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

Chapter 336 Unable to Absorb Source Crystal Cores

Meanwhile, within countless secret realms.

In the quiet room, Lin Yi sat cross-legged.

A source essence crystal core, about the size of a fist, floated in front of him. Pure source essence was being extracted bit by bit and, through some mysterious connection, flowed into the purple mist space deep within his soul, transforming into new spiritual energy.

This crystal core came from a mid-stage Star Domain level Blood Mist Beast, which he had hunted three days ago.

The absorption process is nearing its end.

The luster on the surface of the crystal nucleus was rapidly fading, and the violent and chaotic fluctuations inside were also subsiding.

Just as the last trace of source energy was about to be extracted, Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat without warning.

A strange, inexplicable feeling of excitement welled up from the bottom of my heart.

It wasn't the emptiness after the source energy was depleted, nor the anxiety before a breakthrough.

It was something more vague and distant, as if someone had gently plucked a long-untouched string in the deepest part of his consciousness.

Lin Yi frowned slightly and slowly opened his eyes.

The lighting crystals on the rock wall remained stable as usual, and the simple soundproofing and interference-prevention rune array set up in the corner was also functioning normally. The oppressive fluctuations that were unique to blood mist, which were unsettling, continued to seep into the rock, but the intensity did not change abnormally.

No exception.

At least, it wasn't within his perception range.

"Xuanji," Lin Yi murmured to himself.

“Master, I’m here.” Xuanji’s voice rang out immediately, clear and steady.

"Retrieve all monitoring data, especially spatial stability, changes in blood fog concentration, and the energy fluctuation spectrum within 50 kilometers of the camp. Have you found any anomalies?"

"Retrieving and comparing data."

After a brief silence, Xuanji's voice rang out again.

"All monitoring data are within the normal fluctuation range. The spatial structure stability index remains above the threshold, the blood fog concentration change rate is consistent with the statistical average of the past three years, and no sudden energy bursts or unknown rule disturbances have been detected. The camp defense array is operating normally, and communication between all relay nodes is unimpeded."

Xuanji paused for a moment, then added, "As per your request, we have paid extra attention to the remaining structure of the gray fog layer. After the gray fog layer completely collapsed, its fragments slowly merged into the black fog layer. The spatial contraction of the blood fog layer continues, and the activity density of blood fog beasts has increased by about three times compared to a hundred years ago, mainly concentrated in the contraction boundary area. Due to regular cleanup, the density around the camp is maintained at a controllable level."

"But overall, everything is normal," Xuanji concluded.

Lin Yi remained silent for a moment.

That inexplicable feeling of palpitation had subsided; it came abruptly and went just as quickly, as if it were merely a fleeting illusion.

But he didn't think it was an illusion.

At his level, his soul and the laws of nature merged, so his premonition of danger was not unfounded. However, this premonition was too vague and its direction unclear; even Xuanji, who had integrated all the monitoring methods, could not find any clues.

"Continue to strengthen monitoring, especially the analysis of deep vibrations in the spatial structure of the blood mist layer. Report any slight deviation immediately," Lin Yi instructed.

"Yes, Master."

Lin Yi crushed the crystal core remnant in his hand, which had completely lost its luster and turned into a grayish-white stone shell, and the powder fell from between his fingers.

He stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and heard a slight cracking sound from his bones.

Although the source of his unease remained unknown, the two pieces of information mentioned in Xuanji's report did brighten his mood somewhat.

The complete collapse of the gray fog layer was expected. Its spatial structure had been unstable for over a hundred years, making its collapse inevitable. The black fog layer was similar; based on data brought back from the last time the clone ventured there, its collapse was also anticipated within the last few years.

The secret realm is shrinking, disappearing layer by layer, and no one knows what will ultimately remain.

But the other piece of news is genuinely good news.

Edith broke through.

Just two years ago, after a six-month seclusion, the fluctuations of the time rules around the Spirit Clan princess finally underwent a qualitative change, successfully condensing a time law imprint and officially stepping into the Law Realm.

She is the second prodigy in the team to master the superior laws, after Lin Yi.

Lin Yi still remembers the scene when Edith walked out of the secluded stone chamber that day.

