Since they had already acknowledged their bond, Qi Ze detailed his origins, and opened his spacial storage, leading Yan Junyu to the stone stele of the Supreme Divine Creation Sect. He said, "This was originally the Nine Tripod Hall of my Supreme Divine Creation Sect, housing the life tablets of all my sect's disciples. Look over there," he pointed to the wall behind the stele, "the life tablets were hung there, each representing a sect disciple. As long as the tablet remained, so did the disciple. If the tablet shattered, the disciple would die. At our peak, we had over 223,000 disciples, but now, there is only me left."
Although Yan Junyu had long guessed the youth's origin, hearing him recount it himself evoked an entirely different feeling. He approached and carefully studied that solitary life tablet hanging high on the wall, his heart weighed down by an indescribable heaviness.
"Would it have a negative effect on you if someone else took this life tablet?" he asked.
"No. This life tablet merely indicates my state. If I were injured, it would bear cracks. If I were to die, it would crumble to dust. If my blood were dropped onto this tablet, it could be used to pinpoint my location..."
Before Qi Ze could finish, Yan Junyu threw out a vine, winding the life tablet into his own hand. He laughed, "Can I have this life tablet? It's too lonely. You could make one for me too, and we can be a pair, keeping each other's company."
Qi Ze felt warmth in his heart, and he immediately nodded. "Alright, I'll make one for you later. Come," he led Yan Junyu to the stele, "all my elders and fellow disciples are no longer around, so there's no one to preside over our union ceremony. Why don't we bow thrice to this stele and exchange vows?"
"Alright." Yan Junyu added, "But after we return, we should register at the civil affairs office and then issue a public notice to the entire Galaxy."
"Of course." Qi Ze pulled him down to kneel, and with solemnity, they bowed thrice. "Follow my words, and after we finish, we'll be lifelong companions. I, Yan Junyu, swear here that I will join with Qi Ze as partners, sharing the storms of life, never abandoning one another. If I violate this vow, may I be struck by lightning and my soul destroyed."
Yan Junyu recited the words without hesitation, and Qi Ze's serious expression relaxed. He explained, "Don't blame me for making you swear such a solemn oath. For me, since we have acknowledged each other, it's a lifelong matter. Even if you were to betray me first, I wouldn't let you go. I would kill you and refine you into a puppet, imprisoning you by my side for eternity. Are you afraid?"
Yan Junyu stroked his cheek gently, "No. Firstly, I will never betray you. Secondly, if I were to leave this world before you, I would also hope that you could refine me into a puppet to continue by your side. I remember an old saying that goesâyour poison is my honey. To others, you might be poison, but to me, you are the sweetest honey."
Qi Ze was very satisfied in his heart, but on his face, he grumbled, "Explain to me why I turned into poison."
"You'll have to ask Mu Feixing for that explanation; he's the most qualified to speak," Yan Junyu pinched the youth's slightly pouted lips.
Qi Ze bared his teeth as if to bite, the adorable gesture causing Yan Junyu to chuckle softly. After he stopped laughing, Qi Ze said word by word, "I, Qi Ze, swear here that I will join with Yan Junyu as partners, sharing the storms of life, never abandoning one another. If I violate this vow, may I be struck by lightning and my soul destroyed." He ended by pulling Yan Junyu to bow again.
The great hall was devoid of the laughter and congratulations of fellow disciples, or the earnest advice of elders, leaving only emptiness. Qi Ze straightened up, his eyes slightly red as he looked at the stele, a pang of regret surging in his heart. If his father were here, he would have wanted to see his son's chosen partner with his own eyes.
Yan Junyu sensed his downcast spirits and said in a light-hearted manner, "I didn't expect that in your place, they even practiced while having sex, even compiling a manual for guidance. No wonder their strength far exceeds ours. Don't worry, I'll study well and won't disappoint you."
"How could you say such a thing in front of the stele?" Qi Ze immediately forgot his sadness, reaching out to cover the man's mouth.
Yan Junyu had already opened his arms, waiting for him to fall into his trap. They wrestled for a while before kissing each other, their movements gentle and slow, filled with treasured affection. To have reached this point, they had encountered numerous adversities and experienced too many brushes with death; they understood better than anyone the meaning of living in the present.
They kissed on and off for over ten minutes, after which Yan Junyu carried the dazed youth into the bedroom and had his way with him.
Qi Ze thought his past self must have been out of his mind, what kind of creature couldn't he have raised, but he had to choose a tentacle creature! As everyone knew, the tentacle creature's most potent fighting ability wasn't in the front line, but on the king-size bed! One misstep and he'd strain his waist, a clear description of his situation.
"I can't take it anymore, I really can't endure it," he pulled out the little vine that had snuck between his buttocks.
