High Martial Arts 2077: I Rely on Beast Taming to Cultivate While Lying Down

Chapter 104 Dark Demon Ape King VS Lava Golem! The Treachery of Human Hearts - Adventurers!

"Hey, not bad! You actually managed to dig out a rare pearl from the Black Demon Ape. This can be used to make special pills, and they're not cheap, costing seventy or eighty thousand each."

Su Chen squatted on the ground, holding a dark red bead that had just been cut out from the lower abdomen of the Black Demon Ape, its surface still covered with black blood streaks that hadn't been wiped clean.

He looked up at the crowd gathered in a circle: "Including all these miscellaneous materials and the spirit bones we obtained, if the spirit bones are valued at 500,000, the total harvest this time is 1.2 million."

He paused, his gaze sweeping from Zhang He's face to Jiang Yunxin's: "Our team gets 60%, Zhang He and you get 25%, and Yunxin, your team gets 15%. No objections?"

"I have no objection!" Jiang Yunxin said decisively.

"No problem!" Zhang He grinned, his smile genuine.

The dozen or so students from Beishan University were chased and attacked by the Black Demon Ape horde all the way. If Su Chen hadn't led the team to their aid, they might not have gotten any spoils and might have even been in danger, needing a signal flare to call for help.

Rescue is a business; it costs money!

Su Chen allocated the spoils according to combat contributions, giving them a quarter, which was quite good.

Seeing this, Su Chen nodded, stood up, and said, "Alright! I can use pills, bullets, and other valuable hard currency to pay your share in advance. But..."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Zhang He and the others.

Zhang He carried a bulging woven bag on his back, filled with hard keratinous calluses peeled from the black demon ape, weighing at least thirty or forty kilograms!

The boy behind him, wearing round-framed glasses, was carrying a cloth bag in each hand; the left bag contained the incisors of a demon rat, and the right bag contained the canine teeth of a demon dog.

The others were similar, wearing rat skins, dog skins, insect shells, and so on.

On the other hand, Su Chen and his group only took away high-value key items.

Su Chen was able to give Zhang He and the others a quarter of the spoils because they had collected them so meticulously.

Without them, the total revenue would definitely be less than one million.

Su Chen clicked his tongue inwardly: Sure enough, once you enter society, you learn how to manage your life!

He gathered his thoughts and continued, "But there's a problem...you've collected so many rat teeth and demon ape hides."

He pointed to the mountain of woven bags on Zhang He's back: "Carrying so much stuff will really hinder our combat. I can't possibly pack it all up and keep it with me. Are you planning to sell it at the East City Post Station first, or...?"

Zhang He hefted the heavy woven bag on his back, grinned, and said, "Haha~ Brother Su Chen, you're very strong, but you've only just started training, and there are many things you don't understand yet!"

"By the way, do you guys know what a rest area is?"

"Yes, I know! I've looked at the map." Su Chen nodded. "Is there a problem?"

"That's how it is," Zhang He put the woven bag on the ground and gestured with his free hand, "People like us who come out to gain experience can't just stay for a day or two."

"Look, those adventurers and city hunters are out for ten days to half a month, or even a month. It's too much trouble to keep going back and forth to the post station to collect supplies."

He held up two fingers, rubbed them together, and said, "Besides... everyone's here to make money, so we should harvest even more thoroughly."

There are more than ten parts of the Black Ape that can be sold for money: calluses, canines, ribs, tendons—after a decent battle, it takes one or two hours just to disassemble and reassemble these parts, and then the backpack is full.

"If every fight requires a trip to the inn, three or four times a day, what's the point? All that running around is pointless! What's the use of building rest areas?"

Su Chen nodded thoughtfully.

He had found it strange when he looked at the map before that the blue rest area markers were scattered all over the eastern region, with one every three or four kilometers, and they were built too densely.

So that's why!

Zhang He continued, his tone now carrying a more composed air of someone with experience: "This also gave rise to a special profession—itinerant merchants. They would travel to various rest areas, buying up supplies. The prices—well, they were definitely a bit lower, but for convenience, it was also considered their transportation fee."

He pulled a communicator out of his pocket and waved the screen: "I still have their contact information! Send them a message, tell them the nearest rest stop, and they'll send someone over."

Su Chen glanced to the side and met Lin Xiyue's gaze.

Lin Xiyue nodded gently and whispered, "I've heard my father mention it..."

Her family was relatively well-off in the era of high martial arts; her parents were both quite capable, being city hunters who could earn money, but each time it was very dangerous.

"Haha~ I've really learned something new!" Su Chen turned to look at Zhang He, his tone sincere. "It really is true that you have to work with an experienced person."

Zhang He felt a little embarrassed by the praise and scratched the back of his head.

These are all very simple pieces of news!

Then his gaze fell on the bag containing the spirit bone behind Su Chen, and his expression became more serious: "These itinerant merchants are quite unscrupulous. Your unusual bone is very special, in excellent condition, and can definitely fetch a high price. I suggest you don't sell it to itinerant merchants."

