Curtain of Flesh and Blood III

Yuan paused for only a moment, then continued dissecting as if nothing had happened, channeling his spiritual consciousness to make the silver ring fly up and into the combat backpack on his back.

No one noticed Yuan's small movement; although he lacked much experience, that did not mean he was ignorant.

What could be the value of a ring that required such calculated effort to be hidden inside the belly of a Desolate Beast for transport? It went without saying!

He would not be foolish enough to tell anyone else; an innocent man is innocent, but holding a jade ring is a crime!

One had to know that the Space Ring in the hands of Shenghui and his group alone was worth far more than the total assets of all other "Starship Humans" combined!

This even included the total value of all the treasure lists that Shenghui provided to other juniors in the village to exchange for accumulated contribution points!

Because Shenghui favored Yuan's talent, he was building a good relationship—a tacit understanding that everyone kept to themselves.

In reality, their "Starship Human" village did not have to pay much in terms of substance, so why not do it?

But if the existence of the ring were known to Shenghui and his group, Yuan would have only one path: death! There was no second possibility!

Otherwise, would they really use the village's entire treasury to trade for it? Or would they risk offending an Isis Race genius to keep the Space Ring for themselves?

Those who are not of our race must have a different heart!

One had to know that within the Isis Race, there had once been long-term, devastating turmoil caused simply by differences in skin and hair color.

Not to mention the "Starship Humans," who came from the other side of deep space and merely looked very similar to the Isis Race!

Yuan's speed was a bit slower, but he still finished his work before everyone else had finished collecting the furs.

Under Shenghui's command, he left the battlefield with the others...

Dongyuan Planet - Northern Rock Federation, Yuan Territory -

Eisenwell Defense Line - "Biweituo" City Ruins -

Central Sacrificial Altar Ruins - Lava Heart

How does one quickly exterminate an alien race? Answer: The Void Immortal Divine Power of an Immortal God!

The fate of the once-thriving rock-based Northern Rock Race was sealed the moment several Immortal God Lords of the Light-Deriving Snake arrived.

There were trillions of Northern Rock Race lives, humanoid beings seven to eight meters tall made of blue-gray rock.

Whether they were World Rank powerhouses or fragile Apprentice Rank beings, whether they were cultivating at the time or gestating their young...

When the Void Immortal Divine Power of the Immortal God Lords swept through, every single member of the Northern Rock Race had their life fire extinguished in that instant!

Once the extermination operation began, it was already over!

What remained was the carnival of the Universe Rank, Domain Lord Rank, and World Rank Light-Deriving Snakes...

The Central Sacrificial Altar was the most sacred place in every city of the Northern Rock Race, housing various strange cultivation treasures left behind by the Northern Rock Race's former Immortal God Lords for their geniuses to cultivate.

The Lava Heart was one such treasure, located in the underground dozens of kilometers beneath the sacrificial altar, transformed from a dead star core like a miniature sun.

It was perfect for Northern Rock Race juniors with fire-attribute Genetic Origin Energy to cultivate their artistic conceptions and comprehend the fire domain.

Because it was sufficiently hidden, located deep underground, and masked by the special fluctuations of the Lava Heart.

After the Light-Deriving Snake extermination operation, hundreds of survivors remained in this place.

For the countless millennia that followed, even though the outside had become a wasteland, they had to be extremely cautious and could not go out.

Beneath the Lava Heart, they built a small refuge city.

There is no need to elaborate on how bitter and deep their hatred was...

In a spacious hall lit by several bright fluorescent stones, a rock giant, thicker than the average Northern Rock Race member, stood at the head and roared loudly.

The booming voice caused the entire hall to tremble slightly: "What a great idea you all came up with! Using tamed Desolate Beasts to transport resources, and what was the result?!"

The other rock giants standing below were frightened into silence, inwardly grumbling: If you hadn't nodded and agreed, this plan wouldn't have been implemented. Now that there's a problem, you turn around and hold us accountable!

The burly rock giant actually understood this in his heart; the loss was simply too great.

Not to mention the large-capacity Space Ring, all the treasure resources intended for exchange with other Northern Rock Race survivors were also lost.

He would have to prepare another portion for the original trade, and he felt as if his core were bleeding.

One of the rock giants standing below gritted his teeth and stepped out: "I secretly left a spiritual imprint on the Tier 3 Origin Energy Weapon that was traded away."

"Perhaps it was just a common struggle between Desolate Beasts; I can use the sensing ability to find the ring. It might still be at the scene!"

"No!" The rock giant at the head refused decisively: "We cannot risk losing another clansman to do this!"

Even if the Light-Deriving Snakes in the wilderness saw their mortal enemies, the Isis Race humans, they would not necessarily pursue them relentlessly; after all, killing the small ones might attract the big ones.

But if they saw Northern Rock Race survivors, they would definitely call their friends and come to exterminate them completely!!

Not to mention the threat of Desolate Beasts.

"Common Desolate Beasts would not be interested in the sour, foul-smelling meat of the Iron-Backed Hyena Rat pack, and the speed of an average Earth Rank beast is far inferior to them, while those at the Flying Star Rank or above look down on them!"

"So it is very likely that a powerhouse was bringing their juniors along, happened to encounter the Iron-Backed Hyena Rat pack, and killed them all to hone their juniors!"

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author; perhaps it just changed its name!

The survivors of the Northern Rock Race were not stupid; they guessed the truth almost perfectly in the blink of an eye, but unfortunately, they still had no way to deal with it.