Yan Junyu laughed huskily, "It's fine, I'll have it secrete some mucus to help heal you."
"No, please don't use it for such a vulgar purpose, okay? You've sullied a celestial spirit beast's dignity!" Qi Ze accused with righteous indignation.
Yan Junyu burst out laughing, holding the youth trying to escape him in his arms, soothing him gently, "Alright, alright, don't run away. I promise not to touch you. Dear, you were so passionate, you climaxed four times. Your lost expression was so beautiful, I could barely control myself, so I couldn't use those dual cultivation techniques. I'll study hard later, and we can try them next time."
"Stop talking, consider it my plea!" Qi Ze buried himself under the pillow, groaning in agony. Was climaxing four times shameful? It was shameful to have a million penises!
Yan Junyu laughed even more heartily, lightly slapping the youth's firm buttocks, teasing, "Even if you want to hide, you should hide under the covers, why only expose a little butt? Are you trying to lure me? Alright, then I'll have a bite..."
Qi Ze couldn't endure it any longer, quickly emerging from under the pillow, pulling the covers over him and attacking with his fists and feet. Anyone who said Yan Junyu was a stern, rigid old man would be in for a surprise!
As they were messing around, a strange fluctuation emerged from the folded space. Qi Ze immediately dressed and ran to the great hall to check. He saw a golden light array slowly rising with the stele at its center. Some of the lines were clearly visible, while others were still blurred.
"What is this?" Yan Junyu arrived next, his expression grave.
"A sacrificial array," Qi Ze exhaled a breath.
"What is its function?"
"To strengthen the boundary marker with the power of living souls," Qi Ze further explained, "I forgot to tell you, this stele is the boundary marker of my Supreme Divine Creation Sect. It originally stood at the heart of the sect-protecting formation, later weakened by several sword cultivators using a myriad of swords to break the formation, resulting in the sect's downfall. In my home, every sect has a boundary marker like this that serves to defend its territory. If the boundary marker's power is weakened, and the sect faces a life or death crisis, one or more extraordinary elders would set up a sacrificial array, using their own soul power to fill the boundary marker's deficiencies, making it impregnable once more."
"Are you going to make a sacrifice?" Yan Junyu's face turned green.
"It's not me, it's Dr. Kulun and Mu Feixing; they are truly paragons of selfless dedication." Qi Ze circled the array, "This array requires at least two living souls to activate; one to lay the array, the other to activate it. The moment the array is triggered, it will drain the soul of anyone nearby to fill this boundary marker. See, there are still some lines that haven't been completed, so it's currently ineffective."
"You mean this array was drawn by Dr. Kulun? But why would it appear here?" Yan Junyu became increasingly curious about Qi Ze's home.
"Because I taught him the shadow array, while I had already set up a real array here. The two arrays, with this stele as the medium, can sense each other no matter how far apart they are. Every major sect always has the protection of ancestors who have ascended to the higher realms. After they die, if they are willing, by laying a shadow array, they can send their soul power into the lower realm, blessing their descendants." Qi Ze sighed, "Our Supreme Divine Creation Sect's boundary marker hasn't been sacrificed to for a long time. This time, we truly owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Kulun and Mu Feixing."
Yan Junyu silently mourned for the two, then watched the gradually forming array with keen interest. Even without asking, he knew that these lines, transforming from blurred to clear, were surely carved stroke by stroke by Dr. Kulun. As they observed from here, Dr. Kulun must have been very busy and weary...
The two weren't wrong. Dr. Kulun held a hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other, carving the pattern with utmost concentration. Even with his photographic memory, he had to refer to the image every few minutes, fearing the slightest error. During the carving, his weight dropped drastically, his mental energy depleted, and his face always bore an abnormally ashen gray.
Kirkbo had repeatedly advised him to take care of his health, but it hadn't caught his attention. He thought it was a side effect of losing his symbiotic beast, so he carved the patterns more urgently. If before coming to the Black Eye Galaxy he was merely curious about the concept of "death and rebirth", now his emphasis on this pattern was no less than Mu Feixing's.
Having suffered Yan Junyu's severe blow, even coming close to death, he realized how precious life was. He didn't want to die, and he didn't want to live in a frail body.
"If the experiment succeeds, I want to change my body too," he said enthusiastically, "Kirkbo, my body is already riddled with holes and can't be cured. Even if you caught that spider for me, with my current strength, I can't tame it at all. But no one can drive me to a dead end; I will live forever, forever!"
"Yes, you will always live. You will become the only deity in the world," Kirkbo said devoutly.
"Dr. Kulun, are you done?" Mu Feixing appeared in the laboratory.
"You worthless piece of shit, you still dare to come?" Dr. Kulun shouted angrily.
"Sorry," Mu Feixing spoke dryly. To him, who had been revered as a deity both in life and after death, he was completely unaccustomed to this harsh attitude.
