Chapter 379: Profound Yang Qi, Planting the Soul Seed

The matter of Nangong Yuan quickly subsided, and Yan Jingxing was appointed as the new Grand Commander of Celestial Capital.

The affair didn’t cause much of a stir, and after several attempts to get their hands on Nangong Yuan, the Royal Family eventually gave up.

After getting his hands on Nangong Yuan, Qi Suian began his in-depth research.

With her help, his research on the Twin Soul Seed: Double Lotus progressed by leaps and bounds.

He even suspected the world’s will had intentionally sent her to him; otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?

Of course, it was more likely that his own protagonist’s halo had taken effect, and the world’s will simply gave it a little nudge.

By the end of the experiment, Nangong Yuan’s flesh and blood had been completely consumed. Qi Suian also extracted the naturally fused ghost to use as a sample.

Only when he was more or less finished with his research did he toss what was left to the Royal Family.

Needless to say, the Royal Family had mixed feelings about this.

They were happy to get their "property" back, but their anger was just as simple: he had thrown them something he was done with and no longer wanted. Did he really think they were a garbage dump?

However, because the naturally fused ghost was simply too valuable, they only dared to curse him under their breath and wouldn’t dream of doing it to his face.

After that, Qi Suian began modifying the Twin Soul Seed: Double Lotus, using the data from the ghost’s creation.

"Contain it with yang qi, then begin incubation and growth..." Qi Suian took out his own yang qi.

The foundation of this yang qi was still the Profound Yang Qi, which had been created through the erosion, assimilation, and final transformation by the Profound Virus.

It therefore appeared blackish-red and, unlike the gaseous yang qi inside survivors, had a half-energy, half-flesh structure.

The Profound Yang Qi gradually engulfed and enveloped the soul seed, and countless tendrils began to penetrate it.

"Next up is guiding its subsequent development."

Naturally, Qi Suian couldn’t just let this soul seed grow as it pleased; he was going to make it grow into a ghost that satisfied him.

"It looks really ugly," Qi Suian commented.

The thing really wasn’t good-looking, but Qi Suian wasn’t picky.

After absorbing the soul seed into his body, Qi Suian could clearly feel it begin to suck nutrients from its surroundings.

Development and growth certainly required nutrients, which Qi Suian would obviously have to provide.

This wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart. The nutrients he provided were filled with a large amount of the Profound Virus.

After the soul seed absorbed them, it would be gradually assimilated. In the end, even if it grew into a ghost, it would be nothing more than an accessory to Qi Suian.

’This isn’t enough...’

Qi Suian knew that ghosts were on the level of universal rules. The Profound Virus alone wasn’t enough for him to reach the point of refining a ghost.

So, he also fed the Fei and the Fiber Worm into it as materials.

It was a rather ruthless move, equivalent to sacrificing these two abilities. Restoring them later would be more trouble than it was worth.

But to Qi Suian, it was worth it.

Whether it was the Fei or the Fiber Worm, the Tai Sui God had corresponding modules for them. Through these modules, Qi Suian could refine the ghost to a much greater degree.

Once the refinement was complete, by combining it with the ghost, his S-rank talent, Devourer’s Core, had a high probability of evolving to SS-rank, or even SSS-rank.

High costs meant even higher returns.

"Protagonist halo, I’m counting on you. You have to ensure this succeeds," Qi Suian said, directly entrusting the task to his protagonist’s halo.

As the saying goes, man proposes, but Heaven disposes. Qi Suian had already done all the proposing; as long as nothing unexpected happened, success was inevitable.

And avoiding the unexpected was, naturally, a job for his protagonist’s halo.

Qi Suian had already done everything he possibly could.

"I estimate it will take at least two months for the soul seed to grow into a ghost."

"In the meantime, I’ll research the Ghost Control Technique and turn it into a Ghost Refining Technique." Qi Suian had only completed the ghost part; the refining part had yet to begin.

This part required data. If he relied entirely on deduction, there might be statistical errors.

Therefore, he needed the soul seed’s growth and transformation process to collect the data he needed before he could perform his deductions.

In truth, he didn’t just need his own soul seed. If he could get data from the survivor protagonist, Qi Suian could raise the upper limit of the Ghost Refining Technique even higher.

But Qi Suian didn’t necessarily have to capture him alive. Killing him was more cost-effective.

The ghost was mainly a means to fuse with the Tai Sui God and upgrade his S-rank Devourer’s Core talent.

By then, the Fiber Worm, the Fei, the ghost, the Tai Sui God, and so on would all become his own power, not just things like weapons, equipment, or summons.

He didn’t mind if these powers were derivative or external, but wouldn’t it be even better if they could become a part of his own strength?

As for the Fiber Worm and the Fei, they were of little use to Qi Suian anymore.

Although they would grow stronger alongside him, this kind of strengthening couldn’t produce a qualitative change.

It was like a game character that leveled up without getting any equipment or skills—just a blank slate account.

They could keep up with him for a short time, but if Qi Suian encountered a higher Extraordinary system in the next Doomsday World, he would either have to abandon them or spend time upgrading them.

The latter was definitely not worth it.