A Northern Rock Race member below suggested: "Why don't we continue to send tamed Desolate Beasts to scout? Perhaps we can still recover the ring from the remains of the corpses."

"Even if we can't find it, we might be able to uncover some clues. Who knows, we might even track down what kind of entity dropped the ring!"

"I agree. That's much safer than wandering around aimlessly and risking discovery by a Light-Deriving Snake!"

With no better options available, the plan was settled just like that...

Late at night, at the temporary camp of the Starship Humans hunting team, everyone was busy recovering the Genetic Origin Energy they had exhausted during the day, resting briefly before continuing their hunt through the night.

Meanwhile, Yuan was inwardly calculating and anticipating what might be inside the ring, and how he could reasonably take items out to trade with the Starship Humans for high-grade energy to try and restore the Purple Crystal in his mind.

The Purple Crystal was his greatest trump card! If only there were high-grade energy ores inside the ring!

Although Yuan was preoccupied with the ring, he still rested and recovered as usual on the surface.

Thinking back to how he still hadn't managed to cultivate the first layer of dark force for his Dieguang Sword, he felt a secret sense of urgency.

Could it be that I truly lack talent for cultivation? Was it only because of the Purple Crystal that I was able to comprehend the Light Artistic Conception? Yuan shook his head to stop the thoughts and lay down on the grass to rest.

Combat was indeed the best whetstone for a warrior. After several days of tempering, Yuan had steadily reached the peak of Earth Rank Tier 3 as both a warrior and a Spirit Reader, and he could break through at any moment.

His practical combat ability had also improved significantly. Aside from the lack of blue scales on his cheeks, he looked no different from an ordinary Starship Human youth.

Most of his spoils were kept with Shenghui, a small portion was in his own backpack, and the ring was hidden at the very bottom of his personal bag.

He didn't know if Shenghui and Sijian, who were Universe Rank powerhouses nearby, would notice it, so he had to refrain from investigating it.

After venturing deep into the jungle, the Earth Rank members stopped hunting because the number of Flying Star Rank Desolate Beasts began to increase here!

Moving cautiously along the way, dodging over ten times and killing countless powerful Desolate Beasts, the hunting team finally arrived at their first destination.

At the edge of the Arbor Forest lay Xingduo Lake, a lake circled by Universe Rank Desolate Beasts.

Spanning several thousand kilometers, it was named after the Xingduo Gold, a D3-grade metal often used by Domain Lord Rank powerhouses, which had been found there.

Shenghui and Sijian took most of the Flying Star Rank members, left the main group, and boarded Yuan's Action Mecha to venture deeper into Xingduo Lake for their adventure.

As for the other Earth Rank members, they found places to hide by the lakeside under the protection of a few Flying Star Rank members.

Everyone climbed to the tops of the trees and found branches to rest on, only then relaxing slightly.

"Everyone, be careful. A Desolate Beast could pop out from anywhere around this lake," a Flying Star Rank member warned.

Yuan, however, felt a surge of joy among the crowd; he finally had the chance to investigate that ring!

Several days ago, he had found a few Flying Star Rank members and experienced what it felt like to operate a Storage Belt.

"You just need to permeate a sliver of spiritual consciousness into it and let your spiritual imprint merge with it. You only need to do this once; you won't need to again," the Flying Star Rank member had said with a smile.

"Spiritual imprint?" Yuan asked, confused. "How do I do that?"

"Dummy," the Flying Star Rank member said, speechless. "A spiritual imprint—no matter how strong a person's soul becomes, the essence of the soul will always have slight differences!

"No two souls are exactly the same. Just permeate your spiritual consciousness into it! Don't worry about anything else!"

"Oh!" Yuan moved his mind, and a sliver of spiritual consciousness quickly traveled along his arm, entered his finger, and permeated the Storage Belt.

The Storage Belt underwent a subtle change, and in just a moment, Yuan had the sensation that the Storage Belt had become an extension of his own limbs.

He didn't even need spiritual consciousness to clearly know everything inside the Storage Belt.

He saw a cube with three-meter-long sides, a space filled with various materials, and the feeling of being able to retrieve items at any time was truly miraculous.

Yuan found a secluded branch to sit on, one from which he could still observe the movements toward the lake, and lowered his head, pretending to close his eyes and meditate.

He then probed his spiritual consciousness into his backpack, took out the ring, and held it in his palm.

When he tried to probe it with his spiritual power, he encountered significant resistance. He tried to break through this layer of resistance, but it had no effect at all!

Yuan wasn't surprised; the ring clearly had an owner!

For a ring to have a spiritual imprint that even he, a Spirit Reader, couldn't break through without the owner's support, the original owner must have been at least a Universe Rank powerhouse.

Due to some reason, they couldn't move about on the wasteland, and it was only through this adventurous method that Yuan had stumbled upon such a massive windfall!

Following the method he had learned from the Flying Star Rank powerhouse, Yuan imagined his spiritual power as a drill and slowly began to wear down the original owner's spiritual imprint.

As the spiritual imprint was slowly worn away, Yuan simply slid the ring, which was much thicker than his finger, onto his thumb.

Silently and seamlessly, it flowed like mercury and merged into his skin. Yuan felt a chill, and then the ring on his finger vanished completely.

Yuan: "..."

Sensing that the ring was still there, Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. The difficulty of crafting a "Space Ring" was immense, and it was considered a luxury item in the universe.

This Space Ring is made of a strange material; it can actually merge into my skin, Yuan marveled inwardly.

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