Chapter 444: The Situation

‘Less than ten thousand years to go…’

Gently pulling his hand back from the Divine Food Statue, Lin Hui felt a surge of exhilaration as he looked at the Blood Seal information that appeared in his vision.

A single Divine Food Statue had shortened his time by more than twenty thousand years.

‘The Endless Divine Race… it would be more fitting to call them the Endless Treasury.’

He glanced at Zhang Xin Fan, who was about to ask a question, and prepared to leave for the next Divine Food Statue.

But in the next moment, a faint tremor emanated from a distant direction.

They both looked up at the same time. The distance was too great, and a thin mist obstructed their view, preventing them from seeing the specific situation.

However, from the waves of Extreme Cold Heaven’s Calamity aura drifting over, it was clear who had made the first move.

“As expected, Extreme Cold Heaven struck first. They just couldn’t wait.” Lin Hui smiled. Having absorbed his fill of the Power of Existence, he was in a rather good mood.

“The others are probably still observing, but it won’t be long now,” Zhang Xin Fan added with a smile.

“Then what about you?” Lin Hui turned to Zhang Xin Fan. ‘This guy’s purpose is unclear. I have no idea what he wants, following me around like this.’

“With three Annihilation-class masters taking the lead, I can’t make decisions on specific matters,” Zhang Xin Fan said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Brother Lin. I’m only following you because I want to witness the true scale and commotion of a Wind Calamity’s erosion. There’s no ulterior motive.”

“I hope so.” Lin Hui’s hand rested lightly on the Sword Hilt at his waist as he turned and flew toward another Divine Food Statue.

That direction was increasingly close to Songxiang Town.

Yes, he had already informed the other powers that the entire area around Songxiang Town, including its Divine Food Statues, was his territory.

The Endless Divine Domain was vast. For a trivial place like Songxiang Town, the other powers were willing to give him face.

But now that Zhang Xin Fan had followed him, it was likely he suspected Lin Hui was secretly trying to gain some greater benefit from Songxiang Town.

Lin Hui had entered the Endless Divine Domain alone, with no assistants or subordinates. After entering, he didn’t even rush to find a place to open a gate. Instead, he just stared blankly at a Divine Statue.

All of this was indeed suspicious, raising doubts as to whether there was some trickery involved in this invasion plan.

But Zhang Xin Fan saw no other schemes or plots. He only saw Lin Hui fly to the second Divine Food Statue, reach out, and press his hand against it again.

He blinked, then also reached out and placed his hand on it, but he couldn’t sense anything.

This Divine Food Statue depicted a hunched-over old woman holding a double-edged greatsword, which she used like a cane, propping it on the ground.

Several nearby members of the Divine Race were gathered on the other side of the Divine Food Statue, praying with their eyes closed.

As they prayed, a faint golden mist separated from the Divine Food Statue and was gently inhaled through their mouths and noses.

When Zhang Xin Fan saw this, his figure suddenly flickered. He appeared beside one of the Divine Race members and made a grasping motion with his hand.

His fingers passed right through the golden mist.

“What are you do—?” The Divine Race member was about to curse in shock and anger, but in an instant, its heart was pierced. Its body aged rapidly, withering away. In a few seconds, it had become a desiccated corpse and fell to the ground, dead.

Seeing this, the other praying Divine Race members were terrified. They let out sharp screams and turned to flee, no different from ordinary mortals.

Perhaps the only major difference was that they took flight after just a few steps. But these ordinary Divine Race members, not even at the Ring Level, had no chance of escaping Zhang Xin Fan’s grasp.

He casually flicked out several beams of dark green light, which easily pierced through them, absorbing their life until they became aged corpses.

However, they were already very close to Songxiang Town. The scene was witnessed by some other Divine Race members in the distance, who immediately turned and fled.

The commotion spread quickly, causing Lin Hui to frown slightly.

“Brother Zhang, this is my territory.”

Zhang Xin Fan raised his hands and gave an apologetic smile.

“My apologies. They were just a few little ants. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“It would be better if we went our separate ways, Brother Zhang,” Lin Hui said coolly.

Zhang Xin Fan narrowed his eyes and watched him for a moment before finally nodding.

“Fine. In that case, if you need anything, Brother Lin, feel free to send me a message at any time.”

He smiled, turned, and shot into the distance as a streak of green light, disappearing from sight.

Only then did Lin Hui retract his gaze. He pressed his hand firmly against the Divine Food Statue and rapidly absorbed the vast Power of Existence.

He had already scouted the entirety of Songxiang Town. There were a total of five Divine Food Statues in the vicinity, and two would be enough to complete the Blood Seal’s current evolution project.

He planned to absorb the rest slowly.

After all, he had never forgotten his original goal: to use the Blood Seal to evolve a powerful Cultivation Technique that could completely solve the future problems of the Fusion Sect.

The Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique was originally created for the same purpose, but its creator lacked the ability to continue its development.

But where others had failed, he wanted to try and see if the Blood Seal’s limits could forge a completely new path.

‘The Endless Divine Race, with so many Divine Food Statues within their domain… they are the finest sustenance…’

Before he knew it, a flash of red appeared before Lin Hui’s eyes. A new notification from the Blood Seal automatically displayed itself.

‘Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique evolution complete.’

In an instant, an incredibly complex torrent of runic energy information flooded into his mind.

