In the world of martial arts, one works tirelessly to attain enlightenment.

Chapter 42, The Fallen Elf

Outside the detached courtyard.

Yan Lingfei, Yun Zhu, and Meng Yu huddled together, blood dripping from the wounds on their arms.

They were surrounded by a dozen elves, but their skin and hair were purplish-black, and their exposed skin was covered with purplish-black patterns.

They are elves born from intermarriage between the elven race and weaker bloodlines of other races. Because their bloodlines were corrupted by the weaker bloodlines, they fell into depravity and were regarded as slaves by the proud pure-blooded elves. Furthermore, the fallen elves were cursed by the pure-blooded elves to only give birth to females.

Fallen elves are naturally drawn to darkness and destruction, but their strength at the same level cannot compare to that of pure-blooded elves.

Together they controlled the shadows, and the writhing shadows surrounded Yan Lingfei and her two companions, with elves occasionally launching attacks from within.

Yan Lingfei seized an opportunity; the crimson flames transformed into a straight blade, piercing the throat of a fallen elf and blasting her neck off.

At the same time, three fallen elves struck her; her flame armor deflected two daggers, and the third dagger left a wound on her back.

Mengyu swung her sword just in time, severing the elf's arm and preventing her from being saved.

Suddenly, a window on the third floor of the courtyard opened, and a figure appeared standing there.

The shadows immediately shifted and spread upwards.

Lin Ran's gaze fell downwards, easily piercing through the darkness and locking onto the fallen elf inside.

puff……

The darkness dissipated, and the corpses of four dark elves fell to the ground, startling the remaining fallen elves.

The next moment, all the fallen elves simultaneously abandoned Yan Lingfei and the other two, leaping into the air to attack Lin Ran.

Lin Ran summoned the Dragon Scale Armor, Earth Spirit Shield, and Fire Spirit Shield, then threw a punch forward.

Roar!

The red dragon roared and charged out, striking two fallen elves who had no time to dodge. The violent power tore their bodies apart and ripped through the encroaching darkness.

The fallen elves remained expressionless, showing no sign of retreating even though they had suffered more than half their losses.

Lin Ran glanced around and saw three more fallen elves instantly turn into corpses and fall to the ground.

Then, four daggers pierced the outermost Fire Spirit Shield.

However, the Fire Spirit Shield only trembled slightly before ceasing to respond.

Lin Ran unleashed both fists simultaneously, activating his eye technique at the same time, instantly killing three fallen elves, leaving only one elf intact.

Her dark purple eyes stared at Lin Ran. She gave up resisting and thrust out with her dagger.

Lin Ran raised her hand and grabbed the fallen elf by the neck. The Fire Spirit Shield swayed slightly, easily blocking the opponent's attack.

"Who sent you?"

"..."

The fallen elf shook her head, closed her eyes, and smiled slightly, as if the impending death was a relief for her.

Lin Ran frowned; he hadn't seen much information about dark elves.

"Yan Lingfei, what's her situation?"

"Fallen elves are slaves of pure-blooded elves; this is a fundamental principle derived from their bloodline, and they cannot resist it."

"Among the elves, the fallen elves, besides carrying out missions and cultivating, only reproduce. They are used as tools and expendable by pure-blooded elves, and death is indeed a relief for them."

"Even if they don't die, as long as they don't return to the Elven race, their fate will only improve."

Yan Lingfei walked up; her wound, sealed by flames, was slowly healing.

Lin Ran: "..."

He shook his head, gave her a quick death, and then flicked out flames to burn the corpse to ashes.

"Where is the elf's stronghold?"

"It would be better to go to the arena. If we go directly to the base, the high-ranking elves will have to take action. If the human experts don't have time to provide support, it will be very dangerous. The arena is actually the safest place."

"Never mind then, let's cultivate for a while first and improve our cultivation level." Lin Ran scratched her head.

"Okay, I'll get right there... Wait?! Captain, aren't we going to fight?"

Yan Lingfei paused for a moment before coming to her senses, her expression one of great surprise.

"This is neither the Mother Realm nor a small world. If the human superhumans don't arrive in time to rescue us, people will really die."

"Don't always think about fighting and killing; that's not the only way to solve problems."

Lin Ran said speechlessly, feeling that Yan Lingfei's idea was a bit problematic. He wasn't the kind of person who would start a fight at the drop of a hat.

Yan Lingfei: "???"

She felt there was something wrong with what he said, but it also seemed like there wasn't.

Third floor.

Lin Ran locked the door to the room and took out two types of crystals to continue cultivating.

This time he distinguished between primary and secondary tasks.

The Earthly Origin Skill and the Fiery Cloud Divine Skill were used together, with the Fiery Cloud Divine Skill running at full power, and the remaining attention was used to accelerate the Earthly Origin Skill.

Currently, the fire attribute is at its highest level, and it should be upgraded, but since the enemy is basically immune to fire attacks, we need to find another attribute to assist it.

At full speed, the Fiery Cloud Divine Skill can gain about thirty experience points per hour, while the Earthly Origin Skill only gains about fifteen.

【Fire Cloud Divine Skill - Level 1 LV5: 200/2500】

It takes about 70 hours to max out 2,300 experience points, which is equivalent to three days of training.

This speed is actually quite fast. For a normal Awakened being, the time it takes to break through once is basically calculated in months.

The breakthrough time for mid-level and high-level awakened individuals can be several months or even several years!

After igniting the flame of the spirit and entering the Divine Fire Realm, lifespan will skyrocket to at least one thousand years. Breakthroughs at this stage typically take at least ten years.

Humanity has been in contact with the battlefield of the heavens for less than a thousand years, so there are still no Divine Fire Realm cultivators who have died from exhausting their lifespan.

time flies.

News of the complete annihilation of the Fallen Elves reached the Elven territory.

Upon learning this, the middle-aged elf frowned slightly, his slender fingers glancing lightly at the table as he reorganized the relevant clues.

The fallen elf knelt on both knees, his forehead and arms pressed to the ground, motionless. His back and buttocks formed an extremely alluring curve, and his clothes were so tattered that at first glance it seemed as if there was no covering at all.

Listening to the rhythmic knocking, the fallen elf remained motionless, like a statue.

a long time.

The middle-aged elf stopped moving, and his magnetic voice rang out.

"Send another group of fallen elves to probe them; I need more specific information about them."

"Yes." After saying this, the fallen elf stood up, bowed, and retreated.

……

A secluded courtyard.

After Lin Ran began cultivating, Yan Lingfei reinforced the courtyard and installed several new shield generators, with a strength equivalent to that of a second-tier/mid-level awakened individual.

Afterwards, they cleared away all the spirit-related methods in the courtyard, spending a full three hours to completely transform the detached courtyard.

Suddenly, Yan Lingfei looked outside and frowned.

"They're like persistent ghosts, Yunzhu and Mengyu."

"Sister Feifei, what happened?"

Upon hearing the sound, Yunzhu and Mengyu immediately came forward.

"Some flies have arrived, quite a few, but their average strength isn't high. You all stay with me and don't disturb the captain's cultivation for now." Yan Lingfei took out a straight knife and handed it to Yunzhu.

"Okay." Yunzhu took the knife.

Mengyu wiped the straight knife without saying a word.

(End of this chapter)