Mind Realm, Breakthrough!

West side of the town, the fifth altar.

Feng Buzhi opened his eyes. Sweat drenched his body, and he could not stop trembling and shivering.

Despite suffering no physical damage, his body refused to obey his commands.

After making the wish to witness the true Abyss, he had seen a streak of profound, pure black.

Following that, he plummeted, feeling a sense of weightlessness beyond imagination.

In a mere instant, he went from a state of complete stillness to an indescribable speed of descent.

The speed was simply too fast.

It was so fast that his consciousness seemed to split in two; one part remained in place, while the other was dragged away to an infinitely distant location.

His consciousness and body felt as if they were paralyzed. Indescribable sensations of tearing, pain, cold, heat, suffocation, and viscosity—a chaotic mess of things—flooded his thoughts and awareness.

Vaguely, he seemed to see that streak of pure black once more.

After that, he could remember nothing at all.

When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself in his current state.

It took nearly half an hour for Feng Buzhi to struggle to his feet. Cold sweat continued to pour off him, and he even showed symptoms of dehydration.

Feng Buzhi fought to control his body, eventually stopping the tremors, and then he wore a stiff smile.

It wasn't that he wasn't happy or that the smile was forced; he simply couldn't control his facial muscles, which made his expression look awkward.

In truth, he was happy inside.

Because he had seen the true Abyss.

And the Abyss, in this world, was very likely something akin to the Heavenly Dao.

If given the chance, Feng Buzhi intended to witness the true Abyss a few more times. His current strength was meager; perhaps when his power increased, viewing the true Abyss again would yield different insights.

Feng Buzhi sat cross-legged, gradually regaining control over his body.

It was then that Feng Buzhi suddenly discovered a change in himself.

He extended a finger, and soon, a wisp of mist was drawn toward him, condensing into a relatively dense, small sphere of smoke at his fingertip. A moment later, unable to maintain its form, the sphere collapsed and dissipated.

—His Mind Realm had broken through.

"Is this the realm that follows the Subtle Realm?"

Feng Buzhi whispered softly.

The Clear Mind Realm represented facing one's true heart and recognizing the self; once this realm was reached, one was difficult to influence by the ordinary whispers of anomalies.

The level after the Clear Mind Realm was the Subtle Realm. Upon reaching the Subtle Realm, one could distinguish and perceive the changes in anomalies and, to a certain extent, detect their fundamental nature.

An ordinary Subtle Realm practitioner could interpret the meaning of anomalies, and those who reached the late stage of the Subtle Realm could even gain sonar-like feedback abilities, just as he had.

Once the Mind Realm broke through the Subtle Realm and reached the next level, one gained the power to interfere with and manipulate anomalies. Even if the anomaly did not belong within his own body, he could exert appropriate traction and control over it.

The only drawback was that, perhaps because he had just broken through, the power of traction and interference was still very weak.

While lost in thought, Feng Buzhi suddenly noticed a figure—it was the Shadow, looking very anxious.

After his Mind Realm breakthrough, his sonar detection range had increased significantly, and he could now detect an area of about 450 meters around him.

Feng Buzhi had an idea and exerted a slight interference on the distant mist. A cluster of mist transformed into a gentle breeze, softly brushing against the Shadow's body.

The Shadow stopped abruptly. He scanned his surroundings suspiciously, then drifted toward Feng Buzhi's location with a puzzled expression.

"So you were here! I've been looking for you for ages. Didn't I tell you yesterday that Zhao Gang is giving a speech today? Are you really not going to watch? This is a major event for this town. If you don't go, you really don't deserve to be human."

"By the way, why did you come here? Are you here to inspect the altars? I know your personality well enough by now. How many altars have you checked today? How many more do you plan to check?"

"Actually, you should just listen to me. You've already reached the Subtle Realm; you should just merge with an anomaly directly. You..."

The Shadow, who had been rambling on, suddenly noticed something unusual and stopped speaking.

He noticed Feng Buzhi's disheveled state—his expression was stiff and listless, and cold sweat was still dripping from his body. He looked exactly like someone who had just undergone a Deep Abyss Trial and had been ravaged by it.

The Shadow exclaimed in surprise, "Did you use this Abyss Altar to merge with an anomaly? And you just finished a Deep Abyss Trial? That shouldn't be right. How did you suddenly start listening to reason?"

The Shadow felt both pleasantly surprised and gratified by Feng Buzhi's act of using the Abyss Altar to merge with an anomaly.

This guy had finally done something a human should do.

Beyond that, seeing Feng Buzhi in such a sorry state gave the Shadow a sense of immense satisfaction.

Ever since he had known Feng Buzhi, the man had always gone his own way, completely ignoring his earnest teachings and painstaking advice.

And now, Feng Buzhi had finally suffered a setback.

In the Shadow's line of sight, Feng Buzhi nodded at him and said, "Mm, I suppose it was a whim. I came here and merged with an anomaly, and after the merger, my consciousness entered the Endless Abyss."

The Shadow smiled and comforted him, "The Abyss is a battlefield for hundreds of races. Our Human Race is inherently weak, so we appear weaker in the early stages. You don't need to take it to heart."

Feng Buzhi sighed, "The Human Race is indeed a bit weak."

In the Million-Player Battle Royale, he had encountered only three humans, and after the second stage, he hadn't seen a single one, which undoubtedly highlighted the weakness of the Human Race.

Seeing Feng Buzhi's lament, the Shadow thought his words had upset him and immediately spoke up to comfort him, "Don't be discouraged; things will definitely get better in the future. Your Mind Realm is at the late stage of the Subtle Realm, and with our Human Race's affinity for anomalies, your future is bound to be limitless. By the way, what was your Deep Abyss Trial? You're at the late stage of the Subtle Realm, so you should have been able to perceive it, right?"

Feng Buzhi said, "The Deep Abyss Trial is the [Million-Player Battle Royale]."

Shadow clutched his head and pondered for a moment. As memories surfaced, he said, "The [Million-Player Battle Royale] of the Fallen Plains? That should be one of the most brutal trials before reaching the ranked stage. No wonder you were in that state just now. Right, I forgot to ask—what did you choose to integrate as your eerie organ? Can you use it now?"

Feng Buzhi nodded and said, "For my alienated organ, I chose skin. As for the ability, I have only mastered [Steel-Hardened Keratin] so far, and I'm not very proficient with it yet."

Shadow nodded. "Although you didn't choose the brain, skin is also an alienated organ with extremely high growth potential. Honestly, I was worried you wouldn't listen to my advice and would choose some bizarre alienated organ. If you had suddenly decided to pick something like armpit hair, I wouldn't have known how to save you."

Shadow's expression was full of relief as he saw Feng Buzhi's fist and half of his forearm stained a metallic silver; this must be the [Steel-Hardened Keratin] Feng Buzhi had mentioned.

Shortly after, he saw the [Steel-Hardened Keratin] moving rapidly across the surface of Feng Buzhi's skin, looking smooth and fluid, as if he had been practicing it for months.

Shadow's expression turned strange as he said, "You just said you weren't very proficient with this [Steel-Hardened Keratin]?"