Chapter 66 - 63: Bestowing a Favor Without Expecting a Reward, Gifting an Opportunity With a Wave of the Hand!

Chapter 66: Chapter 63: Bestowing a Favor Without Expecting a Reward, Gifting an Opportunity With a Wave of the Hand!

Luozhou City.

Central District.

Under the pitch-black cover of night, a beam of golden light suddenly descended from the sky, instantly illuminating the surrounding area for thousands of meters as brightly as day. Even from miles away, this abnormal brightness could be seen. Like a firefly in the dark, it was bright and striking, making it hard not to notice.

When Liu Zimo flew to the scene, he happened to see Lou Yuchen sitting cross-legged, his body unconsciously suspended in mid-air about a hundred meters above the ground. Golden light overflowed from his entire body, radiating in all directions. He looked exactly like a living Buddha with a golden body straight out of a movie’s special effects!

All the survivors in the area unconsciously looked up at this miracle-like sight. As ordinary people living in the twenty-first century, when had they ever seen a situation so contrary to scientific common sense?

It was one thing for a person to fly, but he was actually glowing autonomously from the inside out like a small sun! If it had been before the disaster, seeing such a spectacle would have prompted someone to immediately jump out to debunk it or film a video to post online for attention. But now, seeing the golden light suddenly shining in mid-air, the desperate people felt as if they were seeing the Savior. Their eyes were filled with the light of excitement and longing.

This perfectly confirmed the old saying: the more desperate the situation, the more people hope for a miracle! And now, a miracle had truly appeared!

Under the illumination of the golden light, all the Demon Beasts nearby—whether Soldier Level, Warrior Level, or the even more powerful Company Level Demon Beasts—acted as if they had seen their natural predator. They desperately scattered and fled for their lives, keeping far away from the area enveloped by the golden light.

The people who had survived the catastrophe began to cheer and jump for joy, weeping tears of happiness. Some even fell to their knees in worship, thinking that a heavenly god had truly descended to save them.

Only Liu Zimo frowned slightly as he stared at Lou Yuchen bathed in the golden light.

"As expected, has he still been infected?" Liu Zimo murmured to himself.

Even though he hadn’t yet begun to probe the situation within Lou Yuchen’s Spiritual Platform, Liu Zimo had already sensed that something was wrong.

Others might not know what the Golden Body Realm was about, but as someone who had experienced it in his past life, Liu Zimo was absolutely clear. Though the Golden Body Realm was strong, it was far from the level of making so many Demon Beasts fear and scatter simultaneously! At the very least, neither Liu Zimo himself nor Hong Yuxun, who was far away in Shangjing, possessed such an aura capable of terrifying a myriad of beasts, even after reaching the Grandmaster Realm!

Therefore, if nothing unexpected had happened, the Lou Yuchen before him must have been infected by a Soul-Devouring Insect. That was the only explanation for this mutation that deterred low-level Demon Beasts!

At the thought that the Yu Chen Martial Saint—who would be worshipped and revered by millions in the future—was actually a puppet secretly controlled by the Demon Race, a chill ran through Liu Zimo’s heart.

His previous conjectures about the human race being a "breeding ground" and a "hunting ground" surfaced in his mind once again. If a Supreme expert of the human race standing at the tip of the pyramid like the Yu Chen Martial Saint had fallen prey to the Demon Race’s schemes and unwittingly become their puppet, didn’t that mean the other two Martial Saints of the human Federation, the Ten Grandmasters, and the de facto leaders of major factions were also unable to escape this fate?

The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Zimo shifted his thoughts and slightly opened a crack in the gateway to his Sea of Consciousness. This allowed the Soul-Devouring Insect imprisoned within to clearly sense the Spiritual Energy Aura of the outside world.

Very soon, after sensing the aura fluctuations of its own kind, Yao Lingling’s thoughts became extremely active again.

"Eh, isn’t this Yao Shiyi’s Spiritual Power aura?

"I didn’t expect this fool to have such good luck to catch a big fish right after descending!

"This is so unfair. Why does a low-talent like Yao Shiyi get so lucky, while I, someone with the aptitude of a king, am so unlucky as to be imprisoned and turned into a lamb waiting to be slaughtered?

"However, Yao Shiyi seems to have already been targeted by this perverted human. Its good luck is probably coming to an end!

"I just hope it can be a bit smarter and not be like those two idiots, Yao Shisan and Yao Shiliu, who threw themselves right into the net without a second thought upon seeing a Spirit Cultivator, like starving ghosts seeing delicious food!

"What a pity that I’m currently a turtle in a jar, unable to even protect myself. I simply can’t take root and weave a Spirit Net in this Sea of Consciousness. Otherwise, I could have used the Spirit Net’s fluctuations to warn and ask Yao Shiyi for help...

"Ahhh! This is so annoying!

"Ancestor, when will you descend and save your good grandson!"

Receiving the chaotic fluctuations of thoughts transmitted from Yao Lingling, Liu Zimo became even more certain of his judgment that Lou Yuchen was controlled by a Soul-Devouring Insect.

