After Yasha finished handling Li Wei's wound, the two did not speak again, sitting in their seats waiting for the battle results from Judith's side.
And Li Wei, finally, had the mood to investigate the warm current that rose from the bottom of his heart after defeating Cueis.
With Yasha nearby, it was difficult for Li Wei to directly call out the Book of All. But through his careful observation, he was still able to identify what the warm current was.
Vitality.
This was Li Wei's first time slaying a human at the extreme level. Previously, although he had defeated Zhang Xi and Zhang Zongming, the former was a vampire, and for the latter, Li Wei did not take his life.
This was the first time he encountered such a situation - had he actually gained vitality by killing someone?
A chill ran through Li Wei's heart; he was unsure if it was excitement or fear.
Upon carefully sensing it again, Li Wei detected a difference.
This kind of power was considerably distinct from the vitality gained through genetic fluid and from the lifeblood cores of monsters. Both genetic fluids and lifeblood cores contained pure vitality, albeit with some impurities, especially in lifeblood cores. However, vitality is vitality; one can simply remove the impurities for usage.
Among them, genetic fluid was the finest choice, and although the vitality from lifeblood cores was pure, Li Wei could not directly absorb it with his own body. He could only do so through the Book of All Laws.
However, the vitality obtained from killing was different. It seemed to contain a considerable degree of alien aura, which was strikingly similar to Cuyes's own scent, making Levi feel very uncomfortable.
He had a feeling that this alien vitality should also have been absorbed by the Book of All Laws through his body. He could not directly use it to enhance his own body strength, but could only supply it to the Book of All Laws to unseal its pages. Moreover, due to the presence of the alien aura, the utilization efficiency of this special vitality might be quite low.
Moreover, in terms of quantity, the vitality obtained from absorbing a vampire's flesh and core was far greater than that acquired by killing and plundering.
Low utilization rate, fewer obtained at the same level. On balance, for similarly killing an opponent at the limit level, the available vitality one could get from settling a vampire would probably be eight to ten times that of killing a person at the limit level.
This gap is quite significant and very uneconomical. Killing people is not easier than killing monsters, and in some ways it is even more dangerous, but the benefits are so much less.
It seems that in the future, improving his strength mainly needs to rely on gene fluid and hunting monsters to obtain flesh and blood cores.
Of course, being able to obtain a new way of plundering vital force is still a good thing, and Li Wei should be content.
Not long after he finished exploring the vitality of different life forms, the battle on Judith's side also ended quickly.
"Are you okay?" Li Wei greeted the woman who returned to the back seat of the "Bronco".
The "witch" who returned to the car was slightly out of breath, with a bit of sweat on her body, but her spirit was quite excited and her condition was also very good.
"What are those five vicious marauders of the Skull Gang compared to me? At first, I held back a bit to avoid hurting you guys, but once I had enough distance, I let loose with everything I had. One guy tried to sneak up on me thinking he was fast enough, but I incinerated him with a single flame attack. There was also an idiot from the Hub who tried to restrain me with psychic attacks, clueless about the level difference between us. As soon as his psychic power penetrated me, I shattered it, and the fool ended up vomiting blood."
Judith was bragging about her glorious achievements, her excitement evident on her face without a need for words.
"Did you kill all those ruthless riders?"
"No, two got away." Judith took a deep breath, sniffed, and added with emphasis, "If I hadn't been concerned about your side, I wouldn't have let them escape!"
This woman is indeed formidable. Although it was a one against five situation, judging from her appearance, apart from being a bit flushed and out of breath, there were no other issues, not even a scratch.
Clearly, those five unscrupulous riders were no match for her and couldn't even pose a threat to her at all.
It seems that after breaking through the genetic lock, the disparity in strength between different levels of development is astonishingly large.
Judith said again, "However, you're not bad either. I was actually concerned whether you could deal with those remaining Skeleton Party members. Knowing that you could single-handedly kill them all, I didn't let those two people who sensed the situation was bad and ran quickly off the hook."
She is no longer too surprised at Li Wei's performance. Although now Li Wei has not truly completed the ultimate tempering, especially in terms of physical strength, he is still a ways off from the ultimate tier, but in terms of actual combat effectiveness, Judith believes Li Wei is no weaker than people at the extreme level.
Thus, for his ability to independently slay a dozen or so members of the Skeleton Gang, Judith merely appreciated it and no longer felt shocked.
Anyway, in her heart, Li Wei was already that strong.
After exchanging a few casual words, Li Wei started the car.
The road ahead blocked by people from the Skeleton Gang was certainly impassable. However, from the upper district to the lower district in Westdun, the roads had been systematically planned and were somewhat interconnected. Although the roads were in poor condition and narrow, one could always find an alternative route by taking a detour.
...
"Are we still going to pursue?"
"Pursue nothing! Are you stronger than those five ruthless riders? Catch up with them to court death?"
"Then are we just giving up on this commission? There's a lot of money in it!"
"Having money is pointless if you don't have the life to enjoy it. Stop thinking about it. Damn it, who would have known that the target of this commission would have 'Witch' Judith with her, we can't handle it, let's retreat."
Watching the "Bronco" disappear around the corner of the distant street, in the darkness, three or four furtive figures whispered to each other for a while before they vanished into the darkness.
...
After that battle with the Skull Gang, Li Wei and his companions finally did not encounter any more major trouble.
In the middle, there was indeed a group of reckless bounty hunters who attempted to intercept their vehicle, but that group was even weaker compared to the team sent by the Skull Gang. Li Wei just focused on driving and didn't pay attention to anything else. Judith, who had rolled down the window, used the flames to turn those reckless同行 into ashes.
They safely arrived at the location of the Sky-Piercing Elevator.
The Sky-Piercing Elevator is the only passage from the Lower Districts to the Upper Districts.
It appears to be a massive black iron box; large off-road vehicles like the "Bronco" could easily fit several dozen inside without any issue.
Four massive metal supports stand at the four corners of the iron box. Along the corners, thick iron chains, densely packed one after another, are locked onto the elevator. Amidst the roar of the engine, these chains pull the iron box slowly upward.
Li Wei and his companions arrived at an unfortunate time, as a sky-piercing elevator had just left. They could only drive their car into the next elevator and wait until it was fully occupied before proceeding.