Chapter 644

"It seems that as long as you follow the characteristics of the anomaly, even without a sealing array, you can capture it quite conveniently."

Jie Ming clapped his hands and sat up from the bed, satisfied with discovering another characteristic of anomalies.

He looked down at his chest.

There was not a single red mark on his skin, everything was as usual, as if that silent contest just now had never happened.

Looking at the metal thin sheet sealing the Rift Walker in his hand, Jie Ming thought for a moment and turned his head to look in the direction of the basement.

Not long after, the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs came from outside the bedroom door.

Soon, as the bedroom door was opened, the metal box with hands and feet walked to Jie Ming's side.

The metal box jumped onto the bed with a big leap, knelt respectfully in front of Jie Ming, opened its own "skull," and took out the other metal sheet stored inside the box that sealed the Shadow Thief.

Jie Ming picked it up casually, feeling the mutual attraction between the two metal sheets, and had an idea in his heart.

He stood up and walked to the window, pushing it open.

The cold wind of midnight, carrying a salty, fishy dampness, surged in from the sea; most of the lights in the old town had gone out, leaving only a few scattered gas lamps struggling in the thick fog, emitting a dim and stubborn faint light.

Jie Ming's body drifted out of the window, like a fallen leaf swept up by the night wind, silently rising into the night sky.

The distance under his feet seemed to be compressed in his perception; within a few breaths, the rooftops of the old town had shrunk into a blurry silhouette beneath him. A faint fluorescent light slowly lit up on his body, blocking the prying eyes from the darkness around him.

He flew toward the direction of the sea, his figure soon merging into the thick fog.

The wind on the sea was much fiercer than on land.

The thick fog surged slowly between the sea and the sky like the breathing of some huge creature.

Jie Ming hovered above a position about three hundred nautical miles from the coast; the seawater beneath his feet was as black as ink, without a single reflection visible.

It was as if beneath him was not the sea surface, but a bottomless abyss.

He raised his right hand, palm facing down.

The alchemy wizardry model in his spiritual sea was activated.

Water molecules in the air and substances in the seawater were reorganized by an invisible force.

Molecules collided rapidly under the control of spiritual power, and the liquid in the ocean quickly condensed into a tangible solid.

Gray-white stone slabs began to spread and expand outward from beneath his palm, like a stone flower blooming silently in the dark night.

Soon, a circular stone platform with a diameter of about five hundred meters stood above the sea surface.

The surface of the platform was as flat as a mirror, with slightly higher edges and a slightly lower center, naturally forming a basin structure.

Jie Ming walked on it, his fingers tracing in the air.

Runes formed stroke by stroke under his fingertips, each stroke infused with precisely controlled spiritual power.

Accompanied by the lighting up of energy runes, sealing arrays fell onto the stone surface one after another, connecting with each other, weaving into an invisible net. Isolation, blockade, suppression... various sealing arrays were layered, each line precisely embedded in the gap of the next, seamless. Jie Ming used not only the standard runes of the Spirit Medium Association of this plane but also added the sealing arrays of the Wizarding World.

He had studied the Association's technology quite thoroughly, but when dealing with such high-risk experiments, he trusted the things he was familiar with in his bones more. After a moment, the sealing array was finally completed.

After doing all this, Jie Ming stood in the center of the platform and took out the two sealing metal sheets from his bosom one after another.

Right hand, the Shadow Thief.

Left hand, the Rift Walker newly captured just now.

He placed the two containers in fixed positions in the center of the array, then retreated to the edge of the array and took a deep breath.

Accompanied by the activity of spiritual power, Jie Ming simultaneously activated the seal-breaking formula.

The silver-white metal sheets popped up automatically, and a thick black shadow film surged out from them, spreading out on the stone platform like a pool of living ink. After the runes on the surface of the other metal thin sheet flickered a few times, they went out, and an almost invisible black line "squeezed" out from the thin sheet. It slowly unfolded in the air, finally restoring to that flat, thicknessless human-shaped film.

When just released, these two anomalous creatures seemed to have no intersection with each other.

