The next day,
Fang You tried "Guidance: Awakening" on Bai Shuang, Dao Dao Ru Hun, and several newcomers.
He could now achieve remote fine manipulation.
As for the ritual, it indeed required the "Faceless Statue," which had the effect of suppressing evil spirits... He had even roughly figured out the steps of the cultists' ritual.
But the Faceless Statue alone was far from enough.
Many crucial points still needed consideration, and some materials might be required for assistance.
He glanced at the instance "Birth of the Tinder," the countdown was decreasing, and there was no other description.
Fang You pondered for a while and went to the planting area on the fourth floor of the base.
At this time,
Ten special soil garden plots had already been opened here. The reason for such extravagance was related to a deal with the Investigation Bureau.
As soon as he obtained the Ghoul Crystals, he immediately opened the planting areas and asked Liu Shang to conduct some probability experiments with seeds.
"These are improved seeds for wheat and rice, but they are all normal crops. It's quite difficult to meet your requirements, mentor, so I merged rice with the mysterious number seeds and created a new crop – the Rice Tree."
A tree that could continuously grow rice.
The rice hanging from the tree was like willow branches. The one in front of him had been accelerated by Liu Shang's abilities, but according to her description, its normal growth rate was also very fast. Rice would grow from the treetops in batches, constantly harvested and constantly growing.
This crop was not of high grade, but its importance was self-evident.
Fang You was somewhat confident in resisting the world being devoured, but he had to make preparations for all eventualities. Moreover... even if he could resist it, by the next stage, when the tide of gray mist arrived, humanity's scope of activity would inevitably shrink further.
At that time, there would be a shortage of food – in fact, there already was.
Fast-growing food would be a necessity in the future.
In the Ghoul World, the oases that could sustain so many people with their limited space relied heavily on similar crops.
However,
"The taste is not very good?"
"Yes, it's not difficult to eat, but this rice, cultivated through rather abnormal means, has a tough texture and a faint taste of rust."
"But everything else is normal, with no side effects,"
Liu Shang said.
Fang You fell silent for a moment, "Prepare all kinds of seeds for me, and also..."
The situation of the instance was unknown, so he could only prepare everything he could think of.
Time flew by.
Donghuang entered a period of brief calm. Some ordinary people who had a vague awareness of "invisible monsters" suddenly discovered that the number of strange incidents in the country had significantly decreased during this period.
The world seemed to be getting better.
Overseas, in Langhua Country, the cultists had also become scarce. At the same time, Xiao Huan had already begun to scout for candidates on a larger scale abroad.
The intelligence personnel of Qian Mian were also undergoing intensive training.
According to Xiao Huan, Qian Mian had selected some promising individuals from the hundreds of newcomers who had just arrived for further training.
Among them, a newcomer awakened one had received special attention and training, possessing a talent for "transformation."
These individuals had all been taken away by Qian Mian for secret training.
The other novices, along with the exchange students from the Investigation Bureau, were training wholeheartedly, exhausting their physical strength.
When this batch of investigators returned to headquarters, the gap would become apparent.
At this moment,
Fang You summoned his panel, a panel that he could now summon without Xiao Huan's projection.
The seven major modules, the seven major functions, seemed to be suspended before him like brilliant orbs of light. Among them, the countdown for the instance-traversing module had reached zero.
"Instance 'Birth of the Tinder' has been activated. Please, Savior of Destiny, enter as soon as possible to avoid the severance of the anchored thread of destiny."
"Note: Instance traversal can only dispatch 'Apostle: Savior of Destiny,' and a certain amount of equipment and items can also be carried."
"Ding!"
"Do you wish to begin traversal?"
Beside him was Hei Tong, whom he had brought along.
Xiao Huan's true body was currently attached to him.
They were not apostles, but "attachments" to his Savior of Destiny. Whether they could pass through, he was unsure, but he could only try.
He re-checked the supplies in the Sky Net Hand and the Flesh and Blood Birds, confirming them repeatedly.
Began traversal!
Hum—
The space rippled, and time seemed to flow backward. The scene before him distorted.
Mountains, trees, lakes, human figures... all of them continuously shrunk, like inconspicuous fragments, contained within an ancient, vast river.
He was also a tiny droplet in this great river. Unlike the surrounding droplet fragments, he was now swimming against the current.
This was both the guidance of traversal and instinct.
Step by step forward, space and time lost their meaning here. Only a tiny figure slowly advanced in the ancient great river.
Until a certain moment,
Hum—
The speed of the vast river's flow rapidly slowed. The surrounding droplets went from rapid to still, and then began to stretch and enlarge.
Misty, hazy.
It was like a movie fast-forwarded a hundred million times, and now the speed was gradually returning to normal.
Returning to its normal state.
Dappled tree shadows, rolling hills, the gears of time began to turn normally. The sounds of insects and birds chirping could be heard, and through the treetops, a clear blue sky could be seen.
"Ding!"
"Instance: Birth of the Tinder has been activated."
"Description: This instance... ￥#@%... limited stay time... #￥@**+... gaze from the distant end... %￥#%@... cultivate the tinder, resist the impact from the rift."
