Chapter 75 – Race Against Time

Cheng Yang’s eyes were locked onto a deep blue spirit stone about twenty meters away. It felt like the stone was beckoning to him.

*Should I just give up? Abandon this spirit stone that could be worth over 100,000 spirit energy points?*

But what else could he do? Charge into the group of giant rats and get himself killed?

This was perhaps the most difficult decision Cheng Yang had faced since his rebirth. He pulled his head back to avoid detection by the rats and began pondering deeply. He really couldn’t bear to give up those precious spirit stones.

After a while, Cheng Yang came up with a plan. He opened his status panel and focused on the countdown timer.

His plan was simple – race against time. He would grab a spirit stone at the very last second before the random teleportation portal activated, then get teleported away. At that point, it wouldn’t matter if these rats were early second-tier or even fourth-tier monsters.

The nearest spirit stone was only twenty meters away, while the rats were over a hundred meters away. With the rats currently lying down, Cheng Yang estimated his success rate to be at least 80%.

*If I don’t dare to take an 80% chance, I might as well bang my head against a wall and die,* Cheng Yang thought.

As for the next deep blue spirit stone, it was over thirty meters away from the first one. The difficulty of obtaining that one would be much higher, so Cheng Yang decided not to risk it.

Cheng Yang slowly retreated and began waiting quietly. There was still over half an hour left on the countdown, so he didn’t have to wait too long.

As time passed, Cheng Yang grew more and more excited.

Finally, the timer showed one minute remaining. Cheng Yang began counting down in his heart…

Twenty meters would take Cheng Yang at most two seconds, including the time needed to bend down and pick up the stone. In those same two seconds, an early second-tier giant rat could sprint nearly ninety meters at full speed.

Ten seconds… nine seconds… eight seconds…

Three seconds…

Cheng Yang shot forward like a cannonball, heading straight for the deep blue spirit stone.

The moment Cheng Yang moved, several giant rats in the cave woke up and stood up. The largest one in the center reacted the fastest, starting just half a second after Cheng Yang and charging straight towards him.

This was Cheng Yang’s first direct encounter with an early second-tier demon beast. The rat’s speed shocked him. It was definitely more than double that of a peak first-tier beast. It probably had some speed-boosting talent or skill.

But Cheng Yang had no time to hesitate. No matter how fast the rat was, he had to get that spirit stone.

Perhaps due to his intense focus, Cheng Yang achieved his fastest speed ever. In two seconds, he reached the spirit stone. But by then, the giant rat was only twenty meters away – nearly twice as fast as Cheng Yang had estimated.

Without hesitation, Cheng Yang bent down and grabbed the spirit stone, clutching it tightly. There was no time to put it in his backpack.

*Success!* Cheng Yang thought excitedly as he held the stone.

At the same moment, the giant rat reached Cheng Yang. Its massive front paw slammed into Cheng Yang’s chest with incredible speed, giving him no time to dodge.

*Teleport now!* was Cheng Yang’s last thought before the rat’s paw sent him flying like a cannonball into a stone wall over ten meters away.

The giant rat immediately chased after Cheng Yang, opening its huge mouth to bite his legs with its sharp teeth.

Just as its jaws were about to close, Cheng Yang’s body suddenly disappeared as if he had never been there.

The powerful rat let out an angry roar, completely baffled as to how its prey had vanished.

…

Cheng Yang’s body appeared outside Phoenix Village at the location of the random teleportation portal. Wang Cheng appeared beside him at the same time.

*I’m alive!* Cheng Yang was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing as he felt the solid weight of the spirit stone still clutched in his right hand.

Wang Cheng stood silently nearby, sensing Cheng Yang’s excitement. It seemed their lord had made a good haul.

After laughing for a while, Cheng Yang didn’t immediately check the stone’s properties. Instead, he opened his status panel and saw his pitifully low health of just 5 points. He couldn’t help but feel a chill. If the teleportation had started just one second later, he would have been dead.

Then Cheng Yang examined the stone in his hand:

It was indeed a Tier 3 spirit stone, containing a hundred times more energy than a Tier 2 stone. For Cheng Yang at this stage, this was an enormous amount.

