Desperate Night

"Only me left!?" Yu Hong was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"The literal meaning," Agris replied calmly.

His enormous eyes resembled two vast lakes, rippling with faint, water-like patterns.

"In the Great Extinction, all things will be destroyed. Whether it's the Absolute Balance or the City of the Deep Sea, all the floating cities are merely eking out a miserable existence."

"The intensity of the Source Calamity will continue to increase until you can no longer resist it."

"But if the floating cities have resisted for tens of thousands of years, and there is no eternally indestructible fortress under the heavens, isn't it only natural to be destroyed?" Yu Hong suddenly said.

"You're right. But that's in regards to weak lives like you. When your lifespan reaches millions or tens of millions of years, a world that will be destroyed in a mere tens of thousands of years is, to you, also a mistake," Agris calmly explained.

"Alright, then what is your purpose in seeking me out now?" Yu Hong understood and stated directly. "For a hundred-year-old life like mine, such a future is too distant."

"I see your potential," Agris said in a deep voice. "Although I don't know how you did it, you possess the power to gradually make ordinary things extraordinary. The other captains also have their own unique qualities, but ultimately, none are as good as you."

"So..." Yu Hong knew the other party was referring to the Black Imprint, but they probably couldn't uncover the underlying reasons. They could only look at it from the surface, hence drawing such a conclusion.

"Therefore, I intend to renew the contract with you," Agris said. "Of course, that's just the superficial reason. The real reason is... I'm also about to be unable to hold on."

"What do you mean...?" Yu Hong was taken aback.

"Most of my body has already been eroded and destroyed by the Source Calamity. The current me could be completely annihilated at any moment, turning into an empty Source Calamity shell," Agris replied. "You have arrived at Phoenix Eye. Although there have been Salvation Arks that have entered Phoenix Eye before, in my lineage, you are the only one. I have no other choice."

"..." The way he said it made it sound like choosing him was a reluctant decision.

Yu Hong was speechless.

In the next instant, he saw a white-gold ray of light shoot out from between Agris's eyebrows, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.

The light stopped, transforming into a small sphere composed of countless silver metal runes.

Inside the sphere was a flowing white-gold liquid. The liquid slowly separated, revealing a blurry, shrunken humanoid figure.

The face of that figure was, surprisingly, his own.

"Drip your blood on it, and the contract will be renewed for infinite time. But don't think you can lurk in the floating city and enjoy the time. Although I don't know why, you have been targeted by the Ultimate Sun. The Light Calamity is rapidly approaching you. Your time is short," Agris's voice came from afar.

"What about you?" Yu Hong frowned. Although the hundred-year time limit had been lifted, for some reason, he felt even more anxious.

"I'm dying," Agris replied. "Perhaps it's the next moment, perhaps it's a few years later, perhaps longer, but I have no hope. Only when you find a place of vitality in the future will there be hope, and only then can I be resurrected. The Great Extinction has reached even further areas during the time you've been stopped. If you don't act now, what you'll be able to come into contact with in the future will all be broken and destroyed fragments."

After saying this last paragraph, Agris raised a fingertip, and a golden light flashed and disappeared at the tip of his finger.

In the next instant, a second item appeared before Yu Hong.

A key.

Golden in color, with countless small black dots wriggling on its surface, a bizarre key.

"This is the Key to Opening All Things. It's a token I once obtained in a prophecy. It proves that a place of vitality exists. As long as you get close, it will guide you and allow you to open the entrance through it."

Agris's voice gradually became smaller, farther away, until it completely dissipated.

Yu Hong looked at the two items before him, squeezed a drop of blood from his fingertip, dripped it into the sphere, and then grabbed the key.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, everything before his eyes completely dissipated as if it were an illusion. He was instantly pulled out of the drowning state.

Hiss...

He looked around and found himself still standing in front of the window of the Heihei Ling's safe house, surrounded by colorful light. The ship was still parked deep within the Wind Calamity.

"Just now, was it an illusion?"

But in the next moment, he lowered his head and saw a golden key tightly held in his hand.

He understood, that was not a dream, nor an illusion.

"So, the restriction is really lifted? The hundred-year agreement is gone?? If that's the case, doesn't that mean the captains on Prison Island can also come and go freely??"

"There is no more Prison Island," Agris's voice rang out. "Five hours after you left last time, Prison Island, along with the world you came from, was completely destroyed by the Primordial Heavenly Calamity at the deepest part of the Black Calamity. Whether the captains were imprisoned or not, you are the last one. Take care."

"Hey? Agris!?" Yu Hong called out several times, and found that this time there was really no response.

No matter how he called out next, there was no longer any answer.

Confirming that there was really no movement, Yu Hong simply sat down cross-legged and carefully studied the key.

The Heihei Ling stayed in place, waiting for repairs. Agris also lifted the hundred-year contract, and there was no time limit.

Now he just had to wait for the Black Imprint to finish strengthening, then repair the ship, and he could continue forward.

