The Strongest Talent Tree

Seeing the three of them talking back and forth without consulting her, Jin Li felt rather annoyed. "Hey, hey, hey! I never agreed to team up with you. That’s just what you all decided on your own."

"What was that?" Feng Hao’s eyebrow twitched. With a flick of his wrist, he coiled the Poisonous Chain around her. "Fine, you don’t have to join us. Yaoyao, go ahead and whip the hell out of her."

"You..." Jin Li was so angry she was speechless. She could only nod in resignation. "Fine, you win."

"Hmph. You’re still a long way from being a match for me," Feng Hao sneered as he withdrew the chain.

Jin Li’s brow furrowed. "Let’s get one thing straight, though," she grumbled. "I get half of any minerals we find."

"Not a chance. There are four of us in the team, so it should be twenty-five percent each," Feng Hao said with a slight smirk. "Actually, I think we should include the Water Luminous Beast in the split. That would make it an even twenty percent for everyone."

Hearing this, Sirlius laughed. "That’s a great idea. I’m all for it."

"I don’t agree," Jin Li said indignantly.

"Then it’s settled." Feng Hao nodded to himself and looked at Jin Li with a smirk that wasn’t quite a smile. "What? You have a problem with that?"

Faced with Feng Hao’s threat, Jin Li was struck speechless. She nodded dejectedly. "You’re ruthless!"

As a member of the Earth Spirit Race, her need for minerals was virtually limitless. The more precious the mineral, the greater its strengthening effect on her. Generally speaking, the Earth Spirit Race People’s demand for minerals far exceeded their need for Magic Crystals.

After all, once most people reached level 100, they no longer needed Magic Crystals. But for the Earth Spirit Race, minerals were always a necessity, regardless of their evolutionary stage.

At this moment, faced with Feng Hao’s blatant exploitation, Jin Li was thoroughly resentful.

Although she had agreed on the surface, she was already forming her own plans...

And so, the team of three became a team of four. With the addition of the "mole girl," the journey became much livelier. Xi Yueyao and Jin Li, in particular, had plenty to talk about, being the two women in the group.

The group of four continued to follow Xi Yueyao’s intuition, soon leaving the Hill Forest behind and arriving at the foot of a sprawling mountain range.

"Are we still going forward? Mountains are extremely dangerous," Jin Li said, her expression grave.

She was met with Feng Hao’s scornful teasing. "You just stay quiet. You haven’t found a single mineral deposit this whole time, so you don’t get a say."

"You!" Jin Li was at a loss for words. She tugged on Xi Yueyao’s arm and complained, "Yaoyao, get your man under control."

Xi Yueyao huffed and pursed her lips. "My apothecary is right. You don’t get a say."

"Yaoyao, how could you? I thought we were going to be sisters for life!" Jin Li said, exasperated.

"Don’t try to get on my good side. This lady doesn’t fall for the sympathy card," Xi Yueyao said with a haughty look.

"..." Jin Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She felt like a thousand beasts were stampeding through her mind.

Jin Li was rendered truly speechless by Xi Yueyao’s willingness to ditch her friends for her man. Even Sirlius, standing off to the side, was a little dumbfounded.

After putting Jin Li in her place, Feng Hao’s gaze softened as he looked at Xi Yueyao. "So, should we keep going?"

"My gut says this is definitely the right way," Xi Yueyao said with complete certainty.

"Alright, then. Let’s push on!" Feng Hao didn’t doubt her intuition in the slightest and led the team straight into the mountain range.

As it turned out, the mountains were indeed extremely dangerous.

Sure enough, they had barely entered the mountains when they encountered a ferocious-looking Spirit Beast with a bizarre appearance.

It dared to approach despite the intimidating aura of the Water Luminous Beast, which meant its strength was clearly impressive.

The four of them immediately snapped into a combat stance. Under Sirlius’s command, the Water Luminous Beast’s body began to glow softly as it took the lead, roaring at the Spirit Beast before them.