Thinking of the eleven Tier 2 spirit stones in his backpack, Cheng Yang couldn’t help but smile. Territory upgrade was now within reach, and his eight-fold cultivation speed was almost at hand.

Without hesitation, Cheng Yang immediately absorbed the Tier 3 spirit stone.

After brushing off the dust from his hands, Cheng Yang said, “Wang Cheng, let’s head back.”

It was already midnight at the end of the month, and the surroundings were pitch black. But this didn’t trouble Cheng Yang. He took out a Tier 2 spirit stone, which emitted a faint blue glow, providing enough light to prevent them from getting lost.

On the way back, Cheng Yang transferred 1,000 spirit energy points to Wang Cheng as a reward. Although it might seem like Wang Cheng hadn’t done much, he had actually taken the greatest risk by being the first to teleport through the random portal without knowing what was on the other side.

Wang Cheng tried to decline, but after Cheng Yang’s earnest persuasion, he finally accepted.

About ten minutes later, the two returned to Phoenix Village.

Early that morning, the village’s spirit energy had already reached 7,000 points. Cheng Yang estimated it was now around 8,000 points. With the eleven Tier 2 spirit stones in his backpack, even if it wasn’t quite enough to upgrade the territory, it wouldn’t be far off.

Just as Cheng Yang was about to check the territory’s status panel, he noticed Yu Kai and others waiting around the altar. They were overjoyed to see Cheng Yang return.

“Lord, you really put me through the wringer,” Niu Bing said with a pained expression. Although Zhao Chuan didn’t speak, his face showed similar distress.

Cheng Yang was puzzled. “What’s going on with you two?”

Before they could answer, Li Wanshan said, “Lord, please don’t take such risks in the future. Your life is connected to the fate of over ten thousand people in Phoenix Village. If anything were to happen to you, our territory would be finished.”

Cheng Yang immediately understood – Niu Bing and Zhao Chuan must have been criticized by the other captains.

“I made thorough preparations before going,” Cheng Yang said with a smile. “Although it was a bit risky, the rewards were definitely worth it. What would have taken us ten more days to upgrade our territory can now be done tonight.”

Yu Kai and the others were overjoyed. Although territory upgrades didn’t directly benefit them much, a stronger territory meant greater safety for everyone.

Cheng Yang continued, “After the territory upgrade, we can build a mission hall. Then we’ll be able to earn spirit energy by completing daily missions instead of always having to hunt monsters outside. We’ll also be able to build a barracks, which will further strengthen our territory.”

“Lord, what are we waiting for? Let’s upgrade now!” Liu Hao immediately shouted.

Cheng Yang smiled wryly, “I was just about to do that before you all stopped me here.”

Liu Hao and the others chuckled awkwardly and stepped aside.

Cheng Yang walked over and opened the territory status panel. The current spirit energy was at 7,800 points. Adding the spirit stones in his backpack would bring the total to 18,800 points, leaving them 1,200 points short of the upgrade requirement.

Cheng Yang turned to Li Wanshan with a wry smile, “Old Li, what time is it now?”

Li Wanshan, who had a mechanical watch, checked and said, “11:45. Why? Not enough spirit energy?”

Cheng Yang replied, “We’re still about a thousand points short. After midnight, I’ll go clear a dungeon instance to make up the difference before upgrading.”

Yu Kai and the others didn’t find this too disappointing. After all, it was just a matter of waiting about fifteen minutes.

The ten minutes passed quickly. As the final second of the day ticked by, Cheng Yang and the others entered the dungeon instance. This time, it was Cheng Yang along with Chen Yun and two other territory guards. Yu Kai and the others didn’t join this time, as clearing the dungeon was no longer something they could do alone. Their subordinates were either cultivating or hunting in the wild, so they couldn’t immediately return to help clear the instance.

Half an hour later, Cheng Yang and the others emerged from the dungeon. In that short time, the four of them had contributed nearly 2,000 spirit energy points to the territory.

Now without any hesitation, Cheng Yang placed the eleven Tier 2 spirit stones on the territory altar and activated the offering mode.

In the blink of an eye, the 11 spirit stones turned into a pile of dust.

Seeing the territory’s spirit energy reach 20,600 points, Cheng Yang couldn’t help but smile.

PS: Extra chapter for collections…