As spiritual energy revived, I, having acquired certain attributes, gradually ascended to immortalit

"Hidden terms?"

Shen Qing paused for a moment. As long as more than 50% of the body's surface area is in contact with an object, one can enter a stealth state.

If I had obtained this entry before the assessment, I probably wouldn't have had to suffer so much.

Even Yang Xu shouldn't be eliminated; in fact, he's the only one in the team whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Since she was riding a horse nearby, the female warrior quickly approached.

She looked at Shen Qing, who was covered in blood, without any fear, and handed him a plain handkerchief.

"Wipe your face."

"Just go back and wash your face."

Shen Qing glanced at the clean handkerchief and felt it was a bit of a waste, as it seemed to have something embroidered on it.

Upon closer inspection, it's the female warrior's name in traditional Chinese characters, but why does the character look a bit crooked?

"A bad pen is worse than a good memory. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen your handwriting before."

Upon hearing this, the female warrior froze.

It seemed impossible to stay in the realm of evil for long; after only a few minutes, Shen Qing and his companion were forced to leave.

Relying on the malevolent energy surrounding him, Shen Qing even attempted to pluck a medicinal herb containing spiritual energy.

Unfortunately, just as Shen Qingtang said, in order to make use of these herbs, the negative energy within them must first be dealt with.

Besides hunting demons, he can't obtain the resources inside.

Afterwards, Shen Qing saw the female knight's handwriting.

It's really not good. I don't know if it's because I only recently learned simplified Chinese characters, but it's crooked and messy.

I hadn't noticed it at all when I was typing on my phone.

Night was falling.

Back in his bedroom, Shen Qing didn't rest either. He started cultivating. Including this week's allowance, he now had four Meridian Opening Pills.

It will take three or four days to break through to the eighth rank. Let's see if we can open up the second meridian with the help of elixirs.

The first meridian he opened up was the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, one of the three Yin meridians of the hand.

Yin rises and Yang descends.

Raise your arms and observe the flow of Qi and blood from your chest to your hands, starting from the Yunmen acupoint near your shoulder and ending at the Shaoshang acupoint on your thumb.

The second meridian, the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, is formed by the branching and intersecting at the fingertips, from the Shangyang acupoint on the index finger to the Yingxiang acupoint near the side of the nose.

Without internal vision, opening the meridians relies on sensation and control over qi and blood.

Furthermore, the meridians are like a dried-up, blocked riverbed, making the widening process naturally more troublesome and painful.

Under normal circumstances, it is almost impossible for a meridian to be closed in less than ten days.

Only Shen Qing, who cultivates even while walking, and with the addition of the Meridian Opening Pill, was able to attempt to open his second meridian in just three or four days.

……

The next day, Saturday, was supposed to be a day off.

However, due to some incompetent individuals, Shen Qing and Xie Chong had no choice but to lead a team to work overtime at a factory in the suburbs.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary pharmaceutical production base, with a sign that reads "Binhai Herbal Medicine Industry".

Late at night, apart from the logistics department staff disguised as on-duty personnel, only Shen Qing and his group were hiding in the workshop.

"Captain, will they come?"

One of the team members was yawning.

Not counting the few members who staked out the spot during the day, they had already been waiting here for two hours after they gathered, and it was already 9 p.m.

"They should come."

Shen Qing nodded; it wasn't just intelligence about the captain and his team.

He had previously looked at all the suitable locations in the vicinity and, through the memory of the plants, discovered that they had come here once before, not just a few days ago, but also just half an hour before they gathered.

The members who were lying in wait during the day were completely unaware, although the other side also seemed unaware of them.

"Group A, this is Group C. The monitoring footage is normal, and the drone patrol has not detected any abnormalities."

"This is Group B. Everything is normal inside the research institute. All entrances and exits are under guard."

Hearing the voice coming through the headset, Shen Qing pressed the call button, "Received, stay vigilant."

