Chapter 61

You hour, at the entrance of City Lord Street.

Li Yu carried a delicate box in his hand and politely declined the invitation from the six members of the Ninth Exploration Team to visit the Xiaohun Society.

After all, they were "new teammates" who had just met, and the six of them didn't force it, just laughing loudly that he was a fledgling before leaving together.

After spending a few hours together, Li Yu already had some understanding of these six powerhouses:

Team Captain Zhan Kui, who appeared short-tempered and fierce on the surface, occasionally had some schemes. He was a Sequence 7 of the Blood God pathway and was undoubtedly the strongest combat power of the Ninth Exploration Team.

That Luo Sheng played a role similar to a military advisor, seemingly possessing the power to see through everything.

Sang Zhu, who appeared to be a simple and innocent bald boy on the outside, but various traces on his body made him seem mysterious and strange.

Zhu Wugou, who clearly practiced the Mi Ren of the Plague God pathway, but seemed to have a germaphobia, unwilling to let even a trace of his own stench leak out, even covering his rotting shell with mystic objects.

Shu Fu, a practitioner of the Hanged King pathway, whose style seemed very similar, constantly exuding an aura of sadness, yet always maintaining his composure without truly hanging himself to death. However, occasionally when looking at others' necks, he would develop an impulse; if anyone developed world-weary thoughts, even Team Captain Zhan Kui, he might just take action to help.

Mi Wuniang, a jade maiden, holy as snow, who had been "seducing" him between the lines, but had no substantial actions, making people mistakenly think it was just an illusion.

"Seemingly have some understanding, even knowing what malignant backlash they have."

"But this is probably also an illusion. The six of them must have true faces they haven't revealed, and their fighting styles and so on are also unknown."

"But for now, this is enough. There's plenty of time. As long as nothing unexpected happens, I'm very happy to do this job."

With these thoughts, Li Yu reached out to stop a monster bus and returned to his residence a few streets away.

That's right, his home was not far from City Lord Street, saving him from having to plan any moving arrangements.

After returning quickly, he stood in front of the door but didn't go in immediately.

Instead, he opened the onboarding box and saw four items placed inside:

Five thousand taels of silver notes, survival consolation money given by the camp.

A mystic candle, Sang Zhu's compensation, a rare mystic object.

A token, a pass to enter the exploration team camp, which also allowed free rides on monster buses, patrol airships, and other transportation tools.

A giant bronze badge, the mark of a City Lord's Mansion employee. The large "Fu" character in the middle seemed to have some kind of strange power; as long as you stood in front of the door, you would involuntarily look at it.

"Thinking back!"

"In the occasional conversations between Sun Sanniang and Jiao Qing, they also expressed envy for the City Lord's Mansion."

"Saying that if anyone in the family could join the City Lord's Mansion, it would be a great stroke of luck. Once that 【Wanfu Badge】 was hung on the door, ordinary evil cultivators and villains wouldn't dare to invade, and even taxes could be reduced by ten percent."

"This couple only dared to dream of advancing to vegetable people and expanding their meat shop business. As for joining the City Lord's Mansion? They never dared to hope."

"Didn't expect that I would manage to do it while wearing this shell."

Thoughts flickered in Li Yu's mind, and at the same time, he took the badge directly and hung it above his front door.

As if it were truly miraculous, the heavy oppression that had always existed in Li Yu's heart dissipated a little.

"Hanging this thing up will likely make the people from the Sansheng Gang not dare to trouble me, and they won't think about cutting out my organs to sew onto those three beasts."

"But it still can't avoid disasters like 'a powerful lunatic passing by and slaughtering me for no reason,' 'big power struggles affecting my home,' 'forbidden mystics from outside the city breaking in and slaughtering everything,' etc., or the exposure of my identity as the Demon Star Command holder, being discovered by the Jinshen Sect as the former Son of Jinshen, and so on."

"But at least, it counts as some psychological comfort."

"Welcome home, Master!"

Before Li Yu could finish muttering, the moment he pushed the door open, the originally gloomy and dark courtyard was suddenly illuminated by the orange-yellow light of the electric eel lamp.

He saw Hongdou dressed in Warring States robes, wearing a fox-girl face, carrying the lamp and walking out gently, revealing a happy smile as she greeted him.

In a trance, the oppression in Li Yu's heart dissipated quite a bit more.

"Of all the deals these past few days, in terms of cost-effectiveness, Hongdou was truly the most worthwhile purchase; it was a blood-earning deal."

"If there's a chance, continue trying to repair her."

Li Yu muttered a sentence, then immediately took his mechanical maid back to the master bedroom.

