Yang Zicang had been standing by the toilet the whole time.
It looked like someone under confinement was studying the only toilet they possessed.
In truth, his mental perception had nearly traced out the entire structural route connecting the flush toilet to the septic tank, mapping it in his spiritual world.
Amid the mental comfort of rustling woods, there seemed to emerge something hidden away somewhere—a thing that could let a person fully relax and purge their discomfort.
–If this keeps up, my spiritual world is going to be ruined.-
Yang Zicang pressed the flush button again.
Splash!
Under the –Mind Manifestation,- Chime Night, like living tendrils of thought, ceaselessly exchanged information—spreading through the entire septic tank until, at last, it detected a few tiny cracks.
The mental tendrils squeezed through the fissures, and the outside world slowly began to emerge.
[Such is the might of the Mind Manifestation Authority!]
The psychic energy extended across the wasteland-like ground, brushing against the occasional twitch of barren terrain—like touching a place swollen with stagnation, utterly devoid of information.
[The great Authority of Mind Manifestation strolls through the back garden of nothingness.]
Then, in an instant, his perception was yanked away by an uncanny force, crossing tens or even hundreds of miles in a flash, nearly plunging him straight into the depths of the gray mist.
Inside the cube, Yang Zicang urgently tried to retract his mental power, but he was far too slow to react.
Moxel’s telepathic voice came to an abrupt halt!
A grand world emerged within his perception. Yet it was so indistinct, like a painting dampened by water stains—hazy and formless, yet suffused with both beauty and regret. It was still the same desolate land as before, but now imbued with an eerie quality.
A strange black humanoid figure appeared in his perception, its face resembling a mask of mingled metal and stone, gazing down upon the land as if directly at Yang Zicang himself.
Then Yang Zicang found himself standing on the ground.
–What is this?-
Opposite him, a figure covered in disheveled feathers, standing like a black stork, lifted its hollow eyes as Yang Zicang raised his head.
{This is my spiritual world. What are you doing.}
Yang Zicang, manifested as a spiritual body, turned his head and indeed could not see the Lost Illusion Company.
He said somewhat awkwardly to this powerful being who had saved him:
–Sir, I’m very glad to see you again. Because I participated in the production of the Magic Hero Hall, and I have to resign from the Illusion Company to take part in the city’s ranking battle, I was confined for five days… I’m now trying to see if I can find a way to get out early. I didn’t expect to meet you, senior.-
Not knowing how to address this person who had saved him, Yang Zicang borrowed the title used for senior heroes in movies and TV dramas.
–May I ask how to address you, senior?-
{Just call me Gray Crow.}
–Gray Crow?-
{Both my appearance and name are just codenames. You can call me ‘Senior’ from now on. I’m happy to hear it.}
–Yes, Senior.- Yang Zicang cupped his hands respectfully. If he could leave early with this person, that would be great. However, that would be extremely difficult.
Upon hearing the word –Senior,- although his expression remained unchanged, the aura emanating from the man before him turned slightly less cold.
The large, mottled feathers on the gray crow—which resembled a black stork—rustled without any breeze.
{Since you have obtained the power to manifest the mind, you should not waste a single second of possessing it. You should use this time to cultivate with it.}
–How precious is it?-
{The Eighth Ring.}
He turned his head, lifted his claw-like hand from beneath the floating feathers, made a grasping motion, and a sliver of the scene was caught in the gray crow’s hand, then casually tossed away.
The roaring, rotating demon gears, the cascading water screen, and people locked in combat with monsters.
The scene of the Demon Hero Hall directly appeared around Yang Zicang, as if he were right inside it.
–That’s amazing.-
Still pondering the words –Eighth Ring,- Yang Zicang was captivated by the scene before him. He looked at the Demon Gear room that had appeared beside him, and inside it, a team of ordinary strength was locked in battle with monsters.
The gray crow could actually capture and manifest a scene that was separated by who knew how great a distance.
{Nothing to be amazed about. A death omen, even if well-intentioned, will not be welcomed.}
–Death omen?-
As if confirming the Gray Crow’s omen, in mere seconds, the man charging at the front of the visible team was bitten on the neck by a strange snake that shot out from the darkness, causing his body to go rigid.
–—Captain!–
–—Ahhh~–
In that brief pause, the man was already dismembered by several monster attacks.
The moment he died, the scene slid to another demon-tooth room, and within seconds, the person inside was also crushed to pieces by monsters.
Yang Zicang’s heart pounded violently.
Inside the cube, most people only watch the liveliest, most eye-catching scenes. But now, under the gaze of this human-shaped black stork, countless lives were meeting their death, wave after wave!
This was the true face of the Demon Hero Hall toward its lower-tier personnel!
Yang Zicang trembled and took a step back, feeling like an accomplice to an executioner.
{These things are unavoidable. Don’t lose heart—you’ve already reduced the difficulty significantly.}
–But they died because of me.–
{If you’re strong enough, this can be changed.}
–I…–
A strange gold coin appeared in Gray Crow’s palm; he weighed it briefly, then put it away.
{Every second you have now, they will never have again. Especially you, who hold the right of mental manifestation.}
Gray Crow’s hand, like a black claw, pressed against Yang Zicang’s face, and a dark-gray energy flow emerged from the palm, slowly seeping into Yang Zicang’s head.
{Everything has its omens, and death is no exception.}
{Just as some can sense an approaching misfortune, this is the revelation bestowed by spiritual power.}
Yang Zicang felt his spiritual sea pried open by a force, undergoing a bizarre transformation—like a placid ocean suddenly churning with intricate undercurrents.
