Chapter 98: Shadow Secluded Cultivation, Leaping Ahead!
Just as Yuan Zhu was still pondering the information on [Three Phases] and [Instigator], Little Spicy Stick suddenly spoke up in his mind: “Boss, do I look like an [Instigator] to you?”
He, who had originally felt horrified and terrified by the sudden soul split in his mind, producing an uncontrollable ‘thought and voice’ of his own, suddenly jolted and angrily scolded Spicy Stick: “What the hell are you yapping about! Are you here to beg for a seal like a snake skin? You scared the shit out of me!”
But after her stimulation, his original fear of the [Instigator] vanished completely. Once he equated Little Spicy Stick with the [Instigator], the [Instigator]’s prestige plummeted, and he felt it was just so-so, nothing impressive.
Although he didn’t have an [Instigator], he had been enduring ‘Spicy Stick’s’ mental harassment since the descent, and it wasn’t a big deal.
After reading his thoughts, Little Spicy Stick nodded deeply in agreement and vowed solemnly: “That’s right, that’s right! If you mess around and end up creating an [Instigator], Boss, don’t be afraid. Your most loyal Yu Jingzi will fight it on your behalf. I’ll trash-talk it all the way to the end of the universe, and I absolutely won’t allow any voice to interfere with your independent thinking, Boss!”
Facing Spicy Stick’s flattery, Yuan Zhu gradually became immune: “Sorry, you’ve already done it (interfered with my thinking).”
“Haha, really? You’re too kind, this is all what I should do.” Little Spicy Stick’s virtual white-haired girl image scratched her head foolishly, with a proud yet shy idiot expression.
Yuan Zhu: “┐(～)┌…”
At this time, the Captain looked at him: “Any other questions? If not, I’m leaving.”
Yuan Zhu hurriedly said: “Wait, one last question. When do we start the next mission?”
“Next round mission?”
He was somewhat surprised by Yuan Zhu’s work enthusiasm, thinking to himself that he was truly an upwardly mobile good employee! With such a strong sense of undertaking and drive to strive, no wonder he was interested in [Anti-Law]. (Yuan Zhu: I really want to improve!)
“It’s only been how long since returning from [Little Xihong Realm]? The other team members aren’t like you; they can’t accumulate enough strength in a short time. I originally had no plans in this regard and wanted to give you more time to adapt to the newly acquired supernatural system. However… if you have interest in this, I happen to have bought intelligence from another ‘space team’ about a Bubble World that seems to meet [Mao Mao King]’s needs.”
The Captain suddenly fell silent, and after a moment, he spoke: “Here’s the deal. Wait three days, and I’ll consult the other team members’ opinions and gather those interested in going out on missions to issue you a ‘temporary exploration mission.’ The mission content isn’t mandatory; you just need to collect as much Bubble World intelligence as possible, survey the natural environment, find local inhabitants interested in farming ‘Caterpillars,’ and reach preliminary cooperation intentions with them.”
Yuan Zhu understood his subtext and asked: “Captain, you’re not participating?”
“I’m very busy, and temporary missions aren’t in my work plan; I don’t have time to protect you. Luckily, this world has been explored before, with a low danger index, just a slightly harsh environment. I’ll give you permission to teleport back to [Happy Home] in critical moments. Safety is assured, but revenue depends on your performance.”
Hearing this, Yuan Zhu was thrilled. He needed an opportunity to shuttle through the [Nightmare Layer], and without mandatory task allocation, free action was even better. He wondered if the hidden opportunities in this Bubble World could surpass Little Xihong Realm.
“Then I’ll wait for your notice.”
The Captain instructed: “Make the most of the last few days, go back to rest and recuperate, and prepare well. Oh, and this is for you.”
With that, he took out an exquisitely packaged gift box and handed it to Yuan Zhu.
Taking it, it felt heavy, and the gift box inside the wrapping paper was wooden, so it seemed like a valuable item. Before he could ask, the Captain had already disappeared from [Happy Home].
At this point, in the hall, only Yuan Zhu and No. 3 remained, who was pretending to clean nearby but actually eavesdropping on the gossip the whole time. Seeing the Captain leave, No. 3 immediately came over: “Young Master Yuan, did you bring me any new alchemy elements this time?”
“I came in a hurry this time and didn’t buy any. Next time I’ll bring you a big can.”
No. 3 was overjoyed: “Great, great, it’s a deal! You mustn’t deceive me. Hurry and open the gift!”
After tearing open the wrapping paper, an exquisite sandalwood box was revealed, with a complex metal inscription pattern on the front and a line of text below that he didn’t recognize.
“This is…?”
No. 3 explained: “This is the brand name, called [Moon String].”
“What does [Moon String] do?”
While asking, he opened the sandalwood box, and inside lay a dead mouse with smooth fur. It was very similar to the one he had abandoned at Vajra Temple back then.
However, this one was slightly upgraded: a narrow external metal spine was embedded at the spine position on its back, connected to eight exoskeleton appendages. At the head, a stretchable wire was inserted, half the skull modified into a mechanical structure, one eyeball dug out and replaced with a mechanical eyeball flashing red light, quietly staring at him.
