Qin Xinyue was not surprised that Ding Huan knew about this: "Yes, people on Earth have sent out distress signals to our spacecraft. When we came here, they shot our spacecraft down."
"Distress signal?" Ding Huan looked at Qi Xinyue puzzled. The Federation and the Gene Alliance couldn't possibly know the universal distress signal between star systems.
Qi Xinyue continued, "Later, I found out that they weren't actually sending a distress signal, but rather testing for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations."
"Your comrades are all dead, only you survived?" Ding Huan asked again.
Qi Xinyue shook her head, "No, they were not my companions. They believed me to be a heretic with the bloodline of the gods, so I was captured by them and brought to that spaceship just to do their bidding."
"The injuries on your body were from your companions?"
Ding Huan knew as soon as he asked that something was wrong. Qi Xinyue's spacecraft landed on Earth seven years ago, and the injuries on her body were clearly not long ago.
Indeed, Qi Xinyue shook her head, "No, it was the people from the Gene Alliance who injured me."
"That old son of a bitch." Ding Huan immediately knew it was Shi Changyi. Only Shi Changyi had the qualifications to do such a thing.
"Do you know him?" Qi Xinyue asked with confusion, looking at Ding Huan.
Ding Huan nodded, "I have razed his lair to the ground, but I haven't encountered this guy yet."
Qi Xinyue said, "This person is very strong. If it weren't for the Chief, I would have been tortured to death long ago. He asked me all sorts of questions and demanded that I hand over my cultivation items."
There is a Hu Chief here, and he is always next to that guy, preventing him from harming me. The injuries on my face were inflicted by that person when the Chief was not present.
This time, during the beast tide, I escaped from the prison when those ferocious beasts broke through and opened the cage.
I am good at hiding and moving, and I knew that the only hope for survival was to go against the normal route. I managed to escape successfully and arrived at this reef island by means of a small boat."
In fact, the real reason she was able to escape here was not the small boat, but her stealth techniques.
"Thank you." Ding Huan sincerely thanked again.
Seeing Qi Xinyue looking at him with puzzled eyes, Ding Huan slowly said, "People on Earth have been so harsh to you, yet you reached out to save me."
Any other person might not have risked saving me.
Qi Xinyue's spacecraft was shot down by people on Earth, and she herself was imprisoned and tortured by people on Earth. They interrogated her about all sorts of confidential matters.
In such a situation, it would be quite difficult for her not to harbor hatred towards people on Earth.
In other words, even if Qi Xinyue saw him not kill anymore, as long as he pretended not to see it, she would still be a dead person.
Qi Xinyue smiled, "There are always good people. The Hu Chief has saved me more than once, and I am very grateful to him."
I can tell that the Chief agreed to hold me captive because he wants to figure out the true advanced civilization; he is on the side of Earth's humans, not to force me to reveal my secrets."
"We might not be able to escape now. Perhaps you should also cultivate for a while. I have some Yuan Qi Stone." Ding Huan said as he took out a few Yuan Qi Stone from his bag and handed them to Qi Xinyue.
The reef cave is not small, providing enough space for two people to cultivate. He also needs to enhance his strength.
Qi Xinyue shook her head, "The things I cultivate are a waste with these; you should train instead."
"What kind of cultivation method do you practice?" Ding Huan asked unconsciously.
He then realized his mistake and quickly said, "I'm not trying to pry into your secrets, but rather to see if I can help you."
"It's fine, what I practice isn't a cultivation method, it's a type of divine art. I can't really explain it; it's just good at stealth and short-distance movement." Qi Xinyue explained.
With her fate already sealed here, she could feel that Ding Huan was similar to the Hu Chief, and she didn't feel like hiding it anymore.
Ding Huan forced three Yuan Qi Stone into Qi Xinyue's hand:
"Take these and try to cultivate. I'll also practice for a while. Our current strength is certainly not enough to leave here."
Qi Xinyue wasn't particularly concerned about leaving here. What difference does it make whether she leaves or stays?
In her hometown, she was considered an outcast. On Earth, she had no family or friends. If it hadn't been for the beast tide outbreak, she would still be imprisoned in a cage in the basement.
Taking the three Yuan Qi Stones given to her by Ding Huan, Qi Xinyue watched as Ding Huan prepared to cultivate, but instead went outside.
...
Ding Huan did not immediately start to cultivate but instead took out the scroll he had obtained from the scavenger old man.
He carefully flipped through the scroll a few times, and besides the language on it that was similar to his own, there seemed to be no difference between this scroll and the one he had swallowed.
Do I have to swallow it again?
After much consideration, Ding Huan decided to put the scroll away for now.
He had swallowed the scroll in desperation when he initially encountered it, and he only wanted to destroy it.
Now, he was uneasy about the prophecy on the scroll. He didn't know what it meant or if it was left by himself.
After putting away the scroll, Ding Huan held a Yuan Qi Stone in each hand and began to practice the Luo Shu Canon.
With the habit of practicing in ordinary places, Ding Huan felt as if two streams of Yuan Qi energy were starting from his hands. They followed his Luo Shu Canon, circling the heaven and earth, and instantly filled every meridian and Dan Tian of his body with Yuan Qi energy.
After just one rotation of the cycle, his strength had risen to a slightly higher level.
Ding Huan was even more certain that he had to find Yuan Qi Stone when he left here, as this thing was tailor-made for him.
Several minutes later, Ding Huan entered into a meditative state.
At this moment, Ding Huan was completely immersed in the process of his cultivation advancing smoothly. Dozens of Yuan Qi Stones were placed beside him, and he could grab one at any time if he needed more.
