136: The body of malice falls into the void

Being in the Land of Slumber, a place where malice permeated.

If Lin Chen hadn’t integrated into the surrounding environment and transformed into a malice being, he would have gained nothing here.

Therefore, becoming a malice being was an inevitable outcome.

Lin Chen didn't hesitate, activating Spiritual Stealth and using his Qi Luck Soul Garment and Cognitive Barrier to isolate his soul from the erosion of malice, but his external body had already undergone Malice Incarnation.

His Malice Incarnation body was an advantage; the countless warring malice beings couldn’t distinguish whether Lin Chen, who passed them, was pure malice or a malice being.

Thus, Lin Chen approached the malice crystal without any hindrance; externally, it appeared as if a wisp of malice was drawn to the malice crystal, about to become part of it.

Lin Chen reached out and grasped the malice crystal.

Lin Chen couldn't determine the quality of this malice crystal, but it didn’t matter; he only needed to absorb the malice crystal to transform his soul into an Malice Incarnation soul, completely converting into a malice being from the inside out.

This process carried a certain risk.

He needed to resist the erosion of malice on his consciousness and elevate his consciousness above the malice, not letting the malice control his consciousness; the primary and secondary roles had to be clear.

If his consciousness couldn't withstand the erosion of malice and became its slave, Lin Chen would have no choice but to abandon this avatar and temporarily halt his plan to become a source of malice.

Without hesitation, Lin Chen absorbed the malice crystal into his soul; the malice crystal, no longer isolated by the Qi Luck Soul Garment and Cognitive Barrier, immediately caused his soul to undergo Malice Incarnation with just a slight emanation of malice.

Soul erosion was only the beginning; Lin Chen's consciousness became tainted with malice, gradually sinking and dissipating.

At this moment, Lin Chen actively collapsed his Qi Luck Soul Garment.

The collapsed Qi Luck Soul Garment merged with Lin Chen’s consciousness, temporarily transforming his consciousness into Qi Luck.

His Qi Luck consciousness, while resisting the malice crystal’s erosion, continuously seized control over the malice within his body.

“My body, my soul, my consciousness—only I can control them. Malice must also submit to me!”

Lin Chen became ruthless, directly collapsing his Cognitive Barrier. Countless good and bad, high-level and low-level knowledge materialized as a data torrent, merging into his consciousness, increasing its volume, and accelerating his control over the malice.

The malice crystal, ignorant and acting purely on instinct, continued to emit pure malice, eroding Lin Chen’s consciousness.

During this process, Lin Chen gained control over the malice; the more malice the malice crystal emitted, the more malice Lin Chen could control.

The more malice Lin Chen could control, the stronger his grasp over it became. From initially passively extracting malice, he could now actively delve into the malice crystal and draw malice from it into himself.

In this process, Lin Chen’s consciousness was unconsciously tainted by malice, casting a shadow over it.

Gradually, Lin Chen had suppressed and subdued the malice within his body; only a small amount of malice emanating from the malice crystal remained beyond his control, requiring him to dedicate a portion of his consciousness to suppress and subdue it.

At this point, Lin Chen became a sentient malice being, capable of controlling and storing a certain amount of malice. Once the amount of malice reached an upper limit, he still ran the risk of getting lost and sinking.

Malice Incarnation is similar to Void Incarnation; one must constantly advance and continuously control malice and Void Power. Otherwise, if the growth of malice and Void Power exceeds the control limit, getting lost and sinking is the predetermined outcome.

Not only that, the growth of malice and Void Power is passive and influenced by the environment. As long as there is an abundance of these two powers in the environment, beings possessing them will grow rapidly.

It’s like getting stronger by just lying down, but because the strengthening is too fast, one actually needs to curb the speed of becoming stronger.

Other types of cultivators proceed steadily in their cultivation, not having to worry much about being backlashed by the power they wield. However, with Malice Incarnation and Void Incarnation, a single lapse can truly lead to backlash, getting lost, and sinking.

The most important thing for Lin Chen now is to leave the Land of Slumber and reach an area with a lower concentration of malice.

Otherwise, staying in the Land of Slumber, where malice concentration is extremely high, the malice within his body would continuously accumulate, just like the malice crystal earlier, which would constantly absorb lower-concentration malice.

