For the entire following day, Zhang Ping and Liu Sishan tested their abilities.
Compared with the Fire Eater ability Zhang Ping was already very familiar with, he did not know the upper and lower limits of the Nethermist Body and Pure Water Body, even though he could use them.
That was why they needed to test them.
After a day of testing, he gained a preliminary understanding of these two new abilities.
First was the Nethermist Body. This ability absorbed fear and transformed it into Nether Mist. Its absorption range covered targets within ten meters of him—in other words, he could not absorb another person's fear from beyond ten meters.
The Nether Mist also possessed formidable offensive power, but every attack consumed some of it. In other words, Nether Mist was a consumable, and the stronger the target, the greater the consumption.
Generally speaking, attacking flesh-and-blood beings did not consume much. Energy bodies and hard substances, however, consumed far more Nether Mist.
Finally, by absorbing a target's fear, Zhang Ping could sense how frightened they were.
The more frightened the target was,
the more fear he could absorb, and the more Nether Mist he could convert it into.
As an aside, while testing the range, he discovered a little secret: Liu Sishan was afraid of insects.
Next was the test of the Pure Water Body.
The advantage of the Pure Water Body was that it could transform his body into pure water, directly granting immunity to the vast majority of physical attacks. Its drawback was that Zhang Ping needed time to transform.
It took him about one second to transform from a Flesh Body into a Pure Water Body.
If he only transformed part of his body, it was slightly faster.
Although the Pure Water Body could absorb water molecules from the air to restore his stamina and heal his injuries, the recovery speed depended on the environment. The higher the humidity, the faster he recovered; the drier it was, the slower his recovery became.
In some extremely hot environments, transforming into a Pure Water Body would even continuously consume his stamina. The rate of consumption was twice that of a Flesh Body.
The Pure Water Body also had one drawback: when there was not enough water composing his body, it affected his height and build.
When most of the water in his body had evaporated, transforming back into a Flesh Body would leave him shorter and thinner. He might even end up with a child's physique.
However, through this test, he discovered that changing his shape as a Pure Water Body and then transforming back into a Flesh Body produced some fascinating changes. For example, when he made wings grow from his back and then transformed back into a Flesh Body, he really did have a pair of wings on his back. But they were made entirely of flesh and could not fly. They instead resembled a woman's mammary organs.
Through this experiment, Zhang Ping realized that he could undergo cosmetic surgery.
Finally, he took inspiration from Liu Sishan's Water Whip and created his own technique, Chainsaw Form.
Simply put, the outsides of both his arms transformed into chainsaw shapes and vibrated at an extremely high speed. This operation consumed a tremendous amount of his energy, however. He could use it only once at most, and its power was far inferior to Liu Sishan's Water Whip, so it could only serve as a supplementary method alongside the Nether Mist.
After Zhang Ping finished his tests, Liu Sishan gave her assessment.
His current strength was roughly equivalent to half of a High-Level Awakened. This was mainly because the Nether Mist dealt damage that surpassed his Level. Otherwise, he would be at most equivalent to an Intermediate Awakened.
Moreover, his weaknesses were far too obvious.
His Level was simply too low, and his stamina and Mental Strength were insufficient to sustain a high-intensity battle.
His combat experience was also too limited. If a High-Level Awakened underestimated him or let down their guard, he might be able to take them down by surprise.
But as soon as a High-Level Awakened got serious, his only option would be to flee in panic. This was especially true against Awakened who used flames or lightning—his combat power would be greatly reduced.
By the time the tests ended, it was already evening.
The two returned to the camp together.
Liu Sishan stopped at the camp entrance and said, "All right, you go back to your tent and rest. I need to return to the city tonight to get something."
"Mm. Be careful on the way." Zhang Ping nodded.
After they parted, Zhang Ping entered the camp. Quite a few salt haulers had gathered around the bonfire, chatting.
"I never thought Big-Head Liu would actually die. I was wondering why I hadn't seen him last night."
"Last night was when the Salt Frost Tree fruit ripened. Big-Head Liu went too far looking for ore at noon. He ran into a Mutated White Ape on the way back. It was simply his fate."
"Speaking of which, the atmosphere in the city has been rather strange lately. I heard the owner of a steamed-bun shop woke up one day to discover that his wife had turned into a sheet of human skin. The blood on it had already turned black, and who knew how long ago it had been peeled off? The owner was scared insane on the spot."
"I heard about that too. The owner's wife had still been eating buns in the shop the day before, and plenty of people could testify to it."
As Zhang Ping passed by the bonfire, he unexpectedly sensed wisps of fear drifting from the salt haulers. He absorbed and converted it into Nether Mist, then thought for a moment and simply joined them to listen.
"Kid, are you new here?"
A salt hauler beside Zhang Ping noticed his unfamiliar face and asked with a smile.
"Yeah. I came to try my luck." Zhang Ping smiled amiably.
Then he leaned closer and whispered, "Actually, I know something about what they were just talking about. I was so frightened that I fled the city to lie low."
"What do you know?" the other person immediately asked in a low voice.
