Chapter 321: I Can Finally Do a Second-Stage Transformation, But Constantly Watching Ads Is Too Annoying

The Hu Family was very efficient, arranging for people to take over the Taiping Heavenly King Army within three days.

However, when their people arrived, they were dumbfounded.

The cities were completely empty, like Ghost Cities, devoid of any signs of life. It wasn't just one city—it was all of them.

From top to bottom, it wasn't that there was no one left alive, but the scene was a world away from what they should have seen.

Then, they received a horrifying piece of news: the Mage Families that had previously backed the Taiping Heavenly King Army had all been annihilated.

The situation immediately blew up.

The enigmatic Taiping Celestial King had also vanished. At this point, even if the Hu Family were complete fools, they knew they had been tricked.

But they couldn't find him, and in the end, they could only grit their teeth and accept the territories, which had drastically plummeted in value.

But the problem was... they discovered that the Warlord they had been supporting was also in trouble.

After an investigation, they confirmed one thing: the Taiping Celestial King had shown up to surrender, but had attacked instead.

Not only had he killed the rebel king they were backing, but he had also caused widespread destruction and plundered an enormous amount of resources.

When the head of the Hu Family heard this news, he nearly choked with rage.

Putting the losses aside, the fact that they had been slapped in the face twice in a row caused the Hu Family to lose all face.

So, after recovering, they immediately issued wanted posters and kill orders. The bounty for him dead was high, and for him alive, it was ten times higher.

However, there were very few takers.

For no other reason than that he was a Second-Grade Mage. Aside from the top-tier First-Grade Mages, no one was willing to provoke such a person.

But this reward wasn't enough to catch the eye of a First-Grade Mage, and it wasn't worth it for a Second-Grade Mage to risk their life for it.

Anyone below that with half a brain would simply ignore the bounty, rather than arrogantly thinking they could punch above their weight and assassinate a powerhouse who could wipe out his own forces and cripple a world-renowned Warlord in such a short time.

The main issue was that this grade was just too awkward.

A First-Grade was too expensive, a Second-Grade wouldn't risk it, and anyone Third-Grade or below couldn't win.

It was true that no one took the job, but the Hu Family, in an effort to save face, not only posted the public bounty but also formed a kill squad composed of their own Second-Grade Mages.

They began to track the Taiping Celestial King.

Besides letting off steam, they also had to protect their reputation.

If they didn't kill the Taiping Celestial King to make an example of him, others would be bold enough to try and trick them in the future.

It was also to prove that the Hu Family had not grown weak.

Because of this incident, many other prominent families, who also had First-Grade Mages of their own, had already begun to probe them.

If the Hu Family showed even the slightest sign of fatigue or weakness, these prominent families would swarm them without hesitation.

Even if they just dozed off for a moment, should a sufficient number of prominent families attack at once, the Hu Family would be devoured completely, even at the height of its power.

Therefore, to prevent this from happening, the Hu Family had to keep up appearances.

All that could be said was that there was no warmth between Mage Families—only a tangle of interests.

Of course, due to this turn of events, the Hu Family had no choice but to withdraw from the current struggle for supremacy. Starting over from scratch was not so easy.

The Warlord they backed had been killed, the resources they invested were all washed down the drain, and if they continued, they would have missed their opportunity and wouldn't be able to rise again.

Even if they backed another, they wouldn't be able to rise up. They would just be suppressed by other Warlords instead of becoming a major power again.

As the big winner, Qi Suian found a place to continue his research and experiments after reaping his rewards, shutting himself off from the turmoil of the outside world.

Ever since he stopped being the Taiping Celestial King, he felt much more relaxed. At least his smart-brain no longer had to worry about all sorts of miscellaneous matters.

Within three days, Qi Suian used the resources he had harvested to quickly perfect the Middle-Grade Spiritual Root stage of his Abyssal Form.

It was mainly because he could "pay-to-win," otherwise it really wouldn't have been so fast.

With enough resources and a bit of luck, you could even turn a pig into a powerhouse.

Once Qi Suian had sufficient resources, the perfecting process went very smoothly.

Transplant, absorb, upgrade. There were no surprises while enhancing his Abyssal Form; it was just a simple and unadorned upgrade.

At the same time, a large bulge suddenly swelled up on the back of Qi Suian's neck.

It was covered in a scale-like keratinous layer and would occasionally throb up and down, as if it were sucking on something. It looked extremely strange.

This was an external manifestation of his Abyssal Form, it just hadn't hatched yet.

'The upgrade patch is installed and the abilities are usable, but the complimentary appendage needs some time to develop,' Qi Suian thought, touching the fleshy lump on the back of his neck.

He had chosen the back of his neck, naturally, to cover his blind spot.

Of course, it was also because the neck was relatively fragile and close to his head. If things got dire, he could also coil the appendage up to act as a shield for his back.

'I've now perfected the effect where losing health enhances the form and strengthens my power.'

'Let's test it out...'

As he thought this, Qi Suian used the Abyssal Virus to control his body's state.

His first stage was the basic stage, which he always maintained, so he went directly to the second stage.

The Abyssal Virus within him began to seep out, swirling around Qi Suian like a thin layer of mist.