Liu Zimo didn’t say anything more. Instead, he flashed to Lou Yuchen’s side and proactively released his Spirit Cultivator aura.

SWISH!

Before Liu Zimo could release his Divine Thought to forcibly invade Lou Yuchen’s Spiritual Platform space, he sensed a white flash within his Sea of Consciousness. A plump, white, and nearly transparent little insect had burrowed into his Sea of Consciousness like lightning.

"Hahaha! An incredibly delicious Spirit Cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness is indeed the most suitable place for our Soul-Devouring Insect race to inhabit and evolve!

"Such a vast Sea of Consciousness Space, such pure Spiritual Power! From now on, it’s all mine!"

As soon as Yao Shiyi entered, it began to laugh wildly and joyously within the Sea of Consciousness Space. However, it failed to notice that another of its kind, imprisoned deep within the Sea of Consciousness, was looking at it from afar with a face full of pity, as if observing a moment of silence for it.

"This fool," Yao Lingling thought. "As expected, it still couldn’t resist the temptation of a Spirit Cultivator’s aura and threw itself right in. It’s truly courting death!

"Even a genius like me couldn’t reach the bottom of this Sea of Consciousness to take root. How could a mediocre fool like you have even the slightest hope?

"You’re completely offering yourself up on a silver platter!"

As expected.

Before Yao Lingling could finish sighing, it saw Yao Shiyi’s tail suddenly burst open, shooting out the Spirit Crystal it had nurtured for over a century. The little insect that had just been alive and kicking instantly turned into specks of starlight, merging into the endless Sea of Consciousness below.

At the same time, a Superpower prompt sounded in Liu Zimo’s ear:

[Your Good Brother Lou Yuchen had a serendipitous encounter, finding a blessing in disguise. He successfully Refined the Soul-Devouring Spiderweb, causing his Spiritual Sense to mutate and his Spiritual Power to multiply. In one fell swoop, he opened up a Sea of Consciousness, stepping into the Spiritual Essence Realm!

Triggering the ’Heaven-Stealing’ Talent Attribute, the fortuitous encounter is divided equally, taking a share of half his cultivation base increase. Spiritual Power +10, Divine Soul Strength +5, Lifespan +3.]

Liu Zimo looked slightly startled.

What was going on? Lou Yuchen had actually opened up a Sea of Consciousness Space and advanced to become a cultivator at the Spiritual Essence Realm?

"I truly didn’t expect the spiderwebs spat out by the Soul-Devouring Insects to have such powerful effects!" he thought. "Does this mean that the three people I saved earlier might have also become Spiritual Essence Realm cultivators like Lou Yuchen?"

Liu Zimo’s thoughts surged. If that was truly the case, he could consider using Soul-Devouring Insects to cultivate a batch of human Spirit Cultivators. Even if they were only at the lowest Spiritual Essence Realm, they would still play an unimaginably huge role in the city defense battles of the Post-Apocalypse!

Of course, the prerequisite was that he could get his hands on enough Soul-Devouring Insects and master a secure method to control them safely!

"Mr. Liu?!"

"You were the one who just drove out that bizarre insect dwelling in my brain, right?"

At this moment, the golden light on Lou Yuchen’s body completely faded, and he woke up from his chaotic state. Seeing Liu Zimo so close, Lou Yuchen instantly recognized this major client from before the disaster.

Seeing that Liu Zimo could actually stand in mid-air out of thin air just like him, how could he not understand? This Boss Liu in front of him was definitely not an ordinary person either. And the bizarre insect that had just been entrenched in his brain, constantly influencing and manipulating his thoughts, must have been dealt with thanks to Boss Liu’s help.

"Words cannot express my gratitude for such a great favor!"

Seeing that Liu Zimo didn’t deny it, Lou Yuchen bowed deeply with a heart full of gratitude and said sincerely, "Yu Chen will firmly remember this kindness. If Mr. Liu ever needs anything in the future, just ask. I will repay you even with my life!"

Liu Zimo shook his head and waved his hand. "It was just a small effort. Mr. Lou, there’s no need to be so polite!

"If you really want to thank me, please diligently practice the Martial Dao in the future. Strive to cross from the Extraordinary to Saint as soon as possible, protect this region, and restore a bright and peaceful world to the human race!"

With that, Liu Zimo shifted his thoughts, packaging all the Martial Arts Techniques and Spirit Secret Techniques he had mastered and sending them straight into Lou Yuchen’s Sea of Consciousness.

Afterward, his figure flashed, and he left gracefully, leaving behind a bewildered and grateful Lou Yuchen standing blankly in place.

After a long time, once he had fully merged and absorbed all the Martial Arts Techniques and Secret Techniques that had suddenly flooded his Sea of Consciousness, Lou Yuchen couldn’t help but bow deeply again in the direction Liu Zimo had left. He let out a long sigh and lamented, "I truly met a good person!

"Mr. Liu, I will remember this grace of saving my life and imparting your Dao for the rest of my life. I will never forget it until the day I die!

"Please rest assured, I will study diligently and train hard in the future. I will absolutely not fail to live up to your expectations!"