"Aah-!"
A piercing scream exploded across the square, then cut off abruptly, as though someone had clamped a hand around the victim's throat.
Zhao Hao saw it with his own eyes. The instant the black-robed deacon touched the forehead of that scrawny boy, barely ten years old, the boy crumpled as though all his bones had been pulled out.
No-not crumpled.
He was melting.
The boy's skin turned transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye. His flesh ran off his skeleton in rivulets like wax melted by a raging fire, until even his bones dissolved.
The black Soul Summoning Banner in the deacon's other hand stirred without a breeze. A distorted human face faintly appeared on its surface.
He raised his hand, and a small, pitch-black bottle floated into the air out of nowhere.
A sucking force drew the puddle of melted flesh into the bottle. He stoppered it, then tucked it into the gray cloth pouch at his waist.
Only moments ago, a living, breathing person had stood there.
Now, only the bloody stench hanging in the air proved that none of it had been an illusion.
The hundred-odd abducted boys and girls in the square were silent as the grave.
Some trembled all over. Others had wet patches spreading across their crotches.
An icy wind poured in from every direction, carrying a cloying sweetness that was impossible to identify as blood or rot.
Zhao Hao stood near the front of the line, his nails almost digging into the flesh of his palms.
He had "woken up" half an incense stick ago. Fortunately, quite a few others had been "collapsed" on the ground just like him.
One second, he had been staying up late in his rented room on Earth, rushing to finish a proposal.
The next, he had opened his eyes and found himself in this crowd.
A tangled mass of unfamiliar memories exploded in his head-a ten-year-old boy with the exact same name had been abducted by demonic cultivators to serve as "raw material" for the Extreme Yin Sect's disciple recruitment ceremony.
Yes, not a "prospective disciple."
Cultivation material.
To the Demonic Sect, those with spiritual roots became disciples. Those without... became cultivation material.
Zhao Hao swallowed, his gaze fixed on the person-tall Spirit Testing Stone ahead and the black-robed deacon beside it.
Inside, he screamed frantically, Where's the cheat every transmigrator is supposed to get? A system panel? An old master in a ring?
Before he could finish that thought-
"Next."
The deacon's voice was dry and hoarse, scraping painfully against their eardrums.
A dark, skinny boy was shoved by a nearby Demonic Sect disciple and stumbled into the grayish-white Spirit Testing Stone.
The next instant, the stone lit up.
Gold, green, blue, red, and yellow bloomed simultaneously-all five colors.
The dark, skinny boy froze for a moment, then his face lit up with wild joy. Even his voice trembled. "F-five colors! I... I have spiritual roots! I can become an immortal!"
He turned around, his eyes brimming with the relief of having survived disaster.
But Zhao Hao's fingers suddenly clenched.
Because he had seen the deacon's expression.
There was no joy on that withered, skeletal face. The corners of his mouth even turned down slightly.
"Five-element mixed spiritual roots."
The deacon spoke indifferently.
"Trash that would struggle even to reach mid-stage Qi Refining. Keeping you would only waste the sect's cultivation resources. As it happens, I'm short of a body for corpse refining."
The smile froze on the dark, skinny boy's face.
"No... I have spiritual roots! I can cultivate! Please..."
He never finished.
The sound of the Soul Summoning Banner unfurling was almost inaudible, as soft as lifting a veil.
The dark, skinny boy's body abruptly stiffened. His eyes bulged and his mouth opened wide, but no sound came out.
A nearly transparent wisp of light was forcibly ripped from the crown of his head and swept into the Soul Summoning Banner.
This time, the boy's flesh did not melt. Instead, it rapidly turned grayish-white and rigid.
The deacon unhooked a black cloth bag from his waist. When its opening spread, a nauseating corpse stench hit them in the face.
An invisible force sucked the empty shell inside, its expression still frozen in terror.
A Corpse Refining Bag.
No spiritual roots: extract the soul and refine the blood.
Five-element mixed spiritual roots: extract the soul and refine the corpse.
Alarm bells shrieked in Zhao Hao's mind as he mechanically counted the people still ahead of him.
Seven.
Only seven left.
