Chapter 442: Reaction

“AHHHH!!” Ding Yiran screamed as a Cleaner’s spear swept him off his feet. He tumbled more than ten times in mid-air, flying dozens of meters before Mosa caught him remotely, buffering his momentum to let him land safely.

In this part of the Divine Domain, where even the ground was immaculate, paved with polished white flagstones, a direct impact would have instantly resulted in multiple fractures. He would have been forced to exit the Divine Domain and go home to recover.

‘This guy…’ Qinqin released her Divine Power with one hand, forming an invisible force field to block the dozen or so charging Cleaners.

She was furious watching Ding Yiran’s performance.

At his current level, he shouldn’t have been in such a sorry state when dealing with the Cleaners, even if he couldn’t defeat them.

But fear had completely overwhelmed Ding Yiran’s training, and now he was in total disarray.

“That’s enough for today. We need to retreat now. Find a place to hide and rest,” Mosa transmitted.

“Understood.” Qinqin nodded.

Their primary objective was to investigate the situation ahead of time; training Ding Yiran was merely incidental.

They needed to uncover the exact procedure and time of Ding Luo’s execution. Furthermore, they had to establish contact with Ding Luo himself to prevent any miscoordination.

“Chen Xiehe and his people are ready over there,” Mosa said. “We’ve already found our escape route. The idea is to run Ding Yiran through it to confirm there are no problems. Next, we’ll need to smooth things over in the area surrounding the execution site.”

“Xiehe is on it,” Qinqin nodded. “To the able go the labors. He’s better connected. His exact words were that since we’re handling the most dangerous part—the frontline execution—it’s only right that he does more for logistics.”

“He’s going through a lot of trouble for us…” Mosa sighed.

He turned to look at Ding Yiran.

“Still, he is progressing remarkably fast… This Cultivation Technique is certainly effective.”

“It’s extremely effective, but it’s paid for with his lifespan,” Qinqin said. “Though I do find it strange. He feels like he’s expended so much, so how is he still this energetic? Logically, since the Cultivation Technique consumes one’s potential and lifespan, he should be listless and showing signs of aging by now.”

In reality, to have cultivated to this degree, Ding Yiran had already burned through at least thirty years of his life and consumed a massive amount of potential-enhancing drugs.

Yet this guy before them didn’t have a single gray hair; in fact, he was still brimming with energy.

“Someone’s coming! Be careful.”

Suddenly, Mosa’s expression hardened as he looked toward the distant sky.

Far away, against the artificial sky, a slender figure with a pair of silver metallic wings was rocketing toward them, leaving a long, thin white contrail in its wake.

A low, rumbling drone like muffled thunder vibrated for miles around.

“It’s a Patroller! On guard!” Mosa recognized the figure.

The Patroller didn’t spare them a glance, instead charging straight for Ding Yiran, who was still engaged in a messy fight.

“SMUGGLER!! PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!!” an enraged, synthetic male voice boomed.

WHOOSH!!

Ding Yiran was instantly struck by the shockwave from the Patroller’s charge. He had realized something was wrong at the last second and tried to dodge, but he was a fraction too slow. It was Mosa who intervened, forcefully shoving him away from a distance.

But even just the shockwave left him battered and aching, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. It felt as if some colossal beast had just brushed against him. His left shoulder throbbed with intense pain.

“You two go on ahead. I’ll deal with this,” Mosa said grimly.

“Be careful.” Qinqin glanced at the Patroller, then without another word, grabbed Ding Yiran and ran.

*

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「Songxiang Town.」

“This is the place that corresponds to Red Pattern Star. There are a dozen or so other towns around, each corresponding to a different planet. Why are you following me? Wouldn’t it be better to take this chance to find an empty spot and open a Gate of Calamity?” Lin Hui asked Zhang Xin Fan via his Heart and Spirit, his gaze fixed on the distant statue of a cloaked, hatted man.

“My current situation is rather unique,” Zhang Xin Fan said with a helpless tone. “I’m theoretically one of the incarnation vessels for the Supreme Sea Abyss. None of my power was cultivated on my own; it was all poured into me.”

“And so?”

“So, I have to rely on three Annihilation-realm masters for my personal safety. If they go out on a mission and leave me alone, I’ll be in grave danger. Sticking with you is the safer option,” Zhang Xin Fan admitted candidly.

Lin Hui remained noncommittal. ‘This Zhang Xin Fan… Back when he was the Bright Heart Association Leader, he dared to defy the world and harness the Sea Roar Power. And now he’s suddenly timid? It’s just an excuse.’

He wasn’t sure what Zhang Xin Fan’s objective was, though.

‘As long as he doesn’t get in my way, it’s fine.’

“This place really is extraordinary,” Zhang Xin Fan said, lightly stamping his foot on the ground.

“The ground is completely artificial, the sky is fake, and even the composition of the air has been strictly calibrated. It feels like this Endless Divine Race has built a small world of its own to live in.”

“If they dare call themselves gods, they must have a few tricks up their sleeve,” Lin Hui chuckled. He looked at the massive golden Divine Food Statue in the distance, then rose into the air and flew straight toward it.

Zhang Xin Fan narrowed his eyes and flew after him.

Behind them, the three Annihilation-realm experts scattered. In a flash, they shot off in three different directions, vanishing over the horizon in the blink of an eye.

As they neared the Divine Food Statue, they could see two vagrant members of the Divine Race lounging on a nearby bench.

Even before they were fully upon them, they could smell a faint stench wafting from their bodies.

While the Divine Race didn’t need to excrete, an unpleasant odor would build up from unwashed sweat and grime.

