Chapter 101: Inheritance: Special Soul (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Colorful Mist Coast, Great Flame Clan Territory.

Following the old man all the way, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng arrived at the clan territory he had spoken of.

This was an open space hidden within a dense rainforest, its entrance marked by rows of tombstones with mottled surfaces.

The inscriptions on the stones had been eroded by wind and rain until they were blurry and indistinct; nearby, weeds grew thick, and wildflowers bloomed tenaciously in the cracks, adding a touch of vitality to this desolate place, yet appearing utterly out of place.

Following the old man deeper into the clan territory, a bluestone-paved path wound forward, moss growing in the stone crevices, while the dilapidated buildings on either side had mottled walls, with many having already collapsed into ruins.

It was evident that the entire Great Flame Clan Territory was nearly abandoned, having become a paradise for plants.

They finally came to a halt before a crumbling building.

The structure was crafted from a combination of certain plant vines and stone, its roof sagging, its sealed window lattices rotted, exuding a heavy sense of antiquity.

Borrowing the light of the rising morning sun, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng's gazes passed through the open main doors of the building, seeing a jade divine statue standing in the front hall.

Many spiritual plant offerings were placed before the divine statue, wisps of energy drifting away being guided by an invisible force to dissipate before the statue.

The statue possessed a female form, wearing a war helmet inlaid with rubies; beneath the helmet was a stunningly beautiful Iron Face with a determined expression and eyes sharp as torches, filled with endless fighting spirit. The statue was exquisitely crafted, with every piece of armor on its body carved in minute detail, even revealing the taut and powerful lines of muscle.

In the right hand of the statue's female figure, a crimson longsword was tightly gripped, the blade straight and pointing directly at the vast sky, as if declaring war on an unknown enemy.

It was evident that the statue was often carefully tended to, not a speck of dust staining its surface.

Before Jiang Cheng or Xia Sheng could speak, the old man took the initiative to introduce:

"This is the deity our clan worships, one of the Eight Extremes that rule the world: Nu E."

Having gained a certain understanding of the Monster World's systemic structure through the Guide, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Have you ever seen Nu E?"

The old man shook his head:

"The Eight Extreme Gods are the overseers of the world's operation; how could I be fortunate enough to glimpse their true forms? Even our clan's predecessors have never seen them, but that does not hinder our clan's faith in it."

"If you've never seen Nu E's appearance, how was the statue made?" Xia Sheng asked in astonishment.

"This is a fictional representation of the deity Nu E created by our clan; the specific appearance is unknown. We only have a rough conceptual outline from stories passed down orally. What matters is that gemstone on the statue." Speaking thus, the old man extended a finger to point at the red gem on the statue's helmet, continuing:

"This is the Faith Stone connecting to Nu E; our clan's offerings are also transmitted to the deity Nu E through this gem."

With that said, the old man stepped toward the interior of the building.

Seeing this, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng immediately followed.

Bypassing the front hall where the divine statue was placed, they passed through a narrow corridor; pushing open a door revealed a backyard piled with various clay jars, the air permeated with a pungent smell of medicinal herbs.

At this moment, the old man stopped, turned to Iron Face Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng, and spoke with a smile:

"I presume you must be very curious about what secret technique I intend to impart to you?"

Hearing this, Xia Sheng nodded while countering with a question:

"By the way, aren't you curious about our origins?"

Hearing this, the old man shook his head:

"No matter what your origins are, I only need to know that you are native races of the Monster World; we all share a common goal: to reclaim our lost homeland."

"Fine then, begin your performance; tell us in detail about the secret technique you wish to transmit?"

Without further ado, the old man's eyes floated with a trace of red light, blue veins bulging on his surface as his body visibly grew an inch taller:

"Speaking too much is not as good as experiencing it personally; get ready..."

As he spoke, the old man raised his right hand, and instantly a beam of red light shot from his palm, sweeping over the bodies of Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng.

Instantly, an intense sensation rose from the depths of their hearts.

It was a pain that penetrated to the bone, as if it would tear the soul apart; the agony was not limited to any single part of the body but surged like a Black Tide, sweeping through the entire form, as if every nerve was enduring the scorching of fierce fire or the freezing of ice, these diametrically opposite extreme sensations intertwining to constitute unimaginable suffering.

Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng's breathing became rapid and heavy; every inhalation felt like a sharp blade cutting within the chest cavity, while every exhalation seemed to draw out the last wisp of warmth and strength from within their bodies, sweat and tears sliding down uncontrollably.

As the power climbed, they finally could not bear it, screaming as they rolled around on the ground.

