Chapter 58: The Evolution Begins

"You can die too!"

At this moment, Lin Qiu's face was ashen, his right hand seizing Sea Boar's arm. In an instant, a poisoned needle shot forth from his palm, piercing Sea Boar's flesh and rendering him unconscious.

"You..."

Sea Boar's eyes widened in shock. The world spun around him, and then he vanished into a black void.

"He devoured Sea Mouse, and now Sea Boar as well?"

The queue of merfolk stared wide-eyed at the scene before them. Once the initial shock passed, a greedy light appeared in their eyes.

"Brothers, he just ate Lord Sea Mouse—our tribe's greatest engineer! Capture him, and we'll get a handsome reward!"

No one knew which merman shouted first, but in an instant, the orderly line dissolved into chaos.

"You think you can catch me?"

Lin Qiu sneered coldly, reacting with lightning speed. In a blur, he appeared among the frenzied merfolk.

His hands struck out in rapid succession.

Having consumed aquatic creatures, the system had fused their abilities with the ancient combat techniques preserved in the City of the Other Shore, forging an entirely new martial art. This technique now stood as the strongest on Bluewater Star.

He was determined to pit himself against the so-called first martial nation—the merfolk. The system had also informed him that if he could consume the warriors of this nation, he could devour their martial skills as well, merging them into his own.

As a third-tier cultivator, Lin Qiu wielded the supreme physical art of Bluewater Star, empowering him to fight across tiers.

Under his fierce assault, the two merfolk before him were slain instantly.

"Devour!"

A cold light flashed in Lin Qiu's eyes. His mouth opened, and a black vortex appeared, swallowing the two dead fish whole.

Among those queuing, only Sea Boar had reached the fifth tier. Lin Qiu, with his third-tier strength and martial prowess, could match a fourth-tier opponent.

But rather than fleeing, he chose to hone his technique through frenzied slaughter.

The gathering of so many aquatic beings here was a heaven-sent opportunity. He cared nothing for ancient treasures; those were but illusions. With the system at his side, as long as he accumulated enough upgrade points, he could exchange for anything he desired.

He barely had time to level up, let alone chase after such distractions.

All of this had been his plan from the start—he was set on harvesting them all in a single sweep.

For this purpose, he had even sacrificed ten upgrade points to exchange for ten poisoned needles. The one that paralyzed Sea Boar just now was newly acquired.

Along the way, he had discovered only Sea Boar as a fifth-tier powerhouse, which made him all the more determined.

Originally, he had considered letting these creatures live a little longer, but Sea Mouse’s words had utterly enraged him.

If he was not mistaken, the White Fish marked for death was the very woman with whom he wished to share a lifetime.

"Kill!"

Lin Qiu’s gaze grew colder and colder. With each kill and each act of devouring, his upgrade points soared rapidly, and his power intensified. Any aquatic being who crossed his path was dispatched in an instant.

As the battle raged on, his martial art, once awkward and unpracticed, became increasingly fluid.

"Tiger Strike!"

Lin Qiu roared, his blood surging violently. Overhead, the image of a massive killer whale, a hundred meters across, took form.

"Sonic Annihilation!"

With another bellow, the killer whale's phantom crashed down, its gigantic body crushing or scattering many of the aquatic creatures.

At the same time, its jaws opened wide, unleashing a roar as primitive and wild as an ancient beast.

Sonic Annihilation was the evolved form of the Sonic Howl. Wherever it passed, nothing remained alive for a hundred miles.

Its shockwave wiped out the merfolk, while the sound itself became countless invisible, razor-sharp wind blades, shredding them to pieces.

"Devour!"

Lin Qiu’s chilling roar echoed. The killer whale phantom opened its maw, and a black hole dozens of meters wide appeared. A tremendous suction drew in the slain and the dying alike.

Amid the wailing, the bodies and even the blood on the ground were sucked upward, vanishing into the blackness.

Standing alone, Lin Qiu gazed at the now-empty corridor, his face bleak and cold.

"Bi Qi, wait for me—I will devour you too!"

He closed his eyes. The system's devouring capability erupted, extracting energy from the consumed creatures, transforming it into vital essence, and strengthening him.

His upgrade points soared at breakneck speed.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

System notifications sounded endlessly in his mind.

No one knew how much time had passed before the final notification faded.

Lin Qiu sensed a tidal wave of power surging within him. His upgrade points had reached a thousand.

The system prompt sounded: "Upgrade points have reached one thousand. Does the host wish to evolve?"

"Evolve!" Lin Qiu answered crisply.

"Host confirmed. Evolution commencing!"

The system's voice faded. A hazy golden light enveloped Lin Qiu entirely.

"Evolution commencing!"

As the system intoned, Lin Qiu’s body began to transform.

Ascending from the third to the fourth tier required a thousand upgrade points. From fourth to fifth, it would take ten thousand. From fifth to sixth, a hundred thousand.

Each evolution and breakthrough to a new realm made leveling up all the more difficult.

Lin Qiu had just slain over three hundred aquatic beings, yet gained only a little over nine hundred points.

Still, he was satisfied.

Devouring so many aquatic creatures had granted him immense vitality.

With a thousand points at hand, he now began his breakthrough to the fourth tier.

Waves like tsunamis crashed within his body. His intricate network of meridians was buffeted again and again by the surging energy, bringing him intense pain.

His innate bloodline issues meant cultivation was harder and slower for him than for others.

This was the era of awakening; brute physical strength alone was no longer enough. For any being who started to evolve, their body would generate vital blood.

The greater the vital blood, the stronger the power.

What Lin Qiu did not know was that, in Human City, Xu Bing suddenly let out a piercing scream.

In the Xu family’s small courtyard, her body floated uncontrollably into the air.

Streams of golden energy gushed from her body, spinning and then seeping back through her pores and acupoints.

Each stream of golden light that entered made her cry out in unbearable pain.

Xu Bing did not know what was happening; all she felt was agony as if pierced by ten thousand arrows.

A wild energy rampaged through her body, rapidly expanding her slender meridians, thickening and toughening them.

Her screams drew the attention of the Xu family.

When Xu Bancheng and his father rushed over, they were met with the sight of Xu Bing suspended in mid-air.