Stockholm Cultivation Method

Looking at the shadow's solemn expression, Feng Buzhi explained, "I had originally planned to lift the curse three days ago, but there were still some things I needed to keep trying, so it was better to leave the curse in place for now."

Hearing Feng Buzhi's answer, the shadow's expression became even more aggrieved.

This curse that restricted the Human Race from slaughtering one another was extremely terrifying.

After ordinary people came into contact with this curse, most would go mad under its effects. They would stagger crazily into the mist beyond the town, only to be torn to pieces by the Monsters within.

Even if they were lucky enough to withstand the first wave, the whispers spawned by the curse would continue to linger in their ears.

Unless they entered the mist, those whispers would never stop. But entering the mist meant facing the frenzied Monsters.

Normally, if there was a chance to lift the curse, people would surely rack their brains to remove it.

Yet Feng Buzhi had clearly accumulated enough sacrifices ten days ago, but he had shown no intention of lifting the curse at all.

Yes, ten days ago.

Feng Buzhi had been able to lift the curse ten days ago.

On the day after killing Wang Chen, Feng Buzhi and Pei Chao had gathered nearly five hundred Goblin heads—five times the required number of sacrifices.

The shadow still remembered how, that morning, he had followed excitedly behind Feng Buzhi and Pei Chao as they transported Goblin heads. It took the two of them over an hour to move every head to the open ground south of town.

Later, those heads rotted.

Feng Buzhi had never intended to offer those heads to the crystal at the center of the town square. He simply piled them together and ignored them.

When he returned the next day, he found that the heads had already rotted. Then, on the new day, Feng Buzhi and Pei Chao killed another five hundred or so Goblins.

A total of one thousand Goblin heads, and Feng Buzhi threw them all away. Even though the shadow begged bitterly for an entire day, Feng Buzhi ignored him.

After that, Feng Buzhi seemed to realize that continuing like this was rather wasteful, so he dug this huge pit and tossed the processed Goblin heads in here.

Now, this huge pit was already full, yet Feng Buzhi still showed no sign of taking action.

One had to know that even though Feng Buzhi had taken some preservation measures with those heads and removed some of the flesh inside them, they would still rot under the mist's catalysis.

Yes, some of the heads at the bottom of the pit had already rotted.

The shadow stood before Feng Buzhi, full of grievance.

He did everything he could to change Feng Buzhi's mind and make him lift the curse as soon as possible.

Although he knew Feng Buzhi would most likely ignore him, he still did it.

Because other than Feng Buzhi, he had no one else to communicate with.

"Boss, I couldn't understand what he just said, but that shadow sounded kind of aggrieved. What's wrong with him?"

Suddenly, the bearded Pei Chao voiced his confusion.

At Pei Chao's words, the shadow immediately drifted over and began circling Pei Chao without pause.

And as he circled, Pei Chao's gaze kept turning along with him.

Pei Chao's eyes could actually track his body in real time?

It seemed Pei Chao had also reached the Subtle Realm, though not the advanced stage that allowed Feng Buzhi to converse with him.

The shadow said in astonishment, "Subtle—another Subtle. His body hasn't merged with the bizarre either, yet he has reached Subtle. How exactly was this achieved?"

Seeing the excitement on the shadow's face, Feng Buzhi answered, "Between life and death lie limitless possibilities. This is a bizarre world, so while training, I placed greater emphasis on cultivating the bizarre aspects. Judging from things now, the results are fairly good."

Over these past few days, after Pei Chao finished drinking that flask of Reagent No. 4, Feng Buzhi had successively mixed more Reagent No. 4 and Reagent No. 5.

He drank Reagent No. 5 himself, while Pei Chao drank Reagent No. 4, with the dosage gradually increased.

Combined with trials between life and death, as well as the square crystal's [Basic Cultivation Assistance], the bearded Pei Chao had become completely immune to the whispers in the mist over the past two days.

Now it seemed that Pei Chao had not only ignored the whispers in the mist, but had also unknowingly reached the initial stage of the Subtle Realm mentioned by the shadow.

As for Feng Buzhi, there had been no obvious change in his mental realm over these ten days. He was still at the late stage of the Subtle Realm.

Without thinking much about it, Feng Buzhi looked at Pei Chao and answered his earlier question. "Your impression was correct. That shadow's words were indeed somewhat aggrieved, and the reason he is acting so aggrieved is because he wants me to lift the Red Name Curse. I refused."

"Lift the Red Name Curse?"

Pei Chao recalled how the green-skinned dwarves near Boss Feng at night had bloodshot eyes and went mad.

Normally, the green-skinned dwarves' eyes were green at night, but the ones near Boss Feng had red eyes. If the Red Name Curse were lifted, those green-skinned dwarves would become weaker, and perhaps things would be easier for him...

At that thought, Pei Chao immediately shook his head like a rattling drum.

Pei Chao walked toward the shadow nearby and said, "No. If the Red Name Curse is lifted, those green-skinned dwarves will become weaker, and they won't be useful for training anymore. Boss has already given me enough rest time. It would be wrong to slack off like this."

As he spoke, Pei Chao let out a shout, picked up his chopper, and began practicing continuous chops some distance away.

Watching Pei Chao tirelessly practice chopping in the distance, the shadow wore an extremely complicated expression.

The shadow still remembered how, ten days ago, under Feng Buzhi's forced training, the bearded Pei Chao would sometimes look numb, sometimes rise up in resistance, and sometimes burst into loud sobs...

Later, Pei Chao stopped saying anything, becoming like a walking corpse.

Then, five days ago, Pei Chao's expression gradually regained some liveliness. After these past few days, he looked much better, and would even occasionally spit out a few curses.

He thought Pei Chao had recovered, but in truth, Pei Chao had changed.

—Without realizing it, this Pei Chao had already been molded into Feng Buzhi's shape.

As if he could see what the shadow was thinking, Feng Buzhi said, "His nature isn't bad, but he lacks both talent and perseverance, so I used the Stockholm Cultivation Method on him."

The shadow asked in confusion, "Stockholm Cultivation Method?"

Feng Buzhi said, "In psychology, there is something called Stockholm syndrome. This condition mainly refers to how victims, after suffering mistreatment or becoming fearful of their circumstances, develop special positive feelings toward their abusers, such as sympathy or identification. Pei Chao has now entered this condition."

When I first helped him train, the intensity was greater. Later on, the intensity became relatively lower. The result was that he gradually accepted the later training intensity and came to feel pleasure and happiness from it.

That way, even if I no longer help him, he will consciously maintain his current training intensity and continue exercising..."