Chapter 556: Waiting and Secrets

After everyone left.

Core fortress, seventh level underground.

Inside the cold storage room where cold air ran rampant, a bluish light filled.

Breath turned to frost.

Neatly arranged, like in a corpse freezer storage, Chu An stood before a dissected corpse.

The sharp scalpel cut along the muscle grain, precise and steady.

Ho-ho-

A weak roar came from the mouth of the dissected corpse.

Only see the corpse fixed on the cold operating table, its chest cavity opened like a butterfly, flipped to both sides.

Tang Wan...

He...

Muttering to oneself.

Chu An calmly cut a strip of meat, then tossed it into the black liquid beside his hand.

Lin An never mentioned anything about Tang Wan to him before leaving, but he saw that day from Lin An's memory.

For some unknown reason.

He should have told Lin An Tang Wan's whereabouts.

But he chose silence.

Turning his wrist, he peeled off the last piece of flesh from the corpse, then Chu An stood somewhat fatigued in place, motionless.

After a while, he seemed to have regained some 'stamina', then walked straight toward a wall.

Ka-cha

The mechanical lock was pressed.

Only see thousands of corpses lying on alloy plates, neatly popping out from the wall.

Ten thousand... hundred thousand... million...

Cain's Blade...

Emotionless low muttering echoed.

I wait for you to return...

Lin An...

The sky light was hazy.

***Secret Realm, northern border.

On a dust‑kicked road, two black shadows rushed like lightning.

Doing two things at once.

While traveling, Lin An studied the black dragon 'corpse' in the ring.

After obtaining the main intel about the Xia capital from Beijiang Town, he simply took Xiong Hanzi straight to the target.

The mission never refreshed, so he was somewhat unaccustomed.

Don't know if it's because he hasn't touched the key scene; neither of the two systems released any info.

This kind of trigger‑type scene in a Secret Realm makes it easy to lose the thread.

And the high level of Beijiang Town knows too little.

Located remotely, most people have never even left the town.

After repeated inquiries, he got little info on the blood corpses and Ascetic Practitioners he cared about most.

From a self‑claimed Ascetic Practitioner reserve NCO, he only got a few vague statements.

One, Ascetic Practitioners indeed possess extraordinary power, seemingly mastering reversal, regeneration, precognition, etc.

According to the NCO.

The way Ascetic Practitioners gain power is through asceticism, tormenting the flesh, honing the spirit.

With firm resolve, they can obtain transcendent power.

And this process.

Often takes decades, even centuries.

After gaining power, this group of Ascetic Practitioners will 'return to youth', possessing the ability to reverse aging.

Like the NCO who was once an Ascetic Practitioner reserve, his right hand was lost during asceticism.

The more suffering endured, the greater the power gained.

But later he couldn't persist, unable to self‑torture, so he chose to give up.

In his words.

To become an Ascetic Practitioner.

Self‑amputating hands or feet is nothing.

Many Ascetic Practitioners even twist off their limbs, continually using pain to stimulate themselves.

Removing eyeballs, shattering bones, using various crazy extreme means to self‑abuse.

The first time hearing this, Lin An only felt it was unbelievable.

And the second piece of intel.

That the Xia dynasty has existed for thousands of years, with a population of about one billion.

Even more unexpected is.

In Lin An's imagination, the capital should be in the empire's core heartland, receiving layered protection.

But actually, the Great Xia Royal Capital is on the frontline border against the blood corpses.

It's only a few fortresses away from the main battlefield, serving as a buffer.

The whole capital is, astonishingly, a war fortress that could be called a peak masterpiece of the cold-weapon era.

The wind howled.

With constant bursts of sprinting, deep pits were stomped into the ground beneath his feet.

Gazing at the black dragon stone carving on his wrist, Lin An secretly pondered.

Just like him, the little fellow was also replicated.

It was merely a copy of the black dragon in its sleeping, petrified state, seemingly useless.

Just like a gray sculpted artwork.

The black dragon's corpse, aside from blocking mental power, had no other use.

After repeated research,

Even using the Death Seed, he couldn't extract any energy from it.

Seeing the black dragon that had been motionless for so long, if not for the contract showing it was still alive, Lin An even wondered whether the little fellow had died...

He entered the Secret Realm actually intending to obtain pure mental power to help the black dragon recover its condition.

If he could obtain a bit more, perhaps it could also help the black dragon speed through its juvenile stage.

He had been eyeing an adult black dragon for quite a while.

Not to mention anything else...

At least during ordinary travel, he could at least ride it...

"Lin Dui, is the leftover energy in the Death Seed useless for the black dragon?"

Xiong Hanzi tilted his head curiously, his hand nonstop opening cans, just like a black bear clutching corn and fleeing.

As he said, the trip would take several days, and the road was terribly dull...

"No use."

"There was no reaction at all."

Lin An shook his head and gave up researching the black dragon's condition.

Even while absorbing the energy within the Death Seed, he had thought of letting the little fellow devour a bit.

Who would have thought.

The black dragon that used to eagerly snatch energy from his mouth showed no reaction whatsoever when faced with this energy.

Worried,

Thinking it over...

Perhaps the origin of this energy is too special—only he and Zhang Tie can use it.

After all, it was extracted from his own corpse, not pure mental power.