80: What the hell is this experiment trying to do?

As night deepened, Li Dong returned to his residence, yet found himself wide awake.

The Jade Slip given by Inspector Zhou was as hot as a branding iron; the shadowy forces in the Capital… damn it, this matter was getting bigger and bigger.

He sat cross-legged on a futon, with the “core experimental data chip” spread out before him, along with several ancient books on “Spirituality” and “object sentience” that he had exchanged from the Hall of Merits.

“Let’s first see what this so-called ‘Forbidden Experiment’ is all about.”

His Divine Sense probed the chip, and a complex data stream flooded his mind. Lin Yunzhi, that guy, was truly a “talent”; his experimental records were surprisingly well-organized.

“Soul-Devouring Demon Flower… feeds on living Souls and Spirituality…” Li Dong read through the data in the chip, cross-referencing it with the scattered records in the ancient books.

A yellowed ancient beast-skin scroll stated: “The Soul-Devouring Flower, born in places of extreme yin, thrives on the Souls and thoughts of living beings. When its flower blooms, Souls scatter; when touched, Spirituality falls…”

Another incomplete Jade Slip mentioned: “…its pistil condenses ‘spiritual essence’, seizing the creations of Heaven And Earth, bewitching human minds, controlling life and death, truly the most evil and malevolent thing between Heaven And Earth…”

The more Li Dong read, the tighter his brows furrowed. Good heavens, this thing was even more sinister than he had imagined! Absorbing Spirituality, Souls, and life force? Wasn't this just treating people as fertilizer? No wonder Lin Yunzhi was trying to set up some “demon attracting Formation” and using things like “demon-attracting incense”—it was all to serve this “Soul-Devouring Demon Flower”?

“System, analyze this ‘Soul-Devouring Demon Flower’ and ‘demon-attracting incense’.”

“Instruction received… Analyzing…”

“Soul-Devouring Demon Flower: An extremely rare and evil plant that absorbs the Spirituality, Souls, and life force of living beings as nourishment for its growth. Its flowers contain a high concentration of ‘spiritual essence’, possessing strong hallucinogenic and mind-controlling effects. A mature specimen can affect the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence of an entire area, creating a ‘Soul-Devouring Domain’.”

“demon-attracting incense: Refined from the essence blood of various Yao Beasts, resentful Souls, and special minerals, it has a strong attraction to Yao Beasts, while also stimulating the activity of the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower, accelerating its growth cycle, and amplifying its hallucinogenic effects.”

“Indeed!” Li Dong’s heart sank. Everything matched up now. The Earth Abyss, a place where yin energy gathered, coupled with the demon-attracting incense continuously attracting Yao Beasts and living Souls, was simply a tailor-made breeding ground for the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower.

The Lin family went to such great lengths, building secret warehouses and creating the Earth Abyss, just to cultivate flowers?

“The core purpose of the Forbidden Experiment… using demon-attracting incense as a catalyst, the Earth Abyss as a culture medium, mass-cultivating Soul-Devouring Demon Flowers, and then extracting ‘spiritual essence’?” Li Dong murmured to himself, his thoughts gradually clarifying.

But what exactly was this “spiritual essence” for? Was it merely to strengthen demons? Or, like Lin Yunzhi, to create the so-called “Artificial Dao Body”?

Li Dong always felt it wasn’t that simple. If it were just that, the risks and rewards wouldn’t be proportionate. If the Lin family truly had powerful figures from the Capital backing them, their ambitions must be far greater than this.

He continued to read the chip, which contained some conjectures and preliminary experimental records regarding the application of “spiritual essence.”

“…Purified ‘spiritual essence’ seems to be directly usable for enhancing a Cultivator’s comprehension of ‘Spirituality’… and even directly boosting Divine Soul power…”

“…High-concentration ‘spiritual essence’ can be made into a strong anesthetic, with a vast range of influence and extremely strong control…”

“…If combined with certain Formations, it might be refined into large-scale destructive Demonic Weapons…”

“Enhance spiritual comprehension? Control minds? Create terror weapons?” Seeing this, Li Dong felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet. What exactly did these madmen want to do? Did they intend to control the entire Prefecture with this thing, or even… harbor greater ambitions?

Just then, the System prompt sounded again in his mind.

“Warning: Detected high resonance between host’s ‘Spirituality’ attribute and the ‘spiritual essence’ of the ‘Soul-Devouring Demon Flower’.”

“Hint: The ‘spiritual essence’ has a strong attraction and nourishing effect on the host’s ‘Spirituality’ attribute, which can greatly enhance the host’s Spirituality-related abilities.”

“Risk Warning: The ‘spiritual essence’ of the ‘Soul-Devouring Demon Flower’ contains strong contamination and unknown evil power. Direct absorption or contact may lead to Divine Soul mutation, Spirituality distortion, or even reverse control by it. Please proceed with caution, host!”

