Curtain of Flesh and Blood VI

Tuya and Kato chatted with them just like normal intelligent beings, possessing their own joys, sorrows, likes, and dislikes.

But in reality, they could only be considered intelligent programs; all their quasi-intelligent behaviors were merely logical imitations, and they could not be classified as true intelligent life.

Only after acquiring sufficient computing power, spending long years interacting with true intelligent beings, and experiencing enough stories, could they eventually cross that line.

Only then, by possessing their own true, independent consciousness and being acknowledged by the universe, could they become intelligent life capable of cultivation and growth!

Yuan had the remaining four optical brain armbands recognize him as their master one by one, obtaining some information about this ring from them. He had Tuya translate it into the Isis Race language before reviewing it.

This was a trade item between various survivor settlements after the Northern Rock Race "Great Extinction," and for the sake of safety, the information was written quite cryptically.

According to Yuan's understanding of the information, this was likely a collection of treasures gathered by a certain settlement, intended to purchase the special life form known as Yinluo.

It was the initial deposit provided for the sake of a peerless genius recognized among the settlements, to be used as a vessel for soul possession.

The entire text was filled with "fancy" praise for this settlement genius, calling them the hope of the race, a savior, and so on...

They hoped that the settlement providing Yinluo would be willing to lower the "cost" a bit more...

Soul possession, a clone—I can understand the literal meaning; it's equivalent to having an extra life! Yuan felt a bit envious of this so-called "genius."

"As for what this special life form 'Yinluo' actually is?" Tuya searched through the latest updated data but found no relevant records.

"It truly deserves its price for being something that can serve as a clone for others; it's so expensive! A ring full of treasures like this is actually just a deposit!"

This meant that if the transaction were completed, the purchasing party would still need to provide at least four times the value of this ring in the future.

Additionally, Yuan found a complete list of the "deposit," which, when translated, revealed the names and values of various treasures.

Unfortunately, among these high-end treasures, there were none that Yuan was already familiar with, so he couldn't determine the exchange rate against Isis Race currency.

Aside from the names and values, there was no more detailed information. Yuan felt a bit helpless: "Not a single piece of useful information; these Northern Rock Race survivors are truly cautious."

As for the intelligent programs inside the four optical brain armbands, unlike the previous Kato, their emotional expressions were much more vivid than ordinary intelligent programs, yet they were also strangely odd.

Although information related to the settlements had been deleted, one of the intelligences still revealed that the survivor settlement was called "Lava Heart," for which it was mocked and ridiculed by the remaining three as a traitor!

Yuan shook his head speechlessly, thinking: They sure have a lot of drama. You are my servants now! Perhaps it is precisely because of this 'vividness' that they were added to the trade list as a throw-in.

Yuan followed the same procedure, finding a few instruments to upload and "seal" them one by one; keeping them might prove useful in the future...

With Tuya's computing power increased, it still had no way to deal with the D9-class Spaceship parked nearby in standby mode, and Yuan could only helplessly abandon this shortcut once again...

Time flew by. Although Yuan's group encountered Flying Star Rank beast herds many times, they relied on the rich wilderness survival skills of the Starship Humans to avoid them without incident.

The days of hiding and dodging around Xingduo Lake soon came to an end.

Shenghui, Sijian, and their group found Yuan's party with complex emotions of joy mixed with sorrow; they had left with 14 people, but only 12 returned!

Shenghui said with a complex expression: "The harvest from this hunt is huge; the resources we obtained are enough for our village to live in peace for a hundred years!"

"Duoyu and Shangyu sacrificed themselves to cover their teammates... Let us pay our respects..."

Everyone gathered together to hold a simple memorial ceremony belonging to the Starship Humans, expressing their respect for the two.

This was the first time Yuan had experienced the death of people around him in the wilderness, but seeing that the others didn't show too much sorrow and continued to strive for life, he felt a strange sensation in his heart.

Hearing that Yuan had mastered a domain, both Shenghui and Sijian revealed rare smiles. What did it mean for a Planet Rank to comprehend a domain?

In the future universe genius battles, among the countless geniuses from every universe nation, only a very small fraction comprehended domains at the Star Rank stage.

The more Shenghui looked at Yuan, the more satisfied he became; he almost wanted to find a girl to marry him off to, just to make him a son-in-law of the "Starship Humans." Unfortunately, their races were different, and not everyone had the interest or courage to be a 'Romeo'...

Sijian sent some insights on domain cultivation and application to Yuan, then said: "A domain can be simply understood as a gift from the universe to geniuses with a certain level of talent."

"You don't need to master the profound principles of how a domain operates to be able to manifest it through your own insights."

"It's just like driving a land vehicle; you don't need to master how the engine works. You only need to know a few simple functions like starting, turning, and stopping!"

Yuan nodded to show he understood: "So a domain is like driving a car; you just need to master how to activate, expand, contract, and deactivate it, right?"

Sijian laughed: "Exactly, that's a great summary. You already know how to activate it."

