Chapter 173: 172. Acquaintances in the Danger Zone

172. Chapter 172: Acquaintances in the Danger Zone

"The Danger Zone seems different from before."

Li Yi was sprinting through the Danger Zone when he glanced at his phone; it was 10: 0 a. . The weather was terrible—thick leaden clouds blanketed the sky, blocking the sun, and the air felt oppressively heavy, as if a torrential storm was about to break.

As he moved through the Danger Zone, his steps involuntarily slowed, for he saw scattered limbs and crimson bloodstains along the roadside—some from beasts, others from humans. It seemed a great many battles had recently erupted here.

In the past, such a thing would have been impossible; cultivators generally avoided the Danger Zone entirely, and only experts at the Spiritual Perception realm dared lead expeditions into it to hunt transcendent creatures.

"Forget it—I'll head back and ask Lin Jie what's going on. I just left Ghost Street and know nothing about recent changes here. Best not to linger." Li Yi quickened his pace, sprinting through the city's ruins with his sniper rifle clutched tight.

But just then.

Li Yi's expression shifted—he suddenly heard combat sounds ahead, near a few abandoned buildings, accompanied by the echoing crack of gunfire.

Judging from the gunfire, it was pistols—low-powered weapons.

"Someone's fighting beasts in the Danger Zone?" Li Yi had no interest in getting involved, but the sound came from directly along his path. He could detour, but that meant rerouting entirely.

Changing routes randomly in the Danger Zone was never wise.

"Fine—I'll go take a look. I've got a sniper rifle; even against transcendent creatures, I can hold my own."

Li Yi abandoned the idea of rerouting and decided to investigate.

He slowed his pace, lowered his steps, and crept forward with extreme caution. After crossing a pile of concrete rubble, he saw the true situation.

A group of cultivators had entered the Danger Zone together and were now being surrounded by a pack of starving wolves—wolves whose bodies were grotesquely large, as big as oxen, their fur standing like steel needles, their fangs thick and fearsome. Their roars radiated pure savagery; these were no ordinary wolves, but evolved beasts.

Facing this pack of beasts, the cultivators were clearly losing. Despite desperate fighting, they'd already lost three or four comrades and now only five remained, backed against an abandoned building, barely holding on.

"The beasts aren't strong—only around Spiritual Perception level—but there are over a dozen of them. Under these conditions, unless a Spiritual Awareness expert shows up, this group is dead. They're incredibly unlucky—came to hunt beasts and didn't find one, only got swarmed."

Li Yi's vertical pupils glowed as he watched the scene in silence.

Actually, the group wasn't weak—three of the survivors were Spiritual Perception cultivators; the other two were Spirit Mediums.

With this composition, killing a few beasts should've been easy, especially since this was the Danger Zone's outer edge, where transcendent creatures rarely appeared.

"Huh, I recognize those two." Suddenly, Li Yi focused on the two remaining Spirit Mediums.

One was Lu Jue. When Ning Wu's group tried to assassinate him, Lu Jue had warned him—saving his life. He owed Lu Jue a debt.

The other cultivator was a woman—he recognized her too. She'd worked for Yang Yi Long, and he remembered her as Zhao Xiaoxiao. She'd once offered to invest in him, which he'd refused. Still, as the first person to ever propose investing in him, he remembered her clearly.

"Why are these two following others into the Danger Zone to hunt beasts?"

Li Yi was puzzled.

From what he knew, both were cautious cultivators who avoided risks, preferring to stay in the safe Old City and cultivate slowly.

But as he thought this, the group collapsed entirely.

"Ahh!"

A scream echoed—a cultivator who'd just gained the upper hand against one wolf was suddenly struck down, his arm torn off by another wolf lunging from the side.

"Fang Hang!"

Lu Jue's face paled—he rushed to help, but a low growl came from beside him. Another wolf crouched, baring its teeth, locked onto him, ready to pounce and tear him apart.

