Star-Dust Annihilation

Inside the high-security reception room of the military base, Lu Ming verified his identity and signed for several sealed special metal boxes etched with powerful law-based secret patterns, along with a few World Rings.

Returning to his cultivation quarters and activating all protective isolation measures, Lu Ming opened the smallest yet most heavily guarded box with a hint of anticipation.

"Femo Venom!"

Lu Ming whispered. This box contained the expensive and terrifying Femo Venom.

At three hundred million Hunyuan per gram, he had purchased three kilograms, totaling nine hundred billion Hunyuan units.

I must be careful. If even a little leaks out and touches me, I'm done for.

Lu Ming took a deep breath. He didn't dare handle the Femo Venom within his internal world, fearing that a single mistake could cause his internal world to collapse and lead to his own demise—a truly unjust way to die.

"Open."

Lu Ming gently pried it open.

Snap.

The box opened, revealing thirty crystal tubes inside. Each crystal pulsed with a mesmerizing purple liquid that flowed slowly like mercury.

"Femo Venom, thirty vials, each containing 100 grams."

Femo Venom, valued at 300 million Hunyuan units per gram, was a horrific agent concocted by the powerful human pharmacist "Femo," hence its name. This venom possessed intense corrosive properties specifically designed to erode "Immortal Divine Bodies." Generally, 10 grams could erode and kill a King-Level Limit powerhouse, while 100 grams could slay a "King-Level Invincible" powerhouse.

Its sheer power was chilling.

Yet, its weaknesses were equally obvious.

First, it was a consumable; the venom diminished with every use. Second, the venom only took effect upon direct contact with an Immortal Divine Body.

Since almost all cosmic powerhouses wore armor, the venom was nearly useless against the metal of their gear.

Therefore, one had to tear through the armor to let the venom touch the enemy's Immortal Divine Body, or strike exposed areas like the face. Third, Femo Venom required a carrier; it had to be coated onto a weapon and solidified before attacking.

However, after a weapon sliced through an opponent's divine body, only a tiny fraction of the coated venom would enter the enemy, making the damage per strike negligible.

Fourth, assuming 100 grams of venom entered a King-Level Invincible's body at once, their strength would allow them to detect the venom frantically eroding their divine body. They would instantly sacrifice a portion of their immortal divine power to force the venom out, meaning only a gram or two would have time to corrode before the rest was wasted. Thus, the dosage had to be small, or the enemy would purge it before it could take full effect.

These four major weaknesses prevented Femo Venom from matching the value of truly heaven-defying weapons.

But it was more than enough for his purposes.

"System, sacrifice!"

The moment the command was issued, the thirty crystal tubes of Femo Venom before him seemed to be enveloped by an invisible, mighty force. The mesmerizing purple liquid within, along with the crystals themselves, began to blur and turn ethereal, eventually transforming into streams of pure, dark-purple light imbued with an aura of ultimate destruction, which were then sucked into a mysterious vortex deep within the system.

[Ding! Sacrifice successful!]

[Calculating random multiplier return based on the value of the sacrificed items...]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host, you have received a 6,000-fold return!]

[Generating rewards...]

[Congratulations to the host, you have received: 30 vials of enhanced "Star-Dust Annihilation" venom! (Each vial contains 100 grams. Characteristics: Extreme corrosion, divine body collapse, soul annihilation. Poses a massive threat to Universe Venerables and below. Specific effects depend on divine body strength and contact volume.)]

[Note: 0.05 grams is sufficient to completely annihilate an ordinary King-Level Limit powerhouse; 0.5 grams for a King-Level Invincible; 10 grams for an ordinary Venerable.]

Hum!

A deeper, more restrained, yet terrifying aura that made Lu Ming's soul tremble instinctively began to permeate the room.

Within the system vortex, thirty brand-new crystal tubes slowly emerged.

The liquid inside was no longer an eerie purple, but a "dull" hue, as if the dust of countless annihilated stars had been condensed together. It looked unremarkable, yet it radiated destructive fluctuations that caused the surrounding space to warp.

"Star-Dust Annihilation..."

Lu Ming looked at the newly generated venom, his eyes erupting with astonishing brilliance.

"It can even threaten Universe Venerables! This effect is more than ten, no, a hundred times stronger than the original Femo Venom!"

He carefully stowed away the thirty vials of enhanced venom, feeling much more confident.

This would be a terrifying trump card for him on the Outer-Domain Battlefield and in his future travels across the universe!

"The power of this Star-Dust Annihilation is too terrifying. 0.5 grams can annihilate a King-Level Invincible, and I have three kilograms here. Tsk tsk, I'm afraid my current battle blade won't be enough to carry it."

Such venom had specific requirements for the weapons used to deliver it.

Given the terrifying nature of this venom, he would need to commission a new battle blade.

He would have one custom-made in the Virtual Universe this time.

"Next is Little Thunder's evolution."

Lu Ming turned his gaze toward the largest space rings.

As his consciousness probed inside, he immediately felt the vast, star-like piles of rare resources!

These were the massive resources he had purchased, enough to cultivate two hundred ordinary Thunderlight Vines from the early King-Level to the peak of the King-Level!

"The resources required for Little Thunder's continued evolution are truly immense."

Lu Ming sighed and transferred the entire World Ring, now brimming with resources, directly into his internal world.

Rumble—

Within his internal world, the massive Thunderlight Vine sensed the influx of energy from the outside—an aura that held an irresistible allure for it. Countless purple-gold vines began to dance frantically in excitement, emitting a deafening thunderous roar that made the entire internal world tremble slightly.

"Little Thunder, don't be impatient. This is still just 'coarse grain'; wait until I process it into 'fine delicacies' for you to enjoy."

Lu Ming soothed the agitated Little Thunder, a helpless smile appearing on his face.

This batch of resources was far too complex, consisting of over a hundred major categories and thousands of sub-categories.

Although his Sacrifice Return ability was heaven-defying, it came with a limitation: the target of each sacrifice was restricted to a quantity of "one," or a "single category" with highly uniform properties.

Take the Femo Venom from before; even though there were thirty vials, they were judged as "one category" because their essence was identical, allowing them to be sacrificed all at once.

However, these cultivation resources before him belonged to different types with varying properties, making it impossible to classify them as a "single category."

This meant he would have to divide these resources into hundreds of separate batches and perform the Sacrifice Return one by one!

"Hundreds of sacrifices... I'm going to be busy for quite a while."