224: Chapter 225 Looting! The Ancient Jade for Mental Defense! The Ruthless Inventory of the Blank Demon King

"With the true dragon relic blood, forge the Indestructible Golden Body."

As soon as these words faded, Lin Qi did not rush to jump into the Blood Pool.

He lowered his head to look at his hands; his ten fingers were still trembling. The residual force from pushing the door had not yet dissipated, and the lingering waves of the spiral Penetrating Force were still seeping out from his knuckles and joints.

No rush.

The good stuff is right there; it won't grow legs and run away.

First, finish cleaning up the matters at hand.

Lin Qi turned around, his gaze sweeping toward the corner of the great hall.

Ying Wan's corpse lay at the edge of the Blood Sacrifice Altar. That mangled body was slumped on the bluestone floor; the spine was shattered, the neck twisted at an impossible angle, and the entire person was limp, having lost all human shape.

Completely dead.

He walked over, his steps steady. Under thirty times gravity, every step was heavy, but he had already begun to adapt.

Lin Qi lifted his right foot and gave it a casual kick.

Ying Wan's corpse rolled a few times, tumbled to the edge of the Blood Sacrifice Altar, slid down a bit further, and disappeared into the dark gap between the Blood Sacrifice Altar and the groove.

Thump.

A muffled sound came from the depths, and then there was silence.

He didn't even bother to take another look.

Trash disposal complete.

Next is the real business.

Lin Qi sat down cross-legged. As soon as his bottom touched the ground, he felt the residual power of the true dragon relic blood inside his body starting to act up again.

When he forcibly pushed the bronze door earlier, his entire body's Meridians had endured an overloaded recoil force, and several tiny branches had suffered varying degrees of tearing. If he didn't deal with it, entering the Blood Pool would be seeking death.

The Blood Moving Technique operated spontaneously, and the Turtle Breathing Technique came online, coordinating with his breathing rhythm.

The Qi and blood inside his body circulated back and forth along a fixed route. Every time it passed a damaged Meridian, it left behind a thin film of True Qi, adhering to the tears and infiltrating to repair them.

This process was not fast.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

The great hall was so quiet that only Lin Qi's steady breathing and the gurgling sound of the dark golden liquid roiling at the bottom of the Blood Pool remained.

With thirty times gravity pressing on his body, the cross-legged sitting position actually allowed the pressure to be evenly distributed across every inch of his bones.

Guided by the Blood Moving Technique, the residual energy of the true dragon relic blood inside his body was compressed and assimilated bit by bit, forcibly merging into the Foundation of his Indestructible Golden Body.

This energy was restless; at first, it rampaged everywhere, trying to burst his Meridians.

But the control he possessed after the liquefaction of True Qi far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine.

Lin Qi used the gentlest yet toughest method to suppress all those restless energies into the established path.

Behave. If you don't listen, I'll kill you.

Don't know how much more time passed.

He opened his eyes, and a flash of golden light vanished from the depths of his pupils.

He lowered his head to look at his hands; the skin on the back of his hands was excessively smooth, without a single scar.

But he could feel that the layer of dark golden patterns on the surface of his bones had thickened—not just a little. Previously, that layer of patterns was thinly adhered to the surface of the bones, but now it had grown directly into the bone marrow, merging with the bones, and the color had changed from pale gold to dark gold.

The precious light flowing on the surface of his skin and flesh had also converged, no longer emitting outward.

He clenched his fist.

His strength was more than one level stronger than before.

His control over his force had also become much more refined. Previously, when throwing a punch, if he wanted to hold back thirty percent of his force, he would have to expend a great deal of effort to adjust his force-generating structure. Now, with just a thought, the force could be switched at will between ten percent and thirty percent.

The good stuff wasn't consumed in vain.

Lin Qi stood up, stretched his neck and shoulders, and his joints cracked in a series of pops.

He did not immediately walk toward the Blood Pool but strode toward the shadows beneath the Blood Sacrifice Altar.