His legs were shaking.
It wasn't fear; his muscles were spasming uncontrollably. His body had sensed the coming outcome before his mind could.
As any fellow cultivator who transmigrated regularly knew, how could anyone transmigrate without a cheat?
Just then, a layer of pale golden light suddenly appeared before Zhao Hao's eyes.
It was extremely faint, almost transparent, and even flickered several times like an old television.
A line of small text appeared in the center of the light screen.
[All-Things Enhancement System activated...]
Zhao Hao's pupils contracted slightly, but inside, he was screaming, I knew it!!!
No one around him noticed anything unusual.
A girl near the front was pushed forward. The Spirit Testing Stone shone with four colors, but the deacon remained cold and waved for a disciple to lead her away.
A four-element spiritual root. Barely qualified.
Zhao Hao desperately steadied his breathing and pounding heart, swiftly scanning the panel.
[Name: Zhao Hao] [Realm: None] [Spiritual roots: Metal (low-grade), wood (low-grade), water (low-grade), fire (low-grade), earth (low-grade)]
Those words slammed into Zhao Hao's mind, making his ears ring.
Five-element mixed spiritual roots!
The fate of that dark, skinny boy was still vivid before his eyes.
When his soul had been ripped out, his mouth had opened so wide, yet he hadn't managed even a single scream.
Six. There were six people left ahead of him.
What do I do? Help!
Zhao Hao searched the system panel like a madman, manipulating the translucent interface with his mind as he hunted for a sliver of hope.
[Enhancement function] [Please place the main item in the enhancement slot...] [Please place consumable materials in the material slot...] [Notice: Enhancement successful → Main item improves by one minor grade. Enhancement failed → Main item's grade remains unchanged. Consumable materials will be destroyed regardless of whether enhancement succeeds.]
Zhao Hao's gaze locked onto the final line.
Consumable materials will be destroyed regardless of whether enhancement succeeds!
A wild idea exploded in his mind.
Five spiritual roots meant certain death.
But what if... he destroyed his extra spiritual roots by using them as consumable materials?
His hands shook.
No, his whole body shook.
He focused his mind on the [Main Item Slot]. Sure enough, spiritual root attributes appeared among the available options.
Metal, wood, water, fire, earth.
Five spiritual roots lay before him. Whichever he chose as the main item, the other four would become materials.
There was no time to agonize over it. Zhao Hao chose his fire spiritual root.
The Demonic Sect valued slaughter. A fire spiritual root should give him a better chance of survival.
He selected fire.
A faint warmth rose from deep within his dantian.
On the system panel, a dim, dark-red glow dropped into the [Main Item Slot].
It works!
Without further hesitation, he immediately placed his "metal spiritual root" into the [Material Slot].
[Enhancement success rate +20%]
It really works!
A twenty-percent success rate was far too low!
Steeling himself, he placed his wood, water, and earth spiritual roots into the material slot one after another.
Four differently colored lights flickered precariously in the material slot.
New prompts popped up on the panel:
[Main item: Fire spiritual root (low-grade) → Enhance to (mid-grade)] [Consumable materials: Low-grade spiritual roots (metal, wood, water, earth)] [Enhancement success rate: 80%] [Begin enhancement?]
Eighty percent.
Zhao Hao stared at that number, bitterness spreading across the back of his tongue.
If it succeeded, his fire spiritual root's quality would improve, and his life would be saved.
If it failed, his fire spiritual root's quality would remain unchanged and the other four roots would be destroyed. He would have only a fire spiritual root, but because it was just one-fifth the size of a normal spiritual root, it would register as low-grade.
What fate awaited someone with a low-grade fire spiritual root?
Soul extraction? Or corpse refining?
Zhao Hao dared not imagine what would follow.
In the brief time he spent thinking, another two people ahead of him had been processed.
One with a four-element spiritual root was reluctantly accepted.
One without spiritual roots was refined into bloody liquid on the spot.
The bloody stench was thick enough to choke him.
Four. There were four people left ahead of him.
I can't wait any longer!
I'll gamble!!!
Zhao Hao closed his eyes.
Confirm enhancement!