Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 334 What's Been Coming Has Finally Arrived

Lin Yi was somewhat puzzled.

Are the Abyss Clan hunting down the Devourer Clan?
This news is interesting.

Just two years ago, these two races were working together in the secret realm, sparing no expense to completely crush the thousand members of the Pan-Spirit Alliance.

How long has it been since?

How did their infighting escalate to the point where they had to resort to arms and venture deep into this dangerous layer of blood mist to hunt each other down?

Something must have happened.

Lin Yi thought for a moment and asked in his mind, "Xuanji, judging from the energy fluctuations, how many people are on each side, and what is their strength?"

"Master, according to the signal analysis transmitted from the edge of the monitoring network, there are nineteen members of the Abyss Clan and fourteen members of the Eclipse Clan. Their energy levels are all at the Star Swirl level, with the highest being the sixth level of the Star Swirl level and the lowest being the third level of the Star Swirl level."

Thirty-three? They dared to come down with just that few people?

A thought flashed through Lin Yi's mind.

They've experienced the dangers of the Blood Mist layer before, have they forgotten the pain so quickly?
Lin Yi felt a little curious.

The Blood Mist Layer has a harsh environment, severe rule suppression, and slow energy recovery. Even Star-level geniuses need to be extremely careful when moving around here.

A group of thirty-three people is nothing in this vast crimson world; if they were to encounter a large horde of blood mist beasts, they would likely be wiped out.

They dared to pursue us either because they had some special advantage, or because they were truly blinded by rage and didn't care about anything else.

"I need to go and see what's going on," Lin Yi thought to himself.

He originally had no intention of getting involved in the outside conflicts; he only wanted to hold onto his small camp and quietly accumulate strength.

But this matter is strange, and it may offer a glimpse into the current situation of the two races that dominate the black mist layer above.

"Coordinates," Lin Yi said calmly.

"Coordinates have been marked. It is about 470 kilometers from the camp, in the southeast direction."

Lin Yi didn't say anything more. With a slight sway, he disappeared from the spot without a sound.

After several flashes, it appeared at the edge of the approximate location of the "Hidden Shadow-7" monitoring point.
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About three kilometers from the battlefield.

In a secluded corner naturally formed by several blood-red stone pillars, the space rippled slightly, and Lin Yi's figure silently appeared.

He concealed all his aura, even reducing the fluctuations of the rules around him to a minimum, as if he had merged with the surrounding blood mist.

The powerful soul force, like invisible tentacles, spread out silently, enveloping the distant battlefield.

The roars, curses, and aftershocks of the clash of rules from both sides were all clearly presented in his soul perception.

Lin Yi did not approach, but followed from a distance, quietly observing and eavesdropping.

With a soul force far greater than that of both sides in the battle, he was like an audience member standing below the stage, hearing every single line of dialogue clearly.

It was indeed a chase, and a rather chaotic one at that. Fourteen Eclipse units (of various forms, mostly with Zerg characteristics) were desperately fleeing, most of them wounded, their carapaces shattered, bodily fluids splattered, and their rhythmic fluctuations disordered. The nineteen Abyss units (mainly in beast form) chasing behind were much more ferocious, their attacks sharp and their coordination fairly good, constantly using the blood mist environment to create obstacles and compress the Eclipse's escape space.

Lin Yi listened patiently. His soul perception captured the scattered, intermittent soul fluctuations and roars that lingered on the battlefield.

"...Traitor! Despicable insect! How dare you ambush my clan's 'Rock Howl'!"

"Bullshit! We discovered that crystal core first!"

"Enough talk! Hand over the crystal core! Or you'll all be torn to pieces and fed to the mist beasts!"

"Dream on! Come and take it if you dare! Let's see who dies in this godforsaken place first!"

"Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

"Run separately! Every person who can leave is a chance to succeed!"

The argument was filled with a lot of meaningless shouting, but Lin Yi still managed to piece together the general outline of the matter from those fragments of words.