So, Qi Suian had to make them a part of him that wouldn’t become obsolete, so he wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore.

After all, his growth was inevitably a process of stitching various things together, ultimately smelting them into his own Extraordinary system.

In this process, all sorts of dangling trinkets would inevitably appear. If he kept them, they’d soon become obsolete, but if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to obtain the essence of the corresponding Extraordinary system.

In the end, they could only be used as fodder.

However, the abilities themselves would be retained and enhanced; only the external "trinkets" would disappear.

For example, Qi Suian could still transform the Fiber Worm and form the Fei, but they would all be consolidated under a single ability.

"Having too many complicated abilities isn’t good. Simplifying things is the right way to go."

Qi Suian didn’t have much of an advantage in combat, so he planned to turn everything into a single move.

Ideally, by adjusting the energy output, this move could be used as a minor skill or a major ultimate ability, and even be attached to his basic attacks.

It could be both passive and active.

This would take a considerable amount of time, and he estimated that it would be impossible to achieve in this world.

The whole process was far too complex, and he didn’t have that much time at this stage.

As for the foundation, he certainly had one. The Highly Poisonous Mage’s Poison Nova was very suitable.

As long as the world’s will wasn’t too much of a troll and didn’t put prerequisites on the Poison and Explosion skills, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

He was just worried that these two skills might have prerequisites. If they did, then Qi Suian would just... have to keep making a scene.

He would force the world’s will to give him the prerequisites; otherwise, how could he possibly let it go?

[Prepare yourself. In ten minutes, you will once again be pulled into the Truth Layer to survive.]

The AI reminded him just in time. Seven days wasn’t a long time, but it wasn’t short either.

"So soon? Hasn’t it only been four days?" Qi Suian calculated the time. It hadn’t been four days.

[Due to the survivor protagonist’s death and the subsequent time reversal, you were trapped for three days.]

[Therefore, you have miscalculated by three days.]

Hearing the explanation, Qi Suian realized that seemed to be the case.

As for him betting that the doomsday game would run on his time? That was a bet he was guaranteed to lose.

"I should prepare then." A thought occurred to Qi Suian. This was a good chance to see if he could find the survivor protagonist again.

Although the world’s will required him to kill him in the other world, not in the Ghost World, it never said Qi Suian couldn’t cripple him or use him for experiments.

It was just exploiting loopholes and abusing bugs. He was no stranger to that.

Besides, he also needed data on how the survivor protagonist controlled ghosts to create his own Ghost Refining Technique.

Saying he wouldn’t make contact was definitely impossible.

But as the seconds ticked by, Qi Suian discovered that this time, no drowsiness came, nor did the corresponding mist and darkness descend.

"The time... is up, isn’t it?" Qi Suian asked.

[Ten seconds have passed. You have not been pulled into the Truth Layer.]

[Perhaps because the survivor protagonist has now controlled a ghost, the doomsday game has acquired a portion of the Ghost World’s data and no longer needs you as an anchor.]

"Go. To the Celestial Capital’s Sealing Vault." Qi Suian immediately headed for the Celestial Capital Sealing Vault to investigate the situation.

If worst came to worst, he would just enter the Truth Layer himself to have a look.

If the doomsday game really had cut him loose to fend for himself, he couldn’t imagine how many benefits he would lose out on.

-----------------

Su Huayun opened his eyes. This time, he wasn’t alone. Nine other survivors had descended with him into this strange-looking village.

At this moment, his Contamination Resistance talent had already reached B-rank, while the other survivors were C-rank at most.

The reason he was able to level up twice in a row was naturally due to his one hundred percent exploration rate.

As for his Deceiver talent, it was still S-rank, but it wasn’t far from being upgraded.

After leaving the Survival Area, he had learned how to upgrade this talent. He had to use "Deceive Gods" to spread lies and make people believe them, while simultaneously activating the "True Illusion" effect to manipulate the situation.

By making the masses grope about in a web of lies, the Deceiver could continuously absorb falsehoods as energy for evolution.

Of course, lies weren’t just falsehoods; they could also be created by twisting the truth.

This was the so-called method where what you hear isn’t necessarily false, and what you see isn’t necessarily true.

Through such methods, Su Huayun could not only upgrade his Deceiver talent but also allow his "Truth Ghost" to devour more truths, enabling him to control it better.

Therefore, what he was spreading was the Ghost Control Technique.

However, the results had been minimal so far. It would take a significant amount of time for the effects to accumulate.

’I have to finish this quickly. Complete all the exploration before the Violator arrives.’

’Fortunately, I have teammates this time. The difficulty should be much simpler than the last survival mission.’ Su Huayun watched the nine others with a profound gaze.

Last time, he had been isolated and helpless, unable to use "Deceive Gods" and "True Illusion," which had greatly diminished the effectiveness of his Deceiver talent.

He had enemies, sure, but they didn’t listen to a word he said and just attacked him on sight.

Teammates were different. Even if they didn’t get along, they wouldn’t attack him outright. As long as they listened to him speak, the "Deceive Gods" effect would take hold, making them subconsciously trust him.

He wasn’t worried about things like infighting.