In the depths of her emerald eyes, it seemed as if silver sands of time were slowly flowing, and her aura became much more harmonious, yet the cool indifference between her brows remained. People rushed forward to congratulate her, but Edith merely nodded slightly, her gaze piercing through the crowd to meet Lin Yi's.

"Congratulations," Lin Yi said at the time.

Edith paused for a moment before saying, "It's still a long way off."

Even so, everyone could see the fleeting sense of relief in her eyes. In this desperate situation, every bit of improvement in strength meant a greater chance of survival.

Of course, Lin Yi's own improvement was even greater than Edith's progress.

Lin Yi silently sensed his own Law Imprint.

Understanding of the laws of time: 29.4%.

This data is from three days ago.

We're just a hair's breadth away from the 30% threshold.

"Fourth-tier of the Evolutionary Realm," Lin Yi muttered to himself.

According to the common law realm classification of the Pan-Spirit Alliance, the fourth rank is already considered to be the mid-stage of the Evolution Realm.

This is a watershed moment.

The mid-stage of the Evolutionary Realm signifies that the control over the laws of time is no longer limited to the basic concepts of "stillness," "acceleration," and "slowness," but rather begins to skillfully utilize more complex "temporal structures" and "layered nesting."

More importantly, only at this level can he be confident in attempting to hunt down Blood Mist Beast Kings whose strength is comparable to the peak of the Star Domain level.

Ordinary giant blood mist beasts no longer pose much of a threat to him.

However, the Blood Mist Beast King often had many mid-stage Star Domain level Blood Mist Beasts guarding him. During previous long-distance reconnaissances, Lin Yi only caught a glimpse of the immense energy reaction and chaotic rule field, which made him choose to retreat temporarily.

The essence contained in the Beast King's crystal core must far exceed that of an ordinary crystal core.

In addition, it may bring about some unexpected changes.

"I'll aim for a 30% gain in the next two days," Lin Yi decided.

He returned to the stone platform, sat down cross-legged again, and instead of continuing to absorb the crystal core, he focused his mind on the purple mist space to sort out and consolidate his existing insights.

Breaking through barriers and consolidating the foundation are more important than blindly absorbing information.

Ten days later.

The camp is located about 170 kilometers northeast of the camp.

This is a "forest" composed of countless huge blood-red crystal clusters. The crystal pillars are often thousands of meters high, and their entire bodies are crimson, with a viscous, blood-like sheen flowing inside.

The thick, impenetrable blood mist seemed to take on a physical form here, swirling between the crystal pillars and forming streaks of crimson mist.

Lin Yi hovered atop a crystal pillar, enveloped in a faint silver-gray halo that kept the encroaching blood mist at bay.

He closed his eyes, his breath completely contained, as if he had merged with the surrounding environment.

Just yesterday, the scale representing his understanding of the laws of time deep within his soul finally and steadily crossed the 30% threshold, ultimately settling at 30.3%.

Everything will fall into place.

At this moment, through his soul perception, he saw the subtle temporal disorder hidden in the flow of blood mist, and he also saw the ripples of rules stirred up by that enormous will deep in the crystal cluster forest below.

Lin Yi slowly opened his eyes, and there were faint shadows of light flowing in his silver-gray eyes before disappearing.

The target is below.

With a slight thought, ripples appeared in the space around him, and his clone took a step forward.

Without needing to communicate, both the main body and the clone simultaneously turned their gaze to the deepest part of the crystal cluster forest.

There, a shadow as large as a small mountain lurks.

It has no fixed shape; it is more like a large, constantly writhing, blood-red tumor, with countless twisted crystalline spikes and writhing tentacles growing on its surface.

The blood mist slowly rotated around it, forming a huge vortex.

Its mere presence caused a slight distortion in the surrounding space.

Blood Mist Beast King.

"Proceed according to plan," Lin Yi telepathically transmitted.

The clone nodded, its form suddenly blurring, and in the next moment it appeared behind the Beast King, its hands pressing down, and the fluctuations of the laws of time quietly spread.

The silvery-gray halo, like mercury spilling onto the ground, instantly permeated a large area of ​​space.

The swirling blood mist vortex visibly slowed down, and the tentacles and crystal spikes writhing on the Beast King's body stiffened for a moment.

It's now.

