Chapter 67: This Is It

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: This Is It

It was a tree.

A willow tree, the most ordinary kind.

Back in the gene bank, the first gene Ji Zhixing had found with a 72% compatibility rate with himself was precisely the willow tree gene. However, the willow tree gene was far too common and ordinary. Ji Zhixing estimated that its abilities at the first tier probably couldn’t even compare to the Three-inch Stone Monkey. That was exactly why he had chosen the Three-inch Stone Monkey gene over the willow tree gene.

"I wonder if this willow tree will work..." Ji Zhixing gazed at the willow tree standing by the river from a distance, his eyes flickering slightly.

When Genetic Cultivators refined the corpses of various gene beasts through their gene furnaces, there was a chance they could extract gene samples. That was how the gene samples in the Yu City Base City’s gene bank came to be. During his previous training near Shihu Town, he had also obtained gene samples after killing and refining gene beasts. However, the gene samples from those ordinary gene beasts were nothing more than faint glimmers of light, completely worthless. Therefore, he had simply let them dissipate right after refining them.

"What’s wrong?" Ren Pingzhi and the others asked, noticing Ji Zhixing’s expression.

"It’s nothing, let’s go over there and take a look. I awakened a dual-core gene aperture, and one of my apertures hasn’t fused with a gene yet. I plan to refine a willow tree to see if I can get a willow tree gene sample."

"A dual-core gene aperture?"

"The willow tree gene?"

The three of them were dumbfounded.

"Zhixing, you actually awakened a dual-core gene aperture? But why would you choose the willow tree gene? The Staff Soldier Stone Monkey gene fused in your first gene aperture is so powerful, you definitely need to choose something that matches it!"

"I know, but I prefer a gene that has a higher compatibility rate with me," Ji Zhixing said casually.

"Alright then." The three didn’t press the matter. After all, they had just met Ji Zhixing, and they weren’t close enough to overstep their bounds with unsolicited advice.

The group then walked toward the willow tree together. Since they were just approaching the wilderness area, they hadn’t encountered any danger along the way. Ji Zhixing stopped in front of the tree. It was about six or seven meters tall and as thick as a bowl.

"BOOM!"

He took out his Tide Listening Rod and struck out with a single blow, directly snapping the willow tree in half. He swung the rod several more times, shattering the tree into several pieces. With a thought, he stored it in his gene furnace.

A few minutes later, he saw over a dozen faint glimmers of light impressively appear inside his gene furnace. These glimmers were willow tree gene samples. However, as Ji Zhixing sensed them, he realized that their compatibility rate with him was only 65%, falling short of the 72% he had imagined.

"Looks like this tree won’t work." Ji Zhixing shook his head. He had anticipated this situation.

Even for the same gene, if it came from a different individual, the compatibility rate could vary. Just like the Three-inch Stone Monkey gene—if he had encountered a different one back then, its compatibility might not have been as high. Of course, it could also have been higher. But such cases were rare, because the gene samples in the Yu City Base City’s gene bank were all carefully selected. Their compatibility with Genetic Cultivators was generally the highest among individuals of the same species.

"How is it?" Ren Pingzhi and the others asked, seeing Ji Zhixing finish his refinement.

"No good. This willow tree’s compatibility with me is a bit poor," Ji Zhixing replied, shaking his head.

Although his gene furnace could increase his compatibility with a gene, there was a limit. Just like when he fused with the Three-inch Stone Monkey gene, he had fallen just a tiny bit short of achieving a 100% compatibility rate. Therefore, for his choice of the willow tree gene this time, the base compatibility rate had to be at least 72%.

"If it doesn’t work, just try another," Ren Pingzhi said with a laugh. "If you needed some other gene sample, it might take some effort, but willow tree genes can be found everywhere."

Over the next hour or so, the group roamed the wilderness for several laps. There were quite a few willow trees around—by the river, on the dirt slopes, and even a crooked one next to a half-collapsed, ruined house. Ji Zhixing tested them one by one, refining gene sample after gene sample.

67%.

68%.

One even reached 69%.

But none of them worked. They all fell just a little short.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, just as Ji Zhixing was starting to feel a bit irritable, a low growl came from ahead. The group’s hearts skipped a beat. They looked up and saw three Foul Fly Wolves gathered together, slowly approaching them.

The Foul Fly Wolf was a unique type of gene beast. They were incredibly filthy and foul-smelling, with hundreds of foul flies living on their bodies. When a Foul Fly Wolf launched an attack, the flies on its body would attack right alongside it.

At this moment, as the three Foul Fly Wolves emerged from behind the bushes, the smell of the air instantly changed. It was a rotting, sour stench mixed with the buzzing of flies, like someone had shoved a three-day-old decaying corpse into their nostrils.

"Fuck!" Ren Pingzhi’s face turned pale, nearly vomiting his breakfast. These things weren’t particularly strong, but they were absolutely more disgusting than anything else.

"BUZZ!"

Upon spotting the group, the flies on the Foul Fly Wolves exploded outward with a loud buzz. They resembled a cloud of black mist, their droning loud enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

"Spinning Wind Leaves!" Ren Pingzhi gritted his teeth and quickly condensed three blades of grass that spun together in front of him. The three blades of grass slashed toward one of the Foul Fly Wolves at a rapid spin.

"ROAR!"

