Chapter 286: The Phantom Of A Demigod
“What is this recording?”
“Why is it all stone sculptures?”
After Lin Qi opened the second recording video and saw all kinds of stone sculptures displayed in the room in the video graphics, he felt nothing but puzzled.
The prisoner currently had only three videos stored in the guard robot. The first recording video went without saying: experts who could fight in the cosmic space, and two such experts crossing blows. The value of such a battle recording was self-evident.
Its value might even surpass the Heavenly Human Realm inheritances of the Star Energy Civilization. After all, even Heavenly Human Realm experts could not survive long directly in cosmic space, let alone destroy a gravel belt thousands of kilometers wide with a single punch.
It was obvious that the strength of those two starry sky experts far exceeded the Heavenly Human Realm. If the domain cities of the Four Regions learned that such a combat video existed, they would likely stop at nothing to seize it.
But the second video recorded by this prisoner simply showed a very large room filled with various stone sculptures. There were tens of thousands of these sculptures, all different from one another, and the video’s duration was more than ten hours long. Even if he skipped ahead to the end, it was still just watching these sculptures, which really left him confused as to what meaning there was in recording them.
From the recorded video it was clear that all these stone sculptures had been carved by this prisoner alone. The footage even showed how the prisoner carved a piece of stone into a sculpture.
In his personal view, although these sculptures were all bizarrely shaped and different from each other, they did not have any special qualities.
“Could it be he recorded his masterpieces just so he could take them out and admire them from time to time?” Lin Qi looked at these sculptures, feeling rather speechless.
Although quite a few other prisoners also recorded things they liked, this was the first time he had seen a prisoner this narcissistic.
Then Lin Qi closed the second video file and directly opened the last one.
When Lin Qi opened the final video, his eyes lit up.
“Is there a continuation?” Lin Qi looked at the cosmic space in the video graphics and the two starry sky experts fighting beside the star, and felt quite delighted.
The battle between the two starry sky experts in the first video was clearly not recorded in full, which he found a pity. He had not expected the last video to actually continue the recording.
For a time, the two starry sky experts fought for more than ten minutes, and then both stopped. One of them was already badly injured, with half of his body gone, yet still alive, while the other had suffered little damage.
It was unknown what the two were saying to each other in the starry sky. Then the heavily injured starry sky expert took out something like a crystal ball and crushed it with a loud laugh.
Suddenly, a phantom larger than the star itself appeared. The instant this phantom emerged, it was as if countless pieces of information poured into the brain, and the video recording directly went black.
“What on earth was that phantom?”
The instant Lin Qi saw that terrifying phantom, his whole head spun and throbbed. Blood flowed from his seven orifices, as if his skull was about to burst, and his heart was filled with disbelief.
Just seeing a phantom in a recorded video once had nearly caused his head to explode. He did not dare imagine what would happen if he saw it in person.
Although the video recording had indeed been captured by the prisoner with their own eyes, the fact that a fragment of imagery alone could injure him was simply incredible.
What was even more incredible was that despite having seen that phantom, he actually could not remember what it looked like. In his mind he only knew, in a vague way, that he had just seen a phantom, while all details about it were a blur.
Just when Lin Qi thought the recording had ended, he suddenly found that the progress bar was still moving. After no more than three or four seconds, images reappeared in the video graphics.
But this time, what appeared was not the cosmic space, but the prisoner consulting information. The writing in this information, as Lin Qi knew from the Inheritance Metal Plate, belonged to the Star Energy Civilization.
The text was introducing the demigods of the Star Energy Civilization.
Demigods.
This was the absolute pinnacle that the Star Energy Civilization could reach, the miracle of that civilization. Demigods could not be directly gazed upon or described, so the Star Energy Civilization had no image records of any demigod, not even statues.
Because no one could sculpt the true appearance of a demigod.
It was said that any item capable of recording the true appearance of a demigod was something countless experts pursued. It could be used for meditation and could greatly enhance one’s spirit. It was the best meditation technique of the Star Energy Civilization.
Only after this prisoner finished reading all the related information did Lin Qi come to understand.
“No wonder he frantically made statues. He was meditating on the appearance of that demigod.” Thinking of the second video, Lin Qi somewhat grasped the prisoner’s intention.
An item that could truly record a demigod’s appearance was a treasure coveted even by starry sky experts. Yet this prisoner was at most at the Heavenly Human Realm, and might even have been just a Blood Condensation Realm martial artist.