Was this [Moon String] a brand that sells modified mice? Such a fancy box just to hold garbage Mouse?
No. 3: “[Moon String] is an old-established communications equipment company that produces mental-side wireless communication devices, supporting personalized modification and customization, and is very famous in the supernatural circles within the [Spirit Layer].”
Yuan Zhu: “Shouldn’t this kind of [modified Mouse] be the business of [Rat King] among the Twelve Mandates?”
“But you can buy the Mouse and then send it to [Moon String] for modification and upgrade.”
Yuan Zhu dripped blood again to bind and activate this Mouse. The red mechanical eye on the other flashed wildly, and it suddenly leaped up from the wooden box, its eight slender spider legs wrapping around his arm, nimbly climbing up to his shoulder.
Little Spicy Stick: “External mental Bluetooth device detected, connected, fully taking over control.”
Then, she injected part of her data into the Mouse, possessing it and scurrying around on Yuan Zhu’s body, even climbing to the top of his head, looking down at the curious No. 3.
No. 3: “Young Master Yuan, why are you controlling the Mouse to climb on your head? Do you want to play a game with me? Jump over, I can catch you!”
“Operation mistake.”
Expressionlessly removing the drone (Mouse) from his head, he then waved goodbye to No. 3: “It’s late, I need to go home. Next time we meet, I’ll bring you a gift. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye!”
Returning to Running, it was already past 9 PM. Darkness surrounded him, and he even heard beast howls and responses from not far away. After simply determining the direction, Yuan Zhu headed toward home.
Along the way, besides seeing a few unknown polluted creatures with wingspans over 5 meters streaking quickly through the dark night sky, there were no other anomalies.
He used to be just an ordinary human, unable to see or perceive the ‘unknown polluted creatures’ in the sky, and didn’t like traveling at night, so he found Running’s nights very peaceful. Now it seemed Running’s night life was far richer than imagined.
Unknown creatures flew blatantly at low altitude; under the ‘pollution source vision’ of the mechanically modified Mouse, nearby areas showed strong or weak pollution traces lingering between sewers and wall corners; there were also outland beasts teleported via space splicing; local gang night hunting…
Wrapped in the Shadow Uniform, Yuan Zhu seemed to hear Running’s ‘night’ inviting him: welcoming him into the night world to revel freely and vent himself.
Unfortunately, he had worked hard all day and was about to face new challenges, with no energy to join Running’s night life. He decisively suppressed the idea of night wandering and chose to go home and sleep.
……
The next day after waking up, Yuan Zhu was fully revived.
Another big oversleep; his younger brother had long gone to school, and the breakfast on the table had lost its warmth. After a simple wash-up, he headed straight to the [Haunted House].
With less than three days until the new mission, he had to seize the time to farm a few more waves of ‘pollution ash’ and improve [Holy Seal] strength as much as possible to prepare for the new adventure.
With the experience of overdrawing Tiger Demon before, he reduced cultivation intensity by 30%. After entering the Bubble World, the [Boss Template] was the real trump card, so he had to let Tiger Demon be at full health and full mana in advance.
After arriving at the [Haunted House], he first checked his [Shadow Group. White Mouse], as well as the food delivered yesterday (Badger, Lame Deer).
Among the Shadow Group’s three Goblins, only the one continuously fed ‘Shadow Eggplant’ was somewhat healthy. Its physical body and soul strength were limited, unable to withstand more ‘Shadow Eggplant’ modifications; pollution was already saturated, erosion at its limit, no longer transforming.
Inside the skull, there was a strong Shadow Power reaction, yet no ‘mental power’ reinforcement or ‘magic system’ tendency. The body contained abundant shadow vitality, but showed no reinforcement in agility, power, or constitution.
Meanwhile, intelligence fully zeroed out, no spirituality, instead regressing into a beast, all behavior dominated by instinct, appearing irritable and highly aggressive.
Yuan Zhu shook his head helplessly: “Sigh, this one is raised to waste. Feed it to Snake Demon later and see if it can be refined into a Ghost Companion for waste recycling.”
Then he checked the two ‘Shadow Eggplant Flowerpots’ in Group 3. Despite the Ghost Companions suppressing [Shadow Eggplant]’s growth state per the soul program instructions, the two Goblin Flowerpots became even weaker.
This was even after imprinting them with [Holy Cough] and reasonably feeding ‘Disease Plants,’ greatly overdrawing themselves to stimulate pathological vitality. If they were previous ordinary Goblins, they would have been drained dry and sucked dead by the two [Shadow Eggplants] long ago.
Now, the two Goblins were critically ill and dying, with no more cultivation value. Their only use was to test the life-sustaining and life-exploiting ability limits of ‘Disease Plants,’ and whether [Shadow Eggplant] absorbing a small amount of disease pollution would produce unknown mutation.
After observing the two wastes in Group 3, Yuan Zhu sighed: “They don’t even qualify for [Universe Within The Belly] recycling! I hope these two [Shadow Eggplants] won’t disappoint.”
Finally, Yuan Zhu checked the Badger and Lame Deer delivered yesterday; they were all now half-dead, neither alive nor dead.