"The rest is to use your weapon as a medium and set 'valves' on the Genetic Origin Energy circulation paths within your body. The specific method is as follows..."

Yuan stepped back several dozen meters and, following Sijian's method, simulated a "valve" within his body to control the flow of energy. Soon, he was able to control his domain with ease.

Shenghui, standing to the side, praised: "Your comprehension is excellent. Back when I first realized my Water Domain, it took me a long time to truly master it."

Yuan subconsciously acted humble, but he was immediately criticized by everyone, especially the group of Earth Rank Level 9 youths; being too humble felt a bit like showing off.

Yuan was left between laughter and tears. In fact, what he didn't know was that in the entire known history of the "Starship Humans," the number of geniuses who comprehended a domain at the Planet Rank could be counted on one hand.

Sijian added at the end: "You are only at the first stage of the domain now, and your endurance at Earth Rank Level 3 is a bit lacking. Once you are proficient in using the domain, you will be able to control it freely without the need for imaginary 'valves'."

Yuan nodded and cupped his hands to thank these people for their guidance.

Shenghui simply waved his hand, then said with a sigh: "You don't need to be so polite. To be honest, it is our honor to be able to meet the peerless genius of the Isis Race in this era!"

At this, Yuan was truly surprised. He hadn't realized the severity of the "problem" before; how many "flattering remarks" had he heard since he was a child?

He knew he was considered a genius, but "the peerless genius of this era"?? Had they made a mistake?

As Shenghui issued the order to return, Yuan stopped overthinking it, packed his few belongings, and left, blending into the middle of the team.

On the return journey, he, who had previously only been able to coast along as an Earth Rank Level 3, had now transformed into a main force of the Earth Rank team.

Under the control of his domain, few Earth Rank Level 9 Desolate Beasts could withstand a single blow from Yuan!

Following long-term specialized training, Yuan's strength as a martial artist had already far surpassed his strength as a Spirit Reader.

One must know, it is usually the Spirit Reader who can fight across ranks, or even one person ganging up on a crowd of martial artists...

The return journey was swift, and within a few days, the great canyon where the Starship Humans village was located could already be seen in the distance.

No one noticed that a flying Desolate Beast, only a few centimeters long, had been watching them from not far away, seeing them all the way to the great canyon before flapping its wings and flying away at high speed...

Upon returning to the Starship Humans village, the villagers held a memorial ceremony, but there was more joy regarding the massive harvest Shenghui and the others had brought back.

Yet, Yuan vaguely felt that the people in the village seemed to be training even harder, as if influenced by an invisible force...

Just like that, having experienced his first foray into the wilderness, Yuan took root here.

It was as if Yuan had returned to the life before he turned eighteen, living a routine of training between his home and the Martial Arts Hall every day.

The only thing that left Yuan and everyone else speechless was that as his comprehension of the Light Domain deepened, Yuan quickly cultivated the domain to the third rank, and his Spirit Reader level also broke through to the fourth rank.

In terms of comprehensive strength, as the bonus to movement speed and attack power from the domain continued to grow, Yuan was already able to trade blows with experts whose strength was suppressed to the fourth rank of the Flying Star Rank!

However, Yuan still could not cultivate the first layer of hidden force for the Die Feng Sword Art!

Although the Die Feng Sword Art was a wind-attribute secret manual, it only meant that people with wind attributes would find it easier to comprehend the artistic conception and cultivate the laws; as for the martial technique itself, anyone could cultivate and improve it.

Shenghui: "Truly bizarre!"

Yuan: "Truly f*cking bizarre!"

Yuan simply stopped dwelling on it. Returning to the cave where he lived, he took out a high-grade energy stone from his spatial ring and channeled the energy into his sea of consciousness, only for it to be actively absorbed by the Purple Crystal!

Yuan could not help but be ecstatic. If he were still with the Isis Race, he might have hesitated about waking the Purple Crystal, or even tried to find a way to remove it from his sea of consciousness.

But in his current state, where life and death were out of his control, he had no better options.

As the high-grade energy was continuously absorbed by the Purple Crystal, Yuan felt that the rotation speed of the crystal was actually slowly increasing! There was hope for the Purple Crystal to awaken!

Although Yuan was still a novice who had just entered the world of the strong, he had always been smart enough to understand that survival came first; if his life were gone, nothing else would have any meaning.

"Still haven't found the target who took the ring?"

"Yes. Through an analysis of life activity signs within a radius of twenty thousand kilometers on the day the Iron-Backed Hyena Rat pack was wiped out, we have identified thirty-four groups of suspects."

"Any discoveries?"

"No, not yet. These targets basically encompass most of the intelligent species on Dongyuan Planet."

"Currently, we haven't seen anything unusual... The search difficulty is quite high... It is possible that one of the intelligent species picked it up and concealed it..."

"Useless! Leave a portion of our forces to investigate slowly; we have plenty of time..."

"Yes!"