"I told you we shouldn’t enter the mountains. Now look, a Mountain Ghost has shown up," Jin Li huffed.

"Shut up. You’re no good at finding ore veins, but you’ve certainly got a big mouth," Feng Hao said contemptuously, subconsciously activating his Advanced Crystal Eye to scan the creature.

Unlike the previous basic model, the Advanced Crystal Eye had a high-level database built in and could identify most Spirit Beasts.

[Black Mountain Ghost] (Taixu Spirit Beast)

Level: 42-Star

Qi Blood: 508,075

Vitality: 491

Strength: 3,730

Defense: 6,452

Speed: 1,722

Claw & Fang Damage: 201

Earth Attribute Strength: 68

Pelt Protection: 45 (Hidden Force Protection: 28)

"A Forty-two-star High Defense Spirit Beast... nothing special," Feng Hao scoffed. He glanced at Xi Yueyao with a smirk. "It’s all yours. Good for some practice."

"Hehehe, watch this!" Xi Yueyao flashed a confident smile, whipped out her long whip, and charged forward.

Sirlius looked worried. "Hey, you think she can handle that alone?"

"Exactly! What kind of boyfriend are you? How can you let her fight a Mountain Ghost all by herself?" Jin Li added scornfully.

"Relax. I know what I’m doing," Feng Hao said confidently.

As he spoke, the other two watched in stunned silence as Xi Yueyao launched a fierce and flamboyant assault. In just a few short minutes, she had easily subdued the Mountain Ghost with her whip and even wore an expression that suggested she was just getting warmed up.

Sirlius and Jin Li gulped in disbelief. It was hard to process. Xi Yueyao’s strength was downright terrifying, nothing like a Mage who had just broken through to the Fourth Order.

"Not bad, not bad at all. You’ve improved a lot," Feng Hao said in praise, giving her a thumbs-up.

Receiving Feng Hao’s praise, Xi Yueyao practically puffed up with pride. "Right? I think so too," she said, looking smug.

Feng Hao couldn’t help but laugh. "Go on, dig out its essence, then we can get back on the road."

Xi Yueyao wasted no time. After digging out the Black Mountain Ghost’s essence, the group set off once more.

Thanks to the Water Luminous Beast, few other Spirit Beasts dared to bother them. During a stretch of boredom, Xi Yueyao took out an MP3 player and started playing some DJ music, bobbing her head to the beat. The dull atmosphere instantly became dynamic.

Sirlius seemed fascinated by the MP3 player and kept pestering Xi Yueyao with questions about it.

Jin Li, however, had no interest. She sat off to the side, meditating and cultivating on her own. Her skin would shift from red to black, then gradually to a dark gold—a bizarre and fascinating process to watch.

Feng Hao appeared nonchalant on the surface, but he was secretly keeping a close eye on Jin Li, mainly to prevent her from trying to escape.

When he saw the bizarre changes happening to Jin Li, he couldn’t help but think of Ming Xin Yan, whom he had met during the Rogue Qualifiers. The transformation Jin Li was undergoing seemed a bit like Ming Xin Yan’s Golden Form.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Feng Hao asked, his curiosity piqued.

Jin Li paused for a moment. Squinting, she replied with a pout, "Digesting the Tri-color Crystal."

"You’re still not done digesting it?" Feng Hao asked, stunned.

"Obviously," Jin Li muttered. "The Tri-color Crystal is a high-grade mineral, and I absorbed an entire vein’s worth. It’ll take at least a month to fully digest."

Feng Hao nodded thoughtfully and continued to ask, "The way you were just cultivating... it looks a lot like an enhancement Secret Technique used by a friend of mine. Is there a connection?"

"Heh, you have a surprisingly keen eye," Jin Li said with a slight smile. "What you call an ’enhancement Secret Technique’ was actually stolen from my Earth Spirit Race. However, the Human Race’s constitution is too weak, so very few can cultivate it successfully. That friend of yours must be quite remarkable."