Chapter 356: Stop, You Calamity; Mental State Explodes

Monster World, Spear of Shattered Sand.

A figure moved swiftly through the monster horde, enveloped by thunderous sha qi.

Whenever he was about to be struck, this figure could always sense the attack trajectory in advance and dodge quickly.

With a raise of his hand, a gale infused with running thunder power howled and swept across the area.

This figure was none other than Brother Ming Hou.

At this moment, he was engaged in a fierce battle.

Unaware that he had only just left behind instructions, the Book of Fate had already impatiently descended upon Earth following his fate trajectory.

Gravel trembled rustlingly within the thunderous sha qi; Brother Ming Hou's long silver hair, soaked in monster blood, still danced wildly amidst the wind and sand.

The continuous high-intensity combat left no time to drink potions.

The cyclone of thunderous sha qi surrounding him had dimmed; of the twelve wind pillars released earlier, only three remained spinning and cutting.

Just to tear through the cluster defense wall of the "Sand Prison Worms," his spiritual energy had already been exhausted.

Barely having broken free, he encountered an assault by an even stronger group of monsters.

This was the Monster World; even in barren lands, numerous powerful monsters lay in ambush.

Feeling the waves of dizziness brought on by depleted spiritual energy, even his breath carried a scorched scent.

Yet his hands did not stop moving for an instant.

Raising his hand, he released spiritual energy to stabilize the crumbling thunderous sha qi cyclone, then condensed a thunderous sha qi drill in his right hand, precisely stabbing it into the eye socket of the approaching "Crystal-Armored Sand Lion."

Instantly, a deafening roar erupted beside his ear as the massive body of the Crystal-Armored Sand Lion crashed heavily to the ground.

However, the monster horde ahead surged forward like a Black Tide.

Every Crystal-Armored Sand Lion possessed crystallized wings, flying with extreme speed, making them impossible to evade.

Brother Ming Hou let out a low shout and chose to charge directly into the monster Black Tide.

Thunderous sha qi detonated around him in interwoven silver-blue flames, shattering several monsters with every collision.

Yet more claws and fangs still breached the thunderous sha qi defense surrounding him.

A sand lion's tail stinger sliced open his shoulder blade, while crystallized worms symbiotic with the sand lions below spat acid that corroded his calves.

Just then, a sand lion with a hunting level of 48 rushed over and slammed violently into his chest.

The sound of shattering bones was clearly audible; Brother Ming Hou flew backward like a kite with a severed string, crashing against the rock wall below.

He opened his mouth and coughed up a mouthful of bloody froth, his vision beginning to blur, yet his heart knew no fear.

Immediately, he urged the scant spiritual energy remaining in his body, causing the thunderous sha qi power to accumulate and surge within him.

"If you want to eat me, you'd better check if you have the appetite for it."

Two streams of energy, compressed to the extreme, emitted a piercing hum as they fused; the interwoven silver-blue flames no longer exploded outward but were clenched tight by an invisible hand, gathering along his veins toward his heart.

Using his heart as the fusion point, Brother Ming Hou converted all his spiritual energy into thunderous sha qi and sharply lifted his head.

His gaze locked onto the direction from which the sand lion horde was charging.

"Explode for me!"

As soon as the words left his lips, his body transformed into a brilliant orb of light.

The silver-blue thunderous sha qi broke free from the constraints of flesh and blood; the resulting shockwave plowed a ring-shaped trench miles wide into the sandy ground, tearing apart the monsters that had rushed close before they could even let out a cry.

The hard crystal armor of the Sand Lion Lord melted like butter under the furious thunderous sha qi.

It tried to block with its claws, but the thunderous sha qi drilled through the gaps between them, shredding its bones.

When the wind and sand settled, only a charred, deep pit remained on the earth.

One hour later, at the spatial node of the Spear of Shattered Sand.

Brother Ming Hou's figure appeared accompanied by white light.

His first exploration of the Monster World as a player thus came to a casual close.

He looked down at his intact palm, the tearing pain in his chest seemingly still lingering in his nerve endings.

Death was no longer the end for him, merely a brief wait before setting out again.

Once noble as the Fate Lord, every exploration outside had been like walking on thin ice.

Although the power of the Demi-God Realm was strong, one still had to constantly fear potential deadly traps from the outside.

The environment of the Monster World had always been such that there was always a higher mountain beyond the one you climbed.

Even a Demi-God could be ambushed and killed by unknown dangers.

Death meant that a lifetime of cultivation and effort would be wasted, and it meant that one's fate trajectory would be completely severed.

Back then, even when facing opponents weaker than himself, he had to proceed with extreme caution at every step.

He dared not make any risky moves.

But now, there was no need to worry about the destruction of his body.

Feeling his vitality restored to its original state, Brother Ming Hou felt his heart suddenly broaden and brighten.

