Alchemy Principles of Type-Moon World

Xing Qingqi picked up the bowl, stirred the soup inside, and looked at the steaming chicken. The corners of his mouth lifted involuntarily. "It feels similar to the chicken soup I had in the mountains of Cusco." He took a sip and felt the delicious taste of the chicken on his tongue. "It's a pity there are no tortillas, otherwise it would be authentic."

After hearing this, Patricia looked up at the dancing flames of the bonfire, her eyes a little empty, as if she was recalling something.

"The tortillas are really good," she murmured, then took a sip of the chicken soup, her expression gradually relaxing. The warmth of the soup brought her a long-lost sense of comfort.

"Actually, chicken isn't strictly a South American food," Guanyue Ringo put down her bowl and suddenly interjected, "Chicken was introduced after European colonization. It first spread from Asia to the Mediterranean region, and then spread to all parts of the world through European colonization."

"The influence of colonization is still deeply etched in the cuisine of South Americans today." Patricia couldn't help but sigh softly upon hearing this. She picked up the bowl and gently swirled it, causing the foam on the soup to ripple. "Even the term 'South America' itself, and even the term 'Indians', these words all stem from a kind of colonial arrogance."

"Especially the Indians. South America alone has two factions: the Incas and the Aztecs. North America doesn't even have a highly centralized political structure, relying solely on tribal systems." Patricia sighed, "Yet they're all collectively named with a single Asian name."

"I felt it when I came here for field research a few years ago," Patricia said. "Almost all modern and contemporary literary authors have studied abroad or received relevant education in Europe. The influence of Spain on folklore is deeply ingrained..."

"...Later, I realized that if I wanted to study authentic South American culture, I should have gone to the archives and museums in Spain, not conducted field research here." Patricia lowered her head and shook it slightly, a wry smile playing on her lips. Her voice trembled slightly in the night breeze, and the light from the campfire cast dancing shadows on her face.

Her gaze swept across the dense rainforest surrounding her. The branches rustled in the wind. The air carried the scent of moist earth, and occasionally, from afar, the chirping of unknown birds echoed. Yet, in this night, it seemed as if no matter how hard one tried to understand, this primeval forest always seemed so distant and unfamiliar. Patricia's fingers gently stroked the cup in her hand, her eyes a blank expression, as if lost in thought.

"Well, forget it. We shouldn't be discussing this kind of topic at a time like this." She keenly noticed the change in atmosphere, forced a smile onto her face, and immediately changed the subject. "Speaking of which, judging from the record of that magician earlier, the thunderstorm is almost here, right?"

"Well," Xing Qingfeng didn't answer immediately. He just raised his head and looked through the gaps in the moonlight between the trees not far away. "It's either tonight or tomorrow."

The bonfire crackled, the flames leaped high, then quickly collapsed, sending sparks flying into the air and gradually disappearing into the darkness of the night sky. The air began to become more humid, and the leaves rustled in the wind, as if foreshadowing the coming of a storm.

"Those two people," Patricia suddenly asked as she stirred the ingredients in the pot, "are they already within the range of the thunderstorm?"

"What?" Xing Qingyu turned his head, looked directly at her, and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Are you still concerned about the person who almost killed you?"

Patricia was slightly stunned, her eyes a complex expression. "Really... He almost killed me." Her voice dropped, as if she were talking to herself. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if recalling the tension and fear of that moment, yet her expression held a hint of disapproval. "Although I was completely no match for him, I didn't feel it was a matter of life and death at the time."

"How should I put it, um..." She paused for a moment and lowered her head, as if she was organizing her thoughts.

"Compared to what I've seen before," Guanyue Ringo said, taking over from Patricia, "this is a bit too petty."

"That seems to be the case," Patricia sighed. "Looking back, I just felt like, 'Oh my god, this is a big problem.'"

"Maybe it's not completely hopeless, right?" Guanyue Ringo added casually. "How should I put it...sitting on a Chinese prisoner transport vehicle means I'm naturally not afraid of the Southeast Asian troops."

“What a ridiculous metaphor…” Patricia rolled her eyes helplessly. She reached out and brushed the wet hair from her forehead, her eyes glancing towards the slightly swaying bonfire, as if trying to dispel the unhappiness in her mind through the dancing flames.

The air was filled with moisture and the smell of burnt wood. Occasionally, a light breeze blew, causing the leaves of the surrounding woods to rustle slightly. The night gradually deepened, as if swallowed by thick clouds, bringing the smell of an impending storm.