Impatiently, he reached into his bosom and took out an item.

Mystic-Infused Sacrificial Meat!

Today, in order to save his life under the rampage of the Skinning Forbidden Mystic, Li Yu had to use up the sixth Truth Bubble and a Sorrow-Crying Pill.

But unexpectedly, he fished this thing back. He just didn't dare to take it out during the day at the exploration team camp.

Now, it was time for research.

Li Yu saw that in the palm of his hand, there was a mass of filthy and ugly strange flesh and blood.

It looked like a puddle of melted "snow mud," mixed with colorful incense ash, shredded meat frozen for who knows how many years, unidentified bone fragments, bronze shards, and blood in a semi-solid state... The composition was truly extremely complex.

And when Li Yu focused his gaze on this mass of flesh and blood, an extremely intense ominous aura began to permeate.

It felt as if a thousand cold palms were gently stroking his body. His scalp also gradually tightened.

But that was all; soon, Li Yu adapted to the strange phenomenon.

He hesitated for a few breaths, then glanced at Hongdou, who was standing beside him, gentle as a Warring States maid, and remembered the "commands" he had set for her in advance, feeling slightly at ease.

In his mind, thoughts also emerged:

"This 【Mystic-Infused Sacrificial Meat】 comes from that Skinning Forbidden Mystic. That kind of rule power can be called unsolvable."

"At least below Sequence 7, once you encounter this thing, and don't have my luck and reliance, it's almost certain death."

"The result of my peeking with the Truth Body has also stated that this thing can be used to refine pills."

"If I can use the internal refining technique of pill fire to refine a Skinning Mystic Pill... the method is a bit brutal and strange, but at least it can allow me to be nearly invincible below Sequence 7."

"In this way, whether it's the danger in the city or the Demon Star Command summons that might appear at any time, the probability of me surviving and gaining a lot will skyrocket."

"A ten-thousand-fold profit!"

=9+Shu_Ba

"Taking a little risk is also very reasonable."

"Besides, I am originally a pill apprentice."

When the last thought fell, Li Yu directly extended a finger.

He dug out a fingernail-sized piece of icy, rotten meat from the mass of Mystic-Infused Sacrificial Meat, and then stuffed it into his mouth.

Consumption technique!

It began to operate at an unprecedented speed.

That's right, Li Yu wanted to use this mass of Mystic-Infused Sacrificial Meat to create his own pill recipe and refine a mystic pill that could steal part of the rule power of the Skinning Forbidden Mystic.

If it were an ordinary pill recipe, he wouldn't need to be this cautious.

But this sacrificial meat, after all, came from a "Forbidden Mystic" that could be called unsolvable; being careful is never wrong.

And the subsequent facts proved that his choice was very correct.

The moment the icy, sticky, unknown sacrificial meat entered his mouth, Li Yu's whole body went stiff, feeling as if he had been stripped of all his clothes—no, even his skin.

Naked, he was stuffed into permafrost that never melted.

Endless icy cold surged in, and unbearable emptiness and hunger drowned him. He began to crave being wrapped in warmth.

But the reality was that his muscles were stiff, his blood was turning into ice shards, and even his brain marrow was about to become an ice lump.

It was also at this time that fragments of blurry, horrifying, and terrifying illusions abruptly flashed in his mind continuously.

As if?

At this moment, he himself had become a Skinning Forbidden Mystic.

With a void body, he wandered on an endless plateau of eternal permafrost. The unknown, extremely horrifying scenes inside were being glimpsed by him.

Although his body was suffering, Li Yu's heart and soul cheered.

The seventh Truth Bubble!

In an instant, it was perfect.

The eighth bubble also began to flicker and charge.

Peeking into secrets seemed to have become an eccentricity of Li Yu's; he couldn't wait to immerse himself in it.

Until the next moment, a terrifying movement sounded from the outside:

"Beep, beep, beep!"

"Warning, warning! Master is falling into an unknown negative state. Preparing to initiate reserve commands..."

"No, no need. I'll do it myself."

This ruthless mechanical voice immediately pulled Li Yu out of the illusion.

Inside his body, which was almost completely frozen, an extraordinary alien flame was born from nothing, sweeping through his limbs and bones in the blink of an eye.

It burned away the remaining mystic infusion that he was about to digest and refine, turning it into wisps of icy cold energy that sprayed out from all his acupuncture points.

Inevitably, in that strange cold air, there was an extra naked man.

And at this time, a brilliant smile was appearing on this naked man's face.

Clearly, although he suffered quite a bit of torture in the process, this mouthful of consumption also yielded quite a bit.

"This mystic pill, I'm determined to refine it."

(End of chapter)