Surging Oddities

In the room by the window on the second floor, Tang Qi watched Stana leave.

The tall, beautiful Police Chief had secretly kept two of his Furnace Bullets, which Tang Qi, of course, knew from the start.

The first time the Dugong Sea Demon attacked, Tang Qi had pulled the Police Chief under the table and quickly arranged the layout. Of the nine Furnace Bullets he had just made, six were loaded into Blood Python No. 1, and the rest were given to Stana.

One shot used to buy time consumed one bullet.

The remaining two naturally ended up in Stana's hands.

Although the Furnace Bullets were precious, having been soaked in his own blood, using them to build a little goodwill and prepare for future plans was well worth it.

What truly concerned Tang Qi was the treasure map he had sent away through Stana.

[Mystical Item: The Penitent's Treasure Map]

[Information Fragment: This is a map depicting all the monasteries and churches established by Saint Penitent, Martin Sims, one of the Twelve Saints. Legend has it that Sims's inheritance is contained within one of these monasteries. Using this treasure map, which has been soaked in the Church of Light's holy water, may have a chance of triggering the inheritance.]

Even just looking at the information fragment, one could tell this was a valuable treasure map.

But Tang Qi still sent it away without hesitation. The reason was simple.

Besides the first information fragment, there was a second.

[Information Fragment Two: This map is numbered forty-two and is detectable.]

This was why Tang Qi knew the map was real but still sent it away.

A numbered treasure map?

Even a simple person would sense something was off.

Much less Tang Qi, who immediately smelled a hint of conspiracy.

At this moment, he had a vague guess.

Perhaps the inheritance of that esteemed Penitent was hidden within St. Thorn High School.

Besides the treasure map, a more important piece of evidence was a diary.

Old Morgan's Diary clearly recorded the fact that his mother, a powerful expert with extremely high attainments in Dark Witchcraft, had nearly perished while exploring Thorn High School.

Unfortunately, knowing this wasn't of much use to Tang Qi.

In fact, as early as the first day of school, Tang Qi had followed Pastor Sinbani, using the guise of renting a house to browse the entire campus, including areas most likely to contain a church or a school history exhibit.

Regrettably, he found nothing.

This was normal; Tang Qi didn't believe such legendary power would be easily found.

After all, in various legendary accounts, the combat power of His Excellency Saint Penitent, in Tang Qi's understanding, was roughly comparable to that of a god.

Now, after seeing that numbered map, Tang Qi was even more certain.

He was definitely not the only person or force searching for the Penitent's inheritance.

Behind this, perhaps a massive web of conspiracy was slowly unfolding, and everyone dominated by greed would be ensnared within it, unable to escape.

However, he would not be among them.

Tang Qi silently thought in his heart.

After Stana left, Tang Qi completely ceded the first floor to the police cleaning up the mess, moving some essential items along with his workbench to the study on the second floor.

Before tonight, Tang Qi's plan was routine training and making bullets.

But now, things were different.

Besides those two extraordinary spoils of war, the gains from devouring the Dugong Sea Demon also needed Tang Qi to properly digest them at this time.

After putting everything away, Tang Qi set up a little alert at the second-floor stairwell, locked the door, and immediately entered a state of cultivation.

Tang Qi's cultivation sequence naturally began with the Golden Furnace Meditation Method. Before obtaining other cultivation methods, this was his only one. The vast mental power gave Tang Qi a clear mind and the increasingly powerful Furnace Eyes.

As for other methods, Tang Qi was still exploring.

Second was the Chaga Combat Technique, but that fighting technique primarily required experiencing battles to quickly increase progress.

As usual, with the Meditation Method transformed into a skill, Tang Qi simply had to think about it to immerse himself within.

"Buzz"

"Whoosh~"

The golden sun outlined by his thoughts hung in the void of dark space. All sorts of bizarre and grotesque things surged towards it like moths to a flame, then were burned to ashes by the golden flames. The golden light particles, like dust, merged into the gray mist space in Tang Qi's mind.

Initially, it was like this, no different from the previous times he had cultivated.

According to habit, after an hour, Tang Qi would feel a burning sting in his mind, and at this point, he would have to stop cultivating.

But this time, it was different.