"You are not prisoners," Xing Qingqi chuckled, holding the empty bowl with one hand, preparing to scoop another spoonful of soup -

——But the sound of the spoon scraping against the bottom of the pot seemed deafening to his ears.

He raised his head silently, glancing around at the people gathered around the campfire. The flames cast dancing shadows across his face. The flames rose continuously, drifting in the wind, as if even the air had become thicker at that moment. The people around the fire each made their own movements, but even Xing Qingfeng had to admit that he seemed to have missed something.

Kenneth always refused to talk too much while eating, and he still adhered to some table manners and would not drink a whole pot of soup by himself.

Patricia and Ringo Mizuki continued their conversation in low voices, their tones soft and rhythmic, barely noticing the change in the soup. The soup in their bowls had barely dwindled, and foam trailed along the sides like a thin layer of frost floating on the surface.

As for myself, I only drank four bowls of soup.

Then there is only one person left -

——Okita Souji hadn't eaten much at this moment. He almost didn't stop, and was not politely cleaning up the remaining soup, completely unaware of the eyes around him.

Xing Qingwu sighed helplessly, put the empty bowl aside, and rubbed his eyebrows.

In fact, he doesn't need food to sustain his life activities. Eating is just a ritual to add a sense of ritual to his life. In other words, he only eats half a bowl of rice for the sake of showing his appreciation. He has eaten four bowls, which is enough.

The only problem was that the aroma from other people's bowls was still constantly entering his nose -

"——Can you make another pot?" Xing Qingfu said righteously.

------------------

Night enveloped the surroundings, the moonlight thin and sparse. Dark clouds thickened the murky sky, the precursor to a thunderstorm already quietly approaching. Xing Qingqi sat alone by the campfire, the flames flickering and flickering, casting a swaying shadow in the darkness. His figure was blurred by the firelight, his brow furrowed as he stared intently at the notebook in his hands, solving puzzles to pass the time.

A pot of fragrant chicken soup sat on the fire, the flames occasionally licking the bottom, sending up tiny sparks. The broth was golden brown, and occasionally a piece of chicken would float to the surface, gently swaying, cooked to perfection. The air was filled with the aroma of chicken, carried gently by the wind, and the fragrance seemed to linger throughout the camp. Although the atmosphere of the thunderstorm intensified, the warmth of the campfire brought a sense of peace to this small area.

Everyone else in the camp had already fallen asleep. Even magicians were carbon-based creatures, and they needed rest. Not far away, the diesel generator had shut down, its roar fading as the equipment shut down. Silence returned to the camp. An occasional breeze blew through the treetops, carrying a damp scent. The air was becoming increasingly humid, and electric charges were quietly gathering.

Xing Qingfeng worked on his problem, occasionally looking up and glancing around. The shadows around the campfire shifted with the flickering flames, seemingly dancing gently in the darkness. His expression was focused and calm, as if he was completely oblivious to the outside world. Only the self-made magic eye occasionally flickered in its socket, as if sensing movement around him.

The air around them grew heavier, the wind grew stronger, the leaves rustled, and the flames of the campfire began to flicker unsteadily. Xing Qingqiu paused, raised his head, and stared at the sky, which was about to be engulfed by a thunderstorm.

"Okay, let's get started," Xing Qingfeng muttered to himself, then turned and walked over to the nearby diesel generator. With a low roar, the generator started up, and the strong smell of burning diesel quickly filled the entire camp. With the power supply stable, he quickly turned on the equipment set up nearby.

These instruments were specially designed to observe fluctuations in the magical energy in the air. They could sense even the slightest changes in the environment and capture fluctuations and shifts in the magical energy. The screens flickered, displaying a real-time graph. Xing Qingfeng didn't rush to see the results. Instead, he stood quietly beside the instruments, his gaze fixed on the dark sky.

"Observation begins..." Xing Qingfeng whispered, his gaze fixed on the gradually rising curves on the instrument. As the concentration of magic power continued to rise, the ionization phenomenon in the atmosphere became more and more obvious. Ions and electrons in the air began to gather, and an electric field began to form.

——Several flashes of lightning cut through the darkness, instantly illuminating the sky and almost illuminating the outline of the entire camp.

Suddenly, the first clap of thunder resounded like the collapse of heaven and earth. Immediately afterwards, the dark clouds in the sky began to roll, and the accumulated energy was violently released. The huge energy tore through the air, and the precursor of the thunderstorm finally appeared. The clouds flickered, as if bolts of lightning were shuttled through the darkness, ready to strike at any moment.