"No, you don't need to say sorry," Dr. Kulun laughed sinisterly, "you are my most precious test subject. How could I be angry at you? Mu, see? I'll finish a few more strokes, and I'll be done. You'll be able to resurrect soon."
"But Dr. Kulun, you promised to experiment on someone else first, only trying on me when the success rate is 100%. Besides, I haven't found a suitable body yet," Mu Feixing frowned, "And you can't just find me a soul."
"Just wait a minute." Mu Feixing disappeared from the spot and returned a moment later, holding a strand of gray cottony material.
Seeing the cottony material, Dr. Kulun sneered, "Mu, is this your test subject? If you let go, how long can it last? An hour? Two hours? No, no, no, it can't even last a minute before it dissipates! Do you think it can wait until the pattern is fully illuminated? Do you think it can withstand the massive impact of the rebirth force? If this pattern can't be reused and will be discarded after one use, can you take full responsibility? Do you think it's easy for me to squat on the ground every day, using my noble hands to carve the patterns inch by inch? I'm already exhausted, while you leisurely stay on the network, ready to reap the benefits without doing a thing. You can't even catch a bug! You, this worthless piece of shit! If you don't want to be experimented on, then get lost, get lost forever!"
The gentlemanly Dr. Kulun one moment threw the hammer and chisel in his hand at Mu Feixing the next. His hair was tousled, his eyes turbid, looking like a terminally ill madman.
"My lord, please calm down," Kirkbo hurriedly hugged him, lightly patting his violently heaving chest.
Mu Feixing stood there in extreme embarrassment. If he could, he really wanted to leave, yet he couldn't bear to give up the chance of resurrection. This pattern was so intricate, so vast, so profound, and he didn't have a physical form, so he couldn't replicate it. He also believed that besides Dr. Kulun, no one else could do it. Despite Dr. Kulun being a capricious madman, he possessed the most rigorous scientific attitude; otherwise, he would have long ago entrusted the carving of the pattern to a robot.
"If I really can't find a suitable test subject, I'm naturally willing to serve you," Mu Feixing had to compromise.
"Besides you, who is more suitable? That thread of broken cotton in your hand?" Dr. Kulun sneered, then retrieved the hammer and chisel, continuing to carve the pattern. Kirkbo followed him closely, his eyes filled with pity.
After standing for a while, Mu Feixing silently returned to the database. He let go, and the gray cottony material dispersed on its own. Forget maintaining a human form, it couldn't even remain for a second. This was the strength of an ordinary person's soul, incredibly weak. If he used this kind of soul for experimentation, forget a 100% success rate, he probably couldn't even reach 1%. He didn't want to be the first test subject; it would be too risky, but he couldn't find a better replacement than himself.
To be honest, in the Black Eye Galaxy, no one's soul was stronger than his. He was originally a high-level mental energy user, and had spent a few hundred years in mecha and the network, devouring countless abilities and souls to reach his current state. Dr. Kulun was a perfectionist scientist; with such a good test subject at hand, how could he settle for anyone else?
Mu Feixing helplessly realized that if he didn't cooperate, he would undoubtedly anger Dr. Kulun and lose the chance of resurrection.
As he deliberated, the pattern was completed. Dr. Kulun gathered all the staff, ordering them to set up monitoring devices and testing instruments. This experiment had epoch-making significance, possibly giving birth to a new form of life. With Dr. Kulun's proud and conceited nature, how could he not record every detail thoroughly?
The originally spacious laboratory was now filled with people, all staring at the corpse at the center of the pattern.
Dr. Kulun carefully examined the memory chip, confirming the steps, then waved his hand, "Mu, you can enter now."
"Who is that person?" Mu Feixing first needed to confirm his new identity.
"A 3S-class metal-type ability user, with excellent potential. If the experiment succeeds, I can help you catch Cassio. Alright, dearie, stop dilly-dallying and quickly welcome your rebirth!" Dr. Kulun said impatiently.
Mu Feixing's lips moved, but he ultimately didn't say anything, stepping into the pattern and slowly walking to the corpse. As soon as he stood in place, Dr. Kulun injected his mental energy into the array's core, lighting up the nine crystals in sequence. The pattern burst with dazzling golden light, then rapidly twisted and spun, forming a black vortex that sucked in the corpse and Mu Feixing.
Dr. Kulun immediately sensed something was wrong, roaring, "How could a vortex form? This doesn't match Qi Ze's memory! Stop, quickly stop!" He tried to remove the nine crystals, but in the instant he ran over, he was sucked into the vortex and disappeared. The staff beside him couldn't escape the same fate either.
