My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 279: Chapter 205: Sister Yao Falls Behind

The two girls were growing quite anxious, but at the same time, they were brimming with determination.

By the time the sky brightened, Zhao Xueqing had also managed to develop Spiritual Power. Blinking, she excitedly announced to Li Xiang, ”Big Bro, I have it now, too.”

Yao Yao snarked to herself from the side, ’”I have it now, too.” The way she says it, you’d think she was pregnant.’

Li Xiang helped Zhao Xueqing with an inspection, and sure enough, it was true. He then gave her some hands-on instruction, passing on a few key pointers and insights from his own Cultivation. However, because their Cultivation Techniques were different, she could only use his advice as a reference. Even so, this was far better than how he had to fumble his way through in his past life.

As Li Xiang’s Spiritual Power entered Zhao Xueqing’s body and guided her own fledgling power in its circulation, her body trembled lightly. The sensation was so peculiar, so intimate. It was almost like they were performing Dual Cultivation.

In truth, this wasn’t true Dual Cultivation at all—at best, it barely scratched the surface.

Zhao Xueqing’s whole body grew hot, her face flushing red.

Li Xiang gave her a Spirit Fruit to replenish her energy and told her to continue her Cultivation. He then focused on his own practice.

When it was time to go to the airport that afternoon, Yao Yao still hadn’t succeeded and was frantic with worry.

Li Xiang consoled her, ”You can’t rush this kind of thing. It really depends on talent. Generally speaking, only one in a hundred people can do it.”

Yao Yao looked like she was about to cry. ”Big Bro, you’re not helping!”

Lei Xiaohui said, ”Sister Yao, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter if you can’t do it. We’ll protect you from now on.”

Zhao Xueqing chimed in, ”Take your time. Don’t rush. Haste makes waste.” She understood Yao Yao’s feelings perfectly, and after a moment’s thought, she shared some of her own cultivation pointers.

Lei Xiaohui also shared some of her own Cultivation experiences.

Yao Yao was quite moved. ’Even though we’re always competing and getting jealous over him,’ she thought, ’you guys still help me when it really matters. So much for our ”fake” friendship... the quality of this plastic is top-notch. Is it engineering-grade or something?’

Li Xiang said, ”Give it another try. If it really doesn’t work, I have other Cultivation Techniques. Maybe you’re just not suited for this one.”

With the three of them taking turns comforting her, Yao Yao’s mood finally improved. She rallied her spirits and secretly vowed, ’I will definitely catch up.’

Li Xiang was actually quite pleased. ’For two of the three girls to develop Spiritual Power so quickly is really quite good. They can already be considered geniuses.’

Anyone who could step into the Extraordinary realm was a genius—one in a hundred, at the very least. Lei Xiaohui and Zhao Xueqing were quite decent, even among geniuses. As for someone like Luo Feifei, who was the pinnacle of geniuses, that was another matter entirely.

Jiang Cai’Er was also exceptionally talented. Although her Cultivation speed couldn’t match Luo Feifei’s, her awakened Superpower was incredibly rare. Since Superpowers are unique to each individual, this alone made Jiang Cai’Er an extremely rare genius in her own right.

In fact, Zhao Xueqing, Lei Xiaohui, and Yao Yao were already considered exceptionally outstanding girls back in their hometowns.

In terms of looks alone, Zhao Xueqing and Yao Yao could rank in the top thirty, while Lei Xiaohui was not far behind in the top one hundred. Their home county had a population of nearly 400,000 people. At a rate of one in a hundred, that meant there should be four thousand geniuses there.

Of course, one-in-a-hundred was just the minimum probability. There were also one-in-a-thousand, one-in-ten-thousand, and so on. With China’s population of 1.4 billion, a one-in-ten-thousand rate would mean 140,000 such individuals.

Unfortunately, the system didn’t have a function to appraise humans; otherwise, Li Xiang would be searching the entire world for them.

’Perhaps it’s a protective mechanism? To prevent the host from slaughtering his own kind for Achievement Points and rewards?’ This was just Li Xiang’s guess; he didn’t know the actual reason.

They took a plane to Singapore, arrived at their pre-booked hotel, and checked in at around six in the evening.

They all went out to eat some local specialties near the hotel, such as bak kut teh, chili crab, curry fish head, char kway teow, and durian cheong fun. Of course, the durian fruit itself was also a must-eat. Back when they were in Thailand, they had eaten durian every single day.

After dinner, the original plan was to stroll around a bustling part of Singapore, but all three girls said it was too late and they should just cultivate in the hotel. They could go out and have fun tomorrow.

Li Xiang was speechless. ’You’re all such grinders... We’re supposed to be on vacation, you know.’