Xing Qingfu stared expressionlessly at the instruments. The data on the screen began to jump wildly. The fluctuation of magic power had reached its limit. The ionization in the air had completely formed an electric field gradient. Almost all the instruments began to emit shrill alarms. But he remained calm, as if he had already anticipated the coming of this storm.

Just as the front of the thunderstorm was about to break through the sky, a torrential downpour suddenly arrived. The rain fell from the sky like a bucket, and the moisture in the air increased instantly. Water began to accumulate on the ground, and the trees were bent by the storm.

Yet, the camp remained untouched by the violent storm. The barrier silently contained the rain outside the camp. The thunderstorm intensified, gathering uncontrollable energy in the air. The wind blew wildly, and the branches of the trees swayed like frantic dancers, threatening to tear them apart. Although the barrier within the camp shielded the camp from the rain and wind outside, Xing Qingfeng could still clearly sense the engulfing force of the storm approaching.

The clouds in the distance had completely collapsed, and massive flashes of lightning pierced the darkness, illuminating the night as bright as day. As lightning continuously struck the ground, the humus on the distant surface was instantly vaporized, and trees snapped and burned under the impact of the lightning. Each lightning flash brought a strong electromagnetic wave, and the air was filled with the smell of burning, the smell of scorched earth mixed with the heavy atmosphere.

The ionization phenomenon combined with the fluctuations of magical energy produced lightning that wasn't just a normal natural discharge; it carried a powerful magical component. Every time a bolt struck the ground, it set off a massive explosion, sending debris flying and billowing smoke billowing from the ground. You could even see fluctuations of magical energy appear where the lightning struck, energy emanating in visible patterns, engulfing everything around it like a vortex.

"No wonder... this destructive power far exceeded that of an ordinary thunderstorm," Xing Qingfeng exclaimed. "No wonder the records say the algae on the surface were almost completely destroyed. It's a miracle that anything remained after such a massive storm..."

Xing Qingqiu sat by the campfire, gently holding the notebook in his hand, his eyes calmly gazing at the thunderstorm raging in the distance. However, he did not rush to act, as if waiting for something. Occasionally, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze swept over the instruments swaying in the storm.

Five minutes after the thunderstorm passed, several instruments began to emit warning signals. One was emitting black smoke, and another had frozen. Xing Qingfeng sighed softly and unplugged the power cord of one of the instruments.

"Sure enough..." he muttered, looking around at the already chaotic lab equipment. "These instruments ultimately can't withstand this kind of electromagnetic interference."

He was not impatient, but just adjusted his body slightly to sit more comfortably, as if waiting for something to happen.

And only about five minutes later, he finally got what he was waiting for—

That was the sensor he had secretly had Kenneth install on one of Ye Sizhen's puppets, or rather, his former eyeball. And it was now transmitting the characteristics of a magic trick.

That was the characteristic of the Fire Escape Technique that You Ruoyu had used before.

"So that's the setting," Xing Qingfeng nodded, correcting the error he made when using it. "It turns out that this constant is wrong..."

Using his own eyeballs as a medium, Xing Qingfu modified a certain parameter of You Ruoyu's escape technique.

"Nice to meet you again, both of you." Xing Qingfu said to the two people in front of him who looked in a disheveled state.

————8 Shaanxi Order⑼O Qi (9) Wu Ba————————————

Transition chapter. After the thunderstorm ends, it's time to explore ORT. However, the exploration of the periphery will probably be mentioned briefly. The real important part is the protagonist's journey to Crystal Valley alone.

The above is a new book by a new author. Please vote and give me feedback. Thank you!

Volume 61: Symbiotic Relationships: . Xing Qingfeng's Strike

Ye Sizhen's once smooth, ultramarine dress was now covered in scorch marks, its hem ripped into irregular fragments, a shattered mess as if torn by thunder and gale. Most of the glittering ornaments had fallen off, leaving only a few stubbornly clinging to the fabric, gleaming faintly. Her once dazzling red spider lily tattoo had dimmed from the lightning-burned skin, even obscured in places by the scorch marks, exuding a sense of broken beauty.

Elsewhere, You Ruoyu's condition was even more dismal. Her once pristine long-sleeved shirt and trousers had been ripped to shreds by the thunderstorm, with burn marks on the hems, evidently from the intense heat. The heavy waist bag around her waist seemed even heavier from being soaked in water, even weighing her down slightly as it hung to the side. Her face, though still delicate, was smeared with mud and sweat, completely devoid of its usual youthful vitality. Her large eyes were now glazed with exhaustion and shock, as if she hadn't yet recovered from the thunderstorm.