Everything happened too fast for Kirkbo to even catch Dr. Kulun. He immediately used teleportation to leave the flying vessel. A few minutes later, when he returned, the laboratory was filled with corpses, while the pattern that had twisted into a black vortex had vanished.
"My lord, wake up!" He immediately recognized Dr. Kulun, approaching him to check his breath and pulse, his eyes nearly tearing. Dr. Kulun was dead; although his body was still warm, he had long since stopped breathing and his heart had ceased beating. In addition, everyone on the entire flying vessel was dead; some had been chatting, some eating, some exercising. Their stiff bodies retained their postures from before they died, as if their souls were instantly drained, leaving only a hollow shell as a decoration.
"It's Qi Ze! He killed my lord! Ah, ah, ah..." Kirkbo tightly hugged Dr. Kulun's corpse, issuing a heart-rending roar. He never would have imagined that Qi Ze would leave such a vicious countermeasure before his death. And now, he couldn't even find a target for revenge, because that person had long turned to ashes, which he had carelessly discarded.
"Qi Ze! Qi Ze! Qi Ze..." He wildly shouted that person's name, wishing he could descend to hell and kill the other party a hundred or a thousand times more.
Meanwhile, within the Nine Tripod Hall, streams of living souls were continuously pouring into the boundary marker, repairing its sword marks. Qi Ze watched this scene with relief, then took out a soul-snatching pearl and called out, "Where is Dr. Kulun?" The array remained still, and he called out a few more times before he saw a wisp of black cottony material floating up and down, absorbed by the soul-snatching pearl.
"This is Dr. Kulun?" Yan Junyu was stunned.
"Indeed, it's him," Qi Ze left the great hall and decisively said, "Let's go find Cassio."
"Why find him?" Yan Junyu followed after him.
"To extract Dr. Kulun's memories. The Kurt Empire is an old empire in the Black Eye Galaxy, surely they have that kind of technology? Unfortunately, I haven't learned the soul-searching technique; otherwise, I could have done it myself." The more he thought about it, the more regretful he felt, causing Qi Ze to shake his head repeatedly. As for Mu Feixing, who had also been absorbed, he completely forgot about him.
That person was only fit to fill the sword marks, not worth a second glance.
The Mozi Fort was established by the imperial family, and Cassio was the most favored son of the Kurt Emperor, with no exception. After entering the base, Cassio immediately took off his mask and reunited with his father. They chatted for a whole night, and just as they were preparing to return to their respective rooms, they heard that Master Qi and General Yan had arrived.
"Quickly invite them in!" The old emperor didn't dare neglect them, rushing to greet them personally.
Cassio wore an extremely luxurious formal dress, holding a dusty jar in his arms, making him look a bit mismatched. He led his two friends into the inner room, then supported his father to sit down before asking, "Do you have something?" As he spoke, he remembered something, hurriedly hugging the jar and pleading, "Qi, didn't you promise to let me help raise Ball-Ball? Let it stay. See how well we get along, Ball-Ball likes me so much." While he spoke, he lifted a soft tentacle from the jar, pasting it on his own cheek and even sticking out his lips cutely.
Qi Ze turned his head away, unable to bear to look directly.
The old emperor coughed awkwardly.
"Your esteemed guests have come late at night, surely there's a matter of urgency you wish to discuss?" he said gently.
"There is indeed an urgent matter." Qi Ze placed the soul-snatching pearl on the table, sincerely saying, "This is Dr. Kulun's soul. Can you extract his memories? You should know that the current rampaging infected individuals in the Black Eye Galaxy were unleashed by him. He can create the virus, so he should also be able to crack it. With the antidote, the current situation can be quickly controlled."
"This is Dr. Kulun's soul?" The old emperor looked at the soul-snatching pearl with suspicion and apprehension. Dr. Kulun acted high-profilely, and the intelligence departments of various countries had long investigated his information, naturally knowing who he was.
"He's dead? When did it happen?" After a shock, the old emperor was delighted.
Cassio was so scared he couldn't even hold onto the jar. Dr. Kulun was very powerful, right? How did he suddenly die? No, no, no, he must be dreaming!
"He just died. Don't hide anything from you all, I had already planted a time bomb by his side. Now that the bomb exploded, he naturally died." Qi Ze took out the Yin-Yang Five Elements Disk from his Qiankun Bag, made some adjustments, then placed the soul-snatching pearl in the center of the disk, channeling spirit energy to loosen the seal.
"Qi Ze, you schemed against me!" Dr. Kulun's soul suddenly shot out, dashing towards Qi Ze, but was blocked by an invisible wall. He immediately changed direction, yet was blocked again. After several attempts, he realized he was actually trapped in an invisible cage, no different from his previous situation.
Qi Ze's methods were endless and cruelly vicious. How could he be his match? Only at this moment did Dr. Kulun understand what fear was, what the endless abyss was.