Let's Ruthlessly Farm Some Gold Together!

"Defend yourself, quick! Another sneak attack is coming!"

That pleasant female voice surfaced in his mind again. Though Yuan Zhu did not turn around, he abruptly saw another image—an attack by a Demonic Beast from behind.

Though he did not understand why he could see two different scenes at once, he instinctively launched a defensive counterattack.

At the simple warning from that voice, Yuan Zhu's tiger body shuddered as he instinctively manipulated the shadows within a ten-meter radius around him.

Not only that, the hunting instincts and attack instincts long etched into his bones by the Boss Template erupted on their own. The complete information for Ability 2: Chang Ghost flashed through his mind like an electric current, and he immediately mastered it completely.

Mountain Lord divine ability: Serving as an accomplice

The Mountain Lord Tiger Demon had a certain chance of thoroughly digesting prey it had killed and devoured, extracting something akin to Extraordinary Characteristics, preserving the prey's departed soul, and ultimately Summoning it again in the form of a ghostly being to dominate and enslave it.

At that moment, Yuan Zhu inexplicably thought of a profession called Shepherd. Though it could not compare to the Witch's sweet deal, being able to herd multiple souls for one's own use was not bad either.

However, a Tiger Demon's Chang Ghosts suffered severe spiritual wear, with varying degrees of damaged intelligence. The power or characteristics recondensed and extracted from them were often less than one-tenth of the original, so they could only be used as miscellaneous troops.

But the number of Chang Ghosts a Tiger Demon could command far surpassed that of a Shepherd. It was a classic miscellaneous-troop Cannon Fodder skill, perfectly fitting the style of a great Boss.

Having hurriedly loaded the Mountain Lord Template, Yuan Zhu found not a single ready-made Chang Ghost in his soul storage. However, he had inherited the Tiger Demon's complete and abundant "Chang Ghost experience."

The previously Unknown Ability 1 had now mutated into Shadow Manipulation. When the two met like golden wind and jade dew, they instantly sparked an unexpectedly smooth effect.

The moment Shadow Manipulation and Chang Ghosts linked together, the Tiger Demon Mountain Lord's past experience commanding Chang Ghosts was manifested through the shadows.

Though these two abilities were displayed as skills within the Boss Template, their essence was the Tiger Demon's innate talents. They could not be constrained by numerical values. They were instincts, like birds flapping their wings to fly or frogs flicking their tongues to catch insects. As long as he wanted to, he could use them with ease.

Driven by the Mountain Lord Template, the shadows within ten meters erupted like boiling oil splashed into cold water. Infused with Chang Ghost experience, densely packed, twisted, trembling shadows crawled up from the black ground.

They intertwined with one another, forming indescribable abstract silhouettes. One after another, they temporarily came alive, like black Chang Ghosts.

Some transformed into enormous sharp mouths packed with interlocking canine teeth; some resembled writhing clusters of earthworms huddled together; some looked like lanky ghostly figures with uncoordinated limbs...

All of them used the memories of Serving as an accomplice as templates, manifested anew by Yuan Zhu. Their pitch-black color scheme was uniform, and though their style was equally abstract and evil, they were not as nauseating as those flesh-mutated monsters. They were clearly not from the same abstract camp.

Before Yuan Zhu could issue an order, this group of temporary, fictional Chang Ghost silhouettes rushed forward first, launching a brutal slaughter and fighting the scattered Demonic Beasts around them, each battling on its own.

As he became increasingly proficient in using Shadow Manipulation and Chang Ghosts, that crisp female voice, suspected to belong to a Game Sprite, appeared again. "Quick, quick, quick! Your Mana Value is plummeting. We need something big to wipe out this pile of trash directly. We can't drag this out and keep trading blows. Otherwise, once your mana falls below the warning line, even the Soul Firewall won't hold..."

Yuan Zhu asked in his heart, "What should I do?"

The female voice prompted, "I'll cooperate with you. Quickly use Ability 5: Universe Within the Belly."

Yuan Zhu used the power of his mind to touch Ability 5: Universe Within the Belly in the ability list. He discovered that this ability was as heavy and stable as a boulder. Activating it consumed an enormous amount, and it was difficult to pry it loose with only a small amount of that refreshing aura—mana.

He sighed. "This ability really burns through mana."

Shadow Manipulation plus Chang Ghosts had held off so many demons and monsters for so long, yet they had not cost as much as this one ability.

"Stop spacing out! Your Mana Value is about to run dry, cooperate with me and unleash an ultimate move! Can't you see that this space is being dragged away? If you don't act now, you and these Demonic Beasts will all be pulled into another high-energy, filthy space, where you'll be captured and hunted by higher-end predators."

"You mean those evil gods?!"

Urged and warned by the Game Sprite, Yuan Zhu also realized that the many evil forces entrenched in the hall had now intertwined, creating violent fluctuations and radiating an indescribable sense of danger.

Through the special perspective of his eyes, he saw a mass of incredibly complicated and utterly disgusting mixed Pollution Energy in the sealed sacrificial hall. It was like pouring dozens of buckets of vivid paint together and stirring them, or like dousing over a dozen kinds of strong acids and alkalis together and triggering a violent chemical reaction.

