Merus's Gift

Killing Star, the advanced form of Star Map Shattering Wave—or rather, an incomplete version. It condensed destructive energy to the absolute limit before instantly driving it into the target's body, ultimately destroying every single one of the opponent's cells!

Precisely because it had not yet been perfected, Li Ming called it a half-finished product. Using this move had nearly crippled his arm.

Whoosh!

Instant Transmission brought them back inside the spaceship. Kulunxi carried Aor and rushed straight to the medical bay, while Kain cooperatively activated the medical equipment.

As for Babas and Pierre, they had expended too much stamina and collapsed straight onto the floor. It was not their fault—surviving with power levels in the mere thousands was already unbelievably lucky.

Li Ming had initially intended to deal with the Phantom Demon alone. The others' intervention had been beyond his expectations.

A few days later, Kainsen finally found an opportunity to tell Li Ming about his discovery.

Li Ming frowned. "A Phantom Demon's heart?"

"Yes. A Phantom Demon's heart has been sealed inside your body, my lord. That is why that creature was able to keep tracking us, and this should have been its true objective."

"Is there any way to remove it?"

Just thinking about having something like that inside him made Li Ming feel uncomfortable all over. He wanted to see if there was any way to resolve it, especially since the thing weakened his power.

"This... involves certain magical arts, so there is no way to deal with it for the time being. My deepest apologies, Lord Xilaka," Kain said helplessly.

"Forget it." Li Ming waved his hand, unconcerned. This was not something that could be forced.

Buzz!

"Hm?"

A dazzling beam suddenly appeared aboard the spaceship, and Li Ming immediately became vigilant. The last time he had seen this technique had not been long ago, and it was from that moment onward that the Phantom Demon had latched onto him.

"Oh? Did you take care of it?" Merus stepped out from the curtain of light, looking at Li Ming in surprise.

"Who exactly are you?"

Li Ming could now almost confirm that the Phantom Demon was connected to Merus before him!

"Hehe." Seeing Li Ming's expression, Merus smiled. "Don't be nervous. I mean you no harm. As for that Phantom Demon, I wasn't the one who released it. It was related to you."

"What do you mean?" Having inexplicably been saddled with the blame, Li Ming naturally did not believe him and waited for Merus to explain.

"You should have killed a magician named Bafiel, right? After that fellow died, he left a curse on you, causing you to be hunted by the demon race. The Phantom Demon had originally been sealed away in a cosmic prison, but it was awakened because of that."

"Wait a minute. What does that Phantom Demon being awakened have to do with me? Besides, if the seal was broken, shouldn't that be the Galactic Patrol's responsibility?" Li Ming did not like taking the blame, much less for something so absurd.

If they were talking about cause and effect, then he was the greatest victim here, wasn't he? Why should he take the blame for the Galactic Patrol?

Li Ming also remembered the Phantom Demon's heart inside him and asked, "And what about the thing inside me?"

At that, Merus raised a hand and pointed toward Li Ming. A shadow was directly pulled out, then completely dissipated. Only then did he say, "This monster would destroy the Galactic Patrol headquarters. Such a thing absolutely cannot be allowed to happen. I hope you can understand."

"With someone like you around, the Galactic Patrol could still be destroyed?"

Li Ming did not believe Merus at all. The man had silently sealed the Phantom Demon's heart inside his body, which proved his strength was anything but ordinary. At the very least, Li Ming did not believe Merus was incapable of dealing with that Phantom Demon.

"I have my reasons for being unable to act. In any case, I was indeed at fault this time. As compensation, I can remove your curse and teach you a skill."

"Hm?"

Merus extended a finger and tapped Li Ming between the brows. Li Ming did not know whether it was an illusion, but for an instant, Merus seemed to undergo a slight change, and a mysterious halo appeared around his neck.

Immediately afterward, a piece of information appeared directly in his memories, as though he had known it from the very beginning.

The feeling was strange, yet there was also an indescribable sense of discomfort. Having memories that did not belong to him forcibly poured into his mind made him deeply uneasy.