This was one of the prerequisites for mastering the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique: one had to first master the energy-rune languages of a hundred different civilizations.

The difficulty of this condition was that mastering any single energy language to the standard required by the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique would take at least a hundred years of dedicated study.

To master a hundred of them, even with the accelerated learning that comes from associative mastery, would take several thousand years at minimum.

And that was assuming all the energy-rune languages were readily available. Normally, these languages were the core data of any civilization—top-secret information—making them incredibly difficult to collect.

But this step, the most troublesome of all, was directly bypassed for Lin Hui by the Blood Seal.

In a flash, his mind was filled with a vast number of memories of himself diligently studying in a hundred different civilizations.

The countless memories were complex and chaotic, momentarily making Lin Hui’s own short life’s memories feel flimsy by comparison.

Fortunately, his Mental Power was now incredibly strong. He forcibly strengthened the impression of his own core memories in his mind, then swiftly shattered the influx of new memories.

He retained only the knowledge within them, integrating it all together, and thus avoided losing his sense of self to the overwhelming flood of life experiences.

Standing before the Divine Food Statue, Lin Hui’s body trembled slightly, but he quickly steadied himself.

But it wasn’t over yet.

After the First Layer of energy-rune memories, came the second major hurdle. The Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique’s method was itself extremely complex.

It was like a supreme machine built from the crystals of various civilizations. It could take in the Power of Calamity and, through countless different stages—polishing, tempering, fusing, and purifying—put it through millions of intricate processes.

The final result was a Power of Calamity unique to the Cultivator.

The relevant Cultivation Method quickly appeared in Lin Hui’s mind.

He took a deep breath, and despite being in the Divine Domain, he immediately followed the cultivation memories and began the first step: initiating his Cultivation.

HUM.

The next moment.

A vast, transparent, root-like network naturally appeared in the air behind him.

This network, just like Qimei’s, was connected to his back at one end, while the other extended into the Void, leading to some unknown place.

Lin Hui’s body began to age rapidly. Wrinkles crept across his face, his body hunched slightly, and his black hair turned gray.

In the blink of an eye, by circulating the Cultivation Technique, he had already consumed three thousand years of his lifespan.

This consumption of his lifespan, like a bursting dam, made even Lin Hui’s heart race with panic.

Although his cultivation memories contained records of this process, the strange, unsettling feeling of his life force rapidly draining from his body was something that even he never wanted to experience a second time.

With the rapid consumption of his lifespan,

A faint blue, somewhat murky, and grayish wisp of Wind Disaster Energy appeared in the air before his chest.

He then took a gentle breath, drawing it into his mouth and nose.

‘It’s indeed a bit weaker than the most basic Wind Disaster Energy, and its purity isn’t high. But…’

For the first time, Lin Hui felt that Disaster Energy could be controlled as if it were an extension of his own limbs.

That single wisp of Disaster Energy had cost him over three thousand years of life to create. Now, it was as docile as a lamb inside his body.

Not only did it not erode him in the slightest, but as it flowed, it naturally permeated its surroundings, breaking down all harmful substances within him.

The previous Disaster Energy would do the same, but its actions were extremely crude, destroying many of his body’s cells in the process.

This wisp of Disaster Energy, however, was much gentler.

Moreover, Lin Hui could feel that he had perfect control over the intensity with which this wisp of Disaster Energy eroded the outside world.

Only now did he understand the true corrosive power of Wind Disaster Energy.

Compared to the Disaster Energy he had experienced before, this single wisp, under his control, could easily release a terrifying corrosive force a hundred times stronger.

This meant that the original Wind Calamity’s Disaster Energy had never granted him its strongest power. For various reasons, it had only ever revealed a tiny fraction of the Wind Calamity’s true might.

Toying with this wisp of Wind Disaster Energy, Lin Hui almost forgot he was still in the Divine Domain.

Fortunately, he quickly came to his senses and channeled the wisp of Disaster Energy into his eyes.

His eyes were already two bloody holes, but now, with the addition of his own Wind Disaster Power, they transformed into two pools of faint blue, ethereal light.

‘To distinguish between the two types of Wind Disaster Power, I’ll call the Disaster Energy I refine myself Wind Energy from now on. Since I can control it independently, it has lost its chaotic essence and shouldn’t be called a “Disaster” anymore.’

Wind Energy, or Primordial Wind Energy. This was Lin Hui’s new name for the refined Disaster Energy.

But this was just the beginning. He hadn’t chosen the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique just to obtain a half-finished product.

He had intended it merely as a starting point.

And now that he had personally verified that this Cultivation Technique was viable, it was time to continue down his chosen path.

The new evolutionary path, unique to the Blood Seal!

Immediately, Lin Hui opened the entry for the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique in the Blood Seal’s information panel.

‘Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique: Entry Level. The highest crystallization of the former Wanshou Empire’s ambition…’

He skipped past the pile of background information and focused his gaze directly on the evolution options at the very end.

‘Evolvable Branches: 3.’

“Just as I thought! Just as I thought!” He had been worried it couldn’t be evolved, but upon seeing this, Lin Hui couldn’t hold back any longer and threw his head back, laughing loudly.

‘Just as I thought, the Longevity Spirit-Stealing Technique is incomplete. It can be developed further.’

‘This line of thinking isn’t a dead end! There’s still hope!’

Without hesitation, he directly opened the three evolvable branches.