The humid air was thick with the lingering smell of a thunderstorm. The flickering flames of the campfire reflected on Xing Qingqi's face, illuminating a hint of fatigue and caution in his gaze. You Ruoyu, still panting, fiddled with her waist pack, trying to confirm the integrity of her gear. The rain and mud had caused the zipper to clog tightly. She frantically wiped the wet stains from her hands and looked around the campsite, a look of confusion and doubt in her eyes.

"Where is this...? Wu Yi] Ni Ba Ba⊙⑺ Liu Yi (" She finally spoke, her voice weak, but she couldn't hide her fear.

"I adjusted the parameters of your magic a bit," Xing Qingfeng replied nonchalantly, scooping a bowl of chicken soup from the pot beside the campfire. He sat down, blew on the soup, took a slow sip, and then looked up at the thunderstorm still roaring in the sky. "I'm not sure if your preset location is safe, so it's best if you stay with me."

Ye Sizhen silently adjusted her dress. The burn marks and mud stains had completely deprived the ultramarine dress of its former splendor and elegance. She shook her soaked hair, her brow furrowed as she stared at Xing Qingjiu, as if about to say something, but was interrupted by his next words.

"After all, it seems like you didn't pay attention to my advice," Xing Qingwu put down his bowl, a hint of helplessness in his tone, "When it comes to ORT, I really don't feel comfortable letting you explore freely."

"This..." You Ruoyu lowered her head slightly, a complicated expression on her face, as if her soft spot had been touched. "In other words..."

"You have to come with us after the thunderstorm is over." Xing Qingqiu changed the subject, "I don't care what you are trying to ask for here—"

"—I know exactly what's here, and I roughly understand what your purpose is. I won't interfere, but I have to make sure nothing happens to you two."

He tapped the edge of the bowl with his knuckles, his tone a little more relaxed. "Otherwise, how am I going to discuss cooperation with the Spiral Pavilion later?"

At this point, Xing Qingfeng's eyes finally took in the two of them. You Ruoyu's clothes were tattered, her long sleeves scorched and mottled, her trouser legs nearly ripped open; Ye Sizhen's long skirt was also riddled with burns, its once ornate decoration now reduced to a few remnants of sequins dangling from the fabric.

Xing Qingfeng sighed and pointed to a tent not far away. "That tent is empty. You can rest there for a while."

You Ruoyu opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but Xing Qingyu had already waved his hand, stopping her from speaking. "Let's talk later. I have something else to do, so I'll be leaving first."

He stood up, brushed off his clothes, and turned his gaze toward the thunderstorm, as if he had made up his mind. "Given the noise now, I think those two guys you chased and beat earlier should be awake now," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "How you two explain it to them is your business. As for running away, forget it—"

"—otherwise I'll have to laugh at Kenneth for at least five years."

Before he finished his words, he had already emptied the chicken soup in his bowl. After placing the bowl back beside the campfire, he turned and walked towards the outskirts of the thunderstorm. His figure gradually disappeared into the thick darkness and the intertwined sky of lightning.

The moment Xing Qingjiu stepped into the outer reaches of the thunderstorm, the air seemed to grow heavier. Thick, dark clouds rolled overhead, and flashes of lightning flickered continuously through the clouds. Each lightning flash was accompanied by a low roar, shaking the ground beneath his feet. He stood on a patch of muddy ground, slick with rain. The shadow of the rainforest had long since vanished, replaced by a desolate plain.

On the plains, the once vibrant vegetation had withered, leaving the ground covered in a thick layer of algae. These algae emitted a faint fluorescence, seemingly insignificant against the violent lightning. Occasionally, a few insects nestled in the algae shone a tiny glimmer of light, barely adding a hint of life to the dead landscape. But in the face of such a ferocious thunderstorm, these tiny glimmers seemed like a futile struggle.

Xing Qingfeng paused, looking up slightly at the distant core of the thunderstorm. It was a chaotic area, with dense lightning like a chaotically interwoven web of light, connecting the sky and the ground perfectly. Even from the periphery, he could still feel the almost oppressive energy, making his skin feel like it was being pricked by invisible needles.

