Translator: CinderTL
Feng Qi's face lit up as he watched Little Black rapidly drifting toward him from afar.
After leaving the Scarlet Secret Base, he realized he didn't have enough time left to continue his studies at the Star City Shelter. He made a decision.
He would use the remaining time to probe the Lord of the Mist.
The reason he had waited in front of the mist for over twenty minutes was to await Little Black's arrival.
He wanted to give the Lord of the Mist a Little Black gift package before he died.
As the mist gradually enveloped his vision, he saw Little Black transform into a black mist form and make contact with it.
Instantly, the grayish-white mist began to dissipate at a visible rate.
The negative energy contained within the mist was rapidly devoured.
According to the Scarlet Research Institute's research on Little Black, he could consume energy in any form.
Therefore, Little Black could easily devour the negative energy within the mist as well.
Faced with Little Black's assault, the mist surged wildly like waves crashing against the black mist form.
Little Black, however, remained unfazed.
The consequence of the mist colliding with Little Black was instant annihilation. The mist couldn't even unleash its power before becoming Little Black's nourishment, making him even stronger.
At this moment, the Lord of the Mist's attention was entirely focused on little black. He had merely bound Feng Qi, without taking any further action.
As a result, Feng Qi, though unable to move, could calmly observe the battle from the sidelines.
Watching little black effortlessly deflect the Lord of the Mist's attacks, Feng Qi was once again stunned by its power.
[Goodness, this little black is practically an energy killer. If you could gain control over it, you'd be virtually invincible against any form of energy attack.]
"But what if the enemy attacks me directly?"
Then have little black disperse into its black mist form and envelop you. You'd essentially be wearing a magic-immune armor made of little black. With Suction Cup on the offensive and little black on defense, you'd be utterly invincible.
After hearing the Narrator's explanation, Feng Qi was completely sold. His desire to control little black intensified.
Meanwhile, the battle between little black and the Lord of the Mist continued. No matter how aggressively the Lord of the Mist attacked, the mist was absorbed upon contact with little black, unable to penetrate its defenses.
During Suction Cup's first encounter with little black, Feng Qi had assumed that only art magic-based energy attacks could defeat it, since physical attacks proved ineffective.
As Feng Qi learned more about Little Black, he realized he had been completely wrong.
Little Black was far more resistant to energy-based attacks than physical ones.
Physical attacks simply couldn't harm him, but energy-based attacks not only failed to harm him but actually became nourishment for him.
Feng Qi couldn't imagine how terrifying Little Black's "Third Form"—his complete form—would be, as described in the Scarlet Research Institute's files.
It might even reach the highest known disaster level for humans: chaos-tier.
The battle continued.
Though the Lord of the Mist was formidable, he was utterly helpless against Little Black.
Watching Little Black still battling the Lord of the Mist, Feng Qi automatically imagined the numbers that would appear above the black mist and the grayish-white mist:
Lord of the Mist's energy: -1
Little Black's attribute boost: +1
As the balance shifted, Little Black's attacks in his black mist form grew increasingly ferocious. The black mist coalesced into an ocean, pressing down toward where Feng Qi stood.
Under Little Black's relentless assault, the Lord of the Mist instantly faltered.
The mist, saturated with negative energy, chose to retreat, dragging Feng Qi along with it.
But the Lord of the Mist clearly didn't realize that Little Black's true target was the bound Feng Qi.
Seeing Feng Qi being dragged backward, little black showed no intention of letting up. The black mist continued to press forward.
After retreating several hundred meters, the mist coalesced into a human face and roared at little black, as if issuing a warning.
Little black completely ignored the Lord of the Mist's warning and continued its advance, exuding an air of "I'm here to mess with you, what are you going to do about it?"
As expected of the black bastard. Ruthless and to the point—if he can fight, he won't waste time talking.
Watching the Lord of the Mist being bullied by little black, Feng Qi couldn't help but laugh heartily.
In front of little black, the Lord of the Mist was clearly completely outmatched. He couldn't win in a fight, and his threats were useless. Retreating was his only option.
After retreating another several hundred meters, the Lord of the Mist seemed to have finally lost his temper.
The swirling mist began to converge and contract. Even the mist chains that had bound Feng Qi dissipated, gathering toward the central area. Feng Qi immediately fell to the ground.
To Feng Qi's astonishment, the mist finally coalesced into the form of Lin Ran.
With the mist gone, countless malevolent spirits that had been hidden within it emerged, swirling and dancing above the Lord of the Mist's head.
Compared to the Lin Ran he remembered, the Lin Ran before him now seemed utterly demonic.
His hair and eyes had turned purple, and he stared expressionlessly at little black as it lunged at him again.
As a strange purple light swirled in the Lord of the Mist's eyes, he suddenly threw a punch forward.
This time, the Lord of the Mist had changed his attack method.
He clearly realized that energy-based attacks were useless against little black.
His fist moved forward slowly, yet it felt as if he were pushing through all of space itself.
As his fist advanced, fine black cracks appeared in the space ahead, only to quickly heal.
This punch had shattered space itself.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, the earth trembled. The fist print that burst forth from the Lord of the Mist's body carved a ten-meter-deep trench in the ground, relentlessly pushing forward and scattering debris and mud toward little black.
When the fist print finally struck little black, it passed right through him as if he hadn't been hit at all. Little black continued to press down on the Lord of the Black Mist.
Seeing this, the Lord of the Mist, who had remained calm throughout, finally showed a look of shock.
As little black closed in, he suddenly turned and leaped into the air.
Realizing the Lord of the Mist was about to flee, Feng Qi immediately shouted, "Running already? Without taking your old man with you?"
Ignoring Feng Qi's taunt, the Lord of the Mist twisted in mid-air and slammed a palm toward him.