The two vagrants were a man and a woman. The man’s beard was a tangled mess, and the woman’s hair was a rat’s nest. They were completely disheveled.

When they noticed Lin Hui and Zhang Xin Fan approaching, they merely glanced up before losing interest and lying back down to sleep.

Lin Hui paid them no mind, landing directly at the feet of the Divine Food Statue.

He tilted his head back, studying the Divine Statue.

The surface of the Divine Statue was slightly coarse, revealing what looked like fine pores and skin texture. It wasn’t perfectly smooth.

At its feet sat a small sacrificial platform built from white jade. On it lay some dried red flowers, a few handwritten poems, and someone had even used small pebbles to build a blocky little house…

Clearly, the local vagrants were using this place as a common living space.

Lin Hui reached out and gently touched the “skin” of the Divine Food Statue with his forefinger.

HISS.

A faint, golden stream of the Power of Existence flowed into his body like a trickle of water, swiftly absorbed by the invisible Blood Seal.

Zhang Xin Fan, who had arrived just behind him, carefully tried to sense what was happening, but he detected nothing. He had no idea what Lin Hui hoped to accomplish by placing his hand on the Divine Food Statue.

There were no energy fluctuations, no ripples in his Heart and Spirit. It seemed he was simply striking a pose.

“Hey! You two! What do you think you’re doing to the Divine Food Statue!?” the male vagrant demanded, scrambling to his feet.

“We’re the guardians of this statue! Whatever you’re planning, you have to pay us a permit fee first!” He was obviously trying to extort something from Lin Hui and his companion.

Zhang Xin Fan glanced at the impassive Lin Hui, then turned his gaze to the two vagrants.

“Interesting… How perfect. Let me see… what makes the physiology of the Divine Race so different from others.”

A green light glinted in his eyes, and his face took on an eerie, cold expression completely out of character for Zhang Xin Fan.

Lin Hui glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

‘Zhang Xin Fan is a man of great ambition. This new temperament of his…’

He didn’t dwell on it. The truth was, nearly everyone in the Fusion Sect changed after their fusion—some a little, some a lot. People like himself, completely unaffected, were exceedingly rare.

At the very least, everyone he’d met so far who had fused with the Power of Calamity had been affected to some extent.

Though he had effortlessly defeated everyone in sparring to become the team captain, he couldn’t actually command this group or know what they were truly planning.

Each of them was backed by the great will of their respective Calamity. He’d long since realized that they weren’t just targeting the Endless Divine Domain; they also coveted the vast Human Realm connected to it, as well as Yanwu and the Dragon Court.

Of course, whether this was born of greedy ambition or sheer overconfidence would depend on the results of this initial foray.

After all, strength and weakness are decided by bloodshed.

Thankfully, there had been no major disturbances from the other teams so far.

Feeling the number of years required for his Blood Seal rapidly dwindling, Lin Hui was pleased. His main goal was to absorb the Power of Existence; seizing Cognition was just a bonus. Besides, his master had vouched for him, so he had to at least earn the old man a little something for his troubles.

In truth, he didn’t care about Cognitive Crystals himself.

He was still young, after all, and nowhere near the stage of deep fusion. He hadn’t yet experienced any memory loss or cognitive decay.

AHH!

Suddenly, a scream echoed out—not a physical sound, but a psychic shockwave from a soul, transmitted through the Heart and Spirit.

The shockwave pulled Lin Hui from his tranquil state of absorption.

He extended his Heart and Spirit and saw that Zhang Xin Fan had released the two vagrants. The strange thing was, their once relatively young faces and bodies were now incredibly aged. Their eye sockets were sunken and their hair was snow-white, as if they were elders on the brink of death.

Zhang Xin Fan, however, was flexing his hands with a look of utter satisfaction on his face.

“Such a vibrant race… Long lifespans, immense and pure energy, an abundance of accumulated cognition… Brother Lin, whether we succeed or fail this time, you have given us a tremendous surprise!”

“Is that so…” Lin Hui narrowed his eyes. “I’m glad you all are pleased. By the way, don’t forget, one of the locations I marked is my personal target. When you make your move, don’t let it affect that area.”

“Of course,” Zhang Xin Fan said with a smile.

‘The members of the Fusion Sect are all latent psychopaths; not one of them is normal.’ Lin Hui had known this for a long time, but it didn’t matter. As long as his power was great enough to suppress them, they would be more than willing to listen to reason.

He closed his eyes, confirmed that things were still quiet back in Songxiang Town, and resumed absorbing the Power of Existence.

There was so much Power of Existence accumulated within a single Divine Statue that it would take him at least five minutes to absorb it all.

To fulfill the immense time requirement for his Blood Seal’s Evolutionary Cultivation Technique, he only needed to absorb the power from two Divine Food Statues…

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「Thousands of kilometers from Songxiang Town, in the nearby Foqu Town.」

The Lady of Cold Night drifted swiftly past a Divine Food Statue, stopping in the outskirts several thousand meters from the town’s buildings. She gazed into the distance at the lively, bustling Foqu Town, where a market was underway.

It was much livelier here than in Songxiang Town, apparently serving as a dedicated trade hub.

Outside the town, people were even controlling hovering broadcast drones for a live stream.

In the sky above, a woman of the Divine Race danced to music in ornate dress.

“It seems they’re holding some kind of festival… How lovely…”

The Lady of Cold Night casually tossed aside the corpse of a Divine Race member from beneath her cloak; it was already frozen into an ice sculpture.

“Such immense cognition, long lifespans, powerful potential and energy… I can’t wait any longer…”

She raised her right hand. Her slender fingertips began to glow with a blue light as she gently tapped the Void before her.

“The cold night has come…”