He glanced down at the portable instruments in his hands. Even the instruments, shielded to the best of his ability, were now completely malfunctioning. The screens displayed only a constant stream of garbled text and a cacophony of noise. He sighed and tossed the instruments into imaginary space. While he had anticipated that a thunderstorm of this magnitude would render the camp's instruments useless, he could now confirm that even the outermost probes hadn't been spared.

Although he couldn't take on all the functions of all the instruments by himself, if he didn't consider the changes in the precise values and just wanted to judge the cause, Xing Qingwu alone was still enough.

He continued walking, each step sending a splash of water through the muddy ground. The air was thick with a scorched smell, the result of the relentless bombardment of lightning. Xing Qingjiu would occasionally pause, crouching down to carefully observe the distribution and characteristics of the algae. He reached out his fingers, picked up a handful of the still-glowing algae, and gently rubbed it, sensing the lingering magical energy within.

Not far away, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the ground with a thud. The lightning intertwined with the dust, instantly filling the air with a pungent, burnt odor. Xing Qingfeng instinctively turned sideways, shielding his face with his arm, but he couldn't help but glance sideways a few more times. The ground was completely pierced by lightning, the exposed rock layers gleaming with a charred black sheen.

"Damn, I hope it won't hurt too much when I get struck later," Xing Qingyu sighed, rubbed his face, and then walked straight towards the core of the thunderstorm.

But just as he took a step, he suddenly stopped, his body instinctively stiffening for a moment. His hairs instantly stood on end, as if each one was being pulled by an invisible electric current. It felt like something crawling across his skin, delicate yet prickly. He glanced down at his arm and saw that every hair stood up like a miniature forest of needles.

"This..." he muttered, raising his hand to touch his arm. Surprisingly, his skin felt slightly numb. He adjusted his breathing slightly, attempting to stabilize the flow of electrical charge through his magic. However, the discomfort didn't completely disappear; instead, it became more pronounced as he approached the center of the thunderstorm.

When he finally crossed the edge of the thunderstorm, he felt as if he had entered another world—a realm of madness, oppression, and destruction. His first sensation was heaviness. The air seemed to solidify into an invisible barrier, blocking his every breath and every step. The sound of the wind in his ears mixed with the crackling of electricity, like the whispering of thousands of invisible snakes.

The sky was a chaotic gray-purple. Layers of dark clouds obscured all natural light, yet were ripped apart by frequent lightning strikes. Those lightning bolts weren't mere beams of light, but vibrant plasma, pulsing across the sky with furious force. Xing Qing looked up, then quickly lowered his head to avoid being burned by the blinding lightning. His body felt the terrifying concentration of magic within the thunderstorm's core, a surging torrent like a tsunami. Each lightning strike was like the final eruption of some magical power, heralding the powerful intertwining of nature and magic. The ground had been completely transformed. Dirt, stone, and vegetation had vanished under the high-frequency lightning strikes, replaced by a strange crystalline landscape. Repeatedly battered by lightning, the surface had become a smooth, black, glassy substance. Occasionally, tiny cracks could be seen emitting bluish-purple light, as if the ground itself were breathing. The air was thick with the scent of ozone, mixed with the smell of burning, almost suffocating.

Xing Qingfeng bent down and gently touched a piece of crystallized ground with his hand. A numbness immediately hit his fingertips. He quickly withdrew his hand and frowned.

"Even the ground has become a conductor..." He muttered to himself. The sweat on the back of his hand slid down as he moved, but the moment it touched the ground, it quickly evaporated and turned into a wisp of white smoke. "That's not right. If this happened every year, this place should have become a crystallized ground long ago—"

"——There was no sign of this when I came here. Could it be that the algae have restored the ground during its growth process..." Xing Qingyu pondered, "This thing's ability to transform the environment is quite terrifying..."

He looked up ahead, a faint, transparent ripple in the air, like ripples on water, yet silent and imperceptible. Along with this ripple, the frequency of lightning around him seemed to increase erratically—arcs occasionally streaked through the air, sometimes even streaking across the ground without warning, producing a chilling, shuddering sound.

The surrounding thunderstorm intensified in power. Every few seconds, a bolt of lightning crashed down, like the wrath of a god raging across the earth. Xing Qingqu stood on a slightly higher ground, observing a lightning strike not far away. Lightning flashed through the air at a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye, striking several patches of exposed crystalline ground. Then there was a sharp crack, and a scorching wave of air whipped up black gravel, like a small explosion. After the lightning struck, a faint, blue smoke rose from the cracks in the ground.

