Eerie Ability: [Steel-Hardened Keratin]

The rusted dagger radiated an eerie, dark-red glow, emitting faint, sinister whispers that attempted to seize Feng Buzhi's arm, compelling him to stab a living creature and bathe the blade in blood.

"You want to drink blood?"

At Feng Buzhi's words, the rusted dagger trembled slightly, as if in agreement.

Feng Buzhi stabbed the nearby corpse of a Fallen Demon a few times with the dagger.

The blade became stained with blood, which was then absorbed into the dagger and vanished.

"It seems this dagger is indeed the weapon containing eerie power that the shadows mentioned."

"I can obtain anything I want in the Abyss, so if I want to bring this dagger back to reality, what should I do?"

Feng Buzhi examined the eerie dagger, flicking it with his finger to check the material and bending it to test its resilience.

Shortly thereafter, Feng Buzhi snapped the dagger in two.

Yes, he snapped it.

Just because a weapon contains eerie power does not mean the weapon itself is of high quality.

However, Feng Buzhi did not come away empty-handed; as the dagger shattered, the eerie essence within it leaked out.

Feng Buzhi took the opportunity to inhale the majority of this escaping essence, while the remainder dissipated into the air.

This eerie essence was several times more volatile than that of a rotting corpse, but it contained over a dozen times more energy.

Within a few breaths, Feng Buzhi felt his skin experience a sensation akin to being overstuffed, and the process of his skin's alienation began to accelerate.

An itching sensation spread across his entire body; Feng Buzhi subconsciously rubbed his skin and soon discovered a layer of dead skin forming on the surface.

His skin was undergoing some kind of transformation.

"Is this what they call organ alienation?"

Feng Buzhi whispered softly, suddenly realizing his skin had undergone a unique change—or more accurately, he had mastered a special ability.

Unlike the scorching power he gathered in his fist while in the state of breaking his shackles, this ability felt more natural to use and consumed far less energy.

It was much like using his own limbs—like raising a hand or blinking—as this ability had become a part of his body.

Feng Buzhi extended his right arm, and a layer of keratin quickly bulged near his fist; before long, this layer took on the metallic luster of steel.

The name of this ability appeared naturally in his mind—[Steel-Hardened Keratin].

With his current physique, he could temporarily form a palm-sized patch of [Steel-Hardened Keratin]. It could manifest on any part of his skin, consumed very little energy, and seemed capable of being maintained for a long time.

If his alienation phase continued to progress, the surface area of the [Steel-Hardened Keratin] would grow larger.

Feng Buzhi flicked his metal-sheened right fist with his left hand, producing a sound like striking metal.

The skin on his right fist had become like metal, yet it did not hinder his movement; he could clench and grasp with perfect fluidity, the only change being that his fist had become slightly heavier.

Without lingering on the sensation of the [Steel-Hardened Keratin] on his fist, Feng Buzhi suddenly closed his eyes, focusing on the eerie essence within his skin.

As he devoured the essence from the dagger, the eerie power in his skin grew stronger, but also increasingly volatile and somewhat beyond his control.

However, that was not the main issue; the problem was that he was experiencing a form of indigestion.

The eerie essence from the dagger had been mostly consumed by the essence in his skin, but he had only absorbed the miscellaneous remnants, while the remaining essence grew increasingly pure.

This was an eerie essence related to blood, and it could no longer be consumed by the essence already in his skin.

Furthermore, this blood-related essence was attempting to merge with the essence in his skin.

Now, he faced a choice.

The first option: let nature take its course and allow this blood-related essence to merge with his own, which would cause unknown changes to the eerie power within his skin.

The second option: expel this blood-related essence from his body.

Feng Buzhi did not agonize over it; he decisively chose to expel it.

Setting aside his lack of knowledge regarding eerie powers and his refusal to fuse them recklessly, even if he did want to fuse them, he would not choose to merge with such a weak, randomly scavenged essence.

The next moment, Feng Buzhi broke his body's shackles.

The crimson light paths quickly appeared on his skin, and by guiding his own eerie power, he soon exhaled a plume of eerie, blood-colored mist.

The blood-related eerie essence had been successfully expelled from his body.

Whoosh!

Feng Buzhi tilted his body slightly, and an arrow grazed his cheek.

He turned his head to look at the gray-skinned humanoid creature a hundred meters away, whose appearance resembled a Dark Elf.

The Dark Elf was surprised that Feng Buzhi had suddenly dodged her lethal arrow, but she did not stop, firing a barrage of arrows to seal off all of Feng Buzhi's escape routes.

Yet, just as she thought victory was within her grasp, she suddenly realized the human had vanished from her sight...

A few breaths later.

Bang!

Feng Buzhi shattered the Dark Elf's skull with a single punch; after coating his fist in [Steel-Hardened Keratin], his hand had become like a hammer.

However, in terms of killing efficiency, his axe was still more useful.

[Current participating living beings: 791,384]

Feng Buzhi looked up at the information in the sky, then followed the feedback from his sonar to head in the seven o'clock direction, where three alien beings were waiting for him to hunt them down.

Soon, another three alien beings lay dead, and a simple backpack woven from tree bark appeared on Feng Buzhi's back.

This was a backpack condensed by Feng Buzhi through his soul; because Pei Chao had woven a similar one in reality, he was very familiar with it, so it didn't consume much energy.

At this moment, the backpack contained the rotting corpse of a Fallen Demon, and he decided to hunt the alien beings appearing nearby while absorbing the eerie energy from the corpse.

When it came down to it, these alien beings exerted far too little pressure on him, not even half the pressure he felt when hunting groups of Goblins at night.

The slaughter continued unabated.

As the Corrosion Swamp spread, the alien beings at the edge of the swamp became increasingly dense, and Feng Buzhi's killing speed grew faster as well. Many alien beings within the blood mist didn't even understand what was happening before their consciousness plunged into darkness, dying without ever knowing why.

In about two hours, Feng Buzhi had already killed over four hundred and fifty alien beings.

During the hunt, he also encountered two humans.

Perhaps it was the long-term nagging of the shadow, or perhaps it was the compassion of the Damo personality, but Feng Buzhi did not kill these two humans who were on the verge of death to trade for kill points.

Yes, these two humans died shortly thereafter.

As time passed, the spreading speed of the Corrosion Swamp became faster and faster, eventually exceeding twice its initial rate.

Countless alien beings were swallowed by the Corrosion Swamp.

When the number of remaining living beings dropped to around 500,000, the spreading speed of the Corrosion Swamp reached its peak, and the number of remaining living beings began to plummet.

400,000, 250,000, 100,000, 50,000, 30,000...

[Current participating living beings: 9,987]

"Is there less than ten thousand left? It seems I need to get serious."

Feng Buzhi tossed the backpack containing the rotting Fallen Demon corpse to the side; on one hand, the eerie energy of the Fallen Demon corpse had been completely absorbed by him, and on the other, carrying this backpack was hindering his efficiency in killing alien beings.

As the remaining alien beings grew fewer, those left behind were clearly becoming stronger, and there were signs of them banding together...