Chapter 454: Seventh Layer, Breakthrough! (8/10, Autumn Subscription)

"I'm not sure either, but it's definitely been possessed before!"

"For now I have two guesses. The first is that Xiao Xuedou, as a strange beast hunter, is rather special—after being possessed, it was able to destroy the strange entity from within and became the mutated form we see now."

"The other guess is that during the transformation process of the possession, something happened to the strange entity and it suddenly went back into hiding."

After a pause, Lord Han said hesitantly, "The safest move right now is to kill Xiao Xuedou immediately. Otherwise, if the strange entity inside it begins transforming again and possesses Xiao Xuedou, unless Xiao Ye is present, every one of us will die."

Just the black-eyed, black-grade initial-stage transformation phase alone had already thrown them into total chaos.

If the strange entity possessing Xiao Xuedou were mid black-grade, or high black-grade…

Lord Han couldn't bear to think further.

Though it was somewhat cold-blooded, since this hidden danger could be eliminated, it was better to deal with it sooner rather than later.

"L-Lord Han, no! Xiao Xuedou has already changed back, hasn't it…"

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu said with tearful eyes, clearly not wanting Xiao Xuedou to be killed.

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu's voice drew the others' attention, and naturally they understood Lord Han's meaning as well.

"Lord Han speaks wisely. Guarding against trouble before it starts is how one lives longer."

"If we kill Xiao Xuedou, I think the Blood Hunters will surely understand us."

Jing Yan saw the way things were going and thought, Oh no you don't—this is my pet, my precious hunter baby!

He immediately stepped forward and said, "Wait, wait! Things haven't reached that point yet. With Captain Ye here, it's enough to suppress everything. Tonight he just happened to not be present. And besides, Xiao Xuedou went from a strange-resurgence state back to its normal form—doesn't that make it a perfect specimen, a perfect research subject? I'm sure the people at the Green Division would be very interested in this phenomenon. If they studied Xiao Xuedou and developed something that could restore possessed people to health, that would be a tremendous contribution—to us, and to all of humanity!

Don't any of you have relatives or friends who were killed by possession? Don't you want someone to develop a pill or strange artifact that could solve this problem?

Xiao Xuedou is a perfect sample! It might just be the breakthrough to this problem!

So I suggest we focus on observation first—what do you all think? Of course, if it undergoes strange resurgence again, I'll be the first to step up and support putting Xiao Xuedou down!"

Once the banner of righteousness was raised, everyone became hesitant and unsure.

Lord Han actually didn't put much stock in such nonsense.

But seeing Jing Yan so anxious, he sighed inwardly.

He too wished nothing more than for Xiao Xuedou to be healthy and well.

But some things, some proposals, always had to be voiced by someone—you couldn't just pretend they didn't exist simply because the matter was too cruel.

Of course, as he had said, if Fang Yue had been present, the situation would surely have been under control.

After a moment's deliberation, the proposal to slaughter Xiao Xuedou was thus shelved.

Part of the inn had been destroyed, so everyone went back to tidy up, and they called the innkeeper over to explain the situation.

The innkeeper was a chubby Pangzi—the kind who got out of breath after just a few steps.

But he was very rich; several of the surrounding inns were all his.

Earlier, when he heard their team wanted to book the whole inn and didn't need any staff to stay and help, he'd taken the money with great efficiency.

But now, he was crying his heart out.

Because the inn had been damaged rather badly.

"Compensation!!" he shouted.

"We will, we will," Jing Yan replied, casting a helpless glance at the black-mist-formed Lord Han behind him.

"Write an IOU!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

After glancing at the IOU and seeing that it really only covered the cost of repairing the inn with no extra charges, Jing Yan signed it on their behalf.

Once he had the IOU in hand, the boss went off sighing to contact carpenters and woodworkers to come repair the inn—in a certain sense, this chubby innkeeper was still quite decent.

When the morning sunlight poured down.

When Fang Yue slowly opened his eyes, the system notification had already sounded in his ears.

