Chapter 78 Great power always comes with risks

【Data transmission starts】

File name: 30001025YML001 test report.

Document Summary: Using remote control across the space-time fault, preliminary testing was conducted on humanoid and unidentified life forms that entered the A1876 testing site on 3000/10/23, aiming to identify and recognize information such as names, origins, sephiroth, and strength levels. Conclusions are as follows:

Tentative name: "Chu Hengkong"

Life class: Sephiroth 1, Dexterity.

Possessing abilities: immobility, Qi-intercepting strike, wind-circling hand and other Longquan Township fighting techniques, it is preliminarily judged that he learned from Chenjun Palace.

"Blue Burn": A multi-faceted conceptual attack released using the fire and spiritual elements as carriers. It appears as blue flames in the physical world. It is initially suspected to originate from a high-particle fantasy demon. Request for think tank analysis.

"Hypnosis": The principle is unclear, please request analysis from a think tank.

【Application approved, analysis completed】

"Green Burn": The ability of the 235th Ambition Demon "Bessen," the fire of ambition. Related information has been transmitted.

"Hypnosis": No matching target, suspected to be a psychic interference attack using the concept of contact.

The combat capability of the tentatively named "Chu Hengkong" is assessed to be higher than the average level of particle 2.

"Chu Hengkong" is determined to be singularity Z-3000-3.

Convey think tank instructions: Implement standard response according to Law No. Z-3000.

【Command reception completed】

Imperial truth endures.

Imperial Truth Lives Forever

·

The next morning, outside the chapel.

Chu Hengkong stretched his muscles and punched with slow, monotonous movements. His punches were slightly faster than yesterday, but there were no more explosive sounds from his body, and he seemed a little calmer.

Fander sat on the doorstep, clutching a small piece of leftover pie crust. He rubbed his eyes with his tentacles from time to time, his eyes quite confused. It wasn't until Chu Hengkong stopped breathing that he raised a tentacle: "...Am I seeing things, or have you improved?"

"Your eyesight is fine."

"That doesn't make sense." Fander was stunned. "Your spine is damaged and you can't strengthen your bones. Why do you look like you're almost there today?"

Chu Hengkong tapped his fingers with the back of the rock knife, and a crisp metallic sound was made when the back of the knife collided with his knuckles.

"Qi-based bone strengthening focuses on the spine, aiming to gather Qi in the center of the body to complete the 'circulation' and increase overall strength through repeated strengthening cycles." Chu Hengkong said, "If you can't improve the entire body, you might as well try localized gradual improvement. So I modified the bone strengthening method..."

"Oh," Vander repeated, "you just messed around and changed something that's been passed down for thousands of years."

"Use external force to 'press' your willpower into your bones, then refine it with a secret technique. As long as the bones aren't broken, it will have a significant strengthening effect!" Chu Hengkong beamed with joy. "I took the opportunity to try this a few times when fighting the Shadow Giant yesterday, and the results were quite good. I tempered ten bones in one round. It's a pity that I couldn't hold on any longer, otherwise I would have taken a few more hits."

Vander's eyes seemed to be looking up at a genius with a mental disability.

"Have you ever thought about whether there would be any side effects from making such a random change?"

"Not dead means everything is fine."

"Dude, I'm serious," Vander said sincerely, "You don't have to do anything, just going there is a moving miracle."

Chu Hengkong smiled, still shaking off the sweat and putting on his clothes. The intense energy after the workout left him feeling hungry, but his body was much stronger than yesterday. This was because once his bones and muscles were strengthened by his willpower, the surrounding muscles and internal organs also increased in strength through subtle influence.

According to his estimation, his partially strengthened body is now strong enough to ignore the attacks of ordinary fallen ones. Once most of the bones in his body are strengthened, his body strength will be enough to collide with Ji Huaisu's light shield.

I wonder if he can withstand the attack of Shadow Blade after he has mastered all the skills?

Thinking about his partner's expression on that day, he felt very happy. Even if it was just to make her laugh, he had to go back to Huilong City as soon as possible.

Chu Hengkong packed up his things and headed inside the church. Brother Bernfa sat on a bench prepared for believers, still flipping through the old book. It seemed he never left it. On the cover, a line of small characters read "Requiem Revelation," seemingly the canon of his faith.

This man sat upright, his demeanor solemn, his black hair neatly combed and smooth. Every time Chu Hengkong saw him, he felt that such a man was too unworthy to be a mere monk; his demeanor was more than enough for a priest.

Seeing him coming, Bernfa silently closed the book and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Chu. Your strength has improved again."

Chu Hengkong looked him straight in the eyes. Bernfa's eyes were gentle, but no emotion could be seen in them.

"You're not really happy for me," he said bluntly.

"I'm sorry, I mean no harm. It's just that my way of thinking is different from most people, and I don't think the increase in power is worth celebrating." The monk smiled. "I offered my congratulations because I thought you would be happy about this."

"You are very considerate of others." Chu Hengkong nodded, "I want to ask you a question."

Brother Bernfa laughed heartily. "Haha! If you're curious about what's happening in town, please don't ask me. I came here to help. If I say too much and upset the townspeople, that would go against my original intention. Mr. Chu, I was just about to take this opportunity to ask you to please stop probing and just pretend you didn't notice anything."

The monk put away his smile and said seriously, "This town has no ill will towards you. Please do not hurt their fragile dignity again."

"good."