The continuously climbing pain was also approaching the critical point that would trigger the taboo of the "Purification System."

Just then, the old man suddenly lowered his right hand, withdrawing the released red light, and said with a chuckle:

"This is my ability; I call it the Touch of Pain. It can store the memory of pain endured by oneself within a Pain Brand, then conduct it to an enemy using mental tentacles as a medium, causing extreme mental damage. This layer of damage includes both the extreme feedback of sensation and the impact damage on the mental level."

"This is also the reason I chose you; to cultivate my secret technique, one must first possess sufficient willpower to bear pain, and only then can one conduct that pain to enemies. Only those with powerful willpower can successfully cultivate this supreme secret technique. Are you willing to learn?"

After the old man withdrew his hand, the pain receded like a Black Tide; having recovered, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng exchanged a glance and said in unison:

"We will learn!"

In the eyes of Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng, this secret technique was simply tailor-made for them.

Every time they consumed a Gene Seed, they had to endure intense and prolonged pain.

Now there was an ability that could store pain memories and even use them as an attack method; the benefits brought by Gene Seeds would be significantly enhanced.

Most importantly, this was a method of mental attack.

Besides conducting the sensation of pain, it could also cause substantial mental impact damage; it was simply a mix of true damage.

"Since you are willing to learn, stay by my side for the coming days; I will concoct various potions to gradually increase your upper limit for enduring pain, laying a good foundation for you to cultivate the secret technique."

Hearing this, Xia Sheng couldn't help but ask curiously:

"I have a question: since you developed this secret technique to combat the Terrifying Black Black Tide, but the characteristic of Black Black Tide evils is that they lack wisdom and self-awareness. While the mental impact effect of the Touch of Pain can damage evils, the conduction of pain seems to have no effect. In my view, this ability is no different from ordinary mental-type damage, and its effect on evils is very limited."

Facing the inquiry, the old man shook his head with a smile:

"It seems the intensity of the Black Black Tide you have encountered is still too low; clearly, you do not fully understand the various characteristics of the Black Black Tide."

"What do you mean?"

"As far as I know, the power of the Terrifying Black Black Tide is divided into two types: one is the derivative evils created by the Evil Moon. These evils are influenced by lunar phase changes; the stronger the lunar phase, the higher the intensity of the derivative evils, and they will disappear or appear following the lunar phases. They generally lack self-awareness, so my Touch of Pain cannot cause effective damage to them."

"However, the main force of the Black Black Tide is not the evils derived from the Evil Moon, but the Black Black Tide evils themselves. They are commanded and controlled by wise evil spirits. Apart from low-level evils without self-awareness, there exist a large number of high-level evils possessing self-awareness. These kinds of evils can be affected by my Touch of Pain; a Touch of Pain with sufficient intensity can even kill them directly on the mental level."

"Secondly, even low-level and unconscious Black Black Tide evils are controlled by evil spirits behind the scenes, and the way these spirits control them is through some unknown mental connection. My Touch of Pain can conduct directly through these unconscious low-level evils to the wise evil spirits manipulating the Black Black Tide from behind, causing damage to them."

Hearing Ku Xing's explanation, Xia Sheng immediately understood the purpose behind his creation of this secret technique:

"A decapitation strike?!"

A trace of appreciation appeared in Ku Xing's gaze as he looked at Xia Sheng, and he nodded to explain:

"Correct. I know deeply that the Black Black Tide, capable of birthing endless evils, is not something any racial faction can withstand through a war of attrition. The longer the war drags on, the higher the Black Black Tide's intensity becomes; a protracted war is destined to fail. Only a decapitation strike is the key to rapid victory... Without the control of wise evil spirits, the remaining Black Black Tide evils are nothing but a scattered sand, which can be gradually gnawed away and cleared."

"I have spent countless days and nights unable to sleep, agonizing over how to break the deadlock; the Touch of Pain is the only method to break the situation I could think of... Accumulate sufficient pain, then use the mental connection of the Black Black Tide evils to strike and kill the evil spirit behind the scenes in one blow."

While explaining the reasons, pride was hard to conceal in Ku Xing's eyes.

But after the pride, what followed was desolation:

"As a mortal, my abilities are ultimately limited. The Touch of Pain is the culmination of my life's work, but I have reached the point where my oil is exhausted and my lamp is dim; I no longer have the energy to continue climbing higher."

With that said, Ku Xing raised his head to look at Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng:

"I hope that you, who inherit this secret technique, can carry my will and contribute a share of strength to the fight against the Black Black Tide."

Recalling the countless tombstones seen upon entering the Great Flame Clan Territory, Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng felt the anger behind the old man's helplessness.

