Chapter 172
Chapter 172
Somewhere in the Central Region, Qin Lan examined the contents of the storage bracelet.
“What’s this stone?” he asked curiously.
He pointed at an oddly angular rock with three white lines across its surface.
[If you don’t want to die, don’t touch it.]
Yin Manqing warned him, [Even I avoided things like that in my prime.]
“Damn. It’s that powerful?”
Qin Lan was stunned. Even Yin Manqing at peak Tier Four–already half a step into Ascension–could not withstand it?
How terrifying was this thing?
[Its aura… is familiar.]
[It doesn’t come from the Abyss, but from a more distant region deep within the Fallen Zone–the area known as the Unexplorable Lands.]
[That place is filled with unsolvable instances and things even more terrifying.]
Yin Manqing’s voice turned grave.
[I went there once. I only observed it from a great distance, yet my mind nearly collapsed.]
[Others may not sense it, but I could see the endless horror there and the shadow no human power could oppose.]
Qin Lan clicked his tongue and swallowed as he looked at the unremarkable stone.
“This thing… is really that impressive?”
[Impressive doesn’t begin to describe it.]
[The lines on the stone should mean that three unknown, specialized curses remain inside.]
[Any one of them could erase a Tier Four expert so completely that not even ash or bone remained!]
Yin Manqing’s keen eye saw through its secret immediately.
[Items like this often emerge from the Unexplorable Lands. Many powerful people died because they didn’t understand them…]
Yin Manqing recalled, [I knew a four-star Anomaly Hunter who specialized in physical cultivation. He could beat a high-level four-star anomaly to death with his bare hands. Then he touched an ordinary-looking “shoe” from that region and dissolved into pus.]
She sighed.
[We were close friends and used to drink together. I never expected one careless moment to separate us forever.]
Qin Lan’s expression changed.
“Uh, should we throw the stone away?”
“Keeping this thing nearby feels like carrying a time bomb…”
Qin Lan was deeply wary.
An Anomaly Hunter capable of beating a high-level four-star anomaly to death with his bare hands had dissolved into bloody sludge?
Qin Lan had no desire to test it.
[Just don’t touch it.]
[Besides, if you ever face another desperate situation like the last one, this gives you another option.]
Yin Manqing considered it. [I can’t be certain, but items of this type should be activated in similar ways… When the time comes, I can try.]
Qin Lan’s eyes brightened.
If no one knew how to use it, it was merely a bomb that might explode at any moment.
But if they knew how to activate it… then it became a decisive weapon capable of turning disaster into fortune!
“Good stuff. Truly good stuff…” Qin Lan licked his lips. “Old Xu is such a generous man. He gave me such an incredible item without hesitation. What a loyal friend.”
“Forget the stone for now. What else is inside?”
[Why don’t you look for yourself?]
Yin Manqing chuckled and laid out the bracelet’s other contents.
The first things Qin Lan saw were dozens of familiar-looking little cases.
They were made from a special metal. Qin Lan still had an identical case in his own storage bracelet, so he immediately knew what they contained.
“Pure… Pure… Pure Hearts?!”
“Thirty-nine Pure Hearts?!”
The revelation struck Qin Lan like lightning. The sudden surprise thundered through his mind, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
“I’m rich! I’m filthy rich!”
A single Pure Heart cost at least fifteen hundred Bureau points from the Anomaly Hunter Bureau. Supplies were limited, and sometimes none were available at all…
Xu Min had actually accumulated nearly forty of them?!
That was a fortune worth sixty thousand Bureau points!
[Judging by his mental power, he should have reached the final stage of cultivating the Soul Tower. His consciousness can leave his body, but it cannot remain outside for long and must reconstruct a physical vessel quickly.]
[He probably wanted to accumulate more Pure Hearts and attempt to break through that final stage, reaching the point where he could move freely without a body.]
[The so-called–]
“Out-of-body primordial spirit?” Qin Lan guessed.
[…It’s called consciousness projection. Have you read too many novels?]
[At that stage, even if the body is destroyed, the consciousness can continue walking the world without being affected.]
Yin Manqing’s voice turned smug.
[Now do you understand how powerful I was to develop a top-tier Curse Codex like the Soul Tower?]
“Then how did you get slapped dead in one hit?”
[…]
[If you can’t say anything useful, close your mouth.]
Yin Manqing became furious from embarrassment.
[However, the Soul Tower doesn’t contain everything I know. Xu Min doesn’t understand techniques such as anchoring soul fragments inside an object.]
[That’s why he didn’t kill you immediately. He wanted to force me out and obtain that part of my knowledge.]
Understanding dawned on Qin Lan.
“So that’s why he willingly entered my mindscape. I thought he really did have feelings for–”
[If you mention Pink Mood again, I’ll kill you with that stone.]
“All right.”
Qin Lan shrank his neck and looked at the other items. “What about these? What are they?”
Xu Min had carried too many treasures.
Qin Lan’s experience was far too limited to judge their value.
Fortunately, he had a knowledgeable older woman traveling with him.
[That is a four-star cursed artifact. It should be parasitic.]
Yin Manqing glanced at one item, and it flew before Qin Lan.
“Parasitic? I think I’ve heard of those…”
After a moment’s thought, Qin Lan remembered someone.
Luan Zimo.
That peerless prodigy had swept aside countless young geniuses. Every cursed artifact on her body was at least four-star and parasitic.
Combined with the enhancement from her Talent, those cursed artifacts might even approach the unsolvable level!
Back in the [Final Destination] instance, where everyone’s strength had been severely suppressed, her golden eyes burning with golden flame could still perceive Death’s attacks.
And there had been those crystalline butterfly wings behind her…
[This is called Dread Heart. It came from a high-level four-star instance and once fell into an Anomaly Hunter’s hands… I never expected Xu Min to possess it now.]
Yin Manqing studied the object for a moment, sounding wistful.
[Communicate with it through your Curse Core, and it will parasitize your heart, greatly improving your survivability.]
[Every beat will continuously draw curse energy from your surroundings and convert it into life force with extraordinary efficiency, repairing your wounds.]
Yin Manqing was clearly familiar with the cursed artifact, describing its functions effortlessly.
[After that Anomaly Hunter obtained Dread Heart, battles of attrition became meaningless against him.]
[Whether he suffered physical wounds or depleted his curse energy, he could replenish everything in moments… It gave many people terrible headaches.]
A treasure!
Wild joy spread across Qin Lan’s face.
It strengthened him in battles of attrition?
Qin Lan already possessed extremely high curse resistance. When ordinary people fought him, the two sides expended energy at completely different rates.
He held a natural advantage in endurance.
Add [Dread Heart], and unless an enemy killed him immediately, they would never kill him at all!
It was an inexhaustible reservoir of energy and health!