Obtaining such a thing was basically impossible. But the prisoner’s luck had been extraordinary: they had been fortunate enough to glimpse the true form of a demigod, and had even deliberately turned their memory into a video to preserve it, just so they could continually meditate on that demigod’s appearance.
For a prisoner who was not even a starry sky expert, this was likely the greatest opportunity of their life.
“What a pity it is only a recorded video. Its effect for meditation is much worse than what the prisoner saw with their own eyes. Otherwise, with that demigod phantom, its value might surpass that of the entire prison.” Watching the third video finish playing, Lin Qi secretly felt it was a pity.
The power of a demigod was beyond his imagination. If he had a crystal ball like the one in the video, something he could use at all times for meditation, the improvement to his spirit would be unimaginable. The demigod’s form itself was the best meditation technique.
Now he had only a secondhand demigod phantom, whose value was undoubtedly much lower.
Moreover, this secondhand demigod phantom did not come with any supporting meditation auxiliary methods. Using it directly for meditation had serious side effects. Just as the information consulted by the prisoner stated, meditating on such a demigod image without professional guidance was very likely to cause problems, from mild mental confusion to instant death.
Just as when he watched the video image: with one glance he had nearly blown his head apart. If he watched a second time, he would definitely explode.
“Forget it. This is not something I need to worry about. Let the players have a headache over it.” Lin Qi then saved the three videos to his smart watch, extracted the segment containing the demigod phantom from the third video, and directly renamed that video.
Shocking God Meditation Technique.
With this video plus the basic meditation method introduced in the Star Energy Civilization materials, it already counted as a meditation technique. He would just sell it to players then and let them study and learn it.
This meditation technique could even be used as the reward for the top contributor this time. After all, everyone had practiced the Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique almost to completion. Especially the top-ranked players, whose proficiency was above 90 percent. It was just the right time for them to practice a new meditation technique.
What he needed to do was simply harvest the players’ results.
Outside the exit of Wushan Prison.
As the three-day visiting period ended, the leaders of the various major powers who had been stationed in front of Wushan, along with many city lords, all gathered at the foot of the mountain, watching the teams emerge from the prison one after another.
“I wonder what gains there will be this year.” Hu Lei, the city lord of Star Tower City, looked at the emerging teams with eyes full of expectation.
Last time, the team from Star Tower City had only explored the upper level and, after three days, had gained nothing. This time, they had joined forces with the Holy Blood Mercenary Group to enter the middle level. As long as they could obtain some Blood Condensation Realm battle data or even a bit of inheritance, Star Tower City would not necessarily become prosperous overnight, but their overall strength could at least advance further, giving them the chance to seize the city lord positions of other cities.
Then their clan would be able to count on at least four Energy Blood Essences from the Mountain of the Dead every year. Whether they wanted to redeem Sequence Transcendent Martial Skills from the domain city in the future, or Heavenly Human Realm cultivation methods, none of it would be impossible anymore.
The city lords of the Wushan Region were essentially peripheral members of the domain city. Their status was somewhat inferior to those geniuses who could enter the domain city, but with the Energy Blood Essence they produced, they could redeem many good things from the Mist Mountain Domain City.
For those free factions, such as the Holy Blood Mercenary Group, obtaining Heavenly Human Realm cultivation methods was nothing but a dream. But for these city lords, as long as they gathered fifty Energy Blood Essences, they could directly study under the domain city and gain a chance to impact the Heavenly Human Realm.
Of course, the various free powers in the Wushan Region also had their advantages compared to these city lords. The Energy Blood Essence they produced was entirely theirs to use, just like the Smiling Skull of the Mountain of the Dead.
However, because those free factions were small in scale, their annual production of Energy Blood Essence was very low. After all, all the good areas of the Wushan Region had been taken by the domain city. These free factions could not establish themselves in those places. And the cities in those places were protected by the domain city; when facing incursions from Catastrophe Level monsters, the domain city would take action to clear them out.
Although the domain city often responded somewhat slowly, resulting in heavy damage to cities, or even their destruction, the invading Catastrophe Level monsters would ultimately be eliminated by the domain city, allowing the cities to be rebuilt. Therefore, the areas under domain city management were relatively safe.