All his clansmen had died fighting the Black Black Tide, yet he had been powerless to stop it.

He had devoted his entire life to developing a secret technique to counter the Black Black Tide, but by the time the technique was initially completed, his lifespan was nearly exhausted, leaving him no strength to fight the Black Black Tide again.

The flames of revenge were still burning, but his body, with oil exhausted and lamp dim, was about to step into the yellow earth.

This was also one of the reasons Ku Xing had chosen them.

The native races of the Monster World were destined to be enemies of the Terrifying Black Black Tide.

As for defecting to the Black Black Tide, no native race was capable of doing so.

There were people in their Player Faction who had contacted the Earth Chanting Evil Spirit and attempted to do exactly that, with the result being killed on the spot by the evil spirit.

In fact, in the eyes of the Terrifying Black Black Tide, there were no allies, nor were any allies needed; in the eyes of the Black Black Tide, the entire world was merely nutrients for growth.

Ku Xing clearly understood this point, which was why he selected native races as the objects of inheritance.

And their behavior of consuming Gene Seeds by the seaside, enduring intense pain, made Ku Xing see his former self, those arduous years of constantly enduring pain to develop the Touch of Pain.

Behind this inheritance lay the hope that they, inheriting the secret technique, would carry his will of revenge to fight against the Black Black Tide.

Three days later.

Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng were soaking in medicinal jars filled with dark green liquid.

As the medicinal effects took hold, their skin was burned red, causing them to grit their teeth in pain.

But while enduring physical torment, their hearts held both pain and joy.

Although the medicinal liquid concocted by Ku Xing was meant to temper their willpower and was highly irritating, to protect their safety, he had also added many precious spiritual plants into the liquid that were easily absorbed by the body and could heal injuries.

During the process of enduring pain, their Body Tempering experience was constantly increasing.

Each soaking brought an increase of about 1000 points in Body Tempering experience, akin to a free version of gene enhancement.

A 15% bonus was enough to make them grit their teeth and persist, let alone it being free.

Just then, Ku Xing pushed open the door and entered the small courtyard.

Coming before them, Ku Xing opened his palm, revealing two crystal stones inside which thick golden liquid flowed.

Curious at heart, the two focused their gazes, and analysis information appeared.

[Energy Storage Stone]:

Stored Energy: 937392.

Guide Hint: Can be exchanged for 312464 Sacrificial Power.

[Energy Storage Stone]:

Stored Energy: 972855.

Guide Hint: Can be exchanged for 324285 Sacrificial Power.

The analysis information made Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng widen their eyes.

"Holy crap, we're rich! Is this old man going to bequeath his legacy to us?"

"No wonder it's a hidden quest. We're rich, we're rich! I won't covet your spiritual fields anymore."

"Don't show it. We must pretend to be calm and wait for him to hand it over himself."

Suppressing their surging emotions, their gazes remained fixed intently on the two energy storage stones in Ku Xing's hands.

Ku Xing stood still, then lowered his head to look at them, grinning broadly as he said:

"In a moment, I will carve a Pain Brand within your bodies. This will be the foundation for your future use of the Touch of Pain. The process will be quite painful, so prepare yourselves mentally."

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng immediately felt disappointed in their hearts.

If those 300,000-plus points were used to upgrade their Star Veins and Body Tempering levels, they feared they would take off right on the spot.

But they dared not voice the thoughts in their hearts.

The Touch of Pain was Ku Xing's life's work; they were following him as inheritors of his secret technique. To have such an opportunity was already more than enough satisfaction for them.

"Are you ready?" Ku Xing asked in a deep voice at that moment.

"Let's do it," Xia Sheng and Jiang Cheng replied simultaneously.

Ku Xing raised his hand, and instantly two energy crystals floated before him. Wisps of golden mist could be seen being drawn out from within the crystals, converging toward the positions between the two players' eyebrows.

Upon contact with their eyebrows, the energy continuously poured inward, subsequently gathering above their seas of consciousness to form a swirling golden vortex.

Ku Xing's consciousness followed, penetrating into the two players' seas of consciousness, guiding the golden energy to traverse within, tracing complex spiritual rune trajectories that intertwined and combined with one another.

Throughout this process, Qi Sheng, situated behind the scenes, was monitoring in real-time.

In fact, had he not granted permission, Ku Xing's consciousness would have been utterly unable to penetrate the players' seas of consciousness, having been intercepted immediately by the Purification System.

The subsequent ability to guide energy within the players' seas of consciousness to trace brand trajectories was also due to him granting secondary permission.

Otherwise, how could the life structure of players be casually altered by external forces?