With such a beast watching him, he dared not move, freezing in place.

The other two Spiritual Perception cultivators couldn't handle the relentless wolf attacks. They were wounded, retreating step by step, now with nowhere left to flee.

"We can't win—too many beasts. Scatter and run!"

Fang Hang roared. He used his Sight Technique to repel the attacking beast, then gripped his dagger tightly and fought another wolf. He barely held off the attack, but death was only a matter of time.

Run?

Easy to say—but where could they run in the Danger Zone?

And even if they ran, how could they outpace these beasts?

Still, they understood Fang Hang's desperation. Fighting was hopeless—they'd be eaten eventually. Scattering now might give one or two a chance to survive.

"Cheng Pingfang, watch out—a beast is coming for you!" Zhang Hang shouted again.

The other Spiritual Perception cultivator froze in terror. He was already fighting three beasts, barely holding on. His Spiritual Perception warned him—a wolf was lunging from behind—but he couldn't move. He had no spare hand.

"Am I going to die here?" Cheng Pingfang thought in despair. He roared, eyes blazing, trying to unleash his hidden potential to drive back the beasts.

But he couldn't.

Three beasts held him fast, deliberately giving their companions the chance to kill him.

"Bang!"

Just as the wolf lunged, a gunshot rang out.

The wolf's head exploded. Its massive body crashed to the ground, lifeless in an instant.

The sudden strike stunned the five cultivators—and drove back the wolves, who'd been dominating the fight.

"Are we saved?"

Cheng Pingfang, still trembling, realized his pupils had turned vertical. The near-death experience had triggered further evolution.

"Who fired that shot?" Fang Hang scanned the area. His pressure had dropped sharply—the beasts were now too startled to advance.

"Bang!"

Another gunshot.

A wolf still watching the scene was struck—its skull shattered, body collapsing lifelessly.

"There!"

Only now did they pinpoint the source. They turned to look.

Li Yi stood atop a pile of rubble, not even aiming—just raising his rifle and firing. At under two hundred meters, his marksmanship made a miss nearly impossible.

"That's… Li Yi?" Lu Jue froze, recognizing him—then his face lit up with shock and joy: "Li Yi? What are you doing in the Danger Zone? Didn't you join the Investigation Bureau?"

"A familiar face? Great!"

Fang Hang, Cheng Pingfang, and the remaining Spiritual Perception cultivator all brightened instantly.

In the Danger Zone, people could be more dangerous than beasts. There were no laws here—only the brutal jungle rule. Two strangers might kill each other just for looking at each other wrong. If you lost, you'd be devoured—no bones left.

"Li Yi? It really is him."

Among them, Zhao Xiaoxiao was drenched in blood, injured, her face pale. Seeing Li Yi again, she felt joy—but also bitter regret.

She remembered how, once, Li Yi had been a penniless boy who couldn't even afford a taxi ride. Yet only months later, he'd become the top figure in Tianchang City.

"Bang!"

Li Yi prepared to fire a third shot, but the beasts had recovered. They howled, signaling each other, then moved with astonishing speed, scattering into the ruins and cover—denying him any further shots.

His predicted shot hit a concrete slab. The regular bullets couldn't pierce it, so he failed to kill the third beast.

He tried to raise his rifle again, searching for targets—but no beast was exposed in his line of sight.

He could only sigh inwardly.

These were beasts—intelligent enough to understand firearms and how to evade them. After two shots, he had no opening left.

Li Yi didn't want to waste time. He retracted his sniper rifle, leapt down from the rubble, and walked toward them: "Lu Jue, why are you in the Danger Zone? Didn't you say you'd never risk coming here? I heard noise nearby and came to check—never expected to find this."

"Do you think I wanted to?" Lu Jue sighed. "Things aren't like before. Tianchang City is in chaos—beasts have appeared in the Danger Zone, the Ruin District, even the Old City. Recently, the Investigation Bureau and the Cultivator Association jointly issued a death order: every cultivator who's awakened their Spirit Medium realm must hunt and submit one beast."