A fierce wind roared past, the force of the blow pinning Feng Qi to the ground, unable to move.
His body then began to disintegrate at an alarming speed.
As his bones shattered inch by inch, his vision went black, and he turned into a pile of powder.
Where Feng Qi had stood, a deep five-fingered handprint was left imprinted in the ground.
After the Lord of the Mist fled, little black didn't pursue. Instead, it drifted to Feng Qi's remains, its black mist spreading forward to devour the powder left behind.
But Feng Qi could no longer witness this.
When Feng Qi opened his eyes, he found himself back in reality.
That slap had caught him completely off guard.
He had deliberately provoked the Lord of the Mist, hoping to lure him into staying and continuing his battle with little black.
But instead, the Lord of the Mist had retaliated with a slap that instantly killed him.
[Misfortune comes from the mouth. But if the Lord of the Mist, with his immense power, couldn't defeat little black, it's hard to imagine how the technology research institute created him. It's fortunate they never managed to control little black, or the consequences would have been unimaginable.]
Feng Qi nodded in agreement.
When he was weaker, he had believed he would eventually kill little black. That's why he had made the bold claim, "Next time for sure."
But the more he learned, the more helpless he felt facing little black.
At this stage, little black was an unsolvable problem.
Even the Lord of the Mist, who could effortlessly destroy all of humanity, had only one option against him: to flee.
To reach a level of power capable of challenging little black, Feng Qi didn't know how many times he would have to enter the Dream Realm.
Perhaps hundreds of times, perhaps thousands.
[Think of it this way: the stronger little black becomes, the stronger you will be when you finally gain control over him.]
"That's a good point!"
Hearing the Narrator's explanation, Feng Qi grinned.
He stood up from the sofa and walked to his desk, opening his notebook.
He began recording the gains from his recent Dream Realm experience.
Using psychokinesis, he lifted the pen from the desk and guided it across the paper.
First, he documented his improvement in strength.
In the Dream Realm, he had acquired a special ability and the prefix title "Steel Bones." After killing eight little snails, he had advanced to level 3, granting him a 60% increase in bone strength.
Most importantly, he had finally completed a bloodline evolution, resulting in a significant boost to his overall combat effectiveness.
He now possessed the ability to switch between his human body and his Battle Body form.
As he wrote this, a thought struck Feng Qi. He closed his eyes, and a golden sea of consciousness filled his mind.
He gently touched the golden pearl in his Sea of Consciousness with his mental energy. The crimson energy within surged, quickly enveloping the pearl.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself in his Battle Body form—a skeletal frame with no flesh.
After carefully examining himself, he decisively switched back to his human body.
While the Battle Body form was powerful, venturing outside in that state would undoubtedly make him a target for Domain-Transcending Creatures.
He wouldn't even know how he'd die.
[This counts as another life-saving ability. If you're ever assassinated or in a life-or-death situation, you can switch to your Battle Body form, activate your Blood Source Ability, and crush the assassin to death with your massive chest muscles!]
Feng Qi: ...
He then began recording the information he'd gathered.
Information Harvest 1: Confirmed that the Tiger Soul Research Institute had also been infiltrated by a Domain Force, and that the Super Cultivation Technique destined to destroy humanity was developed there.
Information Harvest 2: Confirmed that Old Wang had not betrayed humanity. In the previous Future Line, he had merely been controlled (body possessed) by the Lord of the Mist.
Information Harvest 3: Little Black's loss of control was highly likely related to the Tiger Soul Research Institute. Their Interference Source Project might have been specifically designed for Little Black, with the goal of sabotaging the rise of the Technology Research Institute.
Note: The Domain Forces are not monolithic. This might be exploitable in the future to benefit humanity.
Information Harvest 4: Detailed plans for the Brain in a Vat project.
Information Harvest 5: The Lord of the Mist is not a specific individual. Anyone could become its host.
Note: Abandon the idea of stopping Lin Ran from developing the cultivation technique.
Even if Lin Ran were gone, someone else would take his place. Anyone with influence had a chance of becoming the new Lord of the Mist.
This time, the gains from the Dream Realm were substantial.
Feng Qi had unearthed another werewolf faction hidden within Human Civilization.
This faction was likely even stronger than the Domain Force behind the technology research institute.
Based on current intelligence, the technology research institute was clearly no match for the Tiger Soul Research Institute, where the Lord of the Mist resided.
Otherwise, the Tiger Soul Research Institute wouldn't have been able to "raid their home."
After recording this information, Feng Qi began to ponder a question.
Since the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice would become the Lord of the Mist's trigger for destroying humanity, could he develop a cultivation technique to counter it, completely eliminating the hidden dangers left behind?
If the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice was a virus, the cultivation technique he envisioned would be the vaccine.
Humans who received the vaccine would no longer need to fear the lingering threats of the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice.
Prevention is better than suppression.
If he could truly achieve this, the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice would not only fail to harm humanity but could even become a catalyst for the advancement of cultivation studies.
At that point, the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice would become a deity-tier cultivation technique without any hidden dangers.
[It's challenging, but worth a try. I can already imagine the Lord of the Mist, who has been vigorously promoting the Flesh and Blood Sacrifice, looking utterly bewildered when the trigger fails.]
[After 1,500 years of carefully nurturing his chives, it's all gone! He'll probably cough up blood from sheer frustration, hahaha.]
"Hahahaha!"
Hearing the Narrator's analysis, Feng Qi automatically filled in the blanks and burst into laughter as well.
TL/N: 韭菜 (Jiǔcài - Chives): In Chinese internet slang, this refers to the "common people" or "retail investors" who are repeatedly exploited by those in power. Just like chives, once you cut them down, they grow back quickly to be harvested again.
(End of the Chapter)
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