After laughing for a long while and finally venting her frustration, Shen Biqian exchanged a glance with Li Li.
“Alright, stop laughing. Hurry and move the food into the car. We need to retreat. If another beast shows up, we’re all dead!”
Li Li flopped straight onto the ground.
“My whole body hurts. I can’t get up. Long Er, Long San, you two move the food!”
Long Er and Long San, who had been called out, exchanged a look.
Fine—among the four of them, they were indeed the least injured.
They forced themselves up from the ground.
“Boss, you should rest too. We’ll handle it.”
Shen Biqian was trying to stand when a sharp pain shot through her right leg.
She hissed in pain, forcing a bitter smile as she looked at her almost crippled leg.
Then she stretched out her uninjured left leg and kicked the fallen beast beside her in frustration.
“Ugh!”
But the movement tugged at the wound on her back, and she immediately froze in pain, grimacing.
Li Li burst out laughing without any mercy.
Seeing Shen Biqian glare at her, she wasn’t afraid at all anymore.
“Boss, instead of wasting energy kicking it, you might as well dig out its core. This beast’s core must be really good.”
Shen Biqian’s eyes lit up.
She crawled over to the beast, but its hard shell gave her trouble.
Li Li threw her a dagger.
“Use this.”
“Thanks.”
After a great deal of effort, Shen Biqian finally dug out a round, glowing bead.
“Red! It’s a fire-element core!”
She exclaimed in delight.
On Earth, spiritual energy was extremely scarce.
Apart from the suddenly increased wood-element energy, almost nothing else existed.
If one wanted to cultivate, they had to rely on beast cores.
This was the first time she had obtained a fire-element core from a Third-Rank beast.
If she absorbed it completely after refining out the impurities, she could form a fire element of her own.
At that point, she would advance again—reaching the third level of Qi Condensation.
Then even facing Third-Rank beasts would no longer require such desperate struggle.
After this battle, Shen Biqian’s desire for power had grown even stronger.
She understood clearly:
If she wanted to survive well in this apocalypse, she had to become stronger.
That was the only path forward.
Li Li looked a little disappointed.
Her affinity was for wood and earth elements.
But seeing Shen Biqian’s excitement, she still felt happy for her.
Shen Biqian then dug out the cores from the remaining four beasts one by one.
Unfortunately, none of them were fire-element cores.
By then, Long Er and Long San had already loaded everything into the car.
Shen Biqian handed the cores to them.
“Take a look. Any you need?”
Li Li immediately jumped up again despite her injuries.
Seeing the four translucent cores in Shen Biqian’s hand, she eagerly grabbed two yellow ones.
“Haha! I’ve got good luck today—two earth-element cores!”
Long Er and Long San shook their heads in disappointment.
They were both wood-element users.
Shen Biqian withdrew her hand.
“What element are you two? I won’t give them away next time if we find compatible ones.”
They shook their heads.
“We’re both wood-element users. These cores aren’t very useful to us.”
Because Shen Biqian and Li Li were both heavily injured, Long Er drove.
When they arrived at the villa, Shen Biqian saw Su Jianmo waiting at the entrance.
His tall figure stood straight and rigid.
When he saw the blue SUV slowly approach, the tension on his face finally softened into a faint smile.
His tightly held posture also relaxed slightly.
But when the car stopped and Long Er stepped out covered in blood, he quickly walked over.
“What happened? Did you encounter beasts?”
Long Er nodded.
“Yeah. We ran into a few powerful beasts. If it weren’t for Boss Shen’s final burst of strength, we wouldn’t have made it back.”
Shen Biqian opened the car door and smiled lightly.
“It’s not as serious as he said.”
Su Jianmo looked at her.
Her right leg was unnaturally bent, her face pale, and she looked far worse than Long Er.
Without a word, he stepped forward and lifted her into his arms as she was about to get out.
“If your leg is injured, don’t push yourself.”
Being held in his arms and smelling the faint scent of fresh grass on him, Shen Biqian’s face instantly turned red.
But her whole body was in pain, so she didn’t struggle.
She obediently leaned against him.
“Don’t tell my parents I’m injured.”
Su Jianmo seemed somewhat displeased at her injuries and simply gave a quiet “mm.”
Seeing his expression, Shen Biqian wisely stopped speaking.
Su Jianmo was indeed angry.
But he was angry at himself.
If he had followed her, she wouldn’t have been hurt this badly.
If he were stronger, she wouldn’t have suffered like this.
Li Li watched enviously as Shen Biqian was carried away.
“Ughhh! I’m also seriously injured! I want a handsome guy to carry me too!”
Long Er rubbed his hands together and stepped forward.
“How about me?”
Li Li shot him a disgusted look.
“With that long horse-face of yours? If you carry me, I’ll have nightmares!”
She struggled to get down again.
At that moment, Xia Sisong walked over and smiled faintly at her.
“Then do I have the honor of carrying you?”
Li Li looked at his handsome face and blushed slightly.
Although Xia Sisong was a tier below Su Jianmo in appearance, he was tall, well-built, and decent-looking.
“…Fine. I’ll give you that honor.”
Su Jianmo carried her all the way to the room and carefully placed her on the bed. Then he took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed himself, sitting cross-legged.
“Later, I’ll try my best to draw in the wood-element energy from the air. Use that time to recover your spiritual energy.”
After saying that, he closed his eyes without waiting for Shen Biqian’s response.
Su Jianmo calmed his mind completely.
Once fully focused, he seemed to enter another realm—his body felt unusually light and ethereal, as if his consciousness had been freed from his physical form.
In an instant, the wood-element energy in the air seemed to erupt.
Like a tidal wave, it surged toward the room.
Shen Biqian, who had been staring blankly, quickly closed her eyes and entered cultivation mode.
With so much wood energy available, it would be wasteful not to absorb it immediately.
After a long while, Su Jianmo withdrew from that ethereal state.
His face was pale, and his body tilted slightly as if he might collapse onto the bed.
Over these past days, whenever he strongly desired power, something would flash through his mind.
He tried to grasp it each time, but it always slipped away.
Still, he had gained something.
Once, driven by intense determination, he had entered that ethereal state.
Although he still failed to catch that elusive thought, he awoke to discover that he had unintentionally drawn in a massive amount of wood-element energy.
From then on, he could deliberately enter that state.
However, each time he did so, he would become mentally exhausted and physically weak afterward.
Looking at Shen Biqian, whose pale face had gradually regained color as she immersed herself in cultivation, Su Jianmo felt a faint sense of relief.
At least… he could still do something for her.
When Shen Biqian came out of cultivation, it was already completely dark.
“I didn’t waste that fight after all. The second leaf has fully solidified. Not a bad harvest.”
She took out the round red bead from her pocket.
“Next… it’s your turn.”
Holding the fire-core tightly, she entered cultivation again.
When she next opened her eyes, it was already broad daylight.
Feeling the surging spiritual energy within her body, a satisfied smile finally appeared on her face.
This core had been extremely effective.
Not only had she formed her first flame element, but the second was also beginning to take shape.
Now she was roughly at the fourth level of Qi Condensation.
If she encountered a Third-Rank beast again, she was confident she could take it down with a single punch.