This was the confidence of being a player; even death could be used as a bargaining chip.

In this Monster World, what was there that he would not dare to venture into?

At this moment, the equivalent game merchant who once hesitated before unknown risks vanished completely along with the self-detonation at the Spear of Shattered Sand.

What was reborn in the white light now was a player who dared to turn his body into a weapon, dared to exchange death for victory, and dared to calmly start anew after destruction.

He turned and walked toward the teleportation center, his steps light as if he had shed a burden of a thousand pounds.

Through teleportation, Brother Ming Hou's figure appeared in the central square of Emperor Tomb Village.

Unlike the crude environment of the Spear of Shattered Sand spatial node, the scenery of Emperor Tomb Village was incredibly prosperous.

Figures of players from different races were everywhere, and the spiritual energy content in the air had increased more than tenfold.

Various uniquely styled vehicles roamed unchecked throughout this city.

Brother Ming Hou summoned his map, confirmed his location, and headed straight for the vehicle factory.

Next, he planned to craft a simple flying vehicle for himself.

Although controlling the gale of sha qi to fly was convenient, it required continuous consumption of spiritual energy during flight.

Given the limited spiritual energy recovery speed in the early stages, the importance of a vehicle could not be replaced by abilities alone.

Before long, he arrived at the Vehicle Processing Factory.

Entering the space, he selected the popular "Hoverboard" vehicle template from the forum and consumed sacrificial power to generate it directly.

After completing the vehicle's creation, Brother Ming Hou went to the Cultivation Tower and spent more sacrificial power to embed a Spirit-grade Cultivation Combat Technique.

With the combat technique's blessing, his Body Tempering level would increase 24 hours a day simply by consuming sacrificial power, saving on the sacrificial power expenditure required for raising his Body Tempering level.

Having done all this, Brother Ming Hou's next destination was the Pet Shop.

Before entering the game, he had carefully reviewed data on various growth-type pets as well as analysis posts by guide-focused players on the forum.

Once an equivalent traveling merchant who walked the world,

upon seeing the introduction for the Treasure-Hunting Rat, he had already determined it would be the pet he would raise in the future.

The Treasure-Hunting Rat's "Spiritual Perception" talent was simply tailor-made for him.

In his future travels across the world, whether delving into dangerous lands or exploring forgotten ancient clan ruins, having the Treasure-Hunting Rat by his side would surely bring unexpected surprises.

A notification of successful adoption rang in his mind; Brother Ming Hou turned and left the Pet Shop space.

The next stop was the crafting of a Rune Resonance Weapon.

He planned to forge a weapon similar to the Scepter of Fate for himself, allowing the power of his abilities to multiply under the bonus of a Rune Resonance Weapon.

During this time, notifications of successful sales in the Exchange Row continuously rang in his mind.

The resources "gifted" by the Book of Fate were being purchased by other players one after another.

After touring the various functional buildings in Emperor Tomb Village, the sacrificial power in his spatial bag not only failed to decrease but broke through the million mark.

And it continued to grow as the commodities kept selling.

As for what price to sell the resources at, he had already thoroughly understood this aspect before entering the game.

He had memorized all the commodity information organized by the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce and the "valuation formulas" for different types of goods.

Although he already had some understanding of the value of different types of resources,

before descending to Earth, he knew nothing about the value of resources within the player faction.

It could be said that the valuation system within the player faction was fundamentally different from that of the outside world.

Take combat resources of the weapon type, for example.

Apart from the Rune Resonance Weapons produced by their own side, other types of weapons, even those left behind by Demi-Gods held by the "Great Emperors," were regarded by players merely as transitional weapons.

They simply could not be measured by the resource values of the outside world.

If one were to sacrifice Emperor Zhao, the value of the commodity would have to be slashed in half and then cut twice more.

As someone who was once an equivalent game merchant, he knew clearly that trading was an important channel for resource income, so he would not make any mistakes in transactions.

Resources could be sold slowly, but they would never be sold cheaply.

In his eyes, the Monster World was never a game; for the rest of his life, he would continue to explore it as a player.

If one knew nothing about commodity prices, one would have to pay a higher price to buy goods or sell precious resources at low prices.

Such unnecessary waste, accumulating day by day, would cause severe losses of sacrificial power.

As the most core channel for player trading, the Exchange Row's commodity intelligence information was, in his eyes, more important than the vast majority of guides on the forum.

After fully arming himself from head to toe, Brother Ming Hou once again arrived at the teleportation point of Emperor Tomb Village.

Entering the teleportation zone, a dynamic map of all spatial nodes floated in his mind, which could be swiped by consciousness.

This time, he chose "Roaring Coast," a map also opened during this round of recruitment, as the region for his upcoming exploration and hunting.

After a wait of a few seconds, he appeared at the Roaring Coast spatial node.

The situation here was no different from the spatial node of the Broken Sand Halberd.