In truth, Li Xiang didn’t mind either way. Since the girls were so serious about it, he naturally supported them. So, the four of them returned to their hotel rooms and continued to cultivate.

They still had two rooms this time. Li Xiang went directly to the one the three girls were sharing.

After cultivating until midnight, Yao Yao still hadn’t managed to develop any Spiritual Power. She turned to Li Xiang with a pleading look.

Li Xiang pondered for a moment before saying, ”You might not be suited for this kind of static Cultivation Technique. I’ll teach you a dynamic one that requires specific movements to aid the process.”

”Oh, yes please!” Yao Yao was fired up.

Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui also looked over, their faces full of curiosity.

Li Xiang said, ”You two can learn it as well. As long as they don’t directly conflict, you can actually practice multiple Breathing Techniques at the same time.”

With that, Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui also gathered closer.

The technique Li Xiang proceeded to teach them required many auxiliary postures, a number of which were similar to yoga poses and demanded a high degree of flexibility. Fortunately, Yao Yao was a frequent dancer, so this part wasn’t too difficult for her.

The other two, naturally, had no issues either. Zhao Xueqing’s Qing Tea ceremony involved its own share of difficult movements, and Lei Xiaohui, having practiced her family’s Martial Arts since childhood, had the best physique of them all.

After teaching them, Li Xiang gave each of them a Spirit Fruit and told them to practice hard before heading back to his own room to rest.

Around one in the morning, Li Xiang secretly slipped out again. This time, his destination was Lu Cave in Malaysia.

He had looked it up online. Lu Cave in Malaysia was an enormous bat cave. Some reports suggested it was home to nearly two million bats. Every day at dusk, the bats would swarm out, pouring from the cave in an ever-shifting, serpentine line, creating a magnificent spectacle.

Although he didn’t know the exact number of bats and suspected those reports were exaggerated, he figured there had to be at least tens of thousands.

’How could I let such a resource go to waste?’

Li Xiang memorized the map and set off, following the bearings he had learned.

Lu Cave is located in Malaysia’s Gunung Mulu National Park, a park that boasts the world’s largest natural grotto, limestone pinnacles, and largest cave passage.

Singapore was once part of Malaysia. Later, as the number of Singaporean Chinese within the Malaysian Federation grew, it caused dissatisfaction among the Malay population. Consequently, Singapore was expelled and established itself as the Republic of Singapore.

Today, Singapore’s prosperity naturally far exceeds that of Malaysia. As for whether the Malays regret this, that’s anyone’s guess.

Some say they do regret it; others say they don’t regret it at all. There are also those who say that while there is definitely regret, it’s not about expelling Singapore, but about giving such prime land to the Chinese. They believe they should have slaughtered every last Singaporean Chinese and taken the land back by force.

After all, the Malacca Strait is a strategic chokepoint. The shortest sea route from East Asia to Europe goes through China’s South Sea, passes through the Malacca Strait into the Indian Ocean, then enters the Red Sea, and passes through the Suez Canal to reach the Mediterranean Sea.

In the past, when Asia was relatively less developed, the Malacca Strait and the South Sea were not as critical. But as trade and commerce boomed, the number of passing ships became an endless stream, and Singapore seized the opportunity to rise to prominence.

Perhaps what the Malays truly regretted was giving the land to the Chinese, rather than Singapore’s independence itself.

Malaysia’s territory is not a single, contiguous landmass; it is separated by the South Sea into two parts: the southern Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia) and the northern part of Kalimantan Island (East Malaysia).

Li Xiang’s destination, Gunung Mulu National Park, was located in the northern part of Malaysia’s Sarawak State, near the Wenlai border—in other words, in East Malaysia.

However, Singapore is adjacent to West Malaysia, and Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, is also in West Malaysia. This meant that for Li Xiang to get to East Malaysia, he would have to cross the sea.

Fortunately, the two landmasses were only five or six hundred kilometers apart, with countless small islands dotting the waters in between. He wouldn’t have to worry about running out of energy and falling into the sea.

With a flash, Li Xiang was gone, running across the surface of the waves. He stopped on a few small islands along the way to rest briefly, reaching East Malaysia in just over forty minutes. After that, he spent more than two hours before finally finding Lu Cave.

Lu Cave was only about six or seven hundred kilometers from the westernmost edge of East Malaysia, but since it was the middle of the night and he had no navigation, it took him some extra time.

By now, it was a little after four in the morning, and many of the bats had returned to the cave. Following his usual routine, Li Xiang blocked the entrance with a massive boulder, brandished his Profound Iron Mountain-Removal Rod, and charged inside!

”Holy crap, this cave is huge! There are way more bats than I ever imagined! I’m going to make a killing this time!” Li Xiang was ecstatic. The piles of bat guano alone were far deeper than in any of the previous caves.