Chapter 1041 - 454:

Chu Xiu circulated the freshly self-created technique; his Divine Thought immediately slithered like a snake, swiftly establishing contact with the Spiritual Power that had been Devoured into the accretion disk, and then that Spiritual Power gathered together, forming one crystal-like stable structure after another!

In that instant, something miraculous happened: relying on these clumps of Spiritual Power, Chu Xiu’s Divine Thought actually blocked the suction inside the nebula! And by using the friction between these obstacles and the outer "cloud mass," he actually caused the overall rotational Speed to begin to decrease!

Yet Chu Xiu was not satisfied with this. Under his Thought control, new Spiritual Power clusters continuously formed, and these clusters were thrown by him into the central nebula at specific positions and rhythms. These clusters were like indigestible hard objects, actually damaging the internal structure of the nebula and causing that suction to drop rapidly!

At the same time, Chu Xiu’s Fighting Spirit fully "unfolded," his Divine Thought flooding into his limbs and bones, the Infinite Reincarnation Technique operating on its own; the Energy overflowing from the Fighting Spirit was converted into pure Mana, nourishing each and every one of his cells!

"Seal!"

After circulating several great cycles, Chu Xiu let out a low shout; the Mana in his meridians transformed into a great net, shrouding the nebula.

Only after finishing all this did Chu Xiu let out a long breath, joy flashing in his eyes.

His guess had been entirely correct, and the operation had gone smoothly. The obstacles he had thrown in successfully interfered with the internal structure of the Awakening Space, causing the nebula’s overall kinetic Energy to be greatly converted into internal Energy.

The total amount of Energy hadn’t changed, but the system’s operating Speed had dropped, like turning a high-pressure water gun shooting at full blast into a pot of boiling water.

The suction also decreased sharply; the once smooth space became bumpy due to the obstacles, the differing directions of force causing large amounts of force to cancel each other out, allowing Chu Xiu to successfully regain control of his body.

Now, although he would still be disturbed and affected by the nebula to a certain extent, he could already begin normal Cultivation.

Having solved this hidden problem in his heart, Chu Xiu finally felt a heavy weight lifted; even if he encountered danger now, he could still fight normally.

Of course, his combat strength was definitely somewhat lower compared to his peak period.

"Moreover, these obstacles will be continuously dissolved and will still need me to periodically supply Energy inside to maintain them, but this will in turn push the nebula’s overall Energy level higher, requiring even stronger obstacles, like a constantly heated pressure cooker that will explode sooner or later."

"Rasputin can wait; if he runs, he runs. Better to first Creation a Cultivation Technique and completely resolve the nebula problem."

Since he wasn’t even planning to bother with Rasputin anymore, he naturally cared even less about Blue Boy.

He merely left several strands of Divine Thought to monitor the Outer World situation, then once again focused wholeheartedly on seclusion.

However, he had barely been in seclusion for long when his Divine Thought suddenly stirred, sensing something.

"Finally, someone a bit interesting has shown up."

...

"Clang!"

Sun Shisan’s eyes snapped open; he rolled to his side and pressed his ear to the ground, listening carefully.

"Old Sun, aren’t you a bit too jumpy? That’s just the sound of trash losing balance and falling." Li Mao shrank back into the shadows, looking listless.

"How can I not be on edge?" Sun Shisan sighed. "It’s been almost ten hours. With Red Swan’s Speed, even running a round trip to the city would be more than enough."

Li Mao also found it odd. Red Swan didn’t trust them; she definitely wouldn’t stubbornly refuse to return until she’d found the High Priest. She should have reported the information to the nearest stronghold and then immediately returned to look for them.

Could something have happened?

At that Thought, Li Mao grew even more uneasy. He was already completely on board this pirate ship; if something happened to Red Swan and the others, he wouldn’t fare any better. Those lords wouldn’t patiently distinguish whether he was innocent or not.

But just as the atmosphere in the underground tunnel grew heavier, the door to the passage suddenly opened without warning.

Li Mao and Sun Shisan were both startled! They leapt up by instinct. They had been watching their surroundings constantly; they wouldn’t even miss a mouse’s sound, so what had managed to creep this close without a sound?

Under their tense gazes, Red Swan’s dust-covered head popped down.

The two let out a long breath. Sun Shisan patted his chest, still shaken. "Red Swan, why didn’t you make a sound at all? And what were you doing out there to take so long?"

"There was a bit of an accident." A steady male voice answered Sun Shisan’s question from behind Red Swan.

