Escaping the Silent Abyss, Lin Fan returned to his hidden cave in the poisonous fog zone. Meditating, he slowly recovered his spiritual energy. The recent ordeal was seared into his mind: the Abyss was no place to venture recklessly without thorough preparation. Yet, it also presented a potential treasure trove, a place where he could exploit the jade pendant's unique abilities.
"The jade pendant can suppress death qi," he murmured. "This means I can hunt Ghost Hounds, or any other creature there that lacks spiritual energy." The problem was finding a safe way to do it. His MP recovered too slowly, and he couldn't constantly rely on draining it to use the pendant's counter-ability.
He recalled a detail: the pendant required pure spiritual energy to work on ore, and his MP had been depleted when it repelled the Ghost Hound. Perhaps its death qi suppression also consumed his spiritual energy, but in a different, more potent way.
An idea suddenly sparked. If the pendant could refine sparse spiritual energy into pure spiritual energy, and it also reacted to death qi... What if he brought items containing death qi to the pendant? Could it "refine" death qi into some useful energy, or at least help him understand it better?
This idea was quite bold, and potentially dangerous, but Lin Fan was a man who dared to act when there was a logical basis. He needed a safe source of death qi.
He decided not to return to the Silent Abyss immediately. Instead, he spent a few more days consolidating his cultivation and accumulating wealth. He continued to mine and refine Basic Spirit-Grade Ore, selling them steadily on the market. With each transaction, he was extremely cautious, leaving no discernible trace. His vision for earning money and cultivating gradually became clearer.
With his funds approaching 2000 gold coins, he began purchasing more advanced elixirs for faster MP and HP recovery. He also sought out some basic "Spirit Condensing Pills"—elixirs that accelerated the absorption of spiritual energy for a short period.
Back in his cave, he used the Spirit Condensing Pills and the jade pendant to speed up his cultivation. The spiritual energy from the pills, combined with the pendant's refining ability, allowed him to progress at an astonishing rate. After just two more days, Lin Fan felt a larger "boom" in his Dantian.
Congratulations! You have broken through to Qi Condensation Stage 4!
He had reached Qi Condensation Stage 4! This speed was a miracle for a mortal. He could feel the spiritual energy within his body had significantly increased. His Spiritual Energy Shield skill also became much more robust.
Now, he was confident enough to execute his new plan. He needed a less dangerous source of death qi to experiment with the jade pendant. He recalled a type of monster on the fringes of the deeper forest: Zombie Wolves—wolves infected with low-grade death qi, levels 10-12, but not overly agile or powerful. They typically appeared in gloomy areas, near ancient tombs or contaminated sites.
Lin Fan left the cave, venturing deeper into the forest. He cautiously searched for a solitary Zombie Wolf. It didn't take long before he spotted one lumbering around a small, ancient burial ground.
He didn't rush to attack. Instead, he waited patiently, perfectly concealed in the bushes. He wanted to test the pendant's ability. He pulled out the jade pendant, imbued it with spiritual energy, then gently tossed a small stone towards the Zombie Wolf to attract its attention.
The Zombie Wolf snarled, its vacant eyes turning towards him. It slowly lumbered forward.
Lin Fan once again channeled spiritual energy into the jade pendant. Without waiting for the monster to get too close, he unleashed the dark grey aura he had witnessed in the Silent Abyss.
This time, it wasn't a panicked repulsion. The Zombie Wolf froze, and its entire body began to tremble violently. The death qi surrounding it seemed to be pulled back by an invisible force, ceaselessly being absorbed into the jade pendant!
And then, something even stranger happened. After a few seconds, when the death qi on the Zombie Wolf was completely drained, its body immediately... disintegrated into dust! Only a few items dropped onto the ground.
Lin Fan stood stunned. The jade pendant didn't just suppress death qi; it could drain and completely destroy creatures formed from death qi!
He quickly ran over, picking up the dropped items: a few copper coins, and something that looked like a small, black bone shard.
Death Qi Bone Shard: An item containing pure death qi, usable in concocting poisons or certain deviant cultivation techniques.
Lin Fan looked at the Death Qi Bone Shard, then at the jade pendant. He could feel a very faint, cold energy circulating within the pendant. Was that the death qi it had absorbed?
He decided to test it. He placed the Death Qi Bone Shard on the jade pendant, then tried to use his spiritual energy to "activate" it, just like he refined ore.
There was no light, no major transformation. But he could feel the Death Qi Bone Shard slowly melting, and an extremely condensed, cold, dark grey energy was transferring from the bone shard into the jade pendant.
The jade pendant wasn't "refining" death qi into spiritual energy, but it seemed to be "storing" or "condensing" that death qi! This meant that if he collected enough death qi, the jade pendant would become a special energy reservoir, allowing him to use its death qi suppression ability more frequently!
A new path unfolded. Lin Fan could cultivate spiritual energy while simultaneously accumulating death qi for the jade pendant. This allowed him to balance between the two types of energy, making him a true "anomaly" in Nine Realms.
With this discovery, Lin Fan immediately changed his strategy. He began hunting Zombie Wolves, collecting Death Qi Bone Shards. He didn't need to worry about taking damage from them; simply using the jade pendant was enough. His MP was still an issue, but now he could use elixirs to recover faster.
He spent another week in-game hunting Zombie Wolves. He had collected a significant amount of Death Qi Bone Shards. The jade pendant in his hand seemed to have become slightly "heavier," and sometimes, he could see faint, dark grey patterns flickering on its surface.
By this point, Lin Fan had reached Qi Condensation Stage 5 and had a substantial amount of money in his account. He decided it was time to return to the outside world, to a larger city, to seek rarer resources and more advanced cultivation techniques.
He left the poisonous fog zone, following the main road leading to Cloud Peak City—a central hub for players who had passed the novice stage.
As he stepped through the city gates, a special system notification appeared on his screen, not a general announcement but a private message.
[Private Message] From: [System]
[Special Invitation]: Player Nameless One, your journey has caught our attention. Would you like to participate in the [Trial Participant Project]?
Lin Fan froze. Trial Participant Project? He had never heard of this. And why was the system sending a direct invitation to him, using the name "Nameless One," not his character name?