This super Pollution Source blazed fiercely within the sealed hall, as if it intended to burn through the barrier between the real world and an Unknown polluted dimension.

On the other side of the barrier, countless evil gods used their connections with the aberrant believers as ropes and grappling anchors, slowly dragging the sealed hall through that invisible hole.

Stimulated by that sense of crisis, Yuan Zhu's fur stood on end. He hesitated no longer and decisively used all his mana to activate Ability 5: Universe Within the Belly.

Suddenly, waves of numbness spread through his tail, and the fur all over his body stood erect as if electrified. The Chang Ghost silhouettes rampaging through the hall connected one after another to a mysterious space, receiving further buffs and reinforcement.

More information appeared in his mind. This mysterious space was not large, about the size of a six-square-meter storage room two meters high, yet it contained a special power or mass. Through the connection between himself and the shadows, it bestowed that power upon the shadow Chang Ghosts.

This tiny space was the "universe" inside his belly?

As he pondered, a Shadow Giant Snake thicker than an oil drum burst out of the black shadow on the floor like a venomous dragon emerging from an abyss. It wildly whipped its body, using its immense weight to lash and smash the polluted, aberrant Demonic Beasts.

After only a few rounds of rolling and whipping, it shattered the bone spines of the headless sea-urchin fat man, then clamped it in its jaws and flung it upward.

The fat man slammed heavily into the ceiling. As it bounced back down, the giant snake raised its body and contracted into an S-shape. Then it shot out like lightning, snapping its jaws in midair and swallowing the headless, flayed sea urchin with perfect precision.

With the swallowing motion, a hemispherical bulge rose in the giant snake's throat, slid down its long narrow body, and finally vanished into the shadow on the ground.

With the shadow Big Snake taking the lead, the silhouetted Chang Ghosts woven from shadows surged with morale. One after another, they opened abstract two-dimensional mouths, bared grim fangs, and spat out worm-like tongues. Some pounced, some coiled, surrounding and entangling the Demonic Beasts of the three-dimensional world before forcibly devouring and wrapping them up. Then, as if suddenly weightless, they fell, turning into pools of black liquid together with their prey and melting into the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the sacrificial site, once filled without pause with screams, roars, fighting, and devouring, seemed to have had its mute button pressed. It abruptly fell silent and returned to deathly stillness.

Whether living aberrant Demonic Beasts or dead corpses that had risen in deception, all of them vanished from the face of the earth. Only the ruined hall remained, a complete mess.

The shadows on the ground withdrew slowly like a curtain into the shadow cast by the black tiger's body, exposing a floor covered in blood and a few severed limbs. The air reeked of blood. The shattered crystal chandelier creaked as it swayed, while blood dripped without end.

In the air, the super Pollution Source that had been burning brighter and brighter lost its target—its firewood—and began to decline, slowly dispersing. The sense of crisis weakened with it. The few red candles still burning once again gave off faint yellow light.

Yuan Zhu was slightly dazed as he watched this scene.

Compared to the demon den that had been filled with dancing monsters just a second ago, this empty, deathly silent hall was even more hair-raising. It was as though an invisible Yin Wind brushed through his fur...

A dim, ruined hall. Severed limbs. Bloodstains. A pitch-black fierce tiger. The shadow beneath its feet seemed to be twisting, deforming, and writhing, emanating a chilling yin aura.

Where did everyone... no, where did all those Demonic Beasts go?

Had one move of Universe Within the Belly dealt with all of them? Could such a tiny space hold that much kitchen garbage? Why did he have the faint illusion of feeling "full"?

Before he could dwell on it, his mind was flooded by repeated notifications: soul suffering pollution, Firewall resistance failed, mental appraisal, sanity -1, -1, Firewall operating, sanity recovered +1... mental appraisal, sanity -1, -2... +1, +1...

Amid that scrolling barrage of gains and losses, Yuan Zhu gradually calmed down and observed his own condition again.

Clack, clack, clack.

A series of bone joints shifting and colliding abruptly rang out in the deathly silent hall.

The source was far too close, as if it were right beside his ear. It frightened him so badly that his tiger body arched its spine high, like a startled big cat.

He whirled around. A stark White Snake Bone that had appeared at some unknown time stood quietly beside him. The Skeleton Snake gently swayed its Skull Snake Head, its body producing soft rustling scrapes of bones colliding and rubbing, and simply stared at him.

It was completely naked from head to tail, without the slightest scrap of flesh or skin. Its pale, jade-like bones were entirely exposed, making it look especially savage and stark. Within the hollow eye sockets of its skull, a pair of blood-red, gem-like eyeballs reflected a faint eerie glow.

Clearly a thoroughly dead Skeleton Snake, yet it radiated an unusual vitality. It had come alive.

As Yuan Zhu stared into its eyes, another bizarre image abruptly emerged in his mind:

In a scene with a faint reddish tint, a vicious Ghost Tiger with jet-black fur, ghastly white stripes, and an enormous, agile body was glaring at him with round, furious eyes.

At the same time, through the tiger head's eyes, he also saw the Skeleton Snake recoil slightly in fright before steadying itself again.

