Chapter 693 - 424: Becoming Stronger Is the Best Answer!!

Chapter 693: Chapter 424: Becoming Stronger Is the Best Answer!!

The Fire Tornado was incredibly dangerous. Its appearance made every member of the firefighting team on site start to worry for their own safety.

’Damn it... A Fire Tornado actually formed.’ The fire chief watched the vortex grow in intensity, and for safety’s sake, he knew he had to order a retreat as quickly as possible.

But just as he was about to order his team to retreat, a golden beam of light shot from a distance, striking the sky above the inferno.

Upon seeing the sudden golden beam, the fire chief’s tense expression immediately relaxed. The retreat order was no longer necessary.

"Our reinforcements are here! Everyone, hold your positions! Don’t let the fire spread!"

"Yes, sir!" The members of the firefighting team responded loudly, all looking up toward the area above the fire where the golden beam had struck.

Several hundred meters away, a man in his early thirties stood on the roof of a five-story building, holding a rectangular metal object.

A faint golden Spiritual Light now flickered across the object’s surface. It was this rectangular metal device that had fired the golden beam. ℯ

’A Fire Tornado actually formed. Good thing I arrived in time. Otherwise, with the Fire Tornado fueling it, this blaze would have destroyed far more buildings.’

In the airspace above the fire, where the golden beam struck, invisible ripples spread out. In what had been a clear night sky, a patch of ink-black storm clouds materialized out of thin air.

As time passed, this patch of clouds, which was initially only about ten square meters, rapidly expanded. In less than a minute, it had grown large enough to cover the entire raging inferno.

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP...

Without any prelude, raindrops the size of beans fell from the ink-black clouds, plunging into the blazing inferno below.

"It’s raining." The firefighters, positioned too close to the fire, were already drenched in sweat from the intense heat. Now, as the rain fell on them, they felt a wave of blissful relief.

In less than half a minute, the drizzle turned into a torrential downpour, as if someone above the clouds was dumping basin after basin of water onto the fire.

The Fire Tornado, which had struck such fear into the hearts of the firefighters, quickly died down in the face of this man-made storm.

Five minutes later, the massive fire at the docks was completely extinguished.

"Great! The fire’s out!" Although their uniforms were soaked through, seeing the blaze extinguished, all the firefighters on site cheered and jumped for joy.

Although the fire chief wasn’t as excited as his comrades, the brilliant smile on his face clearly showed that he, too, was incredibly happy.

Just then, the man holding the rectangular metal device approached the fire chief, an open umbrella in his other hand, and spoke.

"This rain will last for another three minutes. Don’t just stand there getting soaked, or you’ll all catch colds. You should get your men out of the downpour quickly."

"Mm," the fire chief nodded. He called out to his celebrating team, telling them to move out of the rain. Then, his gaze fell upon the rectangular metal object in the man’s hand. "This Spiritual Artifact is truly a godsend for firefighting!" he said with awe. "It’s a shame it has a cooldown period after each use. Otherwise, putting out fires would be a simple matter."

Hearing the fire chief’s remark, the man holding the Spiritual Artifact joked.

"If this Spiritual Artifact could be used without a cooldown, I’m afraid more than half of your fire department would have to find other jobs."

...

On the Mysterious Small Island, shrouded in a vast white fog, a figure lay quietly on the grass in front of the Magical Little Tree at the island’s center.

"Ugh..." With a twitch of his eyelids and a low groan, Lin Li, who had been unconscious, slowly opened his eyes.

His vision was filled with an endless expanse of white fog. Now awake, Lin Li stared blankly into space.

After about ten seconds, his jumbled thoughts gradually began to clear.

Lying on the grass, Lin Li tried to sit up. He propped himself up with his left hand, but as soon as he tensed his core, an unbearable pain shot through his chest.

"Ah..."

HISS...

A cry of pain escaped his lips, followed by a sharp intake of breath.

’Shit, I forgot my chest was slashed by that guy with the purple fingernails.’

’It hurts like hell!!!’

Having forced himself to sit up, Lin Li looked down at his chest. There were five tears in his training uniform, and the blood seeping from the wounds had stained the fabric red.

’That guy with the purple fingernails... I’ll remember you. You better hope I don’t run into you again, or I’ll make you pay.’

Lin Li took off his training uniform and examined the five gashes on his chest where the skin was broken.

Although the wounds weren’t severe, for someone who rarely got hurt, it was still a painful lesson he wouldn’t forget.

’The healing ointment I bought at the pharmacy last time should come in handy now.’

Lin Li looked towards a pile of miscellaneous items in the distance. With a thought, a bag containing healing ointment vanished from the pile and reappeared in front of him the next second.

He took an unopened tube of healing ointment from the bag, then grabbed a box of cotton swabs. He squeezed the ointment onto a swab and carefully applied it to the five gashes on his chest.

HISS...

’So painful...’

Here on the Mysterious Small Island, he was all alone. Lin Li didn’t need to hold back; if it hurt, he could cry out without worrying about being mocked.

A few minutes later, after applying the hemostatic ointment to all five wounds on his chest, Lin Li lay back down on the grass and began to recall the battle in Dongwu City within the Spirit Realm.

’With my current cultivation level, I could have defeated those enemies even in a one-on-three fight. It just would have taken a bit more time.’

Lin Li sighed, regretting his carelessness. ’I let them turn the tables all because of one moment of negligence. It was so foolish.’

’There’s no use crying over spilled milk. What’s done is done. I just need to learn my lesson and not make the same mistake again.’

This experience, of having the tables turned by an enemy’s sneak attack because he let his guard down, served as a powerful reminder to Lin Li. First, he must never relax his vigilance at any point during a battle. Second, he absolutely had to go to a pharmacy and buy some antidotes, so he’d have a way to deal with it if he got poisoned again by some accident.

’Luckily, the poison this time only made me lose my strength and fall unconscious. If it had been a lethal poison, I’d be dead right now...’

Thinking of this, Lin Li felt a surge of belated fear. He became even more determined to get to a pharmacy as soon as possible to find some antidotes.

’I’ll go to the pharmacy first thing tomorrow morning. The wounds on my chest should heal in a day.

Once I’m fully recovered, I’ll go hunt Mutant Beasts in the wilderness to raise my cultivation level again.

The root cause of my injury this time is that my cultivation isn’t strong enough.

If I had the cultivation of a Third-Order Initial Stage, even if I’d been careless and let my guard down, that guy with the purple fingernails wouldn’t have been able to land a successful sneak attack on me...’

On the quiet Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li’s muttering could be heard from time to time.

About twenty minutes after he applied the healing ointment, the unbearable pain from the five gashes finally subsided.

And since the wounds were relatively shallow, they were already starting to scab over. A full recovery might come even faster than Lin Li had expected.

"Phew..."

"It doesn’t hurt anymore."

"This healing ointment really lives up to its reputation as a favorite medicine among Exotic Beast Hunters."

Lin Li climbed up from the grass and gently pressed the scabbing wounds. When he found they no longer sent a jolt of unbearable pain through him, a happy smile spread across his face.

He looked ahead and walked over to the plain-looking Magical Little Tree, reaching out to pat its trunk.

"Once my injuries are fully healed, I’ll go to the wilderness and get you a feast."

Afterward, Lin Li went to the small farm plot he had cultivated himself, picked some bright, juicy strawberries, and returned to his home on Blue Star.

...