One Wave Not Yet Settled

[Steel Spine Will effect ended, Sanity restored: 101/200]

As the talent ended, Bai Yi also deactivated Boiling Blood. The return of his sanity dispelled the pain in his mind, allowing his tightly wound nerves a slight respite.

But correspondingly, all of Bai Yi's attributes returned to normal. He no longer dared to charge recklessly as he had with his talent activated, instead carefully sensing the rhythms around him and advancing cautiously.

Bai Yi was now charred black all over, his lips melted together, with fresh wounds of varying sizes covering his body—injuries sustained while evading the Pulse-Wheel Albatross.

As he moved, he took the time to reload the revolver, then checked his weapons. They were all still functional.

The loss of combat power forced him to detour around many aberrations he could previously have killed with ease, undoubtedly wasting far more time.

More critically, Bai Yi had only one candle left in his ring. Including the one that had only just been lit, he had to return to the shelter within two hours.

Bai Yi gave a bitter smile. He had no idea how far he had run, but his preliminary estimate was at least seven or eight kilometers.

If he had been at full strength, Bai Yi was confident he could make it back even with his talent on cooldown. But in his current state, it was somewhat of a stretch.

Still, Bai Yi did not give up. If he moved faster, he could return before all his candles burned out.

He injected himself with the last Wound-Healing Injection he carried. Bai Yi did his best to suppress the weakness and exhaustion constantly radiating from his weary body, then set off.

[Bai Yi: Severely Injured]

[Age: 30]

[Strength: 15]

[Spirit: 10.1]

[Constitution: 15]

[Mental State: Normal]

[Sanity: 101/200]

[Abnormal Statuses: The Displaced (02:05:57), Wail of the Dead, Insulation Ward, Dark Erosion, Blessing of the Stars]

[Talents: Steel Spine Will, Rhythm of All Things]

[Knowledge Mastered: Basic Flesh Alchemy (Boiling Blood, Flesh-Bone Conversion)]

[Equipment: Phase Ring, Faint Candlelight ×1, White Bone Tang Dao, Shepherd's Mercy (Modified), Windproof Lighter, Revolver Bullets ×490, Emergency Medical Pod ×4]

[Description: An unknown species wearing human skin]

The abnormal status, Blessing of the Stars—the colors that had always permeated Bai Yi's mind—kept his mental state normal.

Only now did Bai Yi truly realize the power of this abnormal status. Stabilizing his mind and keeping his thoughts clear was one aspect; another was that it made his mental resistance extraordinarily powerful.

Before, merely seeing an aberration he had never encountered would cost him a few points of sanity. Seeing one that was even slightly stronger would cost him more than ten or twenty points.

Now, even after consecutively seeing several powerful and bizarre aberrations, his sanity had dropped by only a few points at most. This meant Bai Yi would no longer be killed by a first encounter—though those great existences beyond aberrations were another matter.

Another thing Bai Yi noticed was that the sanity consumed by Boiling Blood had decreased, from five points before to one now. This was undoubtedly a tremendous improvement for him.

Naturally, the consumption of Flesh-Bone Conversion had certainly decreased as well. However, during his battle with the Inverse-Bone Walker, it had utterly screwed him over.

That made Bai Yi realize that Flesh-Bone Conversion might not be suited for direct attacks. Instead, it was more suitable for transforming his own flesh and bones to withstand damage.

Of course, that did not apply when crushing weaklings!

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This must be the true gift It left me.

Bai Yi pondered as he hurried onward. For him, whose spirit had already surpassed human limits, multitasking was as easy as breathing.

After using up one candle, Bai Yi finally found a familiar place: the enormous rock where the Inverse-Bone Walker had meditated.

That also meant Bai Yi was only four kilometers away from the shelter. The discovery lifted his spirits, and without stopping, he continued on his way.

Yet as he continued forward, Bai Yi's expression grew increasingly grave. He constantly felt that something was watching him, but his senses detected no aberration rhythms anywhere around him.

The mismatch between intuition and perception made Bai Yi deeply uncomfortable. But with the fog lamp damaged, he could only rely on the Faint Candlelight, which barely protected him, to observe his surroundings.

Somewhere beyond Bai Yi's notice, black fog stretched out like tentacles and silently entered the burning range of the Faint Candlelight.

The black fog slowly approached the back of Bai Yi's head. Once it judged the distance appropriate, it suddenly condensed into solid form, transforming into a black spike that stabbed toward him.

The instant the black spike shot forth, Bai Yi suddenly sensed a strange, pitch-black rhythm right behind him!

Clang—

With a crisp ring, the black spike bounced off the back of Bai Yi's neck. The instant he sensed danger, Bai Yi transformed the back of his head and his entire neck into bone.

He spun and slashed backward. The bone blade and black spike locked in a struggle, and Bai Yi finally saw his attacker clearly.

It looked like a solid entity condensed from mist, its silhouette flickering in and out within the black fog. Its skin was a sickly bluish-gray, covered in black patterns resembling cracked tree bark.

Its eyes glimmered with an eerie green light like ghostly flames, while its mouth, split all the way to the corners, wore a chilling smile.

Because it was so close, Bai Yi could also vaguely see its twisted limb joints within the mist. Its fingers were long, sharp black bone spikes—the very weapon that had attacked him moments ago.

[You have seen the Man in the Mist. Sanity -1]

Bai Yi's gaze sharpened. He had no time to get entangled with an aberration; he had to end this quickly.

"Boiling Blood!"

Feeling power surge back into him, Bai Yi's grip on his blade suddenly exploded with tremendous force.

Crack—

Along with the crisp sound of the Man in the Mist's fingers breaking, Bai Yi followed through with two slashes—one severed its rhythm, the other cut it cleanly in half!

Sensing the rhythm vanish and watching the corpse on the ground dissolve back into black mist, Bai Yi did not hesitate. He turned and continued on his way.

Squish—

The sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh rang out. As though he had anticipated it all along, Bai Yi tossed the candle to the ground with his left hand while grabbing the aberrant demon's arm with his backhand. The flesh around his wound turned into bone as he spun sharply!

The Man in the Mist's fingers shattered once more, turning into black mist that was driven away by Faint Candlelight.

Bai Yi had long guessed it would not die so easily. To avoid wasting time, he used himself as bait to lure the Man in the Mist in.

Let's see whether you actually have a weak point.

After restraining the aberrant demon, Bai Yi's blade became a wildly dancing white serpent. Blade-light merged into a blur of afterimages, while the sounds of tearing through the air fell as densely as a torrential downpour.

From its head down to its waist, the Man in the Mist was hacked into pieces by Bai Yi. Yet as he cut through its waist, a faintly glowing black crystal was briefly exposed.

His dark-golden pupils constricted sharply. Bai Yi slashed at the core, but struck nothing.

The Man in the Mist he had been holding suddenly dispersed into black mist. After leaving the range of his attack, it condensed into a physical form again.

In his perception, the rhythm of the aberrant demon when it had turned to mist was the same as the black mist itself—nothingness, emptiness. Once it solidified, however, Bai Yi could sense its rhythm again.

This is troublesome...