With immense curiosity, Chu Tian continued down the only mountain path.
While Chu Tian was enjoying the sights, he was unaware that somewhere in the Heavenly Dao World, amidst a fog of chaos.
The shabby old man he had seen before was frantically searching for him.
"Where did he go? Where did this kid run off to?" Before the old man’s eyes, a light screen projected, constantly moving with his gestures. The map of the Heavenly Dao World flashed by like a slideshow.
Finally, the old man waved his hand, revealing Chu Tian lying in a space pod.
"He's entered deep sleep, and his soul has entered the Heavenly Dao World, but why can't I sense his soul power?" The old man’s usual flippancy vanished.
His expression was grave as he looked at the wine gourd at his waist. "Alas, I only dozed off for a moment after getting drunk, and I've lost track of the person."
"After carefully selecting, searching for thousands of years, I found this utterly talentless kid, so where could he have gone?" The old man waved his hands again.
The light screen stopped at the Plague Land Chu Tian had visited earlier.
The light screen magnified, like a satellite map, continuously zooming in on the terrain.
Finally, it settled on an altar in the Plague Forest.
The altar was calm, with no sign of 'Grand Shaman Solent'.
The old man’s figure flickered, and he instantly appeared there.
"It’s that kid's aura, and the scent of the Underworld! Could it be..." The old man's eyes narrowed.
...
At this moment, Chu Tian was walking into a valley, the ground covered in blood-red as far as the eye could see.
Upon closer inspection, it was a sea of flowers.
The flowers radiated outwards, a breathtaking sight.
Chu Tian stepped forward and reached out to touch a flower bud.
"Ding... Discovered rare herb 'Shore Flower'. Cast Collection Skill?"
"Yes!" Chu Tian said subconsciously.
"Ding... Collection successful, obtained item 'Shore Flower'!"
"Ding... Gained 50 experience points!"
Hearing the system prompt, Chu Tian opened his backpack—
【Shore Flower】
Rarity: Rare
Attributes: When refining any medicine, adding this can grant additional effects, the effects are not detailed. Direct consumption can increase soul power.
Introduction: Tulips are the last flowers of spring. When the tulips bloom, the flower season ends, leaving only the Shore Flower that blooms in remembrance of past lives. Blooming for a thousand years, falling for a thousand years, the flower and leaves never meet. Love is not about cause and effect; fate determines life and death.
Chu Tian was exceptionally surprised. He wasn't surprised by the Shore Flower's attributes, as he hadn't even read them carefully.
He was surprised that collecting Shore Flowers actually yielded experience points, which wasn't the case when collecting herbs outside.
He was fortunate that during the land acquisition quest, he had collected many herbs along the way.
His Herbalism skill level was now sufficient to collect rare varieties of herbs.
Otherwise, all this experience would have been wasted.
Looking at the endless Shore Flowers filling the entire valley, Chu Tian was ecstatic.
He was also grateful that he was a Druid. Other professions took 2.5 seconds to collect a flower after learning the Collection Skill.
Druids, however, only needed 1 second to complete the collection.
One flower... another flower... one more...
+50 experience points... +50 experience points... +50 experience points...
Chu Tian plunged into the sea of flowers, continuously casting the Collection Skill on the Shore Flowers around him.
Although the experience from a single flower wasn't much, it was much faster than fighting monsters.
As his experience grew, so did the number of Shore Flowers in his backpack.
"Ding... Backpack full, unable to collect!"
Chu Tian opened his backpack. He had four backpacks, each with twelve slots.
Besides some random items picked up from monsters, most of his backpacks were filled with Shore Flowers, twenty per stack, occupying all his backpack space.
Looking at his experience, Level 15: 83742/156800.
He had gained over 80,000 experience in this short period.
He had never felt upgrading was so easy. Looking at the still boundless sea of flowers ahead, his excitement was indescribable.
He even wondered if he could reach level one hundred, two hundred, or even more here!
This time, he carefully examined the attributes of the Shore Flower, which could be consumed directly to increase soul power.
Although he didn't know what soul power was, he had received a similar reward during a dream trial, but he was still unclear about its specific function.
However, it wouldn't hurt, so he took out the Shore Flowers from his backpack and wolfed them down.
Eating them was better than discarding them, he thought at the time.
As the Shore Flowers entered his mouth, they didn't have any taste as he expected, but melted upon contact, sliding down his throat and into his body.
Then he continued, collecting and eating! He had initially worried about what would happen if he ate too much.
A system prompt sounded: "Ding... Congratulations on leveling up to Level 16."
Chu Tian calculated that he had probably consumed over fifteen hundred Shore Flowers, yet he felt no fullness at all. This put his mind at ease.
He continued his assembly line of picking and eating flowers.
"Ding... Congratulations on leveling up to Level 17."
"Ding... Congratulations on leveling up to Level 18."
...
...
"Ding... Congratulations on leveling up to Level 21."
After an unknown amount of time, Chu Tian had become numb to the system prompts.
"What are you doing?" A voice came from beside him.
"I'm collecting flowers!" Chu Tian replied directly.
After answering, Chu Tian froze. He stood up and looked around, but there was no one.
Was he hallucinating?
"You brat, you're collecting flowers all the way to the Underworld. Do you not want to live!" Just as Chu Tian was about to bend down and continue collecting, an enraged voice sounded in his ear.
Chu Tian was startled. Whose voice was this?
"Damn it, old man, what's up? You saw I'm leveling up fast and want to cause trouble again? You forced my class and forced my stats, and I let it go. Now you dare to interrupt my leveling, and I'm not done with you!" Chu Tian's long-suppressed resentment erupted, and he began to scold him.
"Uh..." The old man in the chaotic Heavenly Dao World was momentarily rendered speechless by Chu Tian.
Hoo hoo... Taking a few deep breaths, the old man, having lived so long, had never been directly rebuked like this.
However, he knew Chu Tian's temper well. This was a stubborn fellow.
He usually yielded to kindness but turned into a stubborn mule when angered, resistant to both persuasion and force.
"Well, young friend, the first two times, I was worried you might take the wrong path and it would be detrimental to your future development. But..."
"But what? Speak quickly if you have something to say, or hold it in. I need to continue leveling," Chu Tian impatiently interrupted him and bent down to continue collecting.
"Uh... do you know how long you've been in the Underworld?" the old man asked.
Chu Tian popped a Shore Flower into his mouth and glanced at the system time, saying indistinctly, "The time hasn't moved, how would I know!"
"Well, you've been here for three days, do you know that?" the old man tried his best to sound amiable.
"I don't know. Just say what you have to say, don't beat around the bush with me!" Chu Tian was impatient and started to retort again.
"Fine. You have four more days. If you don't come out, your body will be sent to the crematorium," the old man said directly.
"What? Are you kidding me?" Chu Tian's heart tightened, a bad premonition arising.