Lin Yi's physical form moved.

Instead of using spatial teleportation, he accelerated time to the limit, increasing his speed to the maximum within one-hundredth of a second. He left a faint afterimage in place, and his true form was like a silver-gray lightning bolt tearing through the blood, piercing straight into the core of the Beast King's ever-changing body.

The Beast King let out a deafening roar, and even with the weakening effect of the time-space stagnation, the shriek still made Lin Yi's soul tremble slightly.

At the same time, hundreds of crystal spikes on the Beast King's body erupted with dazzling blood light, shooting towards Lin Yi like a torrential rain.

Each streak of blood-red light contained an corrosive power powerful enough to pierce through a star-domain level defense.

Lin Yi's expression remained unchanged, and his forward momentum did not diminish. He simply raised his left hand and pressed it forward lightly.

"Interruption time".

Centered on his fingertip, the flow of time in the fan-shaped area in front of him suddenly became disordered.

Some of the streaks of blood that shot towards them suddenly accelerated, colliding and annihilating each other prematurely.

Some slowed down inexplicably, becoming extremely sluggish.

A few even veered off course and shot into empty space.

The Beast King's attack was disrupted by this simple yet efficient move.

Then, Lin Yi pointed his right hand like a knife, and the silver-gray law of time condensed at his fingertips into a blade as thin as a cicada's wing. He then gently slashed down at the densest shadow in the center of the Beast King's body.

"Time-Sequence Slash".

The beast king's massive body suddenly froze, its writhing flesh, crystalline spikes, and tentacles all frozen in that instant. Immediately afterward, a smooth, silvery-gray line emerged from the center of its body, rapidly extending to both ends.

Wherever the fine thread passed, it seemed as if it had undergone millions of years of erosion, with flesh and blood crystallizing and energy dissipating.

The Beast King's body began to disintegrate silently.

Just three breaths.

The colossal, awe-inspiring shadow vanished completely into the blood mist.

Only a crystal core, about the size of a human head, remained, its interior seemingly sealed with a churning sea of ​​blood, as it slowly fell to the ground.

Lin Yi reached out and caught it.

"Success."

The clone flashed back and looked at the crystal core, saying...

Lin Yi nodded and put the crystal core away.

The battle may have seemed short, but it was actually quite taxing, especially the final "Time Slash," which was a heavy burden for him at the moment.

Fortunately, the result was satisfactory. "Let's go back."

Lin Yi took a deep breath, suppressing the subtle fatigue emanating from the depths of his soul.

He glanced at the blood mist below, which was gradually resuming its flow. The crystal throne was now empty, with only residual energy fluctuations still trembling in the air.

Their figures faded simultaneously and disappeared into the blood-red sky.

The central cave of the camp.

At this moment, more than ten people have gathered in the cave, all of whom are core members of the team.

Lin Yi took out the Beast King Crystal Core and placed it on the flat black stone.

The dark red light instantly illuminated the entire cave, turning it crimson. The powerful and chaotic fluctuations caused Edith, Radiance, Aoba, and the others watching to adopt solemn expressions.

Huiyao couldn't help but take a half step forward, then subconsciously retreated.

"This is the Beast King's Crystal Core?"

"Hmm." Lin Yi responded, but his gaze remained fixed on the crystal core, lost in thought.

He recalled the events of over a hundred years ago, when ordinary black mist crystal cores fused into blood-red crystal cores, opening a passage.

He also recalled that there was no reaction between the blood mist crystal cores in the blood mist layer.

So, what about the Beast King's Crystal Core?

Does it possess some kind of fusion or attraction characteristic?
Thinking of this, Lin Yi simply took out an ordinary Blood Mist Beast Source Crystal Core from his bracelet.

Then, he held the ordinary crystal core and slowly approached the Beast King Crystal Core.

The cave fell silent immediately.

Edith leaned against a rock pillar, Aoba crossed her arms with a slight frown, and Radiance stared wide-eyed.

Just as the distance between them shrank to less than a foot, a sudden change occurred.

The Beast King Crystal Core suddenly shone brightly red, and an invisible suction force emanated from it.

The ordinary crystal core seemed to be summoned, trembling slightly, its surface rippling, before transforming into a red stream of light and being swallowed by the Beast King Crystal Core.