Chu Hengkong walked out of the church without saying anything more. Fander reached into his pocket and said regretfully, "This guy is quite cunning. After the riddle, he used moral blackmail to get any information out of him. He can't get anything out of me..."

"The monk lent us the church to rest. We should agree to this little favor." Chu Hengkong shook his gauntlet. "Let's go and see the spoils."

Perhaps due to the exhaustion of yesterday's battle, Chu Hengkong felt a pang of hunger. He ate a piece of fish before officially setting off. It took some effort to find Qisu's workshop, as the remains of the Shadow Giant from the previous night had been dismembered and dragged into town by the townspeople. Large hunks of iron and indescribable parts blocked the path, forcing Chu Hengkong to walk across the rooftops and through a window to enter the workshop.

When they entered, Qi Su was working on the shadow giant's face with her short staff. She melted a portion of metal and molded it into a silver base resembling a flower bud. Then, she carefully polished one of the shadow giant's eyes into a bead of the perfect size and encased it within the base. After a few more finishing steps, she added another flowing bead to complete the process. A new secret script bead was ready, as beautiful as a jewel.

Qi Su stood on tiptoe and tapped Chu Hengkong's gauntlet to embed the new bead.

"Just find a dark place and reach out." She said confidently, "You'll definitely like this."

Chu Hengkong casually pointed outside the door. A slanted iron plate cast a long shadow. He thought he could summon a shadow knife or fire a small shadow projectile. But nothing appeared in his hand; it simply pointed in a different direction. He looked up and found himself standing beneath the iron plate.

"Teleport?" Chu Hengkong said in surprise.

"It's not that convenient. It's meant to let you appear in a nearby shadow." Qi Su explained complacently, "How's that? I think it should be able to help you, right?"

The little girl looked at him expectantly, and Chu Hengkong nodded in thanks. Fan De looked like a money-grubber: "Hehehe, can you rub some more? Look, there are so many steel plates here..."

"Dream on! These are materials for opening a tide channel!" Qi Su smashed his stick against Fander's head. He turned around and tried to show off to Chu Hengkong, but his tone was much softer. "After you've rested, go and take on the mission. We still have a lot of things that need your help. Hang in there for a while. Once we have more materials, I can send you off."

Fander was furious: "What are you doing, little girl! Why are you treating me like this?"

Qi Su turned away in disgust: "I have nothing good to say to a squid who only knows how to use dirty tricks."

"Who are you calling obscene, you little bastard? Meow like a cat, you bastard!"

Qi Su scoffed: "Tsk, as if anyone would really care about you, meow."

The unintentional "meow" brought an eerie silence to the workshop, and then, infuriated, Qi Su violently struck him in the eye with his staff. Chu Hengkong dragged the ferocious Fander out of the workshop, feeling for a moment like he was carrying a child.

When he arrived at the town square, he saw, as expected, that the board was once again covered with notices. Xiang Fuzi stood beside the notice board, grinning bitterly.

"Now that the Shadow Giant has been eliminated, there should be no more rivals for you on the grassland. The townspeople were so excited that they've added some commissions for Yingluoshan..." He shook his head repeatedly, "Alas! I'm really sorry to trouble you, brother."

"It's okay, it's on the way here." Chu Hengkong flipped through the letters of authorization one by one. "Is there any other way to get to Yingluo Mountain?"

"Leaving the grassland and heading north, you will see a dense forest. After passing the forest and continuing east, you will reach the foot of Yingluo Mountain. The large poisonous insect that you killed earlier has been lurking on the road leading up the mountain for years."

Chu Hengkong simulated it in his mind and couldn't help laughing: "Isn't this just going in circles?"

"Yingluo Mountain is steep and difficult to climb, and there are rockfalls all year round. There's no other way to get there except this way." Xiang Fuzi's eyes were full of expectation. "Brother, you are extremely brave and a true hero. If you can hunt more powerful beasts, you might even be able to take down that demon fox on the mountaintop!"

Chu Hengkong nodded: "After killing the demon fox, we can finally set off."

Xiang Fuzi smiled mysteriously: "By then, I believe we will have enough materials, and we will definitely be able to help you escape!"

"Okay." Chu Hengkong peeled off a stack of letters of authorization and walked out of the town, feeling incredibly high-spirited. The townspeople looked at him from behind, their eyes full of approval.

"Leave it to me!"

·

"No..." Chu Hengkong stretched out his hand tremblingly, "I'm going to die..."

Vander collapsed in panic: "Hey! Can you please show some strength? Who was that person who confidently said 'leave it to me' half an hour ago?!"

Chu Hengkong crawled towards the town exit like a worm: "This battle is not my fault..."

"What kind of war are you fighting for? You only ran out for half an hour!"

Fan De was so angry that he jumped on his head. Chu Hengkong said nothing and slumped to the ground. He pointed a finger firmly ahead, as if pointing to an illusory hope in the dark.

"Someone, help me! Oh my god! I can't drag it anymore!"

Seeing the man unable to move, Fander had no choice but to use his short tentacles to pull him up, dragging him back to the town like a salted fish. Qi Su, who had heard the news, looked horrified and couldn't believe it: "You...what on earth happened to you?!"

Chu Hengkong used his last bit of strength to turn over. An indescribable horrible sound came from his body, just like a beast roaring in a human body. Fander pointed at someone's head with his tentacles and said in a flat voice:

"He's starved."

(End of this chapter)