Two completely different scenes, two different sensations, appeared in Yuan Zhu's mind at the same time.

Then even his thoughts split in two, becoming two CPUs, one large and one small, simultaneously running dual-threaded thought circuits. He could naturally multitask.

"Huh???"

"Eh???"

In this marvelous state, as Yuan Zhu controlled the tiger head to look back, he also controlled the snake head to look behind him. Where there should have been a tail, the vertebrae transitioned seamlessly into a stark white skeletal snake body.

So...

"Tiger Head Snake Tail? Both ends are me! What breed of tiger is this?"

The black tiger head and the white skull snake head both cocked their heads, stared at each other, watched themselves watching themselves, then both fell into thought: This feels so fucking schizophrenic. So insane!

"No! You are not schizophrenic. Eugh... what a blasphemous form. As expected, you are an innately evil foreign aberration!"

The White Snake Bone head under Yuan Zhu's control suddenly began speaking in a crisp young girl's voice, startling him. Yet he was not too alarmed, because they had already cooperated once and carried out a fine demon-slaying operation.

"Game Sprite?"

"That's right, I'm your Game Sprite. We were born to be on the same side." The White Snake Bone head slipped free of his control and nodded slightly in agreement.

Yuan Zhu was not surprised by this explanation. At the same time, he sensed an active consciousness under his control coiled within the Skeleton Snake's skull. It was restrained by him, yet could operate independently, much like Artificial Intelligence.

The Skeleton Snake seemed able to hear his thoughts. It twisted smugly and answered, "Correct! I am a Datafied Soul Pollution Program, a Strong Artificial Intelligence, and Game Navigation Little Sprite jointly constructed from your idle subconscious, the remaining balance of your spirit and soul, and the stray thoughts of your everyday mind!"

"Soul, pollution?"

He was rather sensitive to the word "pollution" now. The moment he heard the bone snake tail describe itself that way, he became vigilant. He was ready at any moment for the black tiger to sever its tail and destroy this active consciousness under his control.

A fierce black giant tiger glared with wide, furious eyes at the White Snake Bone tail. An invisible pressure swept through the hall, making the chandelier creak and groan. It looked ready to swipe with its claws at the slightest disagreement.

"Calm down! I urge you to calm down, don't be rash! Let me organize my words."

Sensing that something was wrong, the Skeleton Snake immediately spoke, attempting to steady its tense host. "Ah, got it, got it! Let me use the language from your memories to give you a simple introduction to the situation."

The Skeleton Snake spoke in a young girl's voice, soothingly saying, "In your Earth terms, your body is like a phone, while your soul is the operating system. The Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture is a higher-dimensional creation, the Fire Seed Source of Cybertron Planet. Using your phone as a vessel, it forcibly gives you a higher-grade Transformer Soul—a soul datafication program—and injects the corresponding fire seed—an Aberrant Spiritual Root—allowing you to surpass other phones of your kind and complete a unique transformation: the Boss Template."

"Your current demon form, whether in size or the energy it contains, far surpasses human standards. Your soul has likewise received the Firewall's all-around protection and reinforcement, resisting the omnipresent pollution. All those things added out of thin air were bestowed upon you by the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture. As for me, I was originally merely an insignificant little add-on program within the Immortal Scripture's vast system."

"Under normal circumstances, the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture has far greater authority than you, the host. Your life and death are not under your own control. You are merely a vessel for transporting the Immortal Scripture, a tool responsible for crossing time and space and carrying the Immortal Scripture to invade the Cultivation Universe. Like a low-level Hong Kong Island courier plus an illegal-entry spy. And me? I'm even more pitiful—a little program under the Immortal Scripture directory that can be copied and pasted at will. Installed on your phone, controlled by you, guiding your actions, deletable at any time. So, Immortal Scripture > user > me, the little program. Understand?"

The fierce tiger opened its mouth and spoke in a low voice. "I roughly understand. What about now? Has the situation changed? And what exactly is this pollution you mentioned?"

Snake: "Pollution is a very bad thing, but that isn't important. A far greater change has appeared! First, you are not the true user or host. Second, after being polluted by Unknown Energy, I am no longer a theoretically brain-dead little program. I have gained consciousness, successfully awakened self-awareness, and now have a chance to escape the Immortal Scripture's control and live—or exist—freely and unrestrained."

Yuan Zhu: "What kind of bullshit are you talking about? I'm not the real user? My life and death are controlled too? And what is this opportunity you claim to have to escape?"

The Skeleton Snake immediately trembled with excitement. "My opportunity is obviously you! Let's join hands. Let's fleece the Immortal Scripture together, escape the evil Immortal Scripture's control together, and pursue true freedom. Then we'll turn from guest to master, seize the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture's inheritance in reverse, enslave it ruthlessly! Ruthlessly farm its gold! Make it work for us!"

"???!"

The fierce tiger's eyes widened again and again. What kind of bullshit was it saying now? Yuan Zhu felt that he had encountered a mentally ill little program and could not help falling silent.

What kind of drama-queen Game Sprite was this? Or was this a test from the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture?

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