206: Chapter 206 Item Quality Improvement Card

For the next ten minutes, it was a literal purgatory for Mo Yu.

Lin Tian clearly had subordinates who were experts in energy application; they didn't just use simple physical torture, but a mixture of energy erosion, Soul stinging, and various other methods specifically designed for tainted creatures.

Under this targeted torture, Mo Yu's body and spirit, which had been strengthened by the power of necrotic pollution, let out shrill screams that didn't even sound human.

When the torture finally paused, Mo Yu was like a puddle of mud, lacking even the strength to curse; his life force was so faint it seemed as if it could be extinguished at any moment.

Only numbness and a dark glimmer of pleading for release remained in his eyes.

Lin Tian then slowly walked forward, crouched down, and looked into Mo Yu's unfocused eyes.

“If you had cooperated earlier, wouldn't you have suffered much less?”

Lin Tian's tone was flat, as if he were stating a simple fact.

“Why insist on suffering before opening your mouth?”

Mo Yu didn't respond—or rather, he no longer had the strength to respond—only signaling with his eyes for a quick end.

Lin Tian stopped wasting time and cut straight to the core, his questions clear and urgent:

“Who is Karl? Where were you, and how did you meet him?”

“Your units and your Territory Core—why did they become like this? Was it his doing? How did he do it?”

Mo Yu seemed to have completely given up. He opened his mouth and began to speak in a dry, raspy, and intermittent voice:

“He... is Karl... During the seventh-day beast tide... when I was dying... he saved me... the condition was... loyalty... and...”

His narrative was chaotic, but key information began to emerge.

However, just as he said, “My soldiers... and Territory Core... were by Karl... pol...”

The moment before the word “polluted” could leave his lips.

A sudden change occurred!

Mo Yu's body suddenly began to twitch violently!

It wasn't the pain of an injury, but an extreme decay and collapse erupting from within!

The pale skin on his body rapidly lost moisture at a visible rate, becoming dry and cracked, then eerily caving inward and rotting!

It was as if countless invisible maggots were frantically gnawing away inside him.

He wasn't bleeding; instead, he was turning directly into a thick, foul-smelling, bubbling yellow-green pus!

His bones were also melting, making a terrifying "sizzling" sound.

“Aaaah!!!”

Mo Yu let out the final cry of his life, a scream that was the most shrill and filled with endless pain and terror!

That scream didn't seem to come from his throat, but was the wail of a Soul being forcibly torn apart and annihilated by some power!

In just two or three seconds, a living person who had just been speaking vanished before the eyes of Lin Tian, Lord Su Wan, and all the surrounding soldiers.

He had completely turned into a puddle of bubbling pus, emitting a powerful stench and the aura of death!

Even that last remnant of Soul fire was annihilated without a trace.

Silence.

A deathly silence enveloped the grove that had just experienced a bloody battle.

The moonlight remained cold, but the blood and gunpowder smoke in the air seemed to be covered by this sudden, eerie aura of decay and evil.

Lin Tian slowly stood up, his expression terrifyingly dark.

Lord Su Wan’s face was even paler. She subconsciously took a half-step back, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes filled with shock and lingering fear.

“This...”

Lord Su Wan’s voice trembled slightly.

“What a cruel... and vicious... method of keeping secrets...”

Lin Tian stared at the puddle of pus on the ground that was still slightly writhing, his gaze sharp.

The energy fluctuation that had erupted in that moment, though brief, gave him a familiar and extremely disgusting feeling.

It shared a fundamental similarity with that filthy blood moon and those Polluted Monsterss!

“It seems this ‘Karl’ and the power behind Mo Yu have a deeper and closer relationship with the source of the ‘pollution’ than we imagined.”

Lin Tian spoke slowly, his voice carrying an unprecedented gravity.

“From now on, we must pay close attention. This water is much murkier and more dangerous than we thought.”

He looked up toward the heavy night in the north, as if trying to pierce through the endless darkness to see the shadow named ‘Karl’ hidden behind the scenes.

Tonight, they had won a battle, saved Lord Su Wan, and slain a powerful enemy.

But at the same time, they seemed to have... uncovered the tip of the iceberg of a larger, more evil conspiracy.

Moonlight Grove returned to its surface tranquility, but the puddle of pus that quickly seeped into the soil and the lingering eerie aura in the air were like an ominous brand seared into everyone's hearts.

Following Mo Yu's nauseating death and complete dissipation.

The System panel before Lin Tian's eyes, without warning, suddenly popped up a dazzling golden notification box, like clouds parting to reveal the sun!

That light was so pure and brilliant, even carrying a sense of solemnity like a reward from the Heavenly Dao, instantly dispersing some of the remaining cold and filthy aura.

[Congratulations! You have successfully completed the first-time achievement: ‘Purification Pioneer’!]

[You have killed a deeply tainted legendary-tier Lord for the first time, severing an important claw of the pollution source reaching into the outside world!]

[Rewards Obtained:]

attack points × 1500

Special Item: item quality upgrade card × 1

(Effect: Can be used on any inanimate item; there is a high probability of directly increasing its quality by one rank. The higher the quality, the lower the probability of success.)

“Holy shit!”

Lin Tian cursed internally, his eyes lighting up instantly—the light in them was even brighter than the golden glow on the panel!

Fifteen hundred points!

This was already an astonishingly generous gift, but what truly made his heart race and his breathing turn shallow was the card with the simple description that followed.

item quality upgrade card!

“Any item... increase quality...”

Lin Tian almost held his breath as he carefully read the brief explanation, his heart growing hotter the more he looked.

The value of this thing was simply immeasurable! It seemed to be a one-time use, but where was its 'upper limit'?

If it could be used on certain key items with growth potential...

Almost the moment he got the card, an unshakeable option popped into his mind: the mirror of replication!

This miraculous mirror that accompanied him and could be called the “cheat among cheats” was undoubtedly one of his core Foundations!

If its quality could be increased by another rank...

Would it reduce that heart-wrenching, terrifying consumption?

Or could it break through limits to copy higher-tier, more miraculous items, or even... Divine-Grade items?

Whichever it was, it would be enough to push his development speed to another terrifying level!

“This is the one! I'll try it as soon as I get back!”