Yet even with permission granted, Ku Xing's actions still held many undesirable aspects in Qi Sheng's view.

First was the energy used to trace the "Pain Brand."

Perhaps in Ku Xing's eyes, the energy stored within the two crystals was extremely pure.

But for players whose bodies were composed of Sacrificial Power, the energy within the crystals contained too many impurities; most of it needed to be removed and converted into Sacrificial Power to be compatible with the players.

Secondly, the trajectory used to trace the "Pain Brand" was far too crude.

The Guide's translation explained it as the characters being written unevenly, each stroke crooked and twisted, unbearable to look at.

Combining these two factors, Qi Sheng decided to let the Guide intervene.

In the blink of an eye, the spiritual rune trajectories being traced in Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng's minds were erased at a speed visible to the naked eye. However, this process did not appear in Ku Xing's perceptual perspective; he remained fully focused on tracing the runes, his perception displaying a gradually perfecting Pain Brand.

At that moment, the Guide intervened, activating the All-Things Extraction ability within the Challenger System. It shattered all the golden energy flooding into Jiang Cheng's mind, removed the impurities, and converted it into Sacrificial Power energy.

Subsequently, following the trajectory Ku Xing had traced for the spiritual runes, it guided scarlet energy to weave and intertwine.

Compared to Ku Xing, the spiritual runes traced by the Guide aligned with the operational laws of the world, every stroke flowing with unparalleled smoothness.

As more and more spiritual runes were traced, they gradually converged above the seas of consciousness of the two players into a blood-colored brand, while the intensity of the dissipating energy continued to climb.

Two hours later, a Pain Brand radiating blood light was formed.

After converting the remaining energy into Sacrificial Power, 17,324 points remained.

However, Ku Xing did not take this portion of energy away. His consciousness rapidly withdrew from the players' seas of consciousness via their eyebrows. Then, looking weak, he slumped to the ground, gasping heavily. Suddenly, his eyes closed, and he collapsed, fainting dead away.

What Ku Xing could not see was that the two Pain Brands residing in the players' seas of consciousness flew out, guided by the Guide to the position of the players' spines.

Here, it resembled a sea of stars; a brilliant inverted galaxy spread out on both sides with the spine as its center.

Within the players' life structures, the Star Veins were the pillars that bore power.

Therefore, embedding these Pain Brands into the Star Vein slots was, in the Guide's view, the choice compatible with the players' growth system.

Drawing upon a portion of the remaining energy, the Guide opened a fourth Star Vein slot for the two players, then guided the Pain Brands to embed themselves within.

As for the energy still remaining, the Guide, in the turn of a thought, confiscated it all, merging it into the Sacrificial Power Pool as a fee for its personal effort.

As the Pain Brands merged and connected with the fourth Star Vein slots on their spines, Challenger notifications rang out in the minds of the two players, as well as across the entire channel:

[Challenger Notification (All Channels): Congratulations to players 'The One Hitting Me Is A Dog' and 'The One I'm Hitting Is A Dog' for completing the hidden quest. Reward received: Star Vein Slot Level +1.]

[Challenger Notification (All Channels): Congratulations to players 'The One Hitting Me Is A Dog' and 'The One I'm Hitting Is A Dog' for completing the hidden quest. Special reward received: Pain Fate Soul.]

[Pain (Special Fate Soul)]:

Initial Level: 1 (0/10)

Note: The Pain Fate Soul is a special fate soul; its strength cannot be increased by hunting to obtain evolution points.

Fate Soul Trait: Enduring pain increases Pain Fate Soul experience. Mental tentacles can be released to extend the Touch of Pain outward, inflicting a dual mental assault of mental shock and pain feedback upon contacted targets (specific effects are influenced by the Pain Fate Soul level, the target's mental strength, and the target's willpower strength. The higher the Pain Fate Soul level, the higher the dual assault damage; the higher the mental strength, the lower the mental shock damage received; the stronger the target's willpower, the lower the pain feedback damage received).

Guide Suggestion: Experience gain speed for the fate soul can be increased by adjusting (raising) pain feedback.

The sudden all-channel notification

caused an uproar among players in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range region, and even in the Colorful Mist Coast region.

Everyone began spamming "???" in various channels, all wanting to know what exactly had happened.

But from the hidden quest and special fate soul described in the all-channel notification information, they could also deduce that two more players with dog-shit luck had obtained treasures.

After the spam of question marks, affectionate blessings and greetings from players of the same faction arrived in a continuous stream.

When thousands of words were summarized and translated, the general meaning was: You really deserve to die!

(End of Chapter)