Although Ying Wan's corpse had been kicked down, during the fight earlier, some odds and ends on that guy had been thrown out and were scattered around the Blood Sacrifice Altar.

He crouched down and started searching.

Searching very seriously.

This habit was cultivated in his past life in the "martial arts era"; if you don't scavenge for loot after defeating a BOSS, what's the difference between you and a salted fish?

The material of Ying Wan's night-traveling outfit was special; it was not a product of the System's digitization.

Lin Qi tore open that layer of black fabric and reached his fingers into the hidden pocket of the inner lining to grope around.

Space rings couldn't be opened in this place, so all important items had to be carried on one's person; this logic was sound.

The first thing he touched was a piece of ice-cold jade, the size of a palm, entirely dark green, with rounded edges, and engraved with some runes he couldn't quite understand.

The moment his palm grasped it, a force seeped into his head through his skin.

It was not an attack, but a defense.

This force formed an extremely thin protective shell outside his brain, specifically designed to isolate external mental attacks.

Lin Qi grinned.

This thing is good.

His Golden Finger had given him max-level martial arts experience, a monstrous Physical Body, and invincible physical defense-breaking capabilities. However, there was one shortcoming that had never been filled—mental defense. If he encountered mages or assassins who specialized in mental attacks, his brain would be an undefended target. He hadn't found a suitable remedy before, but now it had been delivered to his doorstep.

He hung the ancient jade around his neck and tucked it inside his clothes against his collarbone.

The cool sensation was quite comfortable.

He continued searching.

The second batch of items were a few metal pieces the size of a fingernail, hidden inside the waist belt of the night-traveling outfit. They were precision-crafted, with microscopic circuits on the surface that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

Lin Qi pinched one and held it before his eyes to examine it for two seconds.

Signal transmitter.

In his past life in the "martial arts era", assassin-class players loved using these inconspicuous little things. By sticking them on a target or leaving them at specific locations, they could continuously transmit coordinates and vital sign data to the employer.

Ying Wan was hired by the Li family at a great cost.

The other end connected to these signal transmitters was one hundred percent Li Qingcang, that old mad dog's command terminal.

He searched some more; there were four in total. One of them was already shattered, likely cracked by the Penetrating Force during the fight earlier, while the remaining three were intact and still working.

This meant that Li Qingcang's side could currently still know Ying Wan's status and location through these things.

Lin Qi placed one of the intact signal transmitters between his index finger and thumb, gathered True Qi at his fingertips, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Crack.

The metal piece turned into powder, falling rustlingly from between his fingers.

The second one.

Crack.

The third one.

Crack.

After three crisp sounds, all the signal transmitters were completely ruined.

On Li Qingcang's screen, Ying Wan's vital sign signal would likely turn directly into a flat line.

Let that old mad dog guess slowly. Guess how the assassin died, guess whether this Blank Slate is still alive or not. He won't be able to figure it out even if he guesses until all his hair falls out.

Lin Qi stood up and brushed the metal powder off his hands.

Scavenging complete. Not a bad haul.

A piece of mental defense ancient jade perfectly filled his biggest shortcoming.

There was no psychological burden at all in using things stripped from a dead person.

He turned around, his gaze falling once again on that huge groove in the center of the great hall.

The dark golden liquid was still roiling at the bottom; even from tens of meters away, he could feel heat waves rushing toward his face.

True dragon Blood Pool.

The ultimate Opportunity for rebirth.

Lin Qi took steps toward the direction of the groove, then stopped after two steps.

His gaze passed over the Blood Pool and looked toward the darkness deeper in the great hall.

Martial Intent Insight spread out, covering the entire enclosed space.

Directly behind the Blood Pool, at the end of the darkness, there was a narrow crack, and from within the crack, a faint, elusive fluctuation emanated.

It was not the energy fluctuation of the true dragon relic blood.

It was something else.

Something alive.

Lin Qi's eyes narrowed, and the slight smile on the corners of his mouth slowly flattened.

Staring at that crack, his voice was very soft.

"Now, it's my turn to come find you."