He spoke quickly, briefly: "I only planned to wander the Ruin District and return. But too many people went out. I had no choice but to join a team to scout the Danger Zone's edge, hoping for luck. We thought ten people would be safe—use numbers to slowly surround and kill beasts. Instead, we ran straight into a wolf pack."

"Damn it, we're the unluckiest bastards."

Li Yi frowned: "Is this really happening? Did the blockade lines fail?"

"I don't know. I just know the Investigation Bureau has internal problems—and beasts have multiplied mysteriously. They can't handle it anymore. They've had to mobilize every cultivator in Tianchang City… Oh, some Old City districts are worse—multiple supernatural incidents, dozens dead."

Lu Jue paused. "Li Yi, this isn't the time to talk. The beasts are still circling. Your sniper shots didn't scare them off—they're still hunting for a chance to strike."

Then his expression changed—he saw wolves moving through the ruins, creeping closer to Li Yi, as if recognizing him as the greatest threat and planning to kill him together.

"Now I see how serious this is," Li Yi said, his expression turning grim.

Supernatural events in the Old City. Beasts in the Ruin District. Traces of transcendent creatures.

And the Investigation Bureau had problems. How long had he been gone? Only about twenty days total. How could so much have changed so fast?

But threats from beasts and transcendent creatures had always existed. Last time, Wang Jian had taken him into the Ruin District and killed many beasts, stabilizing things temporarily.

Now it seemed—

The Investigation Bureau's internal failures had caused delayed exterminations, triggering this entire crisis?

"Li Yi, thank you for saving us," Zhao Xiaoxiao said, her gaze complex but polite.

"No need to thank me. I'm friends with Lu Jue. If I saw this, I couldn't ignore it. Besides, you got lucky—you ran into me. If I'd arrived a moment later, it'd have been bad." Li Yi waved dismissively.

A friend of Lu Jue's?

Zhao Xiaoxiao understood—she wasn't even a friend of Li Yi's. She'd just been lucky enough to be on the same team as Lu Jue and got saved by accident.

If not for that incident back then, maybe she could've become his friend.

Thinking of it, Zhao Xiaoxiao felt another wave of regret.

Some people you miss—you never see again, and it's fine. But when you meet them again, the ache is unbearable.

"Li Yi, watch out—the beasts are targeting you!"

Suddenly, Fang Hang, the one missing an arm, shouted—a wolf had burst from the nearest rubble, roaring as it lunged at Li Yi.

Spiritual Perception warning.

"Die."

Li Yi's vertical pupils flared. He spun and threw a punch.

Muscle, bone, and skin fused as one—power erupted from his body, instinctively unleashing a killing technique.

Thunder God Hammer Strike!

A white shockwave rose from his fist, the air screaming. The force exploded like a thunderclap.

After his cultivation had traveled the Four Seas and Eight Continents, he was no longer the same. With martial arts foundation supporting him, his power was now unmatched among Spiritual Perception cultivators—even Spiritual Awareness experts would struggle to block this punch head-on.

"Boom!"

Li Yi's fist punched straight through the beast's skull, then the shockwave reversed and unleashed its force, instantly hurling the wolf backward; its corpse slammed into the nearby ruins, shattering the thick concrete slabs on impact.

The beast died with a single blow.

Seeing this, the others all widened their eyes in disbelief.

Is this really the strength a Qi Refining cultivator can possess?

Knocking out a beast with one punch is one thing, but that explosive punch, so shocking it stirred the soul—how could a single strike have stirred up a white wave? Had that punch broken the sound barrier?

It was simply unimaginable.

Though everyone knew Li Yi had gained a miracle in the danger zone and mastered a fist technique, only by witnessing it firsthand could they grasp just how vast the gap in strength could be between cultivators.