The Shadow Thief slid slowly on the platform, moving toward the side of the Rift Walker; the Rift Walker clung to the stone surface, seeping toward the edge of the platform. Then, when the distance between them shortened to a certain critical point...

Their "bodies" turned toward each other simultaneously, as if gazing at each other from a distance.

Immediately after, their energy fluctuations began to synchronize, both sides adjusting their frequencies simultaneously, moving toward the same direction.

The moment synchronization was completed, the two anomalies flew up simultaneously, like two metal sheets suddenly attracted by magnetic force, colliding toward each other at an astonishing speed.

Their bodies collided silently in mid-air, but merged into one at the moment of contact.

The shadow film wrapped around the human-shaped film, the human-shaped film embedded in the core of the shadow film, and the boundary between the two began to merge.

The fusion between the two was slow at first, like two liquids of different densities slowly mixing.

Probing, merging, seeping into each other.

However, soon, the amplification of energy accelerated suddenly, like a whirlpool exploding suddenly under a calm lake surface.

Black light surged outward from the core where the two merged, obscuring the moonlight and swallowing the path of broken silver light on the sea surface.

The sky, which was already midnight, suddenly became even darker.

It was a black that would make people's vision slide away involuntarily, as if even light itself felt that it was redundant.

It was so deep that it was as if reality had torn a crack leading to nothingness in this area.

The sea surface of a large area nearby seemed to be covered with a layer of gloom that could not be dispelled, and even the waves became dark.

A chill descended suddenly, piercing straight to the bone marrow.

The temperature of the seawater around the stone platform dropped by at least ten degrees in that instant, and a thin layer of frost condensed on the surface of the platform.

The night sky overhead was already as black as ink, and now it became even thicker, as if someone had poured a whole bottle of even blacker ink into the ink. The light in the natural environment was disappearing.

The concept of "light" itself was being eroded by some force.

The energy light ball floating above Jie Ming's head emitted a soft white light, but now, the edges of that light began to blur.

It was like someone using an eraser to wipe a pencil drawing inch by inch, from the edge to the center, dissipating bit by bit.

Jie Ming's Eye of All-Use operated crazily, the Fate System calculated at high speed deep in his consciousness, and data poured in like a waterfall.

The power of this newly appeared anomaly in front of him was soaring.

The boundary of the Hazard Level was easily crossed.

Jie Ming could clearly perceive the growth trend of that power, and its growth speed was like riding a rocket.

Crossing the chasm from Hazard Level to Disaster Level, this fusion of two anomalies took only a few seconds.

And after entering the Disaster Level, the power increase of the anomaly did not slow down, but continued to climb at an even faster speed.

Jie Ming's brows frowned slightly, and he was slightly surprised in his heart.

He originally estimated that the two anomalies would reach the middle stage of Disaster Level at most after fusion, but the growth speed in front of him showed that his estimation was too conservative. High stage of Disaster Level, peak of Disaster Level... then, another boundary was brazenly broken through.

Catastrophe Level anomaly!

The sea surface around the platform underwent an extremely bizarre change.

The seawater no longer reflected any light, as if all the light around was swallowed by darkness.

Looking at the sea surface, what was seen was not water, but a pure, thicknessless, textureless, void-like darkness.

Jie Ming felt that the arc of his mouth could not be suppressed, lifting unconsciously, like an appraiser who had just dug out a peerless treasure from a second-hand market. However, before he could fully express this joy, the darkness in front of him had already completed its transformation.

The original solid form dissolved into nothingness; the shadow of the Shadow Thief, the seam of the Rift Walker, after the two merged, what remained was only a pure darkness without outline, without boundary, yet making people feel a chill from the bone marrow.

Even for him, at the moment of eye contact, a wave of unsuppressible awe rose on his back.

Through the analysis of the Eye of All-Use, Jie Ming understood that it was not the fear brought by external force, but something engraved in the instinct of all life—the fear of darkness, of narrow spaces, of those "unseen places" deep in the shadows was infinitely magnified, concretized into this blackness that swallowed everything in front of him.