“Huh?” Li Dong was startled at first, then found himself between laughter and tears.

“My ‘Spirituality’ attribute resonates with this thing? And it can nourish me?” What kind of cursed fate was this?

After all this, the core achievement that the enemy painstakingly created actually had a miraculous tonic effect on him?

However, the risk warning was quite alarming. Divine Soul mutation, Spirituality distortion, reverse control… it didn’t sound like a good end.

“This is truly… a pie falling from the sky, but the pie is filled with arsenic.” Li Dong stroked his chin. The “spiritual essence” of this Soul-Devouring Demon Flower was a double-edged sword for him; used well, it could lead to instant success, but used poorly, it could lead to eternal damnation.

He suddenly remembered the Prefecture core area map he had exchanged from the Hall of Merits, and the accompanying faction information Jade Slip. He unfolded the map, immersed his Divine Sense into the chip, and carefully compared them.

“Lin family secret warehouse, Earth Abyss entrance…” Li Dong’s finger traced across the map, “The chip mentions that to ensure the growth environment and secrecy of the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower, they seem to have more than one cultivation base.”

Through some obscure transportation records and personnel movement information in the chip, combined with the markings on the map, Li Dong’s eyes narrowed.

“Besides the Earth Abyss, there are at least two other suspicious locations outside the Prefecture city, with abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuations and records of a large number of missing people… Furthermore, the chip data shows that a batch of the most core ‘flower seeds’ and ‘culture fluid’ was secretly sent towards… the Capital?”

The Prefecture was just one of the experimental sites? The Capital had them too?

“It seems this Soul-Devouring Demon Flower is extremely important to certain people in the Capital,” Li Dong recalled Inspector Zhou’s words, “They need the power of this thing to consolidate their authority, or to carry out even more terrifying conspiracies.”

At this moment, many previously inexplicable things seemed to have answers. No wonder the Lin family, a local gentry, dared to touch such a taboo; no wonder Luo Yi, a Prefecture Commander, was deeply involved. If it involved figures at the Vice-Commander level in the Capital, then everything made sense.

“So, the focus of the investigation needs to shift from the Lin family and Luo Yi to the ‘Soul-Devouring Demon Flower’ itself,” Li Dong’s eyes flickered, “Figure out what this flower is actually for, what they want to use it for, and… where all the cultivation sites are!”

This was the key to unearthing the masterminds!

“System additional information: The cultivation of the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower has extremely stringent environmental requirements. It not only needs places of extreme yin and special mineral catalysts, but also a continuous supply of living sacrifices. For every mature Soul-Devouring Demon Flower cultivated, the number of living beings consumed will be astronomical.”

“Large numbers of living sacrifices…” Li Dong thought of the eerie skeletons in the Earth Abyss mine, of the innocent people affected when Lin Yunzhi detonated the demon attracting Formation, and of the missing Demon Suppression Guards and so-called “test subjects.”

It turned out they all became fertilizer for this demonic flower!

“Beasts!” Li Dong cursed under his breath, his fists clenching unconsciously.

He suddenly remembered something, and his expression subtly changed.

“Wait, in the core area of the Earth Abyss, to achieve Breakthrough, I once frantically absorbed the energy there…” At the time, he only felt that the energy was chaotic and cold, but now that he thought about it, could it have been mixed with the aura emanating from the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower, or even trace amounts of “spiritual essence”?

He carefully examined his inner self, especially his mysterious “Spirituality” attribute. There seemed to be no abnormality; on the contrary, due to the previous absorption, his Spirituality was even more active and condensed.

“Is it because my ‘Spirituality’ is special, or the amount I absorbed wasn’t enough to cause contamination?”

Li Dong dared not be careless. This Soul-Devouring Demon Flower was so sinister, he had to be on guard.

“It seems I’ll have to be more careful in the future. However…” A strange glint flashed in his eyes, “If I can find a way to safely utilize this ‘spiritual essence,’ or rather, use my ‘Spirituality’ to counteract its evil, then…”

A bold idea surfaced in his mind.

What he lacked most now was strength, especially the strength to contend with higher-level enemies. Late Foundation Establishment Stage, or even Golden Core… If this “spiritual essence” could truly greatly enhance his “Spirituality,” then perhaps it was a shortcut?

Of course, the risks were also immense.

“Don’t think so far ahead for now.” Li Dong shook his head, temporarily suppressing this tempting but dangerous idea, “The urgent task is to first figure out these several dens in the Prefecture and see if I can find any clues to counteract the Soul-Devouring Demon Flower, or safely extract its ‘spiritual essence’.”

He stood up, looking out at the deep night outside the window.

“The Lin family, Luo Yi, and those bastards in the Capital… the flowers you cultivated might just end up benefiting me, Li Dong!”

“Next, I’ll first scout those suspicious cultivation sites. Let’s see what tricks you’re really up to!”