"Well then, farewell."

Merus vanished amid a mysterious blaze of light. Li Ming wanted to say something, but a wave of dizziness struck his mind, and he could only let it go.

"Lord Xilaka!"

The intense vertigo made Li Ming stagger, and he nearly fell. Kain hurried over to check on him, but Li Ming raised a hand to stop him.

"I'm fine. Have the others come over." Li Ming was referring to Babas and the rest.

"Yes."

Kain quickly brought the others over. Aor still looked somewhat weak. After all, she had been struck directly by the Phantom Demon; keeping her life was already fortunate.

"These are for you." Li Ming took out four Fruits of the Tree of Might and placed them before the group. After they exchanged glances for a moment, Babas asked, "Boss, what are these?"

"Fruits of the Tree of Might. They can increase your strength. All right, ask Kain if you have any questions. I'm going to train."

With that, Li Ming turned and headed toward the training room. In his eyes, training was unquestionably the most important thing, because it concerned his strength and allowed no room for the slightest slackness.

Naturally, the others looked overjoyed. Only Kulunxi wore a dejected expression. She had already eaten one, so the remaining one was naturally for Kain.

Babas was fairly composed. He asked Kain, "Mr. Kain, what exactly are these Fruits of the Tree of Might?"

"According to our planet's core data records, they are indeed Fruits of the Tree of Might. Since we have never seen the real thing before, we do not know their exact effects. But one thing is certain: they can increase battle power."

"That's great!" Pierre cried out excitedly.

To them, such a thing was simply inconceivable. Treasures capable of increasing one's strength were basically priceless in the universe, yet such things were now sitting right before their eyes!

"Wait."

Babas suddenly raised his hand to stop Pierre, who had been about to eat one directly. Though the others were puzzled, none of them immediately ate their Fruits of the Tree of Might.

"This absolutely must not be revealed to anyone. The boss trusted us enough to give us such a priceless treasure. If anyone betrays the boss, I will never show mercy! Pierre, do you understand?"

"Mm." It was the first time Pierre had seen such an expression on his brother's face. He nodded, understanding Babas's intentions.

This was a warning to everyone, but also a declaration of his stance. If a traitor truly appeared, Babas would not go easy on him even if it was his own younger brother. Naturally, no one else would be an exception.

Aor glanced fearfully at her sister. Kulunxi comforted her, saying, "It's fine. We understand what Captain Babas means. Since the boss trusts us, of course we know what we should do."

"Mm."

Babas nodded, then changed the subject. "All right, this is only as a precaution. If anyone feels dissatisfied, I'll apologize to you all here."

The others all said it was fine. Rather than letting suspicions and scheming fester in secret, it was better to lay everything out in the open.

As mercenaries who spent all year traveling abroad, they understood well the principle that possessing a treasure invited disaster. If anyone learned that Li Ming had Fruit of the Tree of Might, they would likely face endless trouble from then on, and everyone would be in danger.

Before long, they ate the Fruit of the Tree of Might and their strength increased. The first fruit had the greatest effect; continuing to eat more would yield diminishing returns.

After testing themselves with a detector, Pierre said excitedly, "Big Brother, my battle power has risen to 30,000!"

"Mm." Babas nodded, glanced at his own reading, and said, "50,000 battle power."

"Huh? Why is yours so much higher? Aor's seems to be a little higher than mine too. Strange." Kulunxi sounded somewhat dejected.

Cain did not check his own result. As a Kofian skilled in technology, he did not place much importance on battle power. He was currently fiddling with the equipment in front of him.

Hearing their discussion, he explained, "I took a small portion for analysis. The energy contained in the Fruit of the Tree of Might is extremely pure and benefits nearly all life forms. Captain Babas probably depleted too much of his body's potential in his early years, so receiving such a sudden replenishment gave him such a large increase."

"I see."

Now that they knew the reason, they stopped dwelling on it and continued traveling through the universe as usual.