This was the indiscriminate attack provided by the Abyssal Form.

Qi Suian recorded the data, then entered the third stage.

The skin all over his body began to writhe, and jet-black patterns appeared on it. This was the Abyssal Virus, stimulated, surfacing on his skin.

'Let's just jump to the final stage.' Qi Suian was in no mood to test things out bit by bit.

For him, the passive ability of losing health in stages was only useful when he was ambushed. Otherwise, he would just directly control his health and drop it to its lowest point.

As for the data from the intermediate stages, it was mostly just for transition and didn't hold much real value.

Fourth... fifth... he skyrocketed to the final stage at an incredible speed.

At this moment, Qi Suian had transformed into a bizarre figure covered in a large amount of jet-black scale armor—ferocious, terrifying, just like a monster.

It was a form Qi Suian had meticulously designed, suitable for slaughter, escape, combat, and various other scenarios.

'Second-Grade Mages... no matter how many come, I can tear them apart alive,' Qi Suian thought, comparing his current state to the data he had on the Hu Family's Second-Grade Mage he had met before.

His opponents might have more skills, but Qi Suian's bonus stats could crush them.

'Even against First-Grade Mages, as long as there are no more than ten of them, killing them won't be difficult.'

'Whether it's physical damage or energy attacks, as long as their base stats haven't undergone a qualitative change to reach 10 points and they don't have an X-rank talent, it's all just tickle damage to me.'

'Even if they have a boss template, powerful skills, and an SSS-rank talent, if I can't win, we'll at least be evenly matched.'

As for winning, that would naturally require perfecting the final Top-Grade Spiritual Root for his Abyssal Form.

Otherwise, on what basis could he expect to win?

'Then there's the duration. It can probably only last for about ten minutes.'

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he watched the countdown he had set reach zero, and his entire body burst into a puddle of pus.

Then, Death Recast activated, and he revived after watching an ad.

'I used to think that reducing ad time was a useless ability, but now it seems I was mistaken.'

'I just wonder if I can reduce the time even further.'

Then, his gaze fell on the data for his Abyssal Form.

'The duration is a bit tricky.'

'Based on current data projections, the complete Abyssal Form can only be sustained for about fifteen seconds at most before I drop dead from it.'

'Ten minutes is manageable, I can work with that, but fifteen seconds is a bit of a problem.'

As for the idea that leveling up would not only increase its power but also its duration?

This wasn't some traditional protagonist's ability; it was a power developed based on overloading and overdrafting himself.

The stronger the power, the shorter his lifespan.

It was equivalent to compressing his entire future lifespan into the present moment, creating an effect similar to a power burst.

He had no potential, so naturally, he couldn't be like those conventional protagonists who could just yell "Break!" and have their power suddenly skyrocket.

Qi Suian simply couldn't do that. He had long since run out of potential. He relied entirely on modifying himself to expand his limits, so there was no latent potential to grant him a "break and burst" effect.

If he wanted a power burst, he had to pay with his life.

In essence, it was the law of conservation, just with higher efficiency and pushed to the absolute limit of exploitation.

As for being an Extraordinary Being and not having to obey the law of conservation?

If Qi Suian had that kind of ability, he could blow up not just the apocalypse game, but the entire world.

With his limited knowledge, he could think of not a thousand, but at least a hundred powerful ways to exploit the ability to ignore the law of conservation.

Things like potential and limits were all in the past for Qi Suian.

And the idea that those who cultivate or practice martial arts don't need to abide by it? That was just nonsense. If they truly didn't, there would be no need for Qi Cultivation or Foundation Establishment, no bottlenecks, and certainly no need for the vast resources that lead to the saying, "the scholar's path is poor, the warrior's is rich, and the cultivator's will bankrupt a family."

To require resources for advancement while claiming to be able to ignore the law of conservation meant that these so-called Extraordinary Beings were just idiots who'd been hit with a powerful intelligence-lowering debuff.

'Sigh, a Top-Grade Spiritual Root...' Qi Suian's gaze returned to his original plan.

Next was the final step, but the Top-Grade Spiritual Root required Mages of the upper three grades as test subjects.

Compared to Lower-Grade Mages, the number of Mages in the upper three grades was much smaller.

Their numbers were extremely limited.

Take First-Grade Mages, for example. At present, there were only twenty-four of them known to the public.

Most of them were the heads of prominent families, exceptional in both financial resources and personal strength.

There were indeed more Second-Grade and Third-Grade Mages, but compared to the number of test subjects Qi Suian needed, it was still a bit low.

'Forget it, I'll just catch First-Grade Mages.'

'There are fewer of them, but if I use them sparingly, it should be enough.'

After some thought, Qi Suian decided to target the Hu Family, the very one he had just scammed.

'The Tai Sui God seems to be falling behind,' Qi Suian suddenly thought. As long as he activated his Abyssal Form, even a First-Grade Mage would be no match for him.

However, the Tai Sui God couldn't keep up. Its current defense, shield, and material modules could, at best, only withstand a Second-Grade Mage.

This was the first time Qi Suian had surpassed the Tai Sui God, even if it meant he would drop dead after ten minutes.