{What I am instilling in you is the secret art forged from the bloodline I acquired: [Prelude to Death]. Even if you may never truly master it, at least you can gain some enlightenment.}
Then, one by one, strange human figures materialized from spiritual power within Yang Zicang’s consciousness, resembling ordinary people from the mundane world.
{Let’s dive straight into the hardest part.} Crow said.
–Straight into the hardest?!-
Suddenly, these figures died abruptly—from collisions, murders, deadly diseases, disasters, a myriad of causes. Threads of death’s horrific aura seeped into Yang Zicang’s perception, as if he were experiencing countless deaths all at once.
{Feel the atmosphere they emit; remember this sensation until you can sniff out the scent of these omens before they come to pass.}
Yang Zicang instantly grasped the purpose of this secret art.
It was not to witness death, but to foresee and alter it!
Deeply moved, he sat down cross-legged, quietly absorbing each instance of –death- and departure.
[I, the insignificant quadrilateral, begin to comprehend the –Prelude to Death.-]
Over these past months, I had either brushed past death myself or witnessed the passing of other lives.
Although emotions are directly experienced, it is not as easy to discover and feel them with such purpose as now.
–This is not the numbness and apathy that comes after witnessing countless deaths. Instead, it is about finding that trace of ‘omen’ amidst these repeated downfalls.-
Countless people and scenes are born and quickly die within the mind.
Yang Zicang gradually calmed down.
A few hours later, Yang Zicang felt the surrounding illusory figures suddenly diminish, and he opened his eyes. The gray crow had already grabbed a ball of light with its claws. As the young man looked up, the gray crow raised its hand, and the phantom of the Demon Hero Hall once again unfolded in the gray crow’s dark mental world.
{Your previous perceptions were passive, grounded in the certainty that they would die. Now, take the initiative to experience it and see if you can detect the impending death aura from here.}
Death prelude…
Yang Zicang concentrated, activating the power of mental manifestation to perceive with focused intent.
Within this phantom constructed of countless slowly rotating wheels, the faint, elusive aura of the –death prelude- is constantly unfolding.
The phantom of the Demon Hero Hall moved haphazardly around him—left and right, up and down—but each attempt ended in failure.
–This is so difficult.-
{Take it slow; the more anxious you are, the farther you drift from it.}
The evening of the third day soon arrived.
After sitting motionless for several hours, Yang Zicang suddenly saw the phantom of the Demon Hero Hall, which had been shifting randomly beside him, accelerate like a swirling mist moving at great speed.
He sensed a fairly dense aura of the –Death Prologue.- In that instant, the gray crow’s claw, radiating even thicker misty energy, rested on the young man’s shoulder, helping him grasp that faint aura more smoothly.
The room swooshed past over a dozen massive demon-tooth pillars.
–Cheng Yunze?-
When he saw these people, Yang Zicang was slightly startled—was the Death Prologue related to them?
The giant mud-armored creature toppled with a thunderous crash under Zhang Zhiquan’s crimson fist.
Kong dong!
Just at that moment, another enormous demon-tooth mountain, enveloped in a force field, came slamming in, striking precisely where the phantom force field behind Yang Zicang had manifested.
The connecting force field between the two rooms shattered. In the newly rammed demon-tooth room, seven or eight people immediately readied their attacks.
In front of Cheng Yunze, the radiant skeleton standing in a stream-like pool of blood lifted its head to look at the new room.
— –Finally, we’re about to step onto the demon-tooth grindwheel of City 41. You lot over there, give us one yellow spike claw and we’ll let you go.-
Upon hearing this, the phantoms of the City 41 people behind Yang Zicang all started cursing, as if they had heard the most ridiculous thing.
And at that moment, the aura of the –Death Prologue- suddenly grew even denser.
–This is the feeling… Senior, they…-
Before the words had even faded, the skeleton creature composed of faint yellow light shot through Yang Zicang and the mountain crow like an arrow, then transformed into a streak of light charging toward the people of City 41.
Boom!
Its solid-seeming light claw lashed out, and in a flash of red light, two people were instantly decapitated.
Puff puff puff!
—-Ah! What kind of monster is this? Ugh~~-
The light skeleton, which had only been a punching bag in the grasp of the giant earth-bound spirit, now seemed like a god of death straight from the underworld.
In under five seconds, the last man clutching an iron spike crumpled to the ground, his eyes glazed over.
Yang Zicang stared blankly at the fallen men—not one of them had ever realized, until their dying breaths, that they had crossed the chief of City 23.
This squad had been a decently formidable force in City 41. They hadn’t been crushed by the Xiongying Group, nor conscripted as combatants for the headquarters—yet they perished here.
The phantom figures of Cheng Yunze and the others drifted over, pressing close to the sides of Yang Zicang and his companion.
— –Over there, that’s the room for City 41.–
— –Yang Zicang still hasn’t shown himself. Looks like we’ve got this fight in the bag.–
— –Hurry inside. The gear is about to start turning again.–
As they stepped inside, a voice echoed through the room of the Demon Tooth Mill in City 41.
— {You have entered the Competition City. Congratulations on qualifying for multiplied rebate financing.}
Cheng Yunze paused slightly, listening to the voice.
— {You will be watched by everyone in this world. Strive to become the strongest Chronos financier. All who invest in you will receive double returns from Virtual Zero Chronos.}
— –The one recognized by all as the strongest.-
Beside him, Cheng Yunze smiled as he gazed at the endless line of demon teeth ahead, his heart swelling with boundless pride.
And Yang Zicang, watching him, felt his heart grinding like between two millstones.
— –I hear the strongest team here is near the eye of the mill. Let’s go pay them a visit.-
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