...
Qi Xinyue looked over at Ding Huan and saw that he was practicing. She didn't disturb him, but instead went to the edge of the coral island, gazing out at the boundless ocean and where the sea met the sky.
She knew that she would never be able to go home in this lifetime.
She would never be able to see her mother again in this lifetime.
She would have to spend the rest of her life on this uninhabited coral island, and perhaps she had only a few years, or even just a few days, left in her life...
Her mother had told her that if one day the outside world would not tolerate her, she should return to the Luoshen Valley. Although it was somewhat desolate, she could live out her days in peace there.
But she didn't listen to her mother. She was attracted by the bustling city, and that would forever prevent her from returning to the Luoshen Valley.
Qi Xinyue thought and thought until she couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
Perhaps she wouldn't die alone; at least, there was now another person here with her.
This person was different from the other Earth people. He seemed to have no interest in her secret, and he didn't seem to care whether she was involved with more advanced civilizations.
He had also given her three Yuan Qi Stones, which should be the thing that those people on Earth are going mad for.
Time passed slowly, from morning to evening. Qi Xinyue seemed like a statue, gazing at the horizon where the sea met the sky. The beauty of the setting sun's remaining light almost entranced her.
"Boom!" A breaking wave sound echoed, followed by a black ferocious beast charging towards Qi Xinyue.
Qi Xinyue was startled awake, and her heart jolted. She had just been so deeply engrossed in her thoughts about her mother that she had forgotten she was standing on the sea, right on the coral island.
Qi Xinyue stepped lightly with both feet, and her body shot like a spring, diving diagonally towards the center of the reef island.
"Pu" A shaft of light shot out from the sea, directly piercing through her body.
Qi Xinyue felt as though all her strength was stripped away, and she fell like a kite with a severed string.
She was well aware that if her feet touched the sea water, she would have no future left.
Fortunately, at this time, she saw a log nearby and quickly stepped onto it.
Just as her feet touched the log, several more shafts of light emerged from the sea.
Qi Xinyue's body twisted forcibly, trying to dodge the several shafts of light.
However, she was severely injured, and she could only dodge two of the arrows. The others pierced through her body again.
At this moment, Qi Xinyue finally understood why Ding Huan was injured earlier. It was because of these fish beasts that could emit arrows of light.
Since she had hidden in the small boat to come here, she hadn't been detected by these fish beasts.
She smiled bitterly.
Just a few hours ago, she was thinking about how long she could survive here. She never thought that she couldn't even survive for a few more hours.
Mother, farewell.
...
Ding Huan didn't know how much time had passed, but he felt that his qi had reached another peak.
With experience, Ding Huan knew that he was about to break through to a new level. He also knew that his breakthroughs were usually painful, so he was prepared.
The Luo Shu Canon's cycle of operation triggered the movement of qi energy throughout his meridians, igniting powerful true essence that burst into thunderous roars within his body.
Boom! When the true essence reached its peak, the new meridian constraints were shattered with a thunderous roar, and the powerful true essence rapidly spread along the cycle.
Ding Huan opened his eyes and felt overjoyed.
He had reached the fifth-grade gene cultivation level.
To his surprise, this breakthrough had been completely painless. Could it be that cultivation here was different?
Or did he just naturally breakthrough to the fifth level when he cultivated to that point?
It wasn't, and Ding Huan soon figured it out.
The true reason was the Yuan Qi Stones. He realized that the difficulty in his previous breakthroughs was mainly due to the lack of sufficient celestial and earthly yuan qi in his cultivation environment, which had caused his breakthroughs to be hard.
Now that he has many Yuan Qi Stones on his body, his breakthroughs have become easier.
He glanced down and saw that he had twenty-eight Yuan Qi Stones left, indicating that he had used ten of them in his previous meditation.
Ten Yuan Qi Stones to elevate him from a fourth-grade gene cultivator to a fifth-grade one—this indeed was a valuable thing.
However, it seems like he barely used a day's worth of time.
Ding Huan looked around and didn't see Qi Xinyue. His divine sense swept outward.
Ding Huan was surprised to find that his divine sense could now extend to over a hundred meters away. This advancement...
Suddenly, Ding Huan saw that Qi Xinyue's body fell onto the log, and she was hit by several arrows.
Qi Xinyue's body swayed on the log, and Ding Huan had already shot out.
He hated these fish demons that could shoot arrows more than anyone else. If he could annihilate them, Ding Huan would without hesitation choose to kill all the fish demons. However, he knew that was impossible.
In a split second, Ding Huan arrived by Qi Xinyue's side and caught her just in time before she fell into the sea.
At the same time, dozens of shafts of light shot out from the sea towards Ding Huan.
Ding Huan's body was still in the air, and he twisted lightly a few times, landing on the coral rock where Qi Xinyue had been standing.
He casually drew nearly a hundred wind blades, each one leaving a trail of blood in the sea.
Ding Huan's anger reached its peak, but even so, he continued to bombard the sea with wind blades.
Compared to when he was a fourth-grade gene cultivator, Ding Huan's strength had increased several times over, and his divine sense had also expanded several times.
With the stability of the round wood under his feet, Ding Huan easily eliminated all of the fish demons that could spit arrows.
More demons felt the bloodshed and madly surged forward, devouring the fish demons that Ding Huan had killed.
Even with Qi Xinyue in his arms, Ding Huan landed on the reef island after kicking off, bringing the section of round wood with him.
(Chapter complete)