"So that's it, an anomaly born based on the fear of individual biological instincts? In that case, although it looks very much like darkness on the outside, it should be called a Shadow Anomaly..."

Jie Ming was clicking his tongue in wonder when the fully evolved Shadow Anomaly changed.

In that darkness without any boundaries, claws stretched out.

One, two, ten, a hundred...

Spreading out from the depths of that darkness, long and twisted, as if all the deepest nightmares that all humans had toward closet cracks in their childhood had now turned into reality, grabbing toward him.

Each claw was blurry, as if it were changing shape at every moment, but their "grasping power" was real.

Jie Ming felt countless claws grab his arms, waist, and ankles, dragging him into the core of that darkness.

As soon as he touched that darkness, Jie Ming's body began to disintegrate under the force of pulling and erosion, like paper soaked in water, starting to shatter bit by bit from the edges.

His body was being eroded.

Where the claws grasped, his existence became blurry, the boundaries were disappearing, the shape was twisting, and the form was jumping repeatedly between stability and instability. Looking at the erosion changes on his body, Jie Ming felt a bit surprised.

Although this body he had hallucinated was far from his true body, it had also been strengthened layer by layer through the Body Forging Method and internal circulation, and its resistance far exceeded any known creature in this plane, yet it could not withstand this kind of erosion.

The erosion speed of those claws was getting faster and faster.

Most of his body had begun to become translucent, the muscle texture under the skin was blurry, like a pencil sketch being erased by an eraser. "This is Catastrophe Level..." Jie Ming spat out a few words in a low voice.

After the analysis of the Eye of All-Use, Jie Ming had roughly understood this Shadow Anomaly in front of him.

Strictly speaking, the strength of this Shadow Anomaly was not stable; during the day, it might only be an ordinary Disaster Level.

But, its characteristics were extremely compatible with the Night Anomaly... it could even be called complementary.

The Night Anomaly was the absolute rule over the "lightless state," and this fusion was the concretization of "fear of shadows."

During the day, because the shadows of the daylight were not deep enough, people's fear of shadows was not strong enough.

But at midnight, in the absolute darkness without a trace of natural light, it was a genuine Catastrophe Level.

Jie Ming could almost imagine the scene of this thing appearing in the city.

At midnight, it was born from some dark corner, slowly spreading like an opaque fog.

Dim gas lamps and electric lights not only could not dispel it, but would cast deeper shadows on the ground and walls.

And those shadows were its nourishment.

People's fear of dark corners in their hearts would nourish it, allowing it to swallow the entire city district within a few minutes.

If no one stopped it, overnight, a city would turn into a dead city.

"Fortunately, the person who met you first was me." Jie Ming looked at the surging darkness, his tone returning to calm.

Then, he released the suppression.

Dark golden light exploded outward from his body, Jie Ming's figure suddenly grew larger, and the two-faced Dharma form suddenly formed above the sea surface. The thousand-meter-high Dharma form floated quietly in mid-air, its back straight into the low-hanging clouds, every outline looking like it was cast from refined gold tempered in a furnace for a hundred years, appearing exceptionally heavy and solemn.

When the face of the true body overlooked the sea area beneath its feet, there was a sense of oppression that made all things bow their heads.

Beneath its feet was the stone platform, which was pressed down by several meters when the Dharma form appeared.

Fortunately, Jie Ming had already thought of this possibility before, and had built this stone platform strong enough when manufacturing it, allowing it to remain intact. Overhead was the boundless night sky, and those darknesses that were once so thick they were almost solidified became thin and powerless in front of him.

The faint light on the Dharma form naturally spilled outward; that could not even be considered any divine ability, just the result of sufficiently powerful force naturally dissipating. This faint light just flowed so calmly, but it was already enough to force the surrounding shadows to retreat inch by inch.

Those darknesses that tried to erode the light, the moment they touched the dark golden light, were like hitting an invisible copper wall and iron barrier, being torn and disintegrated alive.

Just at the moment of appearance, the darkness within a range of several hundred meters around the Dharma form was dispelled.