The source crystal core of a giant black mist beast? A sneak attack?
Black eat black?
Lin Yi quickly pieced together the general outline of the situation.

It sounds like it's because of a fight over the source crystal core of a giant black mist beast.

Someone from the Eclipse Clan ambushed a member of the Abyss Clan who was seriously injured while hunting the Mist Beasts. Instead of killing him, the attack completely ignited the already fragile cooperative relationship between the two clans, causing the conflict to escalate from a dispute to a full-blown battle, and now it has evolved into a relentless pursuit.

They even went so far as to chase down into the blood mist layer.

"The situation has already turned into a complete mess." Lin Yi pondered this information, feeling both absurd and somewhat inevitable.

In the face of resources, especially in such a desperate situation, it's perfectly normal for allies to turn against each other.

Unexpectedly, the "alliance" between these two races turned out to be so fragile, with a single crystal core becoming the fuse.

He continued to observe for a few more minutes, confirming that these pursuers were not carrying any special equipment, nor did they show any particular intention to explore the Blood Mist Layer; they were simply blinded by greed.

Their attention was entirely focused on each other, and they didn't even effectively defend against the blood mist's corrosive effects or the possible appearance of mist beasts.

Lin Yi was speechless.

Just for a single source crystal core?
The current situation is that the entrance to the secret realm has been closed, and everyone is trapped here. Instead of thinking about how to survive in this desperate situation, the prodigies of the two races are killing each other for a single crystal core.

But on second thought, it seems understandable.

It now appears that the mission of these two races' prodigies entering the secret realm is to besiege and seize the source essence.

As for what to do after the secret realm closes, the higher-ups probably haven't given any instructions at all.

In other words, these prodigies are now being discarded.

It's perfectly normal for conflict to erupt between abandoned foes in their struggle for even the faintest hope of survival.

Moreover, although the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan have joined forces this time, the two clans have a deep-seated hatred for each other throughout history, even greater than their hostility towards the Spirit Clan.

Temporary cooperation is inherently fragile; once external pressure eases or conflicts of interest arise, internal strife is almost inevitable.

"Let's fight, the fiercer the better," Lin Yi thought to himself.

The infighting between the two races was naturally a good thing for them, who were hiding in the blood mist layer.

But Lin Yi quickly changed his mind.

He discovered that the battles between these Star-level prodigies were actually affecting the relay monitoring network they had painstakingly set up.

This is not possible!

It doesn't matter if these guys die, but repeaters are consumables; once one is destroyed, there's one less.

Without the relay network, they are deaf and blind in this blood mist layer, and will not have time to react to any sudden situation.

They cannot be kept.

Lin Yi's eyes turned slightly cold.

He originally planned to continue observing to see if he could hear more useful information, such as how the two races were doing up there, how many survivors there were, and whether other teams had come down, etc.

But now, they must be dealt with immediately.

He would feel heartbroken if he broke even one more repeater.

Lin Yi stepped out from his hiding place, his figure like a ghost, directly cutting into the center of the battlefield, the area where the fighting was most intense and the energy most chaotic.

His appearance came without warning.

next moment.

The silvery-gray power of time spread silently, like mercury spilling onto the ground, instantly enveloping an area of ​​several hundred meters below.

Time stands still.

The giant lizard's claws, wreathed in boiling blood mist, had just been raised when they froze in mid-air.

The mantis-eating clan's broken scythe, about to unleash its strike, froze at the halfway point of its trajectory.

All the prodigies of the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan, whether they were charging forward or burning their life essence, were frozen in place like statues whose pause button had been pressed.

Even the surging energy, the gushing blood mist, and the splashing bodily fluids around them all froze in that instant.

Only Lin Yi remained, silently suspended in the air.

His gaze swept over the thirty-three sculptures below, his eyes calm and unwavering.

Then, he raised his right hand, his five fingers loosely clenched.

The rules of space quietly take effect.

The space where the thirty-three sculptures were located seemed to have been gently squeezed by an invisible hand.