After an hour passed, not only did Tang Qi not feel the sting, but at this moment, an unexpected change appeared in his mind.

"Buzz~ Boom"

Suddenly, Tang Qi's cultivation rhythm was broken by the surging influx of bizarre and grotesque things.

When cultivating the Meditation Method, Tang Qi would see all sorts of oddities, such as black mist, the shadows of roaring monsters, strange seas of flowers... Although it was slightly different each time, the quantity remained at a certain level.

But this time, that level suddenly skyrocketed.

Previous cultivation experiences could be described like this: Tang Qi, as a transformed sun, was in a sealed space with only a tiny crack leading to a bizarre universe, and those strange entities surged in through the crack.

Now, that crack had widened.

Strange entities, at least double the previous amount, surged in.

In an instant, Tang Qi felt as if his entire being had fallen into a spacetime black hole. He saw the strange entities from before, and at the same time, he saw more terrifying ones: distorted auroras, blood-red gaping mouths, wriggling tentacles, seductive whispers... Any one of them could make an ordinary person scream madly and fall into terror.

Although he was suddenly facing a drastic change, Tang Qi knew very well that he couldn't scream or fall into fear at this moment, otherwise the consequences would be severe.

Tang Qi struggled to stay calm. He imagined himself as a primitive teenage boy from an ancient era, holding a stone, his fingers stained with golden mud, outlining that dazzling symbol stroke by stroke, occasionally looking up to feel that warmth, that scorching heat.

As he drew, the golden sun in the dark void suddenly extended more golden flames, carrying a kind of pure distortion, primitive and natural, burning all the surging monsters into nothingness, leaving behind only specks of golden light like dust.

Bang~ Bang bang

Without Tang Qi noticing, the mental space in his mind began to expand again. The number of golden light specks, like fireflies drifting in the grey mist, had unknowingly increased by more than half.

Phew~

When he felt the stinging sensation and woke up again, a ray of sunlight happened to fall on him.

Another night had passed?

Tang Qi was very surprised, and then immediately looked at his sea of consciousness.

The expanding area of golden light specks immediately came into view. The battle that had caused him serious injuries last night had not only left no aftereffects, but had also increased his strength once again.

At this moment, he felt so mentally full that he didn't need a mirror to tell; he felt like his eyes were probably really going to glow.

His gaze swept over himself, and a special interface similar to personal attributes appeared.

The skills section had changed again.

It was still the three skills: Meditation Method, Furnace Eyes, and Chaga Combat Technique.

But when Tang Qi's gaze moved over them, detailed information immediately popped up.

[Furnace Eyes: Derivative skill, activated through the eyes, possesses deterrence and calming effects, can be further upgraded, Realm: Beginner, Progress: 0.1%.]

[Chaga Combat Technique: Primitive and ancient combat technique, Realm: Beginner, Progress: 0.15%.]

These two skills were unchanged from before.

What truly surprised Tang Qi was his main cultivation method.

His gaze swept over it, and what popped up was:

[Golden Furnace Meditation Method: An incredibly ancient meditation method, it can bring you unimaginable power, Realm: Beginner, Progress: 0.3%.]

The progress had directly increased by zero point one percent.

This was the result of just one night's cultivation.

One must know that before devouring the Dugong Sea Demon, Tang Qi had diligently cultivated and even devoured the vengeful spirit of a Bronx Dog-Faced Man, yet his progress was only 0.01%.

Devouring the Sea Demon's soul only increased his progress by twenty times.

And last night's cultivation results had actually increased his progress by another point, so it was no wonder Tang Qi was so surprised.

At this moment, Tang Qi even had the urge to drop out of school directly and cultivate desperately.

Fortunately, his rationality suppressed this thought.

Recalling the scenes from last night's meditation cultivation, the strange entities that were much more turbulent than before made Tang Qi vaguely understand something, and a trace of solemnity unconsciously crept onto his face.

Is this Meditation Method more rewarding the further I go, but also more dangerous?

Or is it because of the drastic changes in this world that it has become like this?

If I had fallen into fear at that time, what would have happened...?

Tang Qi didn't speculate, but he knew that if he fell into fear and chaos during meditation, he would definitely encounter something incredibly terrifying.