"System notification: Congratulations to player 【Yese Liming】 on your cultivation progress. 【Blazing Fire Heart Method】 has advanced to the seventh layer. Internal force +600, Control Force +100, Disarm Force +50."

That's right—a night of diligent cultivation finally bore fruit at dawn: a breakthrough to the seventh layer!

Without any obstacle, everything flowed as naturally as water finding its course.

Fang Yue felt it had gone so smoothly partly because his own realm had already reached Post-Heaven First-Class—he was cultivating with strength that surpassed his internal-force realm, so the progress was naturally much faster.

Another factor was the boost from Comprehension, which made cultivation rocket along.

"Name: Blazing Fire Heart Method."

"Grade: Post-Heaven First-Class."

"Layer: Seventh Layer."

"Requirement: 50 Control Force."

"Description: Cultivation will heavily drain yang-shou (lifespan). Ignite yang-shou, let the raging fire consume you, burn the heart to temper the body, and the Heart Method forms of its own accord."

"Effect 1: +150 Control Force; damage increases under 【Self-Immolation】 state."

"Effect 2: Can store accumulated internal force in 【Blazing Fire Magatama】 for a single burst release of 【Blazing Fire Burst】. Severe aftereffects—do not use lightly."

"Note: Exclusive Heart Method for long-lived species. Come if you have the life to spare!"

The seventh-layer Blazing Fire Heart Method was a step above in every aspect—of course… that included the yang-shou-burning aspect of cultivation.

He opened the attribute list.

"Name: Yese Liming."

"Realm: Post-Heaven First-Class."

"Status: Curse 【Black Rain】."

"HP: 800/800."

"Internal Force: 2000/2000."

"Control Force: 781 【Base: 801】 【Status/Buff: -20】."

"Force Reduction: 731 【Base: 751】 【Status/Boost: -20】."

"Comprehension: 3. 【Special Attribute】"

"Talent: Breath of Night 【Human Grade, Superior】."

"Skills: Analysis Pupil 【Human Grade, Inferior】, Nine-Turn Chain Blade 【【Damaged】 Acquired Third-Rate】, Starfire Blade Technique Lv. 1 【Acquired Third-Rate】, Water-Sky Blade Technique Lv. 1 【Crude Martial Arts】, Blazing Fire Heart Method 【Acquired First-Rate / Seventh Layer】, Starfire Heart Method Lv. 3 【Acquired Third-Rate / Max Level】."

"Lifespan: 11 years, 6 months, 22 days."

Nice!

At last, his Internal Energy Heart Method had also reached a level matching his own realm.

The next step was to cultivate the second move of the Nine-Turn Chain Blade while continuing to diligently train the Blazing Fire Heart Method.

However, when Fang Yue tried it, the Blazing Fire Heart Method starting from the seventh layer consumed an absurdly disproportionate amount of lifespan.

Previously, cultivating the Blazing Fire Heart Method had basically cost less than a year each time.

But judging by the consumption of the seventh-layer Blazing Fire Heart Method, the cost would rise to over a year.

Lifespan is scarce!

Even though he had a decade of lifespan, Fang Yue still felt it was never quite enough.

The parchment's 【Time Rewind】 was a voracious lifespan-eater, and if he consumed 【Silver】 to use the power of ancient words, that too was a massive drain on lifespan.

Simply put, aside from its foresight ability being especially kind to Black Ember consumption, every other function of the parchment was a huge lifespan drain.

What remained was the Blade Technique.

That's right — the wind pressure of the Nine-Turn Chain Blade seemed to be generated purely through internal force.

In reality, it also required lifespan as fuel.

The essence was that lifespan combined with internal force was needed to unleash the blade moves.

However, this aspect could be controlled by oneself; the power could be greater or lesser, and the amount of lifespan consumed was the same.

What kind of concept was this?

It was making it clear that what you were fighting wasn't a battle — it was lifespan!

In a fight, whether you could win aside, whether you could earn the lifespan back was the true way.

So fighting people was a losing proposition; fighting relatively powerful anomalies was the only sure-fire, no-loss deal.

(End of Chapter)