Even Ding Hui, who was busy handling the corpse of the Defiled Blood Clone Demon on the side, suddenly snapped her head around to look at Fang Yu.

She didn’t understand what had happened to Fang Yu; she only felt that the whole person seemed to have become steadier and more unfathomable.

[System Prompt: Congratulations to the Player for breaking the shackle and advancing to Wood Realm Middle Stage. Physique +50, Spirit +50.]

[Physique: 600→650.]

[Spirit: 579→629.]

[Demonization: 0%.]

The Demonization progress that had skyrocketed during his fight with the Foolish Underworld Hall Master Jinfang Zai dropped straight back to zero on the spot.

At the same time, the spike in spiritual power also made the demon gauge much more durable.

He still had plenty of attribute points left. Fang Yu decisively maxed out his Physique first.

[Attribute points: 253→203.]

[Physique: 650→700.]

[Life: 96046/96046.]

Huu—

Fang Yu exhaled a long breath.

His normal-state combat power had finally climbed from a mere six thousand blood to seven thousand.

He was just one step away from the final step, the peak of a Pure blooded Human.

However, that was ultimately only the peak of a Pure blooded Human. Whether Demon Martial Artist or Believer, both possessed the ability to break past that peak limit and step into an even higher realm and power.

For example, the Foolish Underworld’s Jinfang Zai was a standard Demon Martial Artist physique who had broken through the limit of a Pure blooded Human and reached a combat power of over eight thousand blood.

What puzzled Fang Yu was, what exactly was Lord Lan... supposed to be? A pure Human? Was it possible to reach that height with a Pure blooded Human body?

And the old ancestors of the Five Great Families in Tianyuan Town... they never seemed to have shown any power of a Demon Martial Artist or Believer either.

Shaking his head, Fang Yu stopped overthinking it.

What others were had nothing to do with him.

Even if Lord Lan wanted to destroy heaven and earth, that was for the tall ones to shoulder. As for a small fry like him who hadn’t even reached Wood Realm Peak yet, he’d better think about what he should do next first.

To break through to Wood Realm Peak—meaning Wood Realm High-level—other than his current set of Wood Realm Middle Stage Cultivation Technique, he would also need a new Cultivation Technique. Only by raising them together to Wood Realm High-level could he complete the breakthrough.

As for this new Cultivation Technique, Fang Yu was still considering it. Maybe he could get his hands on a good one from the Rebel Army.

After all, he’d been using the old Martial Arts this whole time, and it had been a long while since he’d had any new improvement.

A new Cultivation Technique could bring new vitality, more variables, and allow him to handle more situations.

Fang Yu pondered.

Spiritual power of 629 meant he still had 71% Demonization tolerance, plus his current 0% Demonization progress, which gave him a total of 171% Demonization tolerance.

Although the increase in spiritual power had greatly raised the durability of the demon gauge,

no one knew when the next realm upgrade that would increase his tolerance would come, so when it came to using a big move like the Yuan Demon Body, he still had to be extremely cautious.

In any case, first put one point into Primordial Body Technique.

[Attribute points: 203→133.]

[Primordial Body Solidifying Technique [Wood-grade Middle Stage/Initial Understanding] → Primordial Body Solidifying Technique [Wood Realm High-level/Initial Understanding].]

Huh?

Fang Yu looked at the amount of attribute points consumed by the realm upgrade, lost in thought.

As for the remaining hundred-plus attribute points, Fang Yu planned to keep them as backup, in case something happened and he didn’t have spare attribute points to suppress Demonization.

The best case would be to always have 100 attribute points on him at all times for emergencies.

But looking at that many attribute points sitting there unused, it was hard not to feel a bit itchy.

Anyway, he’d finally broken through to Wood Realm Middle Stage!

With seven thousand blood combat power in his normal state, his peak combat power when going all out should have also risen by a chunk.

If he faced that [Silver Lion King Demon] of Sunset City again, he might not need to push Demonization so high to suppress and take it down.

The rise in strength brought with it a certain sense of security.

Thinking of the various abnormalities in Thunder City, Fang Yu pondered for a moment and then fell "asleep" in a second.

The sound of steady breathing came, making Ding Hui, who was working in the room, suddenly stop what she was doing.

Turning back to look doubtfully at Fang Yu on the bed, she suddenly showed a crafty smile.

Putting aside the work at hand, she glanced at the morning sun already rising outside the window, stretched lazily, and walked over to the bedside.