"Damn it," Xing Qingfeng said with a slow sigh of relief. "Looking at the records, the scope and intensity of the incident more than a decade ago were even more terrifying than it is now. I'm still wondering if it's a regional phenomenon. How could the ecological environment of at least tens of thousands of kilometers be destroyed in just a few days—"

"—Now it seems like I'm wondering what the hell these algae and bugs are that can survive in this environment?" Xing Qingfeng complained, "This happens every year, and yet they're still here?"

"The ground has become a conductor and is starting to become charged. Logically, ordinary creatures shouldn't be able to tolerate this kind of environment..." Xing Qingfeng frowned and thought, "Unimaginable reproductive capacity and ability to transform the environment, as well as high physiological tolerance—"

"--This thing should be spread all over the world." Xing Qingyu frowned and raised his hand to tidy up the sweat-soaked hair on his forehead.

Before his fingers even touched his forehead, he felt a slight tingling sensation—as if his hair itself carried a faint electric current. He quickly withdrew his hand and glanced at his clothes out of the corner of his eye. Confirming there were no obvious signs of burns, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"The static electricity layer has expanded..." Xing Qingfeng sighed as he climbed onto a slightly higher rock. Just as he was about to observe the phenomenon further, he suddenly felt an invisible force gripping his entire body, and his hair stood on end again.

——Suddenly, a thick bolt of lightning split the clouds and headed straight for his head.

The lightning pierced Xing Qingfu's body like a sharp sword. In a fraction of a second, the mimic's human form disintegrated as the current pierced through it. Xing Qingfu's figure instantly transformed from flesh and blood into a shimmering, emerald-green crystal. Each crystal reflected the lightning, exuding a strange, otherworldly beauty. The crystal surface trembled slightly under the impact of the high energy, then suddenly exploded like ignited gunpowder.

The emerald green fragments turned into countless tiny points of light, flying around like meteors, and were crushed into even finer particles by the violent force of lightning, blending into the air.

The shattered crystals hovered in the air for a brief moment before quickly coalescing and reforming. Emerald green light patterns spread from Xing Qingjiu's body inward, gradually interweaving into a complete form. His body returned to its original form of flesh and blood, and the residual current on his skin pulsed with a faint crackling sound.

"They can't survive in places with too low a concentration of magic power, which limits their expansion. The insects called Yavalinti, their natural enemies, further limit their population..." Xing Qingqi's thoughts were still immersed in the question he had just asked. "And if the Yavalinti population is allowed to expand, it will undoubtedly become an ecological disaster even more terrifying than the so-called ORT—"

"—While naturally occurring thunderstorms have contributed to the expansion of the ORT domain to a certain extent, they have also limited the unlimited reproduction of algae..."

"And this system is made up of only two species." Xing Qingqi smacked his lips and couldn't help but look at the algae remaining in the thunderstorm. "So-called divine bloodline? Has that old man locked something completely in his heart...?"

----------------

Although people familiar with the Type-Moon worldview can already guess the origin of the peripheral species, the origin of this ecological environment is the final mystery of the South American volume and will not be explained until the Chaldea volume or even the protagonist in the Lostbelt.

The above is a new book by a new author. Please vote and give me feedback. Thank you!

Volume 62: Endosymbiotic Relationships: . Super Algae vs. Alien Crystals

Xing Qingjiu lay peacefully in a dilapidated stone building. The simple ruins had clearly endured centuries of weathering, their walls covered in deep and shallow cracks, moss, and damp mud. The ceiling had long since collapsed, replaced by a gloomy sky. As if drawn by some invisible force, the lightning of a thunderstorm danced like blazing white blades through the surrounding air.

Despite this, Xing Qingfeng seemed completely unconcerned. He spread his coat on the ground as a makeshift cushion, rested his head on his arms, and closed his eyes to rest. His chest rose and fell slightly with his breathing, as if he was in a state of extreme relaxation. Occasionally, he could even hear a soft snore.

Although the barrier engraved on the building was largely destroyed, its continued presence meant that some residual magic remained operational. It emanated a faint glow in the wind and rain, making the ruins appear slightly safer than the surrounding area. The lightning seemed to avoid this place, barely providing Xing Qingjiu with a moment of peace.

——Of course, it is just relatively taboo.

A blinding flash of lightning split the dark clouds, and thunder roared like the rumbling of a celestial drum. The next moment, blazing white lightning struck the ground, and the deafening roar jolted Xing Qingjiu awake from his deep sleep. He opened his eyes, glanced blankly at the empty sky above, and then stretched out of habit.