Because the factory was too large, they were divided into three groups. Chen Chen's group, C, was responsible for monitoring and operating the drones.

Group B is responsible for the defense inside the research institute.

Finally, there's Group A, personally led by Shen Qing and Xie Chong. Since they're going to confront the demons head-on, their main fighting force is all here.

"Wait, quiet!"

The surroundings were deathly silent, but Shen Qing suddenly felt something was wrong, as if there was some movement somewhere.

Upon hearing this while lying on the ground, his expression changed instantly.

"Group B, this is Group A. Be careful, the enemy might launch a sneak attack from underground!"

Repeat, the enemy might launch a surprise attack from underground!

"Xie Chong, I'll leave things here to you for now. I'll go check out the situation inside the research institute!"

Normally, an underground research institute should be safe unless it is blocked by their frontal defenses and surveillance.

But a tremor came from deep underground.

Shen Qing didn't have time to explain and quickly found the factory's hidden underground elevator, which was the only passage at the moment.

The elevator plummeted downwards, and as soon as the doors opened, a dozen dark gun barrels were pointed at him.

"it's me."

"team leader!"

The leader of the Hummingbirds recognized the person and immediately waved to signal everyone to lower their guns and breathe a sigh of relief.

"How's it going over here?" Shen Qing asked as they walked.

"Nothing is amiss." The B team leader followed closely behind.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qing frowned, walked to the wall, leaned against it, and listened intently.

He felt a cold touch against the wall; he hadn't misheard—there was a sound approaching from underground, and it was moving very fast.

At that moment, a staff member wearing a white coat, rubber gloves, and goggles walked out from the corridor in front of the lobby.

"Comrade, please disinfect yourself before entering. Although this is just the outer perimeter of the laboratory, but—"

Before he could finish speaking, he looked at Shen Qing, who had turned around, and the two stared at each other, both momentarily stunned.

"Aoko?!"

"The dorm head?"

The man in the white coat in front of you is Chen Xu, Su Xiaoxiao's boyfriend.

Before they could even catch up, and before Shen Qing could even press his ear against the wall to listen, a tremendous sound, like the collapse of earth and rocks, was rapidly approaching.

The ground began to shake.

"Attention everyone, target spotted!"

Instantly, everyone pointed their guns at the location on the wall where the sound had come from.

A few seconds later, the wall suddenly bulged up, the concrete wall cracked like a spider web, and exploded with a "bang," scattering debris everywhere.

"Fire!"

"Bang bang bang—"

Before they could even see a figure, only a huge outline appeared, and a dozen pistols were already emitting flames.

Bullets whistled through the air.

When the smoke cleared, the creature's appearance was finally revealed: a three-meter-tall stone sheep with no horns or hooves, its body grayish-white.

The Benyang is a spirit born from the earth, shaped like a grayish-white stone sheep, without horns or hooves, and with four legs like mud pillars.

The bullets hit it at such close range that although cracks appeared and fragments fell off, it recovered in the next moment.

"Firearms ineffective?"

Shen Qing frowned. He glanced at the bent steel bars on the wall. This demon must be extremely powerful.

The underground research institute is surrounded by high-grade concrete and steel reinforcement.

Although the demon in front of them seemed to have the ability to manipulate earth and rocks, it would still require an impact force of more than ten tons just to bend the steel bars.

Behind Ben Yang followed a group of people wearing bulletproof vests.

Although his weapons were just a baton and a machete, he gave off the feeling of a desperate outlaw.

"An eighth-grade earth spirit, immune to physical damage, right?"

Shen Qing moved his wrists, and a dark gray aura swirled around his fists, causing the surrounding temperature to drop significantly.

"I'll take care of this stone sheep; you're in charge of dealing with the ordinary people!"

As soon as he finished speaking, another ghostly horse emerged from the void beside him, its hooves distorting the air wherever they landed.

Both cold and heat harm the soul, and the yin energy also inhibits recovery; all of these are the nemesis of this stone sheep.