Five Badgers and one Deer, their bodies strangled by shadow vines released by Eggplant Head Ghost Companion, embedded in the wall, powerless to struggle.
Inside their bodies, massive shadow pollution eroded flesh, transforming them with black vein patterns crawling all over, pupils pitch black, black blood flowing from all orifices.
From the wall, shadow vine tubes extended, piercing into their bodies, injecting ‘Shadow Tomato Juice’ to supplement nutrients, pickling fresh blood food.
Yuan Zhu approached and sniffed lightly, satisfied: “The shadow pollution concentration is very high, and it emits a fruity (Tomato) fragrance; meat and veggies balanced reasonably, it’s Tomato Juice blood food that suits Tiger Demon’s taste. In the future, I can prepare more food for Tiger Demon to this standard.”
After entering the Garden, as expected, the Badgers and Lame Deer sent in yesterday had gone mad, their forms severely twisted and mutated. Fortunately, having experienced the ‘Disease Goblin’s’ out-of-control rampage, he had bound these food extra securely yesterday.
Even after mutating all night, they still couldn’t break free from the circles of chains, all preserved intact.
This time, the 5 Badgers and 1 Deer underwent brand new mutations, each with different styles and mutation directions, and not as aggressive as Goblins.
These disease beasts were some bloated and enlarged, some shriveled but with greatly elongated cervical vertebrae, some grew useless multi-limbs, others reinforced teeth and bite force… It was clear that [disease pollution] had super strong mutation properties, but not necessarily reasonable and scientific strengthening; there would also be a lot of invalid evolution.
Without chain restraints, those evolution-failed polluted beasts would be eliminated (eaten) by the successfully evolved ones, ultimately going through rounds of survival of the fittest, naturally selecting perfect ‘mutated individuals.’
Yuan Zhu carried this batch of ingredients back to the Haunted House, then began [Holy Cough] refinement to erode the disease pollution in their bodies, slowly cooking the ingredients. Then he returned to the [Garden] to cultivate seal casting; when tired, he went back to the Haunted House, switched to Tiger Demon Stance to eat.
Just like that, after scientifically cultivating (Holy Light) for 3 hours, he stopped seal casting at Spicy Stick’s reminder and shifted focus to improving Tiger Demon, eating various ‘Shadow Blood Food’ to nourish the Tiger Demon body beautifully.
Then, balancing work and rest, he entered the [Shadow System] cultivation phase.
Tiger Demon’s cultivation method was simple and crude: just lie prostrate on the Haunted House floor, absorbing the shadow spiritual energy painstakingly gathered by the Ghost Companions, blissfully dozing off to digest, and continuously get stronger imperceptibly!
This was the power of bloodline (Mutated Spiritual Root)! This was the strength of the [Boss Template]!
On Tiger Demon’s back, four Eggplant Head Ghost Companions had new massage programs inputted by Little Spicy Stick, waving over a dozen arms plundered from puppet dolls, starting to ‘groom + massage’ for Mimi King, making its Snake Tail twist and turn in pleasure.
One massage, double joy.
Little Spicy Stick always optimized new massage programs based on Tiger Demon’s pleasure points, feeding them back to the four Ghost Companions.
“Eggplant eggplant eggplant…” “Buddha buddha buddha…”
Thus, the Ghost Companions more flexibly used the puppet arms to diligently knead and massage Tiger Demon, making the Snake Tail feel waves of soul-deep numbness and trembling— so refreshing!
Just like that, after luxuriously degenerate cultivation (sleeping) for four hours, Tiger Demon felt a burst of satisfaction, reopened its eyes; its own tail had long gone numb and limp on the ground, lazily falling asleep too.
This was still the first time he stayed long-term in [Tiger Demon Stance], with no consumption at all; instead, continuously getting stronger by absorbing shadow spiritual energy through sleep.
This feeling was even more relaxing and pleasurable than [Holy Light Seal Casting]; it was the ultimate experience of perfectly compatible slacking off, lying flat, and striving cultivation. It was mana bar and health bar both fully restored, even continuously breaking limits, +1, +1 capacity expansion, soul satisfaction.
Rapid progress in wasted time, no guilt, instead inexplicable satisfaction and excitement. He hadn’t wasted time; he was continuously getting stronger!
Tail startled awake, groggily coming back online, then surprised: “Boss, Boss, good news! By maintaining Tiger Demon Stance long-term, [Universe Within The Belly] and [Ghost Companion] talent potentials are activated, operating efficiently. Already fully refined the 7 Goblins swallowed yesterday, and even the Shadow Blood Food just devoured has been digested.”
Tiger Demon carefully perceived, and sure enough, as Spicy Stick said, the 7 Goblins’ task progress was already 100%, and all this was just one afternoon nap.
It also realized that [shadow pollution] quality might be inferior to [Holy Light, disease], but Tiger Demon potential was the greatest.
Passive absorption of shadow spiritual energy was one thing, but this feeling of talent passively running at full speed just by lying flat sleeping, digestion ability exploding, strength skyrocketing, made it not want to turn back into a human.