No companions, no crew.

Yu Hong looked at the countdown timer on the Outer Eye, ate and slept, slept and cultivated.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the countdown to end.

He moved the bed to the window on the ship, simply sat cross-legged on the bed alone, looked out the window, and took out the Outer Eye to wait.

The colorful light shone on him, as if dyeing him, turning his whole body into patches of green and yellow, multicolored.

Chī.

In the last minute, the Outer Eye lightly jumped, completely ending.

The countdown was over.

The Outer Eye in Yu Hong's hand blurred slightly for a moment. In the next second, it transformed into a strange sphere of pure white with dazzling white light shining inside.

A white paper instruction manual appeared below the sphere.

Yu Hong picked up the white paper to check the instructions, not surprised at all.

'Outer Eye: Also known as the Immortal General's Eye, this single eye has the powerful abilities comparable to the eyes of the Heavenly Court's Heavenly Peng Qishan Immortal General. Wherever the gaze reaches, it can instantly move to arrive. Wherever the gaze reaches, it can destroy everything with a thought.'

"The newest novels are first published on Liu 9 Shu Ba!"

'Ability 1: Eye of Destruction (Can destroy all targets below one's own mental strength under the gaze. And absorb the power of destruction from the destroyed target in reverse. The more targets killed, the stronger the Eye of Destruction. The upper limit is the limit that one's own physique can withstand, and it can be activated on multiple targets simultaneously.)

Ability 2: Eye of Teleportation (Can cross distances to teleport oneself to any desired location. Activation consumes nothing, with an interval of one second each time. Note: In extreme situations, when teleporting over long distances, there may be requirements for physique strength. If the strength is insufficient, the body will decompose halfway, leaving only the will to arrive.)'

"This time it's really good. It only strengthened two abilities, and directly upgraded me to the level of a titled Immortal General," Yu Hong satisfiedly picked up the ball of white light, but he did not immediately stuff it into his eye socket. Instead, he continued to reach out his hand, and on a whim, put the Key to Opening All Things that he had just obtained on it.

The two came into contact and were regarded as one.

"Strengthen the Outer Eye, to the limit," Yu Hong silently recited in his heart.

He wanted to try to see what it would strengthen into if this key and the Outer Eye were combined.

Of course, this was just an attempt. He still had to repair the safe house first.

Just take a look first.

Soon, a black line rushed out from the Black Imprint on the back of his hand and merged into the Outer Eye.

The countdown naturally appeared.

'November 15, 139, 42 minutes.'

"Sure enough..." Yu Hong put down his hand without surprise, took off his eye patch, and stuffed the Outer Eye into his eye socket.

With a flash of golden light, this Immortal General's Eye was quickly linked to his body, and a large amount of Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique's inner force poured into it, incorporating it into his own system.

And the next second.

Under the effect of his power, the Immortal General's Eye also slowly oozed out nourishing, cool air currents, mixing into his inner force.

The Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique was originally a technique that became faster and more powerful to cultivate the stronger the eyes were.

At this time, Yu Hong had strengthened the Immortal General's Eye, and the intensity of his eyes exploded, immediately stimulating the entire technique to start running on its own at an accelerated rate.

Buzz.

Yu Hong sat down cross-legged, and a circle of white-bottomed, black-patterned, double-winged giant tiger phantom naturally emerged around his body.

With the nourishment of the Immortal General's Eye, the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique's power soared like it was on a highway.

Circles of dense gray inner force circulated in Yu Hong's body, quickly refining the essence of the Immortal General's Eye into the entire technique system, and integrating it into Yu Hong's whole body.

Roar...!

The giant tiger roared in a low voice, its body slowly solidifying, and the thick, fluffy white fur on its body fluttered in the wind, appearing exceptionally pure and majestic.

Pfft.

Before long, Yu Hong's whole body trembled slightly. A ray of gray light flashed across his face.

The next level of the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique was broken through again.

Not only that...

The potential of the Immortal General's Eye had not been fully explored at all. The gray inner force was still circulating and refining the potential of the new Outer Eye like crazy.

Time passed little by little.

In the blink of an eye, more than three hours had passed. The barriers of the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique were broken through one after another.

Chī!

With another soft sound, the gray light on Yu Hong's body flashed again.

This time, the technique reached the eighth level. That is, it reached the last stage, the middle stage of Chaotic God.

Once he reached the eighth level, another breakthrough would bring him to the pinnacle of this technique. This also meant that the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye Technique would be formally cultivated to the limit, and he would obtain a brand new technique characteristic.

Yu Hong sat cross-legged on the bed, his whole body shining with gray light. The outline of the giant tiger outside his body was extremely realistic, and most of its black eyes had already been opened, revealing dense, bizarre black eyes.

And at this time, the gray inner force in his body completely suppressed the red-purple inner force from the Tai Ling Technique for the first time.

The light well in the dantian was also wrapped in layers of gray light, tightly sealed without any gaps.