Climbing onto the bed, she snuggled into Fang Yu’s arms, placed his big hand on her lower abdomen, yawned, gently stroking the golden thread on Fang Yu’s hand that was gradually fusing with his fingers, and drifted into a deep sleep as well.

...

In reality.

Fang Yu’s body condensed and took form!

Having been away from reality for so long, Fang Yu felt even the air he breathed carried a hint of unfamiliarity.

In the game, things over in Thunder City were starting to get on the right track.

With the Rebel Army route connected, plus secretly controlling the Forest Snake Gang from behind the scenes, a lot of things would become much easier.

But the Defiled Blood Clone Demon and the follow-up to the Foolish Underworld’s prison break case still weighed on Fang Yu’s mind, and he planned to search for information on the forum.

Knock knock knock.

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Fang Yu."

It was Uncle Qi Sheng.

The door was pushed open, and Qi Sheng, with a haggard face, entered Fang Yu’s sight.

This made a trace of guilt rise in Fang Yu’s heart.

Even though he had been busy and working hard in the game, in the end he still hadn’t been able to help much.

"Uncle, have Sister Jin and Sister Meng’s conditions improved at all?"

Qi Sheng shook his head slightly.

Extraordinary phenomena could only be resolved by Extraordinary Power.

Meng Er might still have a chance, since she was only in a vegetative state.

But Xiao Jin...

"What about your side? Any news about that Lian Xiaoya?"

Fang Yu also shook his head.

He had asked people from the Forest Snake Gang to inquire about the name Lian Xiaoya, but just like asking about big brother Diao Ruonian’s whereabouts, there was simply no follow-up.

If those two were really leaving clues somewhere in Thunder City, then perhaps only a major power at the level of the Rebel Army would be able to find some trace.

"But I’ve now made contact with a major power in a city, so there might be a bit of hope of digging up some clues..."

Seeing Qi Sheng’s expression sink in disappointment, Fang Yu hurriedly added this sentence as a small bit of comfort.

But Qi Sheng was someone who had weathered great storms. How could he not see that this was just a consoling remark?

In fact, in reality Qi Sheng had secretly searched all the people in this city named Lian Xiaoya. He did find two people with the same name, but one was male and one was female.

He had already secretly taken this man and woman away and locked them up for interrogation, but got nothing. One of them was a seventy- or eighty-year-old man, and the other had never even touched the game, utterly unlike the target he was looking for. To be safe, he kept them locked up, but faintly, he already guessed that the one he was looking for was not either of these two, but some other person named Lian Xiaoya.

However, Qi Sheng had no intention of giving up. He planned to expand the search radius to the neighboring prefecture-level cities and continue searching for anyone named Lian Xiaoya.

Qi Sheng let out a deep sigh.

He had thought that the Extraordinary item Fang Yu brought out would bring his daughter back from the dead, but unexpectedly, the result was only some improvement, still far from complete resurrection.

"You must be tired. I’ll have the kitchen prepare some food and drinks for you and send them to your room."

"Uncle, you should also get some rest... If Sister Jin and Sister Meng wake up and you’ve collapsed from exhaustion, I’ll have no way to explain it to them..."

Those words did have some effect.

Qi Sheng forced a smile, waved his hand, and left.

Not long after, a man in a chef’s outfit pushed in a steaming food cart.

"Mr. Fang, please enjoy your meal."

With that, the chef withdrew.

Eating while he worked, Fang Yu opened his computer and began browsing the forum for information.

"Blockbuster news!! The Da Xia Dynasty has dispatched troops!!"

As soon as he opened the forum, a line of extremely eye-catching big characters greeted him.

Whether in popularity or ranking, it was far ahead of the other posts, hanging firmly in first place and not dropping at all.

Fang Yu clicked into the post in puzzlement.

He saw a rambling text full of excitement, half-incoherent and littered with typos.

"Da Xia Wang Chao! The Da Xia Wang Chao!! Has sent out troops!!!"

"You bunch of servants, did you hear that? From the Capital where I am, they’ve dispatched troops! All of you got scared pissless by the demons, right? That’s because you’ve never seen the true strength and heritage of the Da Xia Dynasty!"

"One million soldiers! One million soldiers! A mighty host setting out from the Capital, do you know what that even means, huh! Do you know!!!!"

"I don’t know where the Capital’s forces are going to attack. I only know that someone’s screwed, royally screwed!!"