As for other places in the Wushan Region, trying to build large gathering hubs to produce Energy Blood Essence was not easy. Humans were food in the eyes of monsters. The more people gathered in one place, the more powerful monsters wanted to come. Without sufficient strength, it was very hard to defend such large hubs, let alone several at once.
So the many major powers in the Wushan Region that had Blood Condensation Realm experts overseeing them could indeed gain slightly more Energy Blood Essence each year than the city lords, but they also had to worry about far more issues, especially when it came to attacks from Catastrophe Level monsters, which were a nightmare.
While Hu Lei, city lord of Star Tower City, was chatting with the leader of the Holy Blood Mercenary Group, several top tier teams walked out from Wushan Prison.
Besides teams from other regions’ domain cities, there were also teams from major powers no weaker than Earth Star Pharmaceuticals.
At once, the various city lords and major factions, including the Holy Blood Mercenary Group, all stared at those top tier teams. Several of the teams were carrying guard robots, and their eyes nearly turned red.
“Damn! Did they gain that much this year?”
“Guard robots! This is probably the first time since exploration began that anyone has captured guard robots, right!”
“Guard robots from the lower level. There must be a lot of inheritances in those guard robots. Have these top tier teams all gone crazy this year? They are this fierce?”
“I heard from some people who got lucky enough to enter the lower level that it was because a group of lunatics was besieging the core area in the lower level, causing a massive battle, which left many guard robots isolated. That gave these top tier teams their chance.”
“Besieging the core area? Isn’t that where that group of prisoners is concentrated?”
The various factions present watched the guard robots being brought out, filled with noisy discussion and envy.
After Wushan Prison had been known for over a hundred years, almost everything that could be explored had been. If there were any real treasures left, it would be those guard robots active in the lower level.
Now all the top tier teams, more or less, had captured a guard robot. It was impossible not to envy them. After all, inheritances from a demigod civilization, whether martial skills or cultivation methods, far surpassed what they currently practiced.
Among the emerging crowd, a team of fewer than fifty people soon drew the attention of the major teams.
“Why are there so few people left from Earth Star Pharmaceuticals and Mist Mountain Domain City?”
“Look, Bai Shou Kalad from Earth Star Pharmaceuticals seems badly injured.”
“No way. Just what kind of battle could leave Bai Shou Kalad and the leader from Mist Mountain Domain City both wounded?”
Everyone looked at the two rather battered teams, hardly believing their eyes.
Before entering the prison, the delegation from Mist Mountain Domain City had joined forces with Earth Star Pharmaceuticals. Everyone believed that with their alliance, even if they did not reap huge rewards in the lower level, they would at least be one of the strongest teams, ranked first or second among those entering the prison.
Yet now, out of the two-hundred-strong team, fewer than fifty emerged alive, and both leaders were injured. It was unbelievable.
“Damn it! Our luck was terrible this time. We were so close. If we had just a few more people, we could have taken at least one of those two guard robots.” Leader Palius recalled the battle before their exit, his expression extremely grim.
If not for the heavy casualties they had suffered on the first day and Bai Shou Kalad’s severe injuries, they would have had a chance to capture a guard robot when leaving today.
Unfortunately, facing two guard robots, with fewer than fifty people remaining, they simply could not pin down either of them. If only they had more than a hundred people, they could have kept one behind and not come to Wushan Prison in vain this time.
At this point it was not just Palius who was in a foul mood. Bai Shou Kalad was equally upset.
For reasons unknown, the core area’s riot had caused an unusually large number of isolated guard robots to appear in the lower level, something not seen for a century. These guard robots all seemed to be searching for something. No one knew what, but it had been a rare opportunity for the top tier teams, which they had ultimately missed.
Except for their two top tier teams, the other top tier teams all had some gains. The strong ones had captured one outright, and even the lesser ones had managed to join forces with another team to capture one. Only their two teams had come back empty-handed.
Just as Palius and Kalad were both feeling agitated, the surroundings suddenly fell quiet. The onlookers all stared wide-mouthed at the exit of Wushan Prison, eyes nearly popping out.
“What is going on with those people?”
Palius and Kalad looked in confusion toward the prison exit.
From the entrance of Wushan Prison, a team had walked out at some unknown point. Their strength was not high; most of them were only advanced martial artists. But they were carrying guard robots one after another, a total of twenty units…
At the front of the team was none other than Lin Qi, hall master of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, along with the team’s former vice leader, Xie Feina.
“How is this… possible…”
