Over the next few days, Gu Zhen focused entirely on two things—calming the resentful echoes haunting his spiritual sea, and steadily absorbing star beast crystal cores to strengthen his star power realm.
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, a soft glow pulsed around him. As the last crystal core in his hand turned to dust, a wave of warm energy surged through his limbs. His star power reached a new height—Realm One, Level Five.
But not everything was well.
The haunting howls of the Iron Fang Wolves continued to echo in his mind, growing more frequent and intrusive which made him feel somewhat irritated.. Even if he absorbed the remaining cores, it still wouldn't be enough to break through to Level Six—and the burden on his spiritual sea was becoming dangerous.
Rising slowly, he made his way to the bathroom, took a long shower, and prepared to rest.
Listening to the intermittent wolf howls in his ears, Gu Zhen gradually fell into a deep sleep.
In his dreams, Gu Zhen stood in a field cloaked in thick mist. The silence was suddenly broken by a monstrous black claw lashing toward him. He instinctively leapt back.
With a tremendous wolf howl, the surrounding fog was completely dispersed, revealing the creature's enormous form.
Gu Zhen looked at the Iron Fang Wolf in front of him, standing three meters tall at the shoulder, with seven or eight heads and black energy emanating from its body.
He couldn't help but remark how ugly it was.
The reason he said it had seven or eight heads was that, from the front, he could only see that many. The creature's body—its underside, limbs, and even its tail—was covered with heads.
It was as if the entire body was made of heads—so many that he couldn't take them all in at a glance.
Gu Zhen couldn't fathom how such a twisted creature could exist in the world; just looking at it felt like his sanity was plummeting.
But the Iron Fang Wolf didn't care about that. It raised its massive claw and struck at Gu Zhen again.
Facing the incoming attack, he lightly jumped, easily dodging it.
He also noticed that his body seemed more agile, his reactions faster, and his strength greater.
Star Skill – Qi-Palm
The next moment, the Iron Fang Wolf claw was forcibly broken by Gu Zhen strike, causing the entire wolf to lose balance and tilt forward.
But to Gu Zhen surprise, one of the heads on the creature underside suddenly extended, anchoring itself to the ground, forcibly stabilizing the Iron Fang Wolf massive body.
The claw that Gu Zhen had broken also recovered instantly, steadying the wolf huge frame once more.
Gu Zhen stared at the scene in disbelief—it was beyond his imagination, completely unexpected.
But Gu Zhen didn't care too much. It was just a pile of useless flesh; what tricks could it possibly pull?
He poured all his might into rapid attacks, alternating Qi-Palm and Force Condensation Finger, aiming at the beast vital points.
The Iron Fang Wolf, slow to react and sluggish in movement, could only take the hits.
It didn't take long before his final palm strike hit one of the creature heads, the power concentrating inside its body and piercing through its core.
The Iron Fang let out a final, tortured howl—and began to swell.
Seeing this, Gu Zhen immediately retreated, putting distance between himself and the creature.
Generally, when such a twisted monster self-destructs, there is usually a follow-up—either it devours and assimilates its enemy, or a more complete form emerges.
It was better to stay far away.
The Iron Fang Wolf body exploded with a bang, its remains splattering everywhere.
Fortunately, Gu Zhen dodged in time and wasn't affected.
At that moment, dozens of black-energy-emitting wolf heads emerged from the scattered remains, roaring as they charged toward Gu Zhen.
Facing these incoming wolf heads, he remained calm.
If he wasn't afraid of the creature when it was alive, why would he fear it after death?
He retreated while striking, using his palms to kill all the approaching wolf heads.
It didn't take long for him to eliminate all thirty-odd wolf heads.
After dealing with them, he stayed vigilant.
He waited for a while and, seeing that the remains on the ground had completely disappeared, finally relaxed a bit.
At that moment, blue waves surged from all directions, surrounding Gu Zhen completely, leaving him no chance to escape.
Upon closer inspection, Gu Zhen realized it was an extremely high concentration of star power.
Star power is typically very dispersed, at most appearing in a gaseous state. To make star power liquid, it would need to be compressed to an unimaginable degree.
The surging waves of star power mercilessly engulfed him, and no matter how he struggled, it was futile.
Gu Zhen tried to swim upward, but an invisible force bound him tightly, making it impossible to break free.
In a state of panic, Gu Zhen suddenly jolted awake on his bed, drenched in cold sweat and gasping for air. It wasn't until he saw his surroundings that he slowly calmed down.
He quickly realized that everything had just been a dream, and the wolf was likely the lingering resentment of the Iron Fang Wolf.
At this moment, Gu Zhen listened carefully and noticed that the howls of the Iron Fang Wolf in his spiritual sea had stopped, which made him slightly happy.
But what were those blue star power waves at the end? How could there be such a high concentration of star power?
As he was pondering, he suddenly felt a sweetness in his throat and uncontrollably spat out a mouthful of blood.
Coming to his senses, Gu Zhen immediately used his spiritual power to examine his body and discovered a thumb-sized blue spot inside him.
Gu Zhen was momentarily puzzled, but he sensed an extremely dense star power within it.
A bad thought crossed his mind, and he grabbed his phone to search for information.
Star Disease Syndrome: A condition that can occur when star warriors awaken their superpowers. After awakening Star Disease, the body becomes corroded by star power, eventually leading to death due to the body inability to withstand it.
The higher the superpower grade of a star warrior, the greater the chance of developing the disease. For A-grade superpower, the probability of Star Disease is around 40%, while for B-grade abilities, it's about 35%.
Even three months after awakening an superpower, Star Disease can still manifest.
Currently, there is no effective treatment for Star Disease. The best approach is to isolate oneself from star power to reduce its corrosion.
The longest recorded lifespan of a Star Disease patient is 25 years, belonging to...
Symptoms of Star Disease include the appearance of high-concentration star power traces on or within the body. Even if these traces are removed, the star power corrosion will persist.
As time progresses, the star power corrosion becomes more severe, even affecting the star warrior movements.
Specific symptoms include fainting, vomiting blood, and difficulty controlling star power.
It is recommended that all star warriors with Star Disease cease cultivation immediately and stay away from any radioactive star power sources.
Gu Zhen heart tightened.
A seed of death now lived inside him—born not of injury, but of power itself.
He leaned back against the wall, exhaling slowly, as a bitter thought formed in his mind.
"So…trash powers weren't the curse, This is"