Click. Click
The sound of shattering glass rang out in rapid succession.

The giant lizard's hard scales, the mantis's sharp carapace, and the beetle's thick back plates.
Everything, including the boiling source energy, burning essence blood, and lingering soul fluctuations within them, was completely annihilated under the absolute crushing force of the spatial rules.

After a breath.

The time-stopping effect has been removed.

When the silvery-gray ripples of time dissipated, only a relatively clean empty space remained.

Even the blood mist was cleared away for a moment by the instantaneous spatial collapse before being refilled by the surrounding mist.

There were no corpses, no remains; even the finest energy dust was crushed and annihilated by that absolute space.

Only a few dull-colored storage containers, seemingly also affected by the commotion, clattered and fell from mid-air, crashing onto the black rocky ground.

Lin Yi grabbed the spoils from a distance, collected them without even looking at them, and then disappeared back into the blood mist. In a few flashes, he returned to the camp.

Camp.

Inside the largest central cave, soft light illuminated the crystals embedded in the rock walls, dispelling some of the oppressive atmosphere brought by the blood mist.

All the elite talents in the camp were urgently summoned.

More than 700 people gathered in the cave, making it somewhat crowded, but no one complained.

Everyone looked at Lin Yi, who was standing on a slightly higher rock in front of them, waiting for him to speak.

Edith, Aoba, Radiance, and other core members stood at the front.

Lin Yi didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "I'm sure everyone has received the news that the Abyss Clan has apparently been chasing the Erosion Clan into the Blood Mist Layer."

"I went to take a look, there were thirty-three in total, I just finished them off."

A low murmur rippled through the cave. The murmurs weren't surprising because Lin Yi had so quickly dealt with thirty-three prodigies from both races single-handedly, but rather because they were puzzled as to why the Abyss Clan was pursuing the Eclipse Clan.

Lin Yi briefly recounted what he had just witnessed.

"That's roughly it. The two races are probably fighting each other because of the source crystal core of a giant black mist beast. The Eclipse Clan's sneak attack on the heavily injured Abyss Clan failed, and the two sides broke out in a great battle in the black mist layer. Now it's all a mess up there."

“These nineteen Abyss Clan members chased down the Eclipse Clan, their eyes bloodshot with rage, and I just took care of them.”

Everyone was somewhat surprised after hearing this.

"Just because of a single Origin Crystal Core?" Qingye couldn't help but exclaim, "That's too much!"

“Perhaps,” Edith pondered for a moment, then slowly began, “it’s not impossible.”

Everyone looked at her.

Edith organized her thoughts and continued, "Although I don't know why the higher-ups of the two races ordered them to join forces in the secret realm, it's clear that these prodigies were instructed to break through their cultivation levels after entering, then surround and annihilate us, and most likely only one of them will be left to take the source essence out."

She paused, her voice lowering slightly: "Just like during the era of legion-style exploration of secret realms."

The atmosphere inside the cave became even more somber.

Edith has already told you about the brutality of legion-style exploration.

Apart from the legion commander, everyone else in the legion is a expendable resource; in the end, only one person usually manages to leave alive.

Now, these prodigies of the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan are in remarkably similar situations.

"As for why they started fighting, I have some guesses."

Edith looked at Lin Yi, "I guess the higher-ups of these two races didn't give them any orders after the entrance to the secret realm closed. Perhaps in their eyes, what happens after the entrance closes is no longer important."

"Therefore, the remaining members of the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan will naturally think of improving their strength and adaptability through the Source Crystal Core, just like us. The hatred between the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan is already quite strong, even more so than their hostility towards our Spirit Clan."

"Although we don't know why the two races joined forces, it's clear that this has nothing to do with the geniuses within the secret realm. Coupled with the frustration of being forced to their deaths, it's quite normal for them to fight over a disagreement."

Lin Yi nodded secretly upon hearing this.

This guess sounds quite plausible.

The higher-ups only care about the results, not the process.

