Silently upgraded, indestructible for 100 million layers!

After collecting the essence blood, Jiang Lan picked up the long knife and plunged it into the head of the Ironback Wolf King, stirring it around for a while.

A moment later, he picked out a deep red crystal core that was almost twice the size of a first-order crystal core.

The second-order crystal core is dark red in color, with a faint shimmer on its surface. It feels heavy in the hand, significantly heavier than the first-order crystal core.

Jiang Lan examined it for a few seconds, then carefully put the crystal core into her backpack.

A bottle of second-tier essence blood costs 12,000 yuan, and a second-tier crystal core is even more expensive, costing at least 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.

The output of just this one Ironback Wolf King is more valuable than all the Ironback Wolves he killed before combined.

After putting his things away, Jiang Lan glanced at his watch.

Perfect timing, it's almost time to meet up.

He stretched his body slightly, took a few deep breaths, and turned to walk towards the meeting point.

Although he had just fought a tough battle, he was actually not seriously injured. At most, he had been beaten up and his body was a little sore.

The return journey was much easier. Jiang Lan walked briskly and saw the meeting point in just over ten minutes.

From afar, Jiang Lan spotted the members of the first squad.

The people opposite him also saw him.

Zhao Gang's smile immediately froze, while Shen Qingqiu's expression changed drastically. She hurriedly ran to Jiang Lan, grabbed his arm, and examined him from head to toe.

No wonder Shen Qingqiu was nervous.

He looks so pitiful right now.

His combat uniform had several large tears, and shredded pieces of cloth hung from his body, making him look like someone who could cosplay as a beggar.

But if you look closely, you can see that although he looks a bit disheveled, he is actually not injured.

"Are you injured?"

"No, no," Jiang Lan quickly waved her hand and said, "My clothes are just torn, I'm fine, really fine."

Shen Qingqiu frowned and carefully examined Jiang Lan. Only after confirming that there were no wounds on Jiang Lan's body did she breathe a sigh of relief.

But then her face fell.

"How did it get like this?"

Jiang Lan took out the second-tier crystal core that glowed with a deep red light from his backpack, placed it in his palm, and handed it to Shen Qingqiu.

"We've run into a big guy."

Shen Qingqiu looked down at the crystal core in Jiang Lan's hand, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

"A second-order crystal nucleus?"

Zhao Gang also came over, and the moment he saw the crystal core, he was stunned.

"You killed a second-tier ferocious beast?"

"The Ironback Wolf King," Jiang Lan said. "It was quite big, but after fighting for a while, I killed it with my hammer."

Zhao Gang opened his mouth, but couldn't close it for a long time.

A second-tier ferocious beast is something that requires two or three martial artists at the Qi Opening Realm to work together to deal with, yet Jiang Lan killed it all by himself.

His lips twitched, but in the end he just shook his head and sighed.

"Dude, you're really awesome."

Shen Qingqiu held the crystal core for a few seconds, then looked at Jiang Lan with a complicated expression.

"Besides this one, were there any other finds?"

"Yes," Jiang Lan said. "There are also eleven Ironback Wolves. Their crystal cores and essence blood are in my backpack."

Shen Qingqiu remained silent for a long time.

It took Zhao Gang a while to come to his senses.

He genuinely didn't know what to say.

Two hours, eleven first-tier ferocious beasts, plus one second-tier ferocious beast...

The first team, over two hours in total, only managed to hunt down five Ironback Wolves.

Is this even human?

"Brother... what you've done..."

Jiang Lan smiled.

"Just lucky."

Zhao Gang was speechless.

Can this be explained by luck?

Shen Qingqiu paused, returned the second-tier crystal core to Jiang Lan, and said:

"Put it away, we'll retreat when the other squads return."

Not long after, the other two teams returned one after another.

After counting the number of people and confirming that there were no casualties, Shen Qingqiu waved his hand.

"Get in the car, back to base city."

On the way back, the car was completely silent.

After a while, Shen Qingqiu glanced at Jiang Lan in the passenger seat and asked:

"Your abilities are improving a bit too fast. Even with a special talent, this rate of improvement is not normal."

Jiang Lan was silent for a moment, carefully choosing her words before speaking:

"It's probably because more essence and blood were used, so the improvement speed was faster."

Shen Qingqiu twitched the corner of his mouth.

"If using more essence and blood can lead to such rapid improvement, then wouldn't it be better for everyone to drink essence and blood like water?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lan was momentarily at a loss for words.

He couldn't very well tell his aunt that he had a system that allowed him to keep leveling up as long as he had enough essence blood.

Shen Qingqiu seemed to sense that Jiang Lan didn't want to say more. After a moment of silence, he didn't press further, but calmly said:

"There are some things you don't want to talk about, and your aunt won't force you, but you need to be aware of them yourself."

She looked at the road ahead and said softly:

"Don't think you can just charge in recklessly because of your high defense. Second-tier ferocious beasts are no joke. It's good that you won today, but what if you encounter an even stronger one someday?"

Jiang Lan nodded seriously.

"I understand, Auntie. I'll be careful."

Shen Qingqiu didn't say anything more and focused on driving.

Jiang Lan leaned back in her seat, watching the scenery rushing past the window, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

He knew his aunt wasn't blaming him, but was genuinely worried.

She's right, he can't be fearless just because he has high defense.

While the Vajra Indestructible is powerful, it is not truly invincible.

At least not yet.

A moment later, the vehicle returned to the city guard compound.

Jiang Lan was just hitching a ride, so naturally she didn't have to hand over the spoils of war.

However, Jiang Lan also felt that it wasn't right to keep getting things for free. After thinking about it, she took out five crystal cores and gave them to Shen Qingqiu so that she could distribute them to everyone.

Although he killed all the ferocious beasts himself, the fact that he didn't share them with others would surely cause resentment among them.

Jiang Lan herself didn't care, but Shen Qingqiu was the captain after all.

After a while, Shen Qingqiu couldn't keep up the pretense any longer.

Besides, he doesn't need the crystal core, so it doesn't matter if he shares some with others.

As long as the lion's share remains in my hands, that's fine.

Afterwards, Jiang Lan said goodbye to Zhao Gang and the others, then got into Shen Qingqiu's car and returned home.

The first thing Jiang Lan did upon returning home was to go to her room and neatly arrange the blood essence on the table.

There were ten bottles left over before, plus the eleven bottles I just received today.

Forty-three bottles are still needed to upgrade.

Even if we wait another month and the academy gives us another thirty bottles, we'll still be three bottles short of the upgrade.

It seems we still have to leave the city.

Next month is too long; let's seize the day.

Jiang Lan put away the essence blood and pondered silently.

Once he reaches the eighth level, his attributes will improve even more, and his combat power will experience a qualitative leap.

At that time, second-tier ferocious beasts probably won't be able to cause much trouble in front of him.

Composing himself, Jiang Lan silently shook his head.

The road to improvement is long and arduous...

Well, what's done is done, let's eat first.

Thinking of this, Jiang Lan stood up and pushed open the door.

"Auntie, what are we having for dinner tonight?"