The process of absorption is quiet and rapid.

The size of the Beast King Crystal Core did not change significantly, but the churning sea of ​​blood inside seemed to be more active, and the energy fluctuations it emitted also subtly increased, like the satisfaction of a full meal.

The cave was completely silent.

A few breaths later, Huiyao finally let out the breath he had been holding: "...It ate it?"

"really."

A knowing glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, "The Beast King Crystal Core can fuse with the crystal core of an ordinary Blood Mist Beast."

This discovery is of great significance.

If the Beast King Crystal Core can continuously grow by absorbing ordinary crystal cores, it might even trigger new changes.
That might be the key to their ultimate escape from the hidden realm.

Edith paused for a moment, then said, "So, perhaps those ordinary crystal cores we kept before should come in handy."

Over the past few hundred years of hunting, the camp has accumulated a considerable number of ordinary Blood Mist Beast cores.

Although the purpose of these items was unknown, everyone collected them instead of throwing them away after each round of dealing with ordinary Blood Mist Beasts.

Now, it has indeed come in handy.

Soon, Lin Yi told everyone the news, and they all gathered in the cave, bringing together the ordinary crystal cores they had preserved.

The quantity was considerable, piled up in the center of the cave like a small mountain, the dark red luster forming a continuous expanse, making the cave appear as if it were immersed in a pool of blood.

Lin Yi manipulated the Beast King Crystal Cores and began to devour them in batches.

The red light flashed continuously, and ordinary crystal nuclei transformed into streams of light and disappeared into it.

The Beast King's Crystal Core is like a bottomless pit, accepting all who come.

As the number of things it devours increases, the energy fluctuations inside it become stronger and stronger, and it even begins to emit a terrifying pressure that makes one's soul tremble.

Qingye took a half step back and whispered, "This pressure has already surpassed the peak of the Star Domain level, hasn't it?"

"It's still rising."

Huiyao stared at the crystal core, his expression complex.

Soon, all the ordinary blood mist beast crystal cores were devoured.

Lin Yi picked up the Beast King Crystal Core and carefully sensed it.

The crystal core was icy to the touch, and its weight was more than twice what it used to be. The churning of the crimson ocean inside had become slow and heavy, like viscous magma.

"The energy level has increased significantly," Lin Yi said slowly, "but it hasn't triggered a qualitative change."

"Are there any other conditions required?" Edith walked to Lin Yi's side, her gaze also falling on the crystal core. "Perhaps we need more ordinary crystal cores? Or... do we need to devour other beast king crystal cores?"

Lin Yi put away the Beast King Crystal Core and nodded.

The experiment was not entirely successful, but it at least verified some of the characteristics of the Beast King Crystal Core.

"Keep them for now," Lin Yi decided. "Continue hunting beast kings and collect more; perhaps we can uncover more clues."

In the days that followed, the blood mist layer slowly contracted, the beast king hunt continued, and the accumulation of crystal cores increased.

Lin Yi made three more moves on his own, each time targeting a Beast King-level being.

The battle process is largely the same: time freeze to control the field, clones use time-series slashes to break through defenses, and space cutting to clear the field.

As you become more proficient at using the Time Slash technique, the resource consumption gradually decreases, and the hunting efficiency increases.

Four new Beast King Crystal Cores were acquired.

Lin Yi tried to bring the two Beast King Crystal Cores closer together, but they did not react to each other, only quietly emitting their own pressure.

He also tried stimulating multiple crystal cores simultaneously using the law of time, but there was still no change.

Therefore, Lin Yi adjusted the hunting strategy, splitting into more small teams to clear out ordinary blood mist beasts.

Time continues to flow by, silently passing through one year after another.
-
The new era begins in 2317.

With continued and increased support from the Eldar, although the human race had lost 15% of its territory, it finally regained its footing, and the war entered a long stalemate.

The two sides engaged in a protracted tug-of-war across the vast star field, with each inch of space fought over resulting in devastating casualties.

Within the myriad secret realms, changes continue.

The blood mist contracted slowly and steadily, like an invisible giant mouth slowly closing.

Time seemed to lose its meaning in the secret realm, leaving only eternal crimson and deathly silence.

