Chapter 1001: The Devil

System Prompt: Congratulations, player 【Yese Liming】, you have slain 【Uyu Clan Royal: Third Prince】. Spirit Value has been increased.

The system prompt rang out, signifying that Fang Yue had completely slain the Uyu Clan's Third Prince, but the content of the prompt left him bewildered.

At the same time, from the corpse of the Uyu Clan's Third Prince on the ground, a surge of energy rose, as if pulled by some unseen force, flooding into Fang Yue's body.

The entire process happened so fast that Fang Yue had no time to react before the energy entered his body.

In the instant the energy entered, Fang Yue immediately understood: this was the reward for slaying a ghost.

Previously, it had been 【Yuli Value】 and 【Xie Li Value】; now, it was 【Spirit Value】.

After carefully sensing it, Fang Yue discovered that this 【Spirit Value】 amounted to only 1 point, yet the Third Prince's strength was certainly not on the level of merely 1 point of 【Spirit Value】.

In other words, this method of absorbing energy after victory had a very low absorption and conversion rate—it was far from ideal.

But even a mosquito's leg is meat; better than nothing.

As Fang Yue was thinking this, he suddenly felt his body become extremely scorching hot, as if he had transformed into a furnace, locking and refining the 1 point of Spirit Value within him.

"Ye Ge?!"

At that moment, Weiba had barely persuaded Qi Ba Jiu Daren, braving Night Rain, and arrived belatedly to help.

The first thing she saw was Fang Yue's left half glowing with blinding white light, while his right half blazed with utter darkness.

Two utterly opposing, contrasting lights suddenly began to collide, as if mutually antagonistic, yet seemingly seeking to merge.

Amidst a screeching sound like nails scraping a chalkboard, the two lights on Fang Yue's body simultaneously ignited a brilliant pinpoint at the tail end of their respective domains, forming a new pattern that gradually stabilized.

And that pattern was unmistakably…

"Taiji Diagram?!"

As Weiba stared in shock.

The dark-light Taiji diagram began to slowly twist and rotate, like an old donkey grinding beans; each rotation shattered a part of Fang Yue's body, yet instantly repaired the damage the moment the bud mark on his forehead glowed.

Taiji rotates—body shatters—bud glows—body repairs.

This entire process formed a closed loop.

As the black-and-white Taiji completed one full rotation, Fang Yue's body felt as if it had been entirely replaced—all that should have shattered, had shattered.

"What's happening to Ye Ge?!" Weiba gasped, covering her mouth.

【Don't go near him. He's in an extremely special state. Though I don't understand what's going on, his Spirit Value… is rising! And look at the corpse on the ground—that's… the Uyu Clan's Third Prince! This means Yese Liming has won!】

Only then did Weiba notice the corpse on the ground. Though a faint sigh of relief escaped her, she still watched Fang Yue with deep concern.

At that moment, the slowly rotating Taiji diagram suddenly stopped. The blinding black-and-white light retracted into Fang Yue's body, and the bud mark faded into an ordinary tattoo, showing no further anomaly.

When this was complete, Qi Ba Jiu, residing within Weiba, suddenly widened her eyes in shock and cried out in disbelief.

【How is this possible?! His strength has now risen to… a three-digit Spirit Value! More than ten times stronger than before!】

And Fang Yue, at that moment, slowly opened his eyes.

For the first time, he felt the elusive, intangible Ghost Spirit Root within himself—clearly sensing its black-and-white Taiji form—and also felt the bud mark on his forehead faintly blooming.

"【Ghost Grinding Demon】… refines and purifies absorbed 【Spirit Value】 under the crushing pressure of the two poles of the Ghost Spirit Root, achieving maximum energy absorption."

"The 1 point of 【Spirit Value】 provided by the Uyu Clan's Third Prince, pushed by 【Gui Tui Mo】, was squeezed dry of every last bit of value—even surpassing its original worth—and instantly granted me 100 points of Spirit Value, yielding a hundredfold return!"

"The only problem is, the Ghost Spirit Root is extraordinarily dangerous. The driving force of 【Ghost Grinding Demon】 is one's own flesh, soul, lifespan, memories… everything that constitutes oneself becomes the offering to 【Ghost Grinding Demon】. The greater the offering, the more the mill turns. The so-called Yin-Yang Taiji shape is merely a massive grinding wheel."

"By normal logic, the first turn of 【Gui Tui Mo】 would inflict severe Heavy Injury upon me! The more the mill turns, the worse the damage becomes—and all injuries are irreversible. It's equivalent to self-destruction. Eventually, the fragmented self grows thinner and thinner, until the mind collapses and even self-awareness is ground away."

"But…"

Fang Yue touched the bud mark on his forehead.

Just now, when his own existence had been placed upon the mill as fuel to be ground away, it was this bud mark that instantly restored everything—even his memories!

The Ghost Spirit Root is indeed incredibly dangerous.

But this bud mark on his forehead… seems even superior to the Ghost Spirit Root?

Fang Yue recalled the final moment before leaving Youquan…

【The Other Shore… the Bodhi Flower…】

【I've already given it to you.】

Night Moon Tribe… Bodhi Flower…

Could this mark on my forehead be the unopened Bodhi Flower?

Fang Yue's thoughts surged, but Weiba's excited approach pulled him back.

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to wait over there?"

"I was worried you couldn't beat it…"

Fang Yue smiled faintly, merely pointing at the corpse on the ground, as if to say such a foe was utterly beneath notice.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Fang Yue asked:

"Weiba, ask Qi Ba Jiu Daren how much she knows about the Night Moon Tribe."

"Night Moon Tribe?"

Weiba's confused face suddenly ignited flame in her left eye and condensed frost in her right.

Qi Ba Jiu Daren had descended in person!

She gazed intently at Fang Yue, murmuring in wonder.

"Truly a prodigy of heaven. Possessing a Ghost Spirit Root and reaching Rain Level—this is already one in ten thousand. Yet to reach Rain Level and still avoid being erased by the mill… Indeed, only the Night Moon Tribe has studied Spirit Roots in the deepest detail."

Qi Ba Jiu Daren circled Fang Yue like a living ancient fossil.

【Gui Tui Mo】 is a unique ability where you gain exactly what you sacrifice. How many can resist such temptation and gamble their own capital? And if one's self is erased, everything becomes illusion.

Yet this man not only greedily exploits it to the extreme, but also preserves his own integrity—this is nothing short of… free-riding?

Who could withstand the ability to free-ride on the Ghost Spirit Root's 【Ghost Grinding Demon】? His future potential is unimaginable!

"Blessed by fortune, destiny unified. You are clearly the Child of the Dahuang Era, the Pillar of Qi Yun Sect's fortune… if you can survive the 【Yin Cha】 trial."

(End of chapter)