As the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire cultivation technique operated, the fire spiritual energy within Lu Yu's body decreased, while his Qi blood continually increased.
Nourished by the Qi blood, the meridians burnt by the fire spiritual energy began to restore, and over time, new, more resilient meridians appeared within Lu Yu.
The final trace of the fire spiritual energy vanished completely, and the auto-cultivation stopped. Lu Yu's consciousness took back control of his body.
He never expected that he would turn misfortune into a blessing and start cultivating the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire.
Through this event, Lu Yu understood the cultivation conditions for the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire.
One only needs to find items or environments that can provide fire spiritual energy to cultivate the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire. Similarly, one also needs items or environments that can provide ice spiritual energy.
As said in the inheritance jade disc of the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire, the lands of extremes should be places where both ice and fire spiritual energies converge.
After Lu Yu's body recovered, he hurriedly got up and quickly moved in the direction opposite to where Yang Xiu left.
If Yang Xiu came back to check if he was dead, he would truly be finished.
Yang Xiu undoubtedly had not expected that he actually cultivated the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire, otherwise, he wouldn't have thought about burning him to death.
Only after Lu Yu had run a great distance did he have time to check the system alerts.
[Slight gains in cultivating the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire, cultivation progress +1%, Qi Blood +6]
Cultivating the Seven Heavens of Ice and Fire is different from the Fierce Tiger Fist and Bladeless Blade Technique. It only takes a small increase in the progress bar to enhance Qi Blood, unlike the other two techniques, which require a level up to increase Qi Blood.
Lu Yu stopped, surveyed his surroundings, and saw only trees, with no sign of human presence.
Glancing at the sun in the sky, he recalled the direction of the sun when he was on the main road and headed in the direction he judged. As long as he found the main road, he would eventually find civilization.
After walking for half a day, Lu Yu discovered that his method seemed unreliable. He had walked over a hundred miles yet still hadn't seen the main road.
Not to mention the main road, he couldn't even see a sign of human presence, and the surrounding forest was becoming denser. Lu Yu suspected he was venturing deeper into the mountains.
Dusk had fallen, and Lu Yu had no choice but to find a large tree. He chopped some wood with his knife, barely constructing a wooden platform on the tree to ensure he wouldn't fall while sleeping at night.
He wasn't Xiao Longnu, able to sleep on a bare branch without falling.
Lying on the makeshift wooden platform, Lu Yu looked through the gaps in the leaves above and saw stars in the sky, suddenly remembering Little Tail.
One night, Little Tail asked Lu Yu if people who died became stars in the sky.
Lu Yu firmly told her that dead people only go to the underworld, not the sky.
Seeing her slightly saddened face at the time, he added some comfort, saying good people go to the sky.
Good people go to the sky and become stars. Does that make Little Tail a good person? Lu Yu thought dazedly.
When he heard from the black wolf that Little Tail had jumped off the cliff to protect him, Lu Yu felt some heartache at that moment.
Sitting on the wooden platform, leaning against the tree trunk, Lu Yu stared dazedly at the stars, trying to find the brightest one.
He hadn't gazed at stars for a long time. In the city, stars were invisible, as the neon lights were too bright, obscuring their glow.
Lu Yu never expected to see such a clear, clean night sky in the game.
Unintentionally, Lu Yu fell asleep.
He woke up bathed in sunlight. After eating a military pill, he logged out of the game.
After washing up and eating breakfast, he eyed the computer he hadn't turned on in nearly a month, pondering whether he should continue writing his novel. Previously, he had promised his readers to start a book in a month's time, yet he hadn't done any preparation.
Scratching the back of his head, "Whatever! Isn't writing novels all about doing what makes you happy? It's so thrilling in the Martial God Realm, why bother writing a novel? Of course, I'll choose to play the game!"
He looked at the kitchen ingredients. The months' worth of food he had bought last was almost depleted, and he would have to go out to stock up on provisions in a few days. The food seemed to be consumed quickly.
Lu Yu couldn't help but think, how great would it be to have a military pill in reality.
Thinking of this, Lu Yu felt curious if he could make the military pill in reality after obtaining the recipe in the game.
After breakfast, Lu Yu returned to the game.
He chose a direction and continued forward.
If he were lost in wild mountains and forests in the real world, unable to find his way, he might panic. But in the game, Lu Yu's mood was relaxed.
He wasn't short of food, with plenty of military pills stored in his backpack. As for water sources, with his speed, finding one would not be difficult. Once a water source was found, he wouldn't have to worry about water for the following days.
Now, he was only concerned that he might walk for days without finding a way out, as the mountains and forests looked vast.
[Area Chat] Anonymous: Is anyone here? Will someone come rescue me?
Lu Yu noticed a message pop up in the public chat channel; it was his first encounter with other players in the game. Before this, he thought only he, Su Peng, and Zhang Jingyang were playing this game.
Having stayed in Windmill Town for so long, the public chat had been empty. Seeing a public channel message so suddenly caught Lu Yu by surprise, yet he felt happy.
The area chat range wasn't large, and Lu Yu wanted to meet other players, sharing and exchanging gaming experiences.
So he asked, "Where are you? What danger have you encountered?"
