Chapter 80: Your Luck Is This Good? God’s Own Son?

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Your Luck Is This Good? God’s Own Son?

"Thunder Strike!"

The long staff shot out like a venomous snake striking from its hole, accurately piercing the eye of a Single-Horned Blood Crocodile and impaling its skull. The beast collapsed and died without letting out a single cry.

"Sweeping a Thousand Armies!"

Another swing of the staff sent three simultaneously lunging Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles flying backward. They crashed into the swarm behind them, causing a wave of chaos.

Although Tie Shan and Zhou Han were both Tier Two Genetic Cultivators and inherently stronger, Ji Zhixing relied on the reach advantage of his weapon to kill just as many Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles as they did. The staff, over three meters long, displayed its full advantage in the narrow passageway; a single sweeping strike could cover a large area. Some Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles were sent flying by Ji Zhixing before they could even reach Tie Shan.

Meanwhile, Xiao Mingyue and Su Qing, who were standing behind them, unleashed astonishing destructive power. Flame Spirit Birds and Flame Spirit Butterflies fluttered out, interweaving to blanket the area ahead in a virtual sea of fire.

"ROAR!"

Seeing the swarm suffer heavy casualties without being able to break through, a Tier Two Single-Horned Blood Crocodile in the back finally lost its patience and let out a low roar.

Upon hearing this command, the frenzied Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles immediately halted. Instead of pressing forward, they slowly retreated to an area beyond the flames’ reach. They didn’t back off completely, however; they simply blocked the exit, staring fixedly at the group.

At the same time, more footsteps could be heard approaching from the direction of the Blood River in the distance. Clearly, more Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles were on their way.

"This is going to be tricky," Zhou Han said, his face sinking.

"If they aren’t coming over, let’s refine the corpses of these Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles first," Xiao Mingyue said. "We can’t drag this out for too long like we did before."

The rest of the group nodded. Over twenty Single-Horned Blood Crocodile corpses already littered the passageway. It would be a pity to let their essence drain away if they weren’t refined in time. The group stayed on guard while refining the beast corpses.

"I feel like we’ve been pretty lucky. First the Blood-colored Spiders, and now the Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles," Su Qing remarked as she worked. "Do you guys think we can make it onto the leaderboard today?"

*The leaderboard?* Ji Zhixing thought, his interest piqued.

He knew that the school would open the leaderboard on the first night the Blood Beast Secret Realm was accessed. The leaderboard didn’t rank students by the number of Blood Beasts killed, but rather by the number of Blood Crystals each person handed in. The more Blood Crystals submitted, the more points earned. One point was equivalent to one genetic coin.

The leaderboard only displayed the top one hundred students. Making the list meant receiving extra rewards from the school, and the top ten would even receive a staggering one million points. Under normal circumstances, however, only students from the genius class ever broke into the top ten each year.

"Our squad has decent strength and good luck, so we definitely have a chance," Xiao Mingyue said. "Especially since Zhou Han and Tie Shan have both broken through. If we hunt more Tier Two Blood Beasts and turn in Tier Two Blood Crystals, our points will skyrocket."

Ji Zhixing pondered inwardly while refining a Single-Horned Blood Crocodile. He wondered if he should try for the leaderboard. If he wanted to, he could definitely make it, and even taking first place wouldn’t be a problem.

However, doing so would expose the anomaly of his genetic furnace. Although it was true that some people in this world had genetic furnaces that differed from the norm—some easily produced genetic potions, others produced Genetic Equipment, and some, like Xiao Mingyue, had indescribably terrible luck—his anomaly was far too extreme. Just by refining a Blood Beast, he could produce two Blood Crystals, and occasionally even three. If word of this got out, it would definitely draw the attention of people with ulterior motives.

Still, he figured it should be fine if he only revealed a portion of his capabilities. After all, luck was something nobody could accurately predict. Furthermore, the leaderboard rewards were incredibly generous. A top-ten rank granted one million points, which equated to one million genetic coins. That was enough for him to buy a wealth of resources.

He felt a stir of temptation, but decided to wait and see since there was no rush. Suppressing the thought, he continued refining the Single-Horned Blood Crocodile.

Over ten minutes later, the group finished refining all the beast corpses.

Xiao Mingyue gripped the single Blood Crystal she had obtained from refining a Blood-colored Spider earlier, feeling rather discouraged. "Nothing again!" she complained. She had refined five Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles but hadn’t yielded a single Blood Crystal.

"Su Qing, what about you?" she asked, looking over at her.

"Nothing for me either," Su Qing said, throwing her hands up. Her luck was usually better than Xiao Mingyue’s, but despite refining six Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles this time, she had also come up empty-handed. Luck truly defied all reason sometimes.

Xiao Mingyue sighed. She shifted her gaze to Ji Zhixing, a thought crossing her mind. "Ji Zhixing, what about you?"

"I did okay," Ji Zhixing replied with a smile.

"Okay again?" Xiao Mingyue looked at him with envy. "Why do I feel like even Tie Shan doesn’t have your kind of luck?"

Among the group, Ji Zhixing had been the first to refine a Blood Crystal. Although she hadn’t asked him in detail later on, it seemed that every time she did ask, his answer was always that he did "okay."

"Come on, tell us! How many did you actually get?" Xiao Mingyue stared at him as if trying to see right through him.

Ji Zhixing hesitated. Meeting the gazes of Xiao Mingyue and the others, he thought for a moment before saying, "If nothing unexpected happens, I feel like I should be able to make the leaderboard today, and probably rank near the top at that."