Sun Shisan’s expression tightened. Under his gaze, a man wearing a Bronze Mask and a black cloak followed right behind Red Swan and crawled out.

This man seemed to be surrounded by an invisible Domain that twisted time and space, making his figure blur; any and all sound would not leak out as long as he willed it.

"You’re the High Priest of the Church of Clear Sky?" Sun Shisan panted nervously, then as if thinking of something unbelievable, he exclaimed in shock, "Then that must be the [Domain of Clear Sky Church]? You cultivated the Holy Blood Secret Scripture to the Thirteenth Layer?"

"To the Fifteenth Layer!" Red Swan said proudly, her face full of delight. "The High Priest is the most outstanding genius among us Holy Blooders in all history!"

"Don’t talk nonsense." The High Priest fondly rubbed Red Swan’s head. "In the era of glory, Holy Blooders stronger than me were everywhere. How could I compare with the sages of old?"

Then he looked at Sun Shisan. "So you even know about the [Domain of Clear Sky Church]. Your family must not have had a low status before the invasion, right?"

Sun Shisan didn’t respond, unable to hide the shock in his eyes. The man before him was far too modest. To cultivate the Holy Blood Secret Scripture to the Fifteenth Layer, even in the glorious era before the Investigation Group’s invasion, he would have been a renowned big-shot, probably a King Tier by those invaders’ classifications? Or a Heroic Spirit?

Sun Shisan wasn’t sure; that realm was far too distant from him. In any case, he was definitely an absolutely overwhelming combat force. Sun Shisan now somewhat understood where Red Swan’s confidence came from.

"Where is the Bright Venerable’s reincarnation? Our stronghold has been attacked in a surprise raid; there must be an internal traitor who leaked our whereabouts. We don’t have time to waste!" Red Swan’s anxious voice cut off the two men’s conversation.

"Once we confirm whether he truly is the Bright Venerable’s reincarnation, we must leave immediately."

"The High Priest should have been in a bunker a hundred kilometers away by now. He rushed over specifically because he heard news of the Bright Venerable’s reincarnation!"

Compared to the agitated Red Swan, the High Priest remained unhurried. The calm gaze behind the Bronze Mask slid past Sun Shisan and landed on the boy lying in quiet slumber on Chu Xiu’s body.

In fact, when he was still three kilometers away from this place, he had already noticed this peculiar creature. At first, he hadn’t paid any mind to the bizarre claim of the Bright Venerable’s reincarnation. He had simply heard that there was a strange creature capable of triggering Holy Blood and came to take a look.

But now he realized how extraordinary the other party was. From the moment he entered, that creature had only lifted its eyelids to glance at him once, then ignored him completely, even when he dissolved the [Domain of Clear Sky Church] and released a bit of his aura.

This actually piqued his interest.

He observed Blue Boy up and down, then said slowly, "There are no records in the Church detailing the exact appearance or characteristics of the Bright Venerable’s reincarnation."

"Huh???" Hearing this, the three of them all stared wide-eyed in shock.

"High Priest, then you..."

"But the method of verification is very simple." The High Priest interrupted Red Swan with a smile, then stepped past Sun Shisan and stretched his hand toward Blue Boy.

"We just need to test it personally."

These words shocked all three of them; Red Swan even cried out, "High Priest! You mustn’t! Brother Haowen, he, he died right in front of me. High Priest, you absolutely can’t have anything happen to you!"

"Don’t worry," the man replied with a faint smile. "Haowen died because he couldn’t adapt to the power of the Holy Blood. I’m different."

His voice carried absolute confidence, and without the slightest hesitation he stretched his hand out in front of Blue Boy!

This scene made all three of them hold their breath, feeling as if their hearts had stopped!

Under their nervous stares... Blue Boy lifted his eyelids, glanced once more at the man in the Bronze Mask, then impatiently rolled over.

High Priest: "..."

What was with this utterly dismissive attitude?

The handsome face beneath the Bronze Mask furrowed slightly. He carefully observed the creature before him. The Fifteenth Layer of the Holy Blood Secret Scripture granted him an exquisitely detailed Perception Ability, letting him sense the other party’s inner Thoughts from even the tiniest movements.

Right now, the feeling this creature gave him was... it was full and thus unwilling to bother with him?

Thinking of Red Swan’s previous report—that after triggering the Holy Blood, this creature had devoured the heart condensed from Holy Blood in great gulps—the High Priest’s expression couldn’t help but flash with a hint of anger.

So it’s treating us as bread for filling its belly?

And

The other party had only lifted its eyelids to glance at him, and that alone made

The High Priest’s gaze slide past Sun Shisan