The camp has undergone several relocations and expansions, and now resembles a small underground fortress with a complex structure and complete functions.

Following the gray fog layer, the black fog layer finally collapsed completely, its spatial structure annihilated, and the few remaining fragments were swallowed up by the blood fog layer.

The entire secret realm is now reduced to this boundless, slowly shrinking crimson world.

Meanwhile, as the space of the Blood Mist Layer continues to shrink, the space for the surviving geniuses of the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan, who were originally scattered and hiding in various parts of the Blood Mist Layer, is greatly compressed, and the frequency of their encounters with Lin Yi and his group is increasing.

The prodigies of the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan who were stranded in the secret realm suffered heavy losses due to internal strife, resource disputes, and attacks by Blood Mist Beasts long before the collapse of the Black Mist Layer.

The remaining 400-odd people were forced to retreat into the blood mist layer after the black mist layer disappeared.

They have long since lost their organization and are now divided into dozens of groups of varying sizes, struggling to survive in various parts of the Blood Mist Layer, and often clashing with each other.

These prodigies, having struggled for over a century in a desperate situation of losing unified command, lacking resources, and constantly fighting amongst themselves, have long lost their former vigor.

Although those who have survived to this day are among the best of the Star-level, they pose no threat to Lin Yi, who has mastered the laws of time and whose comprehension has exceeded 40%.

Lin Yi showed no mercy to these former enemies.

Currently, his comprehension of the laws of time has steadily increased to 42.1%, driven by the continuous absorption of the Beast King Crystal Core and a large number of other source crystal cores.

Over the past few decades, he has been like the Grim Reaper of this blood-red world, systematically eliminating these survivors with his understanding of the laws of time, which has reached the mid-stage of the Derivation Realm.

There was neither pity nor pleasure.

It's simply about eliminating the threat and acquiring any remaining resources they might have.

The process was not easy. These two prodigies who had survived the internal strife and harsh environment were all ruthless characters, and all of them had mastered the forbidden technique of burning their life essence. Their counterattacks before death were extremely fierce.

But in the end, they all fell victim to the laws of time and space.

Just two years ago, Lin Yi personally slaughtered the last remaining force of the Erosion Clan, numbering about thirty people.

Thus, of the two thousand prodigies from both races who entered the secret realm, apart from those initially killed by Lin Yi and his group in the gray fog and black fog layers, the remaining approximately four hundred perished here.

Currently, apart from the nearly seven hundred members of the Pan-Spirit Alliance, there are no other intelligent beings in the secret realm.

On this day, Lin Yi had just returned from outside the camp.

He had just hunted down a Blood Mist Beast King that had recently approached the camp and was preparing to return to his meditation room to recuperate when he saw Edith outside his room.

In the relatively quiet passage outside the meditation room, she leaned against the rock wall, arms crossed, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's the matter?" Lin Yi stopped in his tracks.

He noticed that Edith's face was paler than usual, not the paleness of someone who was injured, but a kind of exhaustion, or rather, a sense of weakness from being restless.

Edith raised her head, her blue eyes looking at Lin Yi with a somewhat complicated expression.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then stopped, turning her head to glance at the main camp area at the end of the passage, where a commotion could be faintly heard.

"Go in and talk."

She gestured with her chin toward the quiet room.

Lin Yi pushed open the door to the quiet room, and the two entered one after the other.

The quiet room remained unchanged, simple to the point of being almost empty, with the lighting crystals steadily emitting a cool light.

Edith walked to the middle of the quiet room, but instead of sitting down, she turned around to face Lin Yi.

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, as if she had made some kind of decision.

“I can no longer absorb source crystal nuclei,” she said.

The voice was soft and calm, but the content of the words made Lin Yi pause slightly.

"what?"

He didn't react for a moment.

"literal meaning."

Edith opened her left hand, and in her palm lay the remains of a large source crystal core, now riddled with cracks.

"Starting from three days ago, I tried to absorb the source essence within the crystal core, whether it was an ordinary one or a large source essence crystal core. The source essence could be activated, but once it entered the body, it could not be absorbed by the soul."

"I tried for three days, using more than a dozen crystal cores, and it was the same every time."

As she spoke, she crushed the remains, letting the ashes fall through her fingers.

(End of this chapter)