The Foul Fly Wolf let out a low growl, and the foul flies on its body flew out to swarm the three blades of grass. The spinning grass blades managed to slice through hundreds of foul flies before finally losing their momentum and being overwhelmed by the endless swarm.

"Attack!" Zhao Hai shouted, an Illusory Iron Armor forming over his body. He stepped forward and charged straight at the Foul Fly Wolves.

"Die!" Feng Yan roared. Raising both hands, he sent blackish-red flames blazing toward one of the beasts.

Holding his breath, Ji Zhixing lunged forward with a wide stride. He didn’t want to stay in this godforsaken place for a second longer. As he closed the distance, he raised his hand, and the Tide Listening Rod appeared in his grasp. Seeing Ji Zhixing charging in, the Foul Fly Wolf immediately unleashed its foul flies, swarming toward him in an overwhelming cloud.

"Surging Waves!" Ji Zhixing let out a low shout and immediately executed the Tingchao Staff Technique, sweeping his rod horizontally.

The strike sent the air ahead vibrating violently, like surging ocean waves. Caught in the sweeping wind of the rod, the incoming foul flies were instantly swatted out of the air.

"Shattering Void!"

Ji Zhixing then shifted his stance, bringing his rod down in a vicious overhead smash. Using the Shattering Void form of the Breaking Army Staff Technique, he delivered a crushing blow straight to the Foul Fly Wolf’s head. The beast reacted just in time to dodge to the side, but Ji Zhixing simply adjusted the trajectory of the Tide Listening Rod mid-air, smashing it squarely onto its skull.

Its head was instantly pulverized into a bloody pulp.

After finishing off the Foul Fly Wolf in front of him, he turned to look at the other three. He saw that the flies on one of the Foul Fly Wolves had been completely incinerated by the blackish-red flames summoned by Feng Yan. Without its protective flies, Ren Pingzhi easily killed the beast with a few consecutive blasts of his Spinning Wind Leaves. As for the final Foul Fly Wolf, the trio quickly dispatched it in a similar fashion.

The battle ended quickly. These wolves weren’t very strong to begin with; without their flies, they were practically useless. But everyone felt as if they had just fought a grueling war.

"Let’s go, let’s go, hurry up!" Zhao Hai turned back immediately, not even bothering to retract his Illusory Iron Armor.

Ren Pingzhi clutched his knees and dry-heaved a couple of times, his eyes red. "I’m going to have to shower eight times when I get back."

Ji Zhixing didn’t move. He glanced at the three corpses on the ground, walked over, and collected them into his gene furnace.

The trio looked back, their expressions turning rather strange.

"You... don’t find that disgusting?" Feng Yan’s throat felt dry.

"Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat," Ji Zhixing said, his expression unchanged.

The three stared at him with bizarre looks in their eyes. But Ji Zhixing paid them no mind. His gene furnace bore the Eight Trigrams Map pattern, which gave him a much higher drop rate than others. Therefore, even if they were just Foul Fly Wolves, he didn’t mind taking them.

After collecting the Foul Fly Wolves, he joined the other three and continued searching for willow trees in the wilderness. As they searched, he simultaneously began refining the three Foul Fly Wolves inside him. Currently, he was only a Tier One Gene Cultivator and could only refine one gene beast at a time. However, things would change once he advanced to a Tier Two Gene Cultivator. At that point, he would be able to refine two gene beasts simultaneously. If he combined two different gene beasts, it was even possible to refine something entirely unique.

"This is..."

After consecutively refining the three Foul Fly Wolves, Ji Zhixing was surprised to find that he actually got a drop.

"Foul Stench Potion!"

Looking at the extra bottle of potion in his gene furnace and receiving its information through the furnace, Ji Zhixing’s heart stirred slightly. This Foul Stench Potion wasn’t meant to be consumed. Instead, if it was sprinkled somewhere, that spot would continuously emit a foul stench. If left unwashed, the smell wouldn’t dissipate for more than ten days.

"I’ll keep it. It might be useful later," he thought.

"There’s a willow tree over there!" Suddenly, Ren Pingzhi called out.

Ji Zhixing looked over and indeed saw a willow tree in the distance, taller than the previous ones. His face lit up with joy, and he immediately followed the group over. Upon reaching the willow tree, he smashed it in half using the same method as before, stored it in his gene furnace, and began refining.

However, a moment later, he shook his head once again. This willow tree still wasn’t quite there. Its compatibility rate had reached 69%. But even if it was only short by 3%, he wasn’t willing to risk it.

"Still no good?" the trio asked.

Ji Zhixing nodded.

"Then we’ll keep looking." With that, the three prepared to lead him further away to continue the search.

Ji Zhixing nodded. He walked over to the river to wash his hands, his gaze sweeping over the area casually. Suddenly, he noticed a willow sapling growing in the crevices of the rocks not far away. It was crooked and only about a meter tall. Even the surrounding grass was taller than it.

"Isn’t that one a bit too small?" Feng Yan leaned in for a look and frowned.

Ji Zhixing didn’t hold out much hope either. Reaching out, he pulled it up and tossed it, roots and dirt included, into the furnace. Might as well just try it.

More than ten seconds later, he froze in surprise. His empty gene aperture had lit up.

73%!

That was 1% higher than the one from the gene bank!

"What’s wrong?" Ren Pingzhi asked.

"I got it." Ji Zhixing stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands.