Chapter 73

Since he had already confirmed the benefits, Cheng Yang became even more cautious.

However, the Level 2 Spirit Stones were quite far apart, so Cheng Yang had to move slowly towards them. In the process, he had to pick up the Level 1 Spirit Stones on the ground and absorb them.

Although Cheng Yang was always on edge, he found the process quite enjoyable. After all, he could increase his Spirit Value by 10 points in just a few seconds, which would make anyone very happy.

Even with his current strength, if countless Level 1 early-stage demonized beasts stood still and let him kill them, it would still take him ten seconds to gain 10 points of Spirit Value. In comparison, Cheng Yang preferred the current efficiency of gaining Spirit Value.

After more than ten minutes, Cheng Yang finally picked up another Level 2 Spirit Stone and carefully placed it in his backpack.

Cheng Yang now felt that even if a piece of gold-level equipment was placed before him in exchange for these Spirit Stones, he would not be willing to trade. Relatively speaking, these Spirit Stones were much more practical.

Nearly an hour passed, and Cheng Yang finally arrived at the third Level 2 Spirit Stone. The entire process went very smoothly, and the giant rats he had anticipated did not appear.

Cheng Yang slowly bent down and picked up the Spirit Stone, placing it in his backpack.

After standing up, Cheng Yang looked at the few Level 1 Spirit Stones faintly visible ahead and decided to pick them up first.

After taking a few steps forward, Cheng Yang realized there was a bend in the path, which explained why he couldn't see further ahead.

At this moment, Cheng Yang had a bad feeling. Before he could react further, he heard the rapid running sound from a distance, the same rhythm as when the giant rat appeared earlier.

"Sure enough..." Cheng Yang cursed under his breath and turned to run.

After running about ten meters, Cheng Yang turned his head and saw a large giant rat emerging from the corner, its pair of dark blue eyes staring at him.

Seeing this large creature, Cheng Yang remained calm, as it was identical to the one he had just killed. If he could kill the first giant rat, he could certainly kill the second one. The only downside was that he would have to use another bottle of Life Potion.

At this moment, Cheng Yang regretted not bringing more Life Potions. As for the Spirit Potions, they were not as useful now.

This time, Cheng Yang did not dare to take the same risks as before. After being attacked once, he immediately took a bottle of Life Potion and continued his attack.

After this giant rat died, Cheng Yang's Life Points were down to just over twenty.

Looking at his remaining Life Points, Cheng Yang was in a dilemma. Should he use another bottle of Life Potion now?

Cheng Yang checked the countdown on his attribute panel, which showed three hours and twelve minutes left, but he only had three bottles of Life Potion left.

After some thought, Cheng Yang decided not to waste the Life Potion. He sat on the ground and began meditating. Although meditating could only restore about 1 Life Point per minute, it would take only an hour to fully recover his Life Points, which was quite good.

Time slowly passed, and Cheng Yang's Life Points finally recovered. He then began to explore deeper into the cave again.

This time, the same pattern repeated. After turning the corner, Cheng Yang found four light blue Level 2 Spirit Stones within his line of sight, but he couldn't see any further.

This time, Cheng Yang was smarter. He estimated that this section of the path was safe, but there was likely a giant rat beyond the corner.

Cheng Yang immediately increased his speed, picking up the Level 1 Spirit Stones on the ground and absorbing them, while putting the Level 2 Spirit Stones in his backpack.

As he approached the corner again, Cheng Yang held his breath and slowly approached. He wanted to see where the giant rat was hiding to prepare for the next battle. Of course, if he could ambush the rat before it noticed him, that would be even better.

However, Cheng Yang's ideal scenario did not play out. Before he could even peek around the corner, a hiss came from the other side.

"Sure enough, it's the same." Fortunately, Cheng Yang was prepared. He immediately took a few steps back and threw an Ice Ball at the corner.

Perhaps it was fate, but the first Ice Ball he threw triggered a slow effect, reducing the giant rat's speed by half. It couldn't even keep up with Cheng Yang's pace, let alone chase him.

Cheng Yang did not waste this opportunity. He retreated while rapidly firing two more Ice Balls, reducing the rat's health by nearly half.

The slow effect from the Ice Ball lasted only two seconds. As soon as it disappeared, the giant rat suddenly accelerated and chased after Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang did not hesitate and launched another round of attacks on the giant rat.

When the two were in a stalemate, the giant rat was left with only a sliver of health. It managed to attack Cheng Yang once before dying from his Ice Balls. Cheng Yang thus saved a bottle of Life Potion.

Cheng Yang returned to the spot with great anticipation and finally peeked around the corner. However, when he saw the scene ahead, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. On the ground ahead, there were only three light blue Spirit Stones, and the number of Level 1 Spirit Stones was also very few.

"Is this a case of cutting corners?" Cheng Yang grumbled to himself, but he still quickly went over and picked up the Spirit Stones.

Now, Cheng Yang's personal account had reached 13,000 Spirit Points. Nearly 5,000 points were from the demonized beasts he had killed in the past two days, and the remaining 8,000 points were from absorbing Spirit Stones in the cave. This did not include the eleven Level 2 Spirit Stones in his backpack.

Cheng Yang's current harvest was very rich. If anyone else could obtain so many Spirit Points on the tenth day of the apocalypse, they would probably wake up laughing. This was definitely more practical than any high-level equipment. Of course, compared to building blueprints, this was still somewhat inferior.

Looking at the corner ahead, which emitted a dark blue glow, Cheng Yang checked his remaining Life Potions and decided to continue exploring.

Cheng Yang approached the corner, waiting for the expected sound. However, reality played a trick on him. He was almost about to peek around the corner, but there was still no sound from the other side.

He was filled with doubt. Could it be that there were no demonized beasts on the other side?

Cheng Yang did not feel happy about this thought, as it might also mean that there were no Spirit Stones.

With a nervous heart, Cheng Yang peeked around the corner, and the scene ahead shocked him.

The mine tunnel Cheng Yang had previously passed through could be described as a passage, but the cave a few meters ahead was more like a grand hall. The cave covered an area of no less than 10,000 square meters, and on the cave walls, there were scattered deep blue gems, which were about 70-80% similar to the Spirit Stones he had seen before, but much darker in color.

"This is going to be a death sentence!" Cheng Yang couldn't help but take a deep breath when he saw the gems on the cave walls.

Cheng Yang guessed that these deep blue gems were higher-level Spirit Stones. If so, each of these Spirit Stones contained an enormous amount of Spirit Energy. There were no fewer than a thousand such Spirit Stones in this grand hall. If he could obtain all of them, how much would his Spirit Points increase? A million? Or even ten million? Cheng Yang felt that he could stand at the pinnacle of the world.

The temptation was indeed too great, so great that no one could resist it.

The Spirit Stones on the cave walls were out of reach for Cheng Yang, and he had no way to mine them. However, on the ground, there were no fewer than ten deep blue Spirit Stones scattered around, which were the most tempting things.

If it were anyone else, they might have rushed out immediately. But Cheng Yang, having lived a second life, had much less impulsiveness. He knew better than anyone else the cruelty and danger of this world.

Cheng Yang shifted his gaze from the tempting Spirit Stones and began to observe the entire cave.

At the very back of the cave, five giant rats were lying down. Four of them were identical to the ones he had just killed, but the one in the middle was nearly