Malice is divided into two types: explicit and implicit.

Explicit malice is of higher quality than implicit malice. Implicit malice cannot yet affect the real world, but explicit malice can already affect the real world, directly acting upon everything in it.

Quality is also divided into three states: gaseous, liquid, and solid. Gaseous malice is the least harmful, and solid malice is the most harmful.

The malice crystal is explicit solid malice, almost the most malevolent form of malice. Lin Chen being able to absorb and control it was somewhat due to luck.

A newly born malice crystal, with not much malice stored and no instinctive actions, combined with Lin Chen’s Qi Luck Soul Garment and Cognitive Barrier as means to protect his consciousness, allowed him to fortunately absorb and control the malice within it.

The Land of Slumber is filled with visible explicit malice, mostly gaseous malice, a small portion of liquid malice, and numerous solid malice with the potential to become source of malices, i.e., malice crystals.

Some of these malice crystals are acquired by malice beings, becoming the source of their advancement.

More malice crystals sink deep into the Land of Slumber, becoming part of the source of malice and continuously strengthening it.

At this moment, Lin Chen has only just gained control over the malice within his body.

Next, he needs to grind away the malice crystal within his body, fully control all malice, and finally condense it into his own malice crystal, then use that malice crystal to command all malice within his body.

The advancement path for all malice beings is very clear: absorb malice, condense the highest quality malice crystal, and use this malice crystal to integrate and control malice both inside and outside the body.

After condensing the malice crystal, there is no need to focus on quality; the next step is simply to increase the quantity of malice stored within the malice crystal.

The source of malice is a pure numerical monster.

As long as the quantity of malice is sufficient, even gods can be corrupted and fall.

At its current stage, the source of malice is undoubtedly a Foundation Level existence. Even Foundation Level existences are unwilling to fight the source of malice; it cannot be killed, and the longer the battle, the more dangerous one becomes.

In a one-on-one fight, the source of malice utterly overwhelms a Foundation Level existence; it only needs a hundred thousand years to erode the foundation of a Foundation Level existence and corrupt it.

Fortunately, at its current stage, the source of malice shows no signs of leaving the Land of Slumber. It remains in slumber, instinctively exhaling and inhaling malice, polluting the entire universe.

As time progresses, malice will inevitably permeate the entire universe, dragging it into malice, and the universe's trajectory will shift from positive and upward to Decay and decline.

This is also a future timeline that is highly likely to occur after the birth of the source of malice.

Such distant matters are of no benefit for Lin Chen to ponder; he should seize the current opportunity and strive to become stronger.

In the center of countless warring malice beings, Lin Chen, as if no one else was present, refined the malice crystal, crushed it, and condensed his own malice crystal.

The surrounding warring malice beings, even after the malice crystal disappeared, would not cease their fighting; instead, it grew even more intense.

Time passed by minute by minute.

The malice crystal that entered Lin Chen's body was ground away, transforming into pure liquid malice.

Now, Lin Chen, apart from his consciousness, everything around him was composed of liquid malice.

Then, he compressed the malice and his consciousness to the extreme, regenerating a malice crystal dominated by his consciousness. This was the foundation of his Malice Incarnation.

The moment the new malice crystal was born, overwhelming malice was absorbed from all directions, surging into the malice crystal that Lin Chen had transformed into, one after another.

“Time to run!”

Once Malice Incarnation begins, there is no option to stop; one can only choose to slow down the growth rate.

Lin Chen dared not delay, re-evolving his original physical body to envelop the malice crystal, temporarily isolating external malice, while forcibly shattering space and falling into the Void.

Having mistakenly entered the Land of Slumber, there are only two ways to leave.

One is to follow the flow of malice, find the channels where the Land of Slumber leaks and absorbs malice, and exit through these channels into the Main Universe.

This path is very difficult, only suitable for those above Upper God; even a Mid-God would be corrupted and fall if they entered the malice channels.

The second path is Lin Chen’s current choice: falling into the Void, moving away from the Land of Slumber through the Void, and after countless distances, returning to the Main Universe through the cosmic barrier.

Compared to the first path, the second path is also not easy. The Void is not much safer than the Land of Slumber; in some respects, it is even more dangerous.