Zhang Ping noticed the surrounding salt haulers' ears had perked up. He smiled cryptically. "I'll tell you, but don't spread it around. There have actually been several similar cases. They were all suppressed by the people above. If you don't believe me, ask around and see whether anyone has gone missing from Jiu'an Furniture or the Dragon Spear Polearm Workshop."
"I know about that. Three people went missing from the Dragon Spear Polearm Workshop."
"I know about Jiu'an Furniture too. I even bought a chair from them a few days ago."
"Hiss, doesn't that mean five people have died?"
"Maybe even more. The question is, how did they die and leave behind only a sheet of human skin? The blood on it had already dried black. How long ago must they have died?"
"What's even more terrifying is the people we saw before. Were they really people, or were they ghosts?"
The salt haulers began discussing it among themselves. The more they talked, the more intense the frightening atmosphere became. Some timid salt haulers wanted to leave, but they were afraid to stay alone in their tents. They could neither leave nor stay, and their faces had gone white.
Standing among the crowd, Zhang Ping absorbed their fear and gradually converted it into Nether Mist.
He discovered that fear differed in quality.
During the morning's test, Liu Sishan's fear had not been very high-quality. Although she was afraid of insects, she clearly was not particularly terrified of them. Her emotion was closer to disgust, and the degree of fear was not high.
The salt haulers' fear tonight was higher-quality than Liu Sishan's. If he had to compare it to something, it was probably similar to that of an audience watching a horror movie in a theater.
As the night grew late, the salt haulers gradually returned to their tents,
"I wonder how high-quality the fear between life and death would be?"
Sitting beside the bonfire, Zhang Ping could not help thinking.
In just two hours, the Nether Mist had expanded from the size of a bracelet to that of a belt. If used in battle, it could already be shaped into swords and knives.
Unfortunately, opportunities like this did not come every day.
The salt haulers could not possibly be afraid of this matter every single day.
Looking at the belt formed from Nether Mist, Zhang Ping had an idea. "If I start telling ghost stories here tomorrow, I wonder whether I can absorb their fear?"
"Why not try pretending to be a ghost?"
One crooked idea after another surfaced in Zhang Ping's mind.
The Nether Mist was his only means of dealing with High-Tier Mutated Beasts. He wished he could cover his entire body with it, then create several thousand or even tens of thousands of weapons from it.
At that point, the moment an enemy appeared, countless blades and swords would serve them up, chopping them all into mincemeat.
To accomplish this small goal as soon as possible, Zhang Ping tried to recall all the horror movies he had watched in his previous life. Gradually, an idea emerged: perhaps pretending to be a ghost really would work!
By adjusting the thickness of the Nether Mist, he gradually transformed his face into the shape of a black skull.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, a terrified scream came from not far away. Then it abruptly stopped.
Zhang Ping was startled and immediately looked over. He saw a salt hauler staring at him in terror. The next moment, the man's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Had he been scared unconscious?
Zhang Ping wiped his face, and the skull mask formed from Nether Mist immediately dispersed.
He hurried over to check on the salt hauler. After confirming that the man was unharmed, he sighed in relief.
Although he had planned to pretend to be a ghost, he had not expected the effect to be so good. He could not help wondering, Was it really that frightening?
He used the philtrum-pressing method to wake the salt hauler, but the moment the man saw his face, his eyes rolled back and he fainted again. Before losing consciousness, he even gave Zhang Ping a massive surge of fear.
"Forget it."
Zhang Ping moved the salt hauler beside the bonfire, then turned and returned to his tent.
It was a pity he had not brought a mirror. Otherwise, he could have seen just how terrifying his black skull really was.
"Wait, water can reflect my appearance too."
He suddenly thought of a solution. He simply transformed his lower body into a puddle of water while covering his face with Nether Mist, rapidly turning it into the shape of a black skull.
Although Nightwalker gave him night vision, water needed light to reflect an image. The tent was too dark, and the reflection on the water's surface was poor due to the lack of light.
He simply lifted one corner of the tent, allowing the bonfire's light to shine in. Then he saw his own face, and his heart nearly stopped from fright.
It was an extremely terrifying face.
Because of the Nether Mist's constantly shifting appearance, the skull's face kept changing. The most frightening thing was not any one particular face, but the terror evoked by the deathly visages of all living beings.
Zhang Ping swallowed, feeling somewhat apprehensive.
This makeup is far too hellish. I seem to have created something extraordinary.
"Ah!"
Beside the bonfire, the salt hauler slowly woke up.
Frowning, he sat up and raised his head, only to see a corner of the distant tent pulled open. When he looked inside, his eyes widened further and further. After a scream, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted again.
Well, this was awkward...
Zhang Ping looked up at the unfortunate salt hauler and was speechless for a moment.
This could not be blamed on him, right?
It should not be, right?
He silently lowered the corner of the tent and dispersed the Nether Mist on his face.
To be honest, even he would not dare stare at that skull face for long when alone. Otherwise, it created an inherently creepy feeling.
However, if he used it in battle, it should be able to place enormous psychological pressure on his enemies.
It was equivalent to a special piece of equipment that could greatly weaken an enemy's condition.