"Of course!" Su Chen nodded crisply. "We definitely have to hand this over to the school. The school's price is very fair, and there are even extra benefits."

"So, Brother Su Chen, do you mean to keep it with you for now? Or..." Zhang He asked.

"Yeah, I plan to carry it with me for now." Su Chen noticed that Zhang He's expression had become somewhat subtle, so he asked, "Is there a problem?"

Zhang He paused for a moment, then sighed.

"Sigh~ To be honest, people can be wicked! Brother Su Chen, this is your first day in Buffer City, and you haven't experienced many things yet."

His gaze lingered on Su Chen's face for a moment, then swept over Zhang Yan and the others who were idly twirling their spears beside him.

"All I can say is... most of the adventurers who hang out in Buffer City Sixteen, as well as those city hunters, are old hands in their thirties or forties with no real strength."

Zhang He's voice lowered slightly: "They lived in an era when the apocalypse had just ended. Although there were federal laws governing it, that era was still very chaotic! Few people received a full education. These seasoned veterans who frequently walked the line between life and death are of very low character... We need to be careful!"

He paused, his gaze landing on Su Chen: "We are all students of the new era, educated, and relatively harmonious. But what if you had just encountered a group of uncivilized adventurers instead of us—"

He gave a wry smile: "I'm afraid that will cause a headache. We might even have to use a distress flare immediately, in case something goes wrong... like being double-crossed or something."

Jiang Yunxin's brows immediately furrowed.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he tossed his red hair and said, "Federal law is here! Do you think they'd dare to lay a hand on us?"

Zhang Yan clenched her fists, her fangs bared, her face full of eagerness.

Judging from her posture, she wasn't afraid; on the contrary, she was hoping that some fool would run into her and give her a chance to practice her skills!

Seeing Jiang Yunxin's righteous and stern demeanor, Zhang He shook his head with a wry smile.

He was like that back then!

"Sigh! You haven't experienced it yet, you don't understand."

His tone held only the helplessness of someone who'd been there: "I had the same thoughts when I was in my senior year of high school. But... the more you experience, the more you understand!"

He raised his hand and made a pressing motion in the air, as if to stop Jiang Yunxin from retorting: "Those who dare to kill are definitely a minority."

But... there are definitely quite a few who will try to trip us up.

"And if they trip you up, causing you to be besieged by demons, and you end up being killed by them, it's very difficult to determine the cause of death." His voice was low. "In Buffer City, every year about ten students die in accidents." But based on my interactions with them over the past year, it's more likely they were killed due to their lack of experience! These kinds of cases usually end up being left unresolved.

"In my year, there was a top student in my school who ranked in the top 50 of the grade and could score over 500 points. He was murdered during a training session. Later, the professor intervened, opened a case, and arrested a group of people. But this kind of thing wasn't publicized much. Maybe the higher-ups had some concerns and didn't want to publicize this kind of bad trend."

"Of course, you are extremely talented and highly valued by the school, so your future experiences may be different from mine. Moreover, in top-tier high schools like yours, the teachers wield considerable power, and no one dares to offend you..."

"Most of these uncouth old hands don't have any martial arts talent; they can only survive here."

"The truly skilled adventurers are all in the buffer cities, which are at a higher level of danger! Their quality is much higher."

"Once you've trained for a while, your strength will be top-tier in a place like Buffer City Sixteen, so there's really nothing to worry about..."

At this point, Zhang He's smile turned bitter.

This is the difference between people!

Those with poor aptitude need to adapt to the harsh realities of society earlier!

The air was quiet for a moment.

"So that means all the low-class old fogies hanging around here are at the Opening Acupoint Realm, right?" Zhang Yan clenched her fists, her face filled with eager excitement. "They can't even break through the energy protection device! This young lady will definitely teach them a lesson!"

Seeing Zhang Yan's expression, as if she wanted to immediately find an old hand to fight, Zhang He hesitated to speak.

He turned to Su Chen for help.

Su Chen shrugged, used to Zhang Yan's way of speaking.

Moreover... he was once someone whose edges had been smoothed out by society and who was forced to accept the harshness of reality.

In this life, he doesn't want to go through that again!

At least he didn't want to preach and force others to adapt to the harsh realities instead of changing the status quo.

Zhang He could only sigh again: "Sigh~ There are still some at the fourth realm—the Qi Refining Realm. It's best to avoid these kinds of scoundrels as much as possible. You're all geniuses; it's not worth arguing with them!"

He paused, then said more seriously, "What if they retaliate against you? It's the principle of the fortunate yielding."

Jiang Yunxin clearly wanted to argue as well.

Given her personality, getting her to "back down" is harder than getting her to fight.

Su Chen raised his hand and pressed it down in the air: "Stop, stop, stop! Let's talk about serious matters."

He looked at Zhang He and steered the conversation back to the mission itself: "We've accepted three training missions. First, to eradicate the Crimson-Scaled Rats; second, to investigate the reasons for the sharp decline in the number of Rock-Armored Pythons; and third, to draw a simplified map of the current distribution of monsters within the buffer city and a map of the Crimson-Scaled Rats' nests. What kind of help can you offer with these three?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang He immediately became serious and said, "Firstly, you probably need to hand over parts of the Crimson-Scaled Rat's body. Our objectives are the same and don't conflict, so there shouldn't be any problem!"