As long as someone manages to get the Source Essence out of the field, and at the same time, prevents their own group from getting out, the mission will be considered a complete success.

As for how many of these prodigies, who only appear once every five thousand years, die, and how they die, the higher-ups don't care.

These prodigies, once they realize they've been abandoned, will naturally have a change in mindset.

The instinct for survival, resentment towards the higher-ups, and the hatred accumulated between the two races over countless eras.
All these factors combined are like a pile of dry firewood; just a tiny spark is all it takes to ignite a raging fire.

A single source crystal core is just a spark.

Lin Yi thought for a moment, then said in a calm tone, "Forget it, whatever the reason for the infighting, it's a good thing for us."

He looked around at everyone: "We have initially established a foothold in the Blood Mist Layer, and the corresponding monitoring network is gradually being improved. Although there is less rule suppression and the environment is relatively better up there, we don't need to wade into the muddy waters and force them to unite."

“Of course, if they descend into the Blood Mist layer, they will pose a threat to us.” Lin Yi’s tone turned cold. “Once we detect them, I will kill them immediately. I estimate that after one or two such incidents, they will not come down.”

Everyone nodded.

No one doubted Lin Yi's words.

After all, half a year ago, Lin Yi was already able to independently kill a giant blood mist beast equivalent to the mid-stage of the star domain level.

Dealing with these geniuses from both races, who are at most at the Star-Spinning level and whose cultivation is mostly still in its infancy, is indeed a piece of cake.

"Also," Lin Yi added, "do not approach the territory of the newly discovered Blood Mist Beast King. Over the past two years, we have explored a large area around the area and discovered a total of 5 Blood Mist Beast Kings, all of which are very dangerous. If you anticipate them patrolling their territory, retreat immediately without hesitation."

"clear."

Everyone responded in unison.

Over the course of two years, they have gained a preliminary understanding of this layer of blood mist.

Each of those five Blood Mist Beast Kings controlled an area spanning hundreds of kilometers. With their current strength, provoking such beings would be tantamount to suicide.

"Disperse, stay alert." Lin Yi waved his hand.

As the crowd dispersed, Lin Yi was soon left alone in the cave.

He walked to his usual stone platform deep inside the cave, sat cross-legged, and let his consciousness sink into his soul space.

Within the purple mist space, the purple ocean formed by spiritual energy continued to slowly rotate, growing considerably larger than it had been two years ago.

With a thought, Lin Yi began to habitually check the reserves of blood mist crystal cores.

Currently, there are more than 7200 ordinary source crystal cores and more than 40 large source crystal cores dropped by giant blood mist beasts.

Of these crystal cores, 6700 were ordinary source crystal cores that other prodigies had entrusted to Lin Yi for safekeeping.

The reasoning behind this is quite simple: although there are no apparent changes at present, if the Source Crystal Core is placed with Lin Yi, he can use it to quickly enhance his strength should any problems arise.

Lin Yi himself has 500 ordinary crystal cores and 40 large crystal cores.

The source material content of the large crystal nucleus, after repeated calculations, is approximately five times that of the ordinary crystal nucleus.

Therefore, these 40 large crystal nuclei are equivalent to 200 ordinary crystal nuclei.

And this is only his hunting output for half a year.

As for the source crystal cores he had previously acquired, he had already used them to enhance his strength.

The result was that his understanding of the laws of time increased to 7.2%, thus giving him the ability to kill the giant blood mist beast without taking any damage.

From 5.3% to 7.2%, the difference may seem small, but Lin Yi knows that the accumulation required to improve his comprehension level becomes increasingly terrifying as he progresses.

However, in the past six months, after acquiring the source crystal core, he did not rush to absorb it and convert it into spiritual energy.

It wasn't that he didn't urgently need to improve his strength; the main reason was that he wanted to conduct an experiment.

Six months ago, after he killed the giant blood mist beast, he suddenly remembered that ordinary crystal cores could devour and fuse with each other.