When sending the message, the system prompted Lu Yu to choose between anonymity or revealing his identity. Using anonymity also allowed the option to display a title, and Lu Yu currently possessed only one title—Master of Fierce Tiger Fist—awarded when his Fierce Tiger Fist technique reached mastery.
The title didn't provide any attribute bonuses, but using it instead of the word anonymous in a chat undeniably gave more credibility.
After some consideration, Lu Yu decided to use the title Master of Fierce Tiger Fist. Using the title had more advantages than downsides.
[Area Chat] Master of Fierce Tiger Fist: Where are you? What danger have you encountered?
Seeing someone reply to her message, Yu Xiaoman got excited. She had been trapped in this pit for almost an hour, and nobody had responded to her many calls for help previously.
[Area Chat] Anonymous: I'm in a big pit, it's very deep, at least five or six meters. I can't climb out.
"A big pit?" Lu Yu glanced around at the dense forest, wondering where the pit could be.
[Area Chat] Master of Fierce Tiger Fist: Describe the surroundings, just saying there's a pit doesn't help me find you.
[Area Chat] Anonymous: There are many thick trees around. I slipped and fell into the pit while going downhill.
Lu Yu looked at the terrain. He was heading up the mountain, but just mentioning a downhill wasn't enough to determine the exact location.
[Area Chat] Anonymous: Bamboo! I saw a lot of bamboo ahead while going downhill.
Bamboo isn't everywhere in the forest. It could barely serve as a reference for location. Lu Yu quickly ran uphill; it would be easier to spot bamboo from higher ground.
While running to mid-mountain, he suddenly saw a bamboo grove on his left and turned towards it.
[Area Chat] Anonymous: Have you found the bamboo? If not, start looking. I'm logging off to eat.
[Area Chat] Master of Fierce Tiger Fist: Found it, hang on a bit longer.
Lu Yu hurried through the bamboo grove and saw a collapsed pit. The pit appeared quite deep, and he couldn't see the bottom from a distance.
Approaching the edge of the pit, he saw a girl standing below.
Yu Xiaoman looked up, saw someone appear at the pit edge, and happily raised her hands, jumping and shouting, "Hurry and pull me up."
The pit was probably over seven meters deep, its formation unknown. There were many exposed bamboo roots around too. Lu Yu couldn't understand why she didn't climb out of such an easy pit herself.
He took out a rope from his backpack, threw one end down, and said, "Tie it around your waist, and I'll pull you up."
The girl quickly tied the rope, and Lu Yu effortlessly lifted her out. After she climbed up, he asked her to untie and pack the rope, as it was very useful and had helped him a lot.
Lu Yu curiously asked, "Weren't there many bamboo roots at the edge? Why didn't you climb up yourself?"
"There were centipedes, as thick as a finger, crawling on top. I was too scared to climb up."
Well, that's certainly a reason.
Lu Yu observed the girl closely for a while and noticed she didn't have much of a trace of injury from falling, which seemed odd.
"Also, how did you fall into such a deep pit without getting hurt?"
"I just slid down. I don't know, maybe I was just lucky!" Yu Xiaoman pointed at the direction she had slid from.
Then she excitedly asked Lu Yu, "Is the game this realistic, is it fun?"
"Uh, I guess it's fun."
...
After a few exchanges, he found out she was even more of a novice than himself, completely unfamiliar with the game, and unaware that dying in the game could lead to brain death in reality.
While answering her questions continuously, Lu Yu finally got a chance to ask his own when she paused for a moment.
"Do you know Su Peng?"
"Who's Su Peng? I don't know him." Yu Xiaoman shook her head, finding it a bit strange.
"What about Zhang Jingyang?" Lu Yu pressed on.
"Also don't know, is he a celebrity? I've never heard of him."
"Then where did your game helmet come from?"
"I don't know where it came from, maybe I won it in a draw. I've got pretty good luck and often win prizes."
Draw? Lu Yu was filled with questions. Had the Divine Martial World game already been released? Why hadn't they informed players of the helmet's flaws? Or had the flaws been fixed?
Lu Yu wasn't sure. He felt an urge to privately message Su Peng to inquire but remembered that Su Peng seemed reluctant to share the truth, so asking might yield no answers.
He could only look for answers from other players.
"Master, do you know the way out? I feel like I've been here before." Yu Xiaoman asked, wide-eyed.
Lu Yu glanced at the surroundings, feeling a bit familiar. Was he just going in circles?
"Don't worry! As an experienced player of the Divine Martial World, finding a way out is a piece of cake."
Half an hour later, Lu Yu felt like he had seen the surrounding scenery more than once and said, "It's okay, we're heading out all the time. The forests just look the same, so it seems familiar."
Yu Xiaoman looked at Lu Yu speechlessly, strongly insisting on leading the way. She picked up a stick from the ground, muttering, "The point this way leads to the nearest city direction..."
After saying that, she threw the stick into the air. Once it landed, she took Lu Yu in the direction it pointed.
"Is this reliable?" Lu Yu felt a bit speechless. Wasn't this just relying on luck like him to find direction?
"Don't worry, this is my secret technique. We'll definitely find a way out." Yu Xiaoman said confidently.
An hour and a half later, Lu Yu looked at the city situated on the horizon, feeling very complicated. Was his luck too bad, or was Yu Xiaoman's luck just too good...