Caution

"So this is the Blood Luo Crystal?"

Qin Ming toyed with a long, triangular prism-shaped crystal.

It was completely crystalline, blood-red, slightly translucent, faintly emitting wave after wave of an intangible pulse, like the beating of a heart.

Whoosh!

With a wave of his hand, the corpses of the Lord of Lingbi City and his minions on the ground vanished entirely.

Then, his pupils narrowed slightly. The power of the laws of space and time surged silently, enveloping the entire bloody village ruin.

The blood on the ground seeped rapidly into the earth, evaporating as if time were flowing backward. The collapsed building debris turned to dust and scattered with the wind.

The traces of battle were quickly smoothed away... In a short moment, this land that had just experienced a massacre was restored to a relatively "clean" flat ground, as if the tragic scene had never occurred.

Swoosh!

Having done all this, Qin Ming's figure vanished into thin air.

Ten days later.

Qin Ming's figure silently reappeared at the edge of this flat ground, where a few tender blades of grass had already sprouted.

His gaze swept the surroundings, and his soul power meticulously probed every inch of land, every wisp of air, not even sparing the deep underground or the microscopic particle level.

"It seems I was overthinking things. In this world, how many 'protagonist templates' could there be—those who 'return from the dead,' 'stumble upon treasures,' or 'suffer great grievances and ultimately turn the tables'?" Qin Ming mused inwardly, letting out a slight sigh of relief.

The child's dying accusation, filled with resentment, had put Qin Ming on high alert.

In his past life, he had read too many similar novel tropes: the villain thinks he's eliminated the threat, only to leave behind an insignificant "protagonist" who grows strong and turns the tables.

To avoid becoming that kind of "classic villain," Qin Ming had taken the most thorough measures.

Not only had he physically erased all traces, but he had also abandoned the idea of immediately testing the Blood Luo Crystal. Instead, he had forcibly concealed his presence near this area and lurked for a full ten days!

He needed to confirm whether there were any so-called "accidental survivors," "hidden observers," or someone with a "return from the dead" protagonist template.

Fortunately, these ten days had been calm.

There was no abnormal soul fluctuation, no mysterious inheritance light descending, no passing old master, and not even a slightly stronger Desolate Beast approaching this area.

"Caution is always good." Qin Ming no longer lingered.

He turned, chose a direction, and with a few flickers of his figure, vanished from this region.

Now, it was time to find an absolutely safe place to thoroughly study the Blood Luo Crystal.

Having found a secluded spot, Qin Ming sat down cross-legged.

His fingers were like blades, with his primal power concentrated at the tips, as he lightly sliced across the palm of his left hand.

Chi!

A wound deep enough to show bone appeared, and bright red blood immediately gushed out.

Qin Ming took a deep breath and, without hesitation, pressed the triangular prism-shaped Blood Luo Crystal onto the wound.

The fusion method was simple, but success depended on the bearer's body and will.

The moment the Blood Luo Crystal touched the blood!

Hum!

An intangible yet wildly ferocious and extreme strange energy, like a peerless savage beast imprisoned for eons, burst forth from the Blood Luo Crystal and rampaged into Qin Ming's body!

"Ugh!"

Qin Ming's expression changed drastically. Veins bulged instantly on his forehead, and his face twisted into a grimace.

"D... damn... damn... damn..."

Pain!

Indescribable, excruciating pain!

It felt like countless red-hot blades were madly churning and cutting through every cell, every nerve, and even the depths of his soul!

This agony far surpassed any "death" he had experienced in the Virtual Universe.

At the same time, a ferocious, brutal will, filled with an endless desire to kill, descended like a bloody torrent, rampaging into his sea of consciousness!

"Kill!"

"Kill!!"

The shouts of battle and roars filled the sea of consciousness, echoing wildly. That brutal will, like the most frenzied beast, clashed with Qin Ming's own will in the most primal and violent confrontation!

This was not a contest of mental strength, but a pure battle of will and conviction!

"Pfft!"

Outside, a hideous wound split open on Qin Ming's chest without warning, blood spurting wildly!

Splash, splash...

Immediately after, the vast blood-colored energy that had merged into his body seemed to lose its support, frantically reversing its flow and rapidly retreating back into the Blood Luo Crystal in his palm.

In just a moment, the crystal, which had become nearly transparent, returned to its original beautiful yet eerie blood-red color.

Qin Ming let out a muffled grunt, then immediately mobilized his pure primal energy and life force to swiftly repair the wound on his chest. In a short while, he was fully restored, as if the terrifying mutation moments ago had never happened.

But the Blood Luo Crystal in his hand clearly proclaimed that the attempt just now had failed.

"It failed." Qin Ming's expression turned somewhat grim, his brows tightly furrowed.

Although his consciousness and willpower were only at the World Lord Level, the Domain Lord Level natives of the Blood Luo World could successfully fuse with it. There was no reason his will couldn't withstand it.

Moreover, his body's gene multiplier was as high as 180 times, far exceeding the foundation Luo Feng had when he fused with it in the original story. His body's endurance should have been stronger.

"Eliminating willpower and physical endurance... there's only one possibility left." Qin Ming stared at the Blood Luo Crystal in his hand.

"The life origin rules and energy traits contained in the Blood Luo Crystal have a fundamental mismatch with the life essence of my Space-Time Nightmare Beast clone. Or rather... repulsion."

The Space-Time Nightmare Beast was a darling of the space-time laws, its life structure leaning toward the space-time attribute.

The Blood Luo Crystal, on the other hand, originated from the innate Beast God of the Gold-Void aspect. The two seemed incompatible at the level of life origin.

"What a pity."

Qin Ming toyed with the Blood Luo Crystal in his hand. Although he couldn't fuse with it, the violent will impact contained within the crystal itself still held reference value for tempering his will.

"Since this fusion method won't work..." He put away the Blood Luo Crystal and cast his gaze toward the distant horizon.

"Then I'll head to the Ancient God Ruins!"

This was a backup plan he had prepared long ago.

The Ancient God Ruins, one of the famous death zones in the Blood Luo World, was perpetually shrouded in a terrifying "Evil Aura" that could erode the soul and wear down the will.

It was a perilous place where the natives of the Blood Luo World tempered their willpower in an attempt to fuse with more Blood Luo Crystals. It was also an excellent location for him to undergo extreme refinement of his will.

With that thought, Qin Ming charged straight up to the eighteenth cloud layer.

Due to the rules of the Blood Luo World, even a World Lord Level could only reach speeds of a few hundred kilometers per second.

However, the distance between Qin Ming's location and the Ancient God Ruins was nearly twenty billion kilometers.

If he relied on his own speed, it would take who knows how many days to reach the Ancient God Ruins.

But if he piloted a spacecraft at sub-light speed, it would only take two days.

With a thought, a spacecraft appeared beside Qin Ming.

Inside the control room, Qin Ming ordered the ship's AI assistant, "Set off! Head toward the Ancient God Ruins."

"Yes, master," the ship's AI responded.

Whoosh!

The spacecraft broke through the clouds and swiftly flew beyond the void.