crystal. The moment the memory metal touched the alchemical glove, Ling Xiao saw the ancient twilight.

(End of this chapter)