The Shadow Anomaly rolled violently on the sea surface.

Its darkness constantly shrank under the pressure of the dark golden light, trying to avoid it again, but the light of the Dharma form was like a mountain with no way around, sealing off all its possible escape directions.

Then, it relied on instinct, trying to break through.

It rushed toward the edge of the barrier, trying to integrate itself back into the rules of the world and the night.

That was its natural sanctuary, that was its most instinctive judgment of itself after fusion: the vast world was its, and all the dark places were its lair.

As long as it integrated into the rules, it could be free!

At this time, those runes carved on the stone platform were activated at the same instant, and blue light rose from the platform surface, forming a closed energy barrier at the edge of the array.

The isolation barrier stood between it and the rules of the world like an invisible wall, motionless.

The Shadow Anomaly hit the inner wall of the barrier, making a sound that made the air tremble, and was bounced back.

It rolled and tore on the inner wall of the barrier, but could not break through that layer of blockade no matter what.

The Dharma form true body flickered, crossed the barrier, and stood outside it.

Jie Ming lowered his head slightly, that delicate Taoist face looking toward the anomaly trapped by the array below.

Then, he reached out his hand toward the bottom.

In the "field of vision" of that Shadow Anomaly, Jie Ming outside the barrier was slowly reaching out a hand toward it.

That hand, in the process of approaching, along with the distortion of the perspective and the oppression of the Dharma form itself, seemed to get bigger and bigger, bigger and bigger.

Until it was like a mountain, like the firmament itself was bowing down, like the whole world only had the outline of that hand at this moment... then, the barrier along with the darkness inside was firmly grasped.

Five fingers closed.

The energy barrier of the array shattered like bubbles under the closing of those five fingers, but under the oppression of the true body's power, the Shadow Anomaly could not even run away.

Close, tighten, compress.

In reality, Jie Ming's true body slowly converged, and the dark golden brilliance restrained bit by bit.

The thousand-meter Dharma form quickly compressed, and the outline condensed back into the size of an ordinary human.

Standing calmly in the center of that stone platform, the sea breeze blew his clothes, brushing his cheeks.

Jie Ming stood on the stone platform, lowered his head, and looked at his palm.

A seal floated there, pitch black, concentrated and dense, refracting a faint luster under the moonlight.

The size was similar to a glass marble, quiet, extremely harmless.

The Eye of All-Use probed around, confirming that the sealing structure was stable, the energy fluctuation was suppressed within a safe range, and the fusion anomaly was in a state of deep sleep.

"Hehehehe... Jiejejeje!!!"

Then, Jie Ming could not help but let out a laugh without any image, the laughter drifting away with the sea breeze, dissolving into the depths of the night. "Unexpectedly," he muttered, grasping that seal into his palm, feeling the suppressed power like a sleeping deep sea inside, his voice carrying an unhideable excitement, "there is this kind of harvest."

The waves beat against the edge of the stone platform, one after another, as if applauding for him.

Unexpectedly, he could obtain a complete Catastrophe Level anomaly so quickly.

This was not just harvesting a high-level research sample.

This also meant that he could dismantle every step of its change from Hazard Level to Catastrophe Level, and could try to understand the evolution law of anomalies in this plane.

And...

Jie Ming looked down at the small black ball in his palm, and then looked up at the thick fog on the sea surface that had been stirred up by the power of the Dharma form. A more important research direction was gradually forming in his mind: if a Hazard Level anomaly could reach Catastrophe Level through fusion, then... what if the starting point of fusion was not Hazard Level?

If the starting point of fusion was higher, if the number of anomalies participating in the fusion was more, if this process was artificially intervened and catalyzed... Jie Ming put the small ball into his internal cave, and the smile on the corner of his mouth could not be suppressed no matter what.

He turned to face the direction of the Fog City, his figure turned into an afterimage, and disappeared into the thick fog.

The stone platform on the sea surface stood alone behind him, like a tombstone that no one worshipped.

The thick fog surged up again, swallowing the platform and the pitch-black seawater together, as if nothing had ever happened here.