"Secondly, we can also help with this. We know of several gathering places for rock armored pythons. However, there have indeed been far fewer rock armored pythons recently. We used to be able to see their shed skins frequently in the river valley east of the city, but now we might not find a single one alive even after several trips."

He frowned, seemingly hesitating about how to proceed: "As for the third point, to be honest, the Red-Scaled Rats are currently rampant. I even feel like the entire underground area of ​​the East District has been hollowed out; there are many caves, like underground palaces, very deep and intricately complex below."

He raised his hand and gestured vaguely at the area of ​​the East District on the map: "Exploring deeper would be too dangerous. We might not dare to accompany you..."

Su Chen waved his hand: "It's alright! Didn't you just happen to run away from a park hideout? Can you take us there?"

"Okay!" Zhang He nodded readily, then glanced at the map again. "It's quite a distance, over ten kilometers. There's a rest area along the way. Should I contact some itinerant merchants first? Maybe I can get rid of these heavy, cheap goods I have?"

"no problem!"

Su Chen agreed verbally, but a slight thought flickered in his mind.

More than ten kilometers. From being chased by the Black Demon Ape until now, Zhang He and his group have run more than ten kilometers.

It seems that speed is quite useful in the real wilderness!

As you run, you might accidentally end up in the safe zone.

While everyone was organizing their equipment and Zhang He was searching for the contact information of itinerant merchants, Su Chen's consciousness sank into the pet space.

[Space Terminal Introduction: The control core of the pet space. Current space level: 1]

Area: 240m2

Pet capacity: 1/1

Humanoid pet capacity: 1/1

240m!

But the number "Pet Capacity: 1/1" has never changed.

How many slots are needed to qualify for a new pet registration?

300? 500?

This time we missed the Dark Demon Ape King, which is a rare pet with leader-level potential and the special ability "Dark Red Demon Runes".

If I encounter another wonderful gem and miss it again, I'll truly regret it.

"Sigh~"

His gaze shifted to the dark red special area within the pet space.

Of the original thousand or so souls from the abyss, a full 80% has been extracted by the converter.

The first to be consumed are always the weakest and most complex low-level souls; now all that's left are mid-level or higher soldiers.

Three dark golden phantom wolf shadows roamed the edge, a dozen lesser demons huddled together in a corner, and the souls of several ghouls curled into balls, their spirits more than twice as solid as before!

The weak are eliminated, while the strong grow stronger through mutual devouring.

Then, the Dark Demon Ape King and his loyal minions stormed in.

A seven-meter-tall lava golem was slowly rotating in the very center of the area, its dark golden spirit resembling a small sun.

The Dark Demon Ape King's spirit form was smaller than the Lava Golem, but the dark red demonic rune on its back was even more dazzling in its spirit form!

Behind it followed nine spirits of black demon apes, each three or four meters tall. Although individually they were far inferior to the lava golems, their combined presence was not to be underestimated.

The two sides started fighting almost the instant they met.

The lava golem raised its right arm, and a dark red beam of energy shot out from its palm, piercing through the spirits of the two black demon apes simultaneously.

The Dark Demon Ape King pounced from the flank, slamming his fists into the Lava Golem's shoulders, creating ripples of dark gold.

The three or four hundred newly arrived black-rotten giant cockroach spirits, these slave-level insect souls just sucked into the converter, became the first cannon fodder in this great battle...

Su Chen watched with great interest, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face: "Well done! But when exactly will you be transformed and produce spirit energy crystals, or even skill stones for me?!"

He no longer insists on the mythical spirit pearl.

However, psionic crystals are crucial for the creation of learning machines, pet weapons, and master equipment.

So far, the converter has absorbed tens of thousands of units of spiritual energy, but hasn't even seen a single spiritual energy crystal.

His gaze fell on the panel of the Abyss Converter.

Abyss Converter Current Level: 1

Energy output:

Spiritual energy: 8954

Psychic Crystals: 0

Skill Stones: 0

Mythical Spirit Orb: 0

It's possible that the Abyss Converter is only Iv1, which is insufficient for converting souls of higher ranks than soldier level. It's like a shredder with insufficient power; it can grind small pebbles into powder, but can only grind large rocks slowly.

Currently, after deducting the pet learning machine's consumption of about thirty points per hour, it only accumulates thirty to forty points of spiritual energy per hour!

Judging from this experience, the pet energy points should be enough to purchase a master technology or pet weapon.

As for how much spiritual energy and spirit crystals are needed to make these items, we'll have to wait and see.

Su Chen snapped out of his daze and turned his gaze back to the real world.

Zhang He was holding up his phone, texting with a street vendor.

Pet space size, contract slots, and spirit energy crystals—these are things we can only strive for as much as possible; the rest is up to fate.

The most important thing right now is the task at hand.

Let's go! Let's set off!

",