Everywhere were figures of players returning from resurrection; on the Teleportation Plaza, white light continued to flash, clearly indicating players whose resurrection cooldowns had ended were returning once more.

Just as Brother Ming Hou prepared to summon his flying skateboard to soar over the heads of the novice players,

he suddenly realized he had been too engrossed in his play and had not yet arranged for reception duties.

He decisively chose to log off at that moment.

As the countdown ended, Brother Ming Hou's consciousness returned to his original body.

As soon as he rose, Earth's foul air quality made him frown involuntarily.

But immediately afterward, he realized something was wrong.

He had already constructed an energy barrier covering the entire city within Fate City; heavily polluted air from outside should not have been able to enter the city.

Filled with doubt, he spread his perception, sweeping over Fate City.

He discovered that apart from the thirty-two qualified clansmen still lying in their game pods, all other clansmen had vanished without a trace.

Even more strangely, many buildings within the city had been damaged by external forces.

Even the energy barrier shrouding the city had been shattered by external force.

"Not good!"

Brother Ming Hou suddenly realized a possibility.

Half an hour earlier.

Earth, 1:00 AM.

Under the night sky, Trading City resembled a dormant behemoth, its millions of lights serving as shimmering scales along its spine.

Neon lights flowed like blood, winding between skyscrapers, soaking the entire city in a mottled mist of colored light.

Hovercars streamed endlessly through the streets, while virtual characters on holographic billboards tossed electronic confetti into the night sky.

At this moment, atop an observation platform on a building within Trading City, a figure stood overlooking the city's nightscape.

The hem of its silver robe was lifted by the high-altitude night wind, snapping loudly like unfurled eagle wings.

The staff in its hand rested against the marble floor, the crystal embedded in its head reflecting the city's silhouette.

Its Iron Face was covered by a silver mask, mirroring the shifting neon of the city below.

The newcomer was none other than Fate Book, who had descended to Earth following the fate trajectory of Brother Ming Hou.

"This isn't right."

The light and shadow on the mask shifted, finally settling into an expression of slight helplessness.

Just moments ago, he had thought a problem had arisen with the coordinates during the cross-space teleportation.

After all, the world beneath his feet was too barren.

It had not even managed to give birth to heavenly and earthly spirit veins.

Thinking this, he extended his index finger and gently traced a line through the void.

There were no expected energy ripples, no spatial tremors; only dry, lifeless air flowed through the gaps between his fingers.

This world was so barren it resembled a withered bone drained of its marrow; it could not even stimulate the most basic elemental resonance. In this world, one could only consume internal energy, yet finding replenishment from the outside was difficult.

The panoramic view of the city reflected in the crystal ball gradually analyzed itself before his eyes.

Those endlessly streaming metal boxes could only float via the most primitive magnetic repulsion, lacking rune guidance or spiritual energy propulsion.

They relied entirely on the crude physical properties of this shallow world to move.

The holographic projections between the skyscrapers were merely clumsy techniques of mirror flowers and water moons, not even qualifying as the lowest grade of illusion arts.

As for the carbon-based lifeforms moving through the streets, they were so fragile they lacked even the most basic spiritual power meridians, their lifespans as brief as mayflies.

Among the myriad worlds of the void, a world unable to even manifest the outline of rules was a minor world of the lowest grade.

Without tides of spiritual energy or cycles of rules, how could it possibly give birth to the opportunity to transcend the shackles of life?

It was like a stinking swamp; it was impossible for a true dragon to be born there.

He could be certain this was absolutely not the world he sought; the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord would never take this world as the future.

Therefore, the teleportation coordinates he had set must have been erroneous.

Yet the problem was, through the rule imprints derived from within his body, he had repeatedly compared the trajectory coordinates left by the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord.

Every spatial node and every dimensional marker was precise and error-free.

The void anchor point for positioning was indeed locked onto this barren world.

"Could it be that the coordinates left by the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord were flawed from the start?"

Recalling what the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord had mentioned at the time: fate is impermanent, opportunities are unpredictable.

He decided to rearrange the sequence of these coordinates and then perform another cross-space jump.

This was to search for the minor world where the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord resided.

But before doing so, Fate Book turned its gaze toward the city beneath its feet.

The vast majority of worlds in the void were barren worlds, possessing neither life nor spiritual energy meridians; the process of searching and jumping would inevitably consume enormous amounts of energy.

The spiritual resources he carried had already been given to the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord.

He could not replenish his energy from them.

Although the world beneath his feet was barren, it at least possessed resources on the material level.

For example, qi and blood energy.

The qi and blood of the hundreds of millions of living beings in this minor world could suffice to replenish some of his consumption.

He decided to use this world as an energy replenishment station; it would not waste much time.

With his intent clarified, his figure transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the depths of the Pacific Ocean.