Chapter 109: Steel Muscles

Integrating the information in his mind, Su Li was shocked. Super Heart had doubled his physical endurance. In his previous state, his maximum power could be sustained for two minutes. Now, Super Heart added an extra three minutes of sustained full-power output, meaning he could maintain maximum effort for a total of five minutes.

That state of sustained power would be terrifying.

In addition, he gained an extra 100 jin of strength, bringing his maximum force to an astonishing 2,300 jin (approx. 1,150 kg or 2,535 pounds).

In those brief few seconds, a tremendous change had occurred within him. Su Li took deep breaths, looking at the retreating Undead. He was in no hurry to attack. Instead, he continued to process the information in his mind.

The most notable item was undoubtedly the “Spiritual Source Technique” that only Level 5 Spiritual Source Wielders could unlock and comprehend.

He had a choice in which Spiritual Source Technique to master.

Perhaps due to his continuous muscle enhancements, the Spiritual Source Techniques he could comprehend were all related to muscles: “Steel Muscles” and “Demon Muscles.”

However, there was no detailed information available for either technique; he could only guess their effects based on their names.

“Steel Muscles,” as the name suggested, likely enabled his muscles to become hard as steel. Its effect might be similar to Chen Xiangyu’s “Steel Skin.” Once mastered, he would possess astonishing defensive power, potentially becoming invulnerable to ordinary blades.

“Demon Muscles,” on the other hand, was harder to guess based on the name. It was probably an ability on the same level as “Steel Muscles,” but Su Li guessed its effect might be related to strength.

Su Li found himself unable to choose immediately. The Undead let out another shriek and charged toward Su Li once more.

Su Li quietly exhaled, his eyes glowing. He stared at the charging Undead and activated “Spider Walk.” With his advancement, his overall abilities had improved. His speed in the “Spider Walk” state had increased again. His figure blurred, darting between two Advanced Corpse Beasts. In a flash, he circled to the Undead’s rear, clenched his left hand into a fist, and delivered a punch.

With a “thud,” the impact of his over two-thousand-jin punch sent the Undead flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Su Li immediately charged after it. Two Advanced Corpse Beasts tried to block him. Su Li swept his machete out. With the perfect combination of speed and power, the two Advanced Corpse Beasts couldn’t react. Their heads flew off.

Two Spiritual Sources entered Su Li’s body. Surprisingly, no informational prompts appeared in his mind.

“The Spiritual Sources from these Advanced Corpse Beasts are ineffective for me now?” Su Li frowned slightly. To advance again to Level 6, he needed a full 70 Spiritual Sources. If killing Advanced Corpse Beasts was already ineffective, it seemed he would need to hunt stronger monsters.

As Su Li beheaded the two Advanced Corpse Beasts, the fallen Undead scrambled back up. Although it had four holes in its head and a sunken punch mark on its back, it hadn’t died. It continued to retreat, trying to increase the distance between them. It clearly realized that Su Li had become much stronger and was completely different from before.

“Are you trying to escape?” Su Li bared his teeth in a smile. He suddenly crouched slightly, and the phantom leg afterimages appeared around him again, entering the “Spider Walk” state. The retreating Undead sensed the danger, let out a fierce howl, and commanded the nearby Advanced Corpse Beasts with a special directive. Instead of attacking Su Li, Ding Longyun, or Gong Xiao, the monsters grabbed the corpses of Arrow Serpent Beasts, Water Monkey Beasts, and Corpse Beasts littering the ground and began throwing them over the edge of the building.

This sudden action startled everyone. Su Li shot out like lightning, closing the distance to within three meters of the rapidly retreating Undead. The Undead knew it couldn’t escape. It launched a desperate counterattack, wildly flailing its claws and launching its head forward, hoping to strike Su Li and buy itself time to flee.

Su Li crossed his legs, moving like a phantom, easily evading the attack. He gripped the machete in his hands and brought it down in a cleaving strike.

The attack landed squarely on the Undead’s neck, which was extended like a spring. With a “hiss,” the long neck was severed.

Bright red blood spurted out. The Undead’s head, which had the four bloody holes, flew off into the distance.

On the roof, Advanced Corpse Beasts were everywhere. These monsters seemed to have fallen into a frenzy, continuously throwing corpses off the building. Ding Longyun and the others couldn’t even keep up to stop them.

In a short amount of time, at least ten or twenty corpses were thrown over the edge.

Su Li successfully killed the Undead. A Spiritual Source merged into his body. Finally, a message appeared in his mind.

“Level 5 Spiritual Source Wielder: Spiritual Source 2/70”

Killing the Undead yielded two Spiritual Sources at once, equivalent to killing an Elite monster of the same level.

At this point, Ding Longyun, Gong Xiao, and Xu Haishui were chasing and killing the frenzied Advanced Corpse Beasts throwing the bodies.

In the time it took Su Li to fight and kill the Undead, the three of them had killed quite a few Corpse Beasts. Each person had harvested over ten Spiritual Sources.

In just a short time, over twenty Corpse Beasts were thrown over the edge. This was the Undead’s final command before death. Su Li quickly entered his walking state, swinging his machete repeatedly.

Although killing these Corpse Beasts no longer granted him effective Spiritual Sources, he had to stop them.

“This thing ordered the Corpse Beasts to throw so many bodies down—is it trying to lure an even more terrifying monster? Does it want to drag us down with it, even in death?”

Su Li considered this the only possibility for the Undead’s last command. If true, the Undead possessed considerable intelligence.

Head after head of Advanced Corpse Beasts was severed by Su Li’s machete. In the blink of an eye, he had collected over ten Corpse Beasts, yet his mind was still focused on the choice of the Spiritual Source Technique.

“Steel Muscles” or “Demon Muscles”—which should he choose?

Xu Haishui had mentioned that advancing from Level 4 to Level 5 was a qualitative leap, mainly because of the Spiritual Source Technique. Spiritual Source Technique was far more powerful than a special ability and could even determine his future potential. Therefore, choosing the most suitable technique was critical, and he had to be careful.

“Steel Muscles” is an entirely defensive ability. It would greatly enhance my survivability, like Chen Xiangyu’s. However, while the ability seems strong, if I face a truly powerful opponent, they could still wound me severely through the force of the impact… just like when I fought Chen Xiangyu…

Su Li mused.

(End of Chapter)