After leaving Li Lake, Li Hai, like an arrow released from a bowstring, flew at lightning speed, tearing through clouds and air, carrying layers of grayish-white sound barrier clouds as he sped towards the distant horizon.
His destination for this journey was the old lair of the Black Wolf Bandits' First Head, Lang Yun-sheng—a fortified village named Wolf's Nest.
Li Hai learned from Zhou Hu and Zhou Yugen that this so-called Wolf's Nest was located in a continuous mountain range a thousand li away in the direction he was heading.
That place was filled with towering peaks, treacherous terrain, and sheer cliffs everywhere, making it an excellent location that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was also close to rivers and lakes, providing ample water and an abundance of fish and crabs.
Therefore, the Wolf's Nest, situated in that location, not only housed thousands of bandits belonging to the Black Wolf Bandits but also gathered numerous vicious criminals who had fled from the Great Jing in the north and the various barbarians in the south.
Consequently, various evil deeds such as street murders, on-site dismemberments, extortion, robbery, and fencing stolen goods were frequently enacted in every corner inside and outside Wolf's Nest every day.
It could be said that in that Wolf's Nest, there were simply no ordinary people; even if there were, they would quickly be bullied to death by the wicked.
Those who could stay there for a long time were basically all scoundrels and villains, differing only in the degree of their wickedness, strength, or weakness. Those who were fierce and evil enough lived comfortably, while others were treated like beasts of burden.
However, to Li Hai, he didn't care about this or that; they were all evil people anyway, and it was best if they all died.
"It doesn't matter, whether they are small ruffians or big villains..."
Li Hai, who was tearing through clouds and air as he flew at high speed, grinned and said, "I'll kill them all."
As he sped along, he subconsciously glanced at his personal interface.
In the 'Strongest Fragment' column, a large '1' was still displayed.
Yes, after killing the Salt God and obtaining this Strongest Fragment, Li Hai did not immediately use the fragment to upgrade on the spot as he had done before.
He chose to save it for later.
The reason for this was that after this period of contemplation, Li Hai had begun to gradually understand the general mechanism for obtaining this important 'System currency,' the Strongest Fragment.
First, since it was named Strongest Fragment, this type of fragment was naturally closely related to the concept of a 'strongest one.'
But what kind of person counts as a strongest one?
According to Li Hai's deductions and summaries, a strongest one was someone who could be on par with him.
In fact, based on Li Hai's observations, the enemies he had encountered along the way who allowed him to obtain fragments were basically all living individuals who were at his level, or slightly higher, or slightly lower.
From this, Li Hai deduced that if he were to advance another Realm, no matter which System he Advanced in, as long as his overall combat strength had a significant leap—for example, if a certain characteristic in the 'trait' column reached Level 4—then the living individuals who were previously at the Level 3 trait tier would no longer be able to provide him with any Strongest Fragments.
Regarding this situation, Li Hai couldn't help but recall a meme he had heard about when he was still on Earth in his previous life.
It said that all cultivation Systems in web novels could be roughly divided into three Realms: the Ant Realm, the Fellow Daoist Realm, and the Senior Realm.
As the names suggest, anyone weaker than the protagonist belonged to the Ant Realm, those as strong as the protagonist were Fellow Daoists, and anyone stronger than the protagonist, no matter by how much, was a Senior.
And now, the enemies who could drop Strongest Fragments for Li Hai were precisely only the Level 3 Fellow Daoists who could contend with him, like the Salt God, as well as the Level 4, Level 5, and higher-level Seniors who surpassed him.
Yes, although Li Hai defeated the Salt God with ease, under the System's judgment mechanism based on trait characteristics, they were considered equals.
To put it more directly, the highest level of their many trait characteristics were both at Level 3, so they belonged to the same level.
However, despite being at the same level (Level 3 traits), Li Hai was far more comprehensive (more traits) than the Salt God, and each aspect was also a notch higher, which ultimately allowed him to obtain a Strongest Fragment from the Salt God.
Therefore, it can also be foreseen that once Li Hai pushes himself to a higher Zhengchuan Martial Arts Realm above 'Repelling a Thousand Armies,' if he wishes to obtain Strongest Fragments again, he will only be able to seek out those who are equally powerful as him, but also much rarer, those above 'Repelling a Thousand Armies.'
But this would bring about a serious problem.
If Li Hai were to relentlessly advance in one cultivation System, such as Zhengchuan Martial Arts, all the way to the top, reaching Level 7, Level 8, or even Level 10 or more, becoming the undisputed strongest in the world, then who would he find to drop fragments from?
Could it be that he would be stuck at that level and stop advancing?
That wouldn't work; people would truly die.
Just think about it: the Unknown root cause that led to the collective demise of a large number of prehistoric civilizations, the mysterious Dead Realm and other dimensions whose locations are Unknown, and... the so-called Golden Doom, whose very name made Li Hai suffer a pain worse than death just by looking at it.
None of these are easy to deal with; they are all dangerously hair-raising.
Therefore, he absolutely must not stagnate; he must advance to a level far beyond anyone else in this world to be safe.
So, after the 'baptism' of the various data inside that prehistoric iron box, Li Hai's true goal is no longer simply to be the strongest in the world.
Instead, it is... how to preserve his own life in the face of the immense crisis that will descend at some Unknown time in the future.
"Accumulate fragments, accumulate hundreds or thousands of them, damn it."
Li Hai muttered as he sped through the sky, "Then I'll directly advance to a Realm where I can punch and send billions of stars flying. At that time, those gods and ghosts shouldn't be able to do anything to me, right?"
Just Level 3 traits allowed him to evolve into a supersonic life form capable of dominating Earth society.
What kind of terrifying power would Level 100 or even Level 1000 traits possess?
Li Hai was quite looking forward to this.
As he sped through the sky, he fantasized about the magnificent scene after he had raised all his trait characteristics to hundreds or thousands of levels, and for a moment, he couldn't help but hum softly.
...
Viewed from high above, the Dragon Mountain range, winding and undulating for thousands of miles, resembled a thick artery.
The numerous large and small branches extending from this massive mountain range, twisting and turning like countless capillaries.
And the Black Wolf Bandits' main base—Wolf's Nest—was situated in the mountainous terrain formed by the convergence of several of these 'capillaries.'
However, unlike normally structured strongholds or towns, Wolf's Nest, from a distance, looked more like a massive... collection of illegal structures.