In the first layer of gray fog, a large number of ordinary gray fog crystals merged to form a channel leading to the black fog layer.

In the black mist layer, a large number of ordinary black mist crystal cores fused together to form that dangerous blood-colored crystal core, which in turn opened the passage to the blood mist layer.

The problem is that collecting even the most ordinary blood mist crystals in the blood mist layer did not create any channels.

Is it possible that in the Blood Mist Layer, a common Source Crystal Core is needed for fusion to produce new changes?
Will the large source material crystal nucleus devour other ordinary source material crystal nuclei?
So he kept all the source crystal cores he obtained from subsequent hunts to see if there would be any reaction.

However, more than half a year has passed, and there has been no sign of spontaneous attraction and fusion, either between ordinary crystal nuclei or between ordinary crystal nuclei and large crystal nuclei.

They remained quietly in specially designed isolation containers, clearly separated from one another.

"Perhaps it requires specific conditions, perhaps the quantity is not enough, or perhaps it requires a Beast King Crystal Core," Lin Yi secretly speculated.

Since nothing changed, he wasn't particularly disappointed.

This was just a casual observation.

"Forget it, I'll accumulate enough to increase my understanding of the laws by 10%. If there's still no change, I won't wait any longer."

Lin Yi made a decision.

10% is a turning point.

According to the common sense of cultivating according to the laws, a comprehension level exceeding 10% corresponds to the rule comprehension intensity of the second stage of the Derivation Realm.

This means that the mastery of the laws has entered a new level, and one begins to touch upon new implications of the laws, resulting in a significant leap in strength.

In this godforsaken place, every bit of improvement in strength is crucial.

Therefore, in his spare time from hunting and resting, he devoted all his energy to sorting out his understanding of the laws of time.

The goal is to optimize the absorption and comprehension process as much as possible, reduce unnecessary dissipation of spiritual energy during transformation and understanding, and strive to achieve the greatest qualitative change with the smallest amount.

Time slipped away quietly amidst the churning blood mist and the camp's routine activities.

Five years later.

The camp has changed again.

Larger in scale and more complex in structure, the initial bewilderment on everyone's faces had completely disappeared, replaced by a sense of vicissitude and resilience.

Lin Yi's private quiet room.

He was sitting cross-legged at the core of the meditation room, holding a large source crystal core that had been nearly half-absorbed and whose light was slightly dim in both hands.

The pure source energy was extracted bit by bit, transformed into spiritual energy, and integrated into the purple mist space deep within his soul.

He had completely abandoned the experiment on crystal nucleus fusion a year ago.

Thousands of crystal cores have been accumulated, and apart from taking up space, there have been no abnormal reactions.

Lin Yi basically concluded that the source crystal cores dropped by the mid-stage Star Domain level Blood Mist Beasts were insufficient to allow the crystal cores to fuse together.

Therefore, he began to absorb all of these accumulated crystal cores.

The main reason for not continuing the experiment, as he had planned five years ago, was that the reserves were already sufficient to break through the 10% mark.

Moreover, after five years of continuous hunting, accumulation, and reflection, he has adjusted himself to his best condition.

Therefore, starting five days ago, Lin Yi began to gradually absorb the source essence in the source essence crystal core, converting it all into spiritual energy.

At this moment, while continuously absorbing the last source matter in the crystal core, deep within his consciousness, like the most patient craftsman, he repeatedly polished and verified various fragments of understanding about time faults, ripples, and even the more ethereal concept of "time sequence".

We strive to solidify every detail to make the final push for a breakthrough smoother and reduce energy consumption.

The only sounds in the quiet room were the glow of the lighting crystal and Lin Yi's steady, long breaths.

However, just as he was immersed in this state of self-forgetfulness and contemplation...

"Owner."

Xuanji's voice suddenly rang in Lin Yi's mind.

"An emergency has occurred. Based on multiple data comparisons, it has been confirmed that an anomaly has been detected in the blood mist layer."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi immediately opened his eyes.

(End of this chapter)