A light screen appeared, but it flickered intermittently, with much of the information garbled and hidden.
Fang You stood still and pondered.
"Currently, I can only draw a few conclusions."
"This is ancient times. Whether it is within the borders of Donghuang, or which era it is, is still uncertain."
"Furthermore, I can stay here for a maximum of thirty days."
But it seemed,
His stay was limited to thirty days, while the impact from enemies in the distant end was far from that short.
He had to leave enough tinder before he left, otherwise, the mission would fail.
And the consequences of failure...
"It might be a greater disaster in the future, or no future at all."
He frowned, and the thought made him dare not be careless.
At this moment, Hei Tong and Xiao Huan had not appeared, which disappointed Fang You but was within his contingency plans. He held the Staff of Brilliance, and his faith radar spread out. Various colored dots appeared in the surrounding environment.
Birds, rabbits, all very weak.
Animals, unlike intelligent beings like humans, could not be compared. Within his perception range, within two to three kilometers, points of human faith appeared.
Crack—
One faint flame flickered out.
Around it were "chaotic" and "filthy" emotions.
"Cultists?"
He stomped on the ground fiercely, and shot out like an arrow from a bow. Mid-air, he stepped again, accelerating continuously. The figure in the white robe seemed to flash like light, exploding into faint white wave circles along the way.
The distance of two to three kilometers was covered in an instant.
A mountain village appeared in sight, with scattered small buildings made of wood, stone, and brick. Fires were burning now, blood flowed within the flames, and some strangely dressed figures were dancing wildly, painting with blood.
Accompanied by hoarse chants.
…
Not far away,
In a partially collapsed small wooden house,
Wei Jingwu crouched inside, gazing at the people who looked like demons, his eyes splitting and his gums about to bleed.
"These people deserve to die!"
He slowly raised his homemade wooden bow, drawing the string back inch by inch, to its limit. The arrow aimed at a figure dancing strangely beside the flames, and shot out with a whiz.
With a piercing sound.
The next moment, it was caught by that figure.
Catching an arrow with bare hands!
"Jili-gala..."
"Heila-heila..."
The strange figure seemed to have found some amusement. It placed its hands on the ground and moved on all fours. In the blink of an eye, it scrambled onto the roof, and in the next blink, it appeared a few meters away from him.
This was not human, it was a monster.
The terror of death enveloped him, and the distorted face kept enlarging before his eyes. The next moment,
Rumble—
Brilliant lightning descended from the sky, as if heaven was enraged, instantly obliterating the monster before him. More lightning fell, like snakes of lightning, accurately annihilating those strange figures, yet not harming anything else.
A figure in a white robe walked from afar, bathed in light, seemingly shrinking the distance with each step.
Looking at the scene before him, he frowned.
"Cult ritual?"
"No, this is another ritual."
Fang You looked up. Beneath the clear blue sky, a faint gray line could be seen. From above that line, wisps of gray mist emanated.
It was the mysterious.
Was ancient times the tide of mystery?
Did evil spirits breed in ancient times?
He did not see evil spirits. The figures before were slightly different from cultists, but the deep-seated hatred from the soul was the same.
They were all from the Ghoul World!
"But according to Yi Yueluxi, if Blue Star had come into contact with the Ghoul World in ancient times, it should have been devoured and destroyed long ago."
"Was she mistaken, or is her knowledge limited, and this is an exception?"
At this time, Xiao Huan was not by his side, so he could not enhance his mental power through possession.
However,
The golden-grade perfect ghoul artifact, "Staff of Brilliance," had three abilities.
"Amplification": As long as the staff is held, it can greatly enhance physical fitness and significantly enhance mental power.
It can also be turned on or off at will – after all, prolonged physical and mental amplification can also bring some pressure to oneself.
The other two abilities are "Enlightenment" and "Domain of Brilliance." Enlightenment can be used on trees and animals, and it is an ability to "create warriors," although it has significant limitations.
Under the Domain of Brilliance, he was like a god. Not only could his abilities be amplified twofold, but he could also control anything around him, as if the environment was in his grasp.
But it was certainly only as if.
Even with a golden ghoul artifact, he, a triple awakened, was still light-years away from the gods of legend.
However,
Under the amplification of the staff, his mind was exceptionally clear, and his constantly rising mental power stirred up a wind, sweeping towards the surroundings.
His consciousness probed the gray line in the sky.
However, he did not see the scene of the Ghoul World.
"Unlike secret realms, I cannot enter the Ghoul World."
"It's even different from the Gate of the Ghoul World."
The Gate of the Ghoul World was a point with more loopholes. As long as one's mental power was strong enough, even if one could not pass through, one could vaguely glimpse the scene on the other side.
There was nothing here.
He could only see, at the end of the distant starry sky, a gray, indescribable, vast world.
A blood-red line extended from the distant end, piercing the crystal wall of Blue Star.
It split the sky into a gray line.
He had seen it.
But he could not interfere, just as he could not forcibly close the Gate of the Ghoul World.
Suddenly,
An extremely terrifying aura emanated from the distant end. The gray line in the sky pulled open, revealing a blood-red, giant eye hanging across the sky!