"Wait, seriously?" Zhou Han immediately looked over, his eyes wide.

Su Qing and Tie Shan also turned to look at him, their eyes full of surprise.

"Exactly how many Blood Crystals did you refine?" Zhou Han pressed.

"Fifteen," Ji Zhixing answered, reporting only a quarter of the actual number of Blood Crystals in his possession. He didn’t tell them everything, only revealing a fraction.

He figured fifteen shouldn’t sound too outrageous. He had refined over thirty Blood Beasts; claiming to have yielded fifteen Blood Crystals was certainly an absurd streak of luck, but it wasn’t entirely impossible. After all, there were indeed people in this world with heaven-defying luck.

However, when he uttered that number, the others instantly gasped.

"Fifteen?"

"That many?"

"Wait, is your luck really that good, Ji Zhixing? Are you God’s favorite child or something?"

The group exclaimed in amazement, and the way they looked at him completely changed. Normally, one would need to kill over seventy Blood Beasts to yield fifteen Blood Crystals. While their squad had indeed killed a large number of beasts, the spoils had been split evenly among the five of them. By their rough estimation, Ji Zhixing had only refined a little over thirty Blood Beasts in total. Out of thirty-some Blood Beasts, he had produced fifteen Blood Crystals. That was a drop rate of nearly one crystal per two beasts! Such a yield was simply absurd.

"I’ve refined so many Blood Beasts, yet I only have seven Blood Crystals in my hand. You have more than double what I have," Tie Shan mumbled, his deep voice thick with envy.

"I only have one! Just one!" Xiao Mingyue glared at Ji Zhixing, looking as if she wanted to eat him alive. "Still, fifteen Blood Crystals guarantees you a spot on the leaderboard, but ranking near the top might be a bit difficult," she continued, taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "Let’s strive to kill even more Blood Beasts next!"

"Ahem." Ji Zhixing coughed lightly and said, "Out of my fifteen Blood Crystals, one is a Tier Two Blood Crystal, so my chances are actually quite high."

"Damn!" Zhou Han immediately widened his eyes.

When he had refined his Tier Two Blood-colored Spider earlier, he had gained absolutely nothing, which had drawn a heavy sigh from him. At the time, seeing Ji Zhixing’s expressionless face, he had assumed that Ji Zhixing had also gained nothing and thus hadn’t asked. He never expected Ji Zhixing to hide his haul so well.

"A Tier Two Blood Crystal? One of those is worth ten Tier One crystals!" Su Qing exclaimed in disbelief. "Doesn’t that mean you practically have twenty-four Tier One Blood Crystals?"

"Pretty much," Ji Zhixing nodded.

"Go for the leaderboard!" Upon hearing this, Xiao Mingyue instantly clenched her fists. "You absolutely have to compete for the top ranks!" She stared at Ji Zhixing with burning eyes. "From now on, I’ll give you my share of the Blood Beasts to refine! But for every five Blood Beasts you refine, you have to compensate me with one thousand genetic coins. Is that fine?"

She had figured it out. Relying on herself to refine genetic beasts and make money was basically a lost cause. However, she could easily hire someone to do the labor for her, and Ji Zhixing was the chosen one for the job. As long as he maintained his current streak of luck, they would both turn a profit.

"Give me your Blood Beasts to refine?" Ji Zhixing’s heart skipped a beat, immediately tempted. He realized that if he could refine Xiao Mingyue’s Blood Beasts as well, he would absolutely make a massive fortune. Let alone compensating her one thousand genetic coins for every five Blood Beasts, even if he paid her one thousand for a single beast, he would still make over a two-hundred-percent profit.

He looked at Xiao Mingyue and smiled. "That’s definitely fine with me, but are you sure you can resist the urge to refine them yourself?"

"It’s only temporary." Xiao Mingyue rolled her eyes at him. "We’re only staying in the Blood Beast Secret Realm for ten days. I’m just giving you my share during this time. Once we’re out of here, I’ll go back to refining them myself."

"Then I won’t hold back," Ji Zhixing said, giving her a smiling glance. Inwardly, he was already calculating how much money he could make.

Right at that moment, Zhou Han’s expression suddenly shifted. "Those crocodiles are retreating!"

The group immediately turned to look. Outside the passageway, the swarm of Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles blocking their path had indeed begun to stir. The two Tier Two Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles let out low roars, seemingly issuing a command. One by one, the crocodiles turned around and slowly retreated, preparing to withdraw back into the Blood River.

"What should we do? Should we attack?" Tie Shan tightened his grip on his shield, eager to strike.

"We definitely have to attack!" A sharp glint flashed in Zhou Han’s eyes. "Once we leave this place, it won’t be easy to find another swarm of Blood Beasts grouped up like this."

Xiao Mingyue spoke rapidly, "Then let’s try again and see if we can enrage them into charging at us one more time! Moreover, they’re turning around right now, and their formation is in chaos. We can use this chance to charge out, kill a wave of them, and then retreat!"

The group quickly exchanged glances and nodded in unison.

"Encircling Winds!" Xiao Mingyue willed it, and invisible winds instantly wrapped around everyone, making their bodies feel incredibly light.

"Charge!" Tie Shan shouted in a low voice, taking the lead and rushing out.

With Zhou Han on the left and Ji Zhixing on the right, the three of them dashed out of the passageway shoulder to shoulder, charging straight toward the retreating swarm of Single-Horned Blood Crocodiles.