79: Hunting

Deep within the Burial God Abyss, Lu Yuan stood before the Qingyun Sect's monitoring light screen.

Hundreds of light dots were densely packed on the light screen, like chess pieces.

There was no interest in a chess player's game in his eyes, only data streams silently surging.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the Sandbox Simulation model was operating at a terrifying speed.

Among countless intertwined Karma lines, two nodes about to collide were locked onto and magnified.

One, with soft radiance, was the Saintess of Hundred Flowers Palace, Yun Yao.

The other, with a dark green color, was codenamed "Gu Master."

He had calculated the location and time of their encounter and had discerned the inner logic of each of their Golden Fingers.

Yun Yao's [Hundred Flowers Record], naturally affinity with plants and trees, would inevitably choose a place abundant in Spiritual Qi to reside.

The "Gu Master's" sinister Gu techniques, on the other hand, were most adept at setting death traps amidst rich vitality.

"Transaction initiated."

Lu Yuan muttered softly to himself.

Through the Great Dao Options Exchange, he bought a put option for "Gu Master dies in fifteen minutes," costing eighty karma points.

Immediately after, he added ten more points to purchase a call option for "Yun Yao severely injured, but life unharmed."

Betting in both directions, hedging risks.

This was a transaction where, no matter the outcome, he was destined to profit... The Saintess of Hundred Flowers Palace, Yun Yao, was currently in a mountain valley filled with Spiritual Qi.

Exotic flowers bloomed everywhere in the valley, and the spiritual mist was almost tangible.

Her fair fingertips gently touched a budding Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma, her face showing the satisfaction of a harvest.

"This place is rich in Spiritual Qi, most suitable for the [Hundred Flowers Record]."

She whispered to her Dao protectors beside her.

Before her words finished.

The soil beneath her feet began to silently writhe.

Countless almost transparent threads shot out from the earth, carrying a chilling corrosive power, coiling around the bodies of the Dao protectors.

"Saintess, be careful!"

One Dao protector let out a hoarse warning, which became his last words in this life.

His body was rapidly shriveling in a twisted manner.

Skin and flesh clung tightly to bones, all essence and blood drained, turning him into a dehydrated husk, collapsing to the ground.

The smile on Yun Yao's face froze.

An invisible force rapidly sealed off her magical power, rendering her immobile.

More transparent threads emerged from underground, like living venomous snakes, wrapping her layer by layer, forming a giant white silk cocoon.

An ugly Cultivator, shaped like a dwarf, slowly walked out from the shadows of the valley.

His skin was sallow, his eyes narrow, and his lips curled into a grin.

"Hehehe... Saintess of Hundred Flowers Palace, a born spiritual body."

"I'll take your [Hundred Flowers Record]."

Greed was etched all over the "Gu Master's" ugly face.

He extended his withered finger, a chilling green light emanating from its tip, directly probing towards Yun Yao's glabella.

This was to directly seize the core of her Golden Finger.

Only despair remained in Yun Yao's eyes.

The aura of death, and a sense of powerlessness she had never experienced before, completely engulfed her.

The green light was about to press against her glabella.

Without a moment's pause.

The sky was torn apart by a colossal shadow.

Boom!

The loud noise did not come from the sky, but from the ground.

The land beneath the "Gu Master's" feet, along with him, was deeply embedded into the earth by a giant steel foot descending from the sky.

The shockwave pulverized all the flowers and plants in the valley into dust.

Soil, shattered rocks, and blood and flesh squeezed into paste splattered in all directions.

Lu Yuan's war puppet was like a steel devil god from ancient times.

Its eyes were crimson, and the enormous "Battlefield Sacrifice" furnace in its chest emitted a scorching light that seemed to devour everything.

It ignored the highly venomous Gu insects that exploded from the "Gu Master" in his dying moments, and its massive mechanical arm directly plunged into the mud, roughly pulling out the "Gu Master's" remains along with its System core.

The furnace's opening suddenly gaped, and an unparalleled suction force erupted.

"No... What is this thing!"

"My Gu... My core..."

The "Gu Master's" Divine Soul let out a final, mournful shriek.

His existence, his everything, was forcibly extracted, stripped, and crushed by the furnace, finally transforming into a pure mass of energy that the furnace joyfully swallowed.

In the valley, the dust settled.

The cracks in the silk cocoon became Yun Yao's only field of vision.

She saw that steel devil god, with crimson eyes, like the gaze of the abyss.

She also saw the slender figure standing silently on the mountaintop behind the devil god.

He merely stood there, yet he seemed to be the sole Dominator of this world.

Fear, shock, and some more complex emotions intertwined in her almost stagnant thoughts.

She forgot to breathe.

On the Great Dao Options Exchange interface, a message silently popped up.

[Congratulations, Host, for successfully annexing 'Gu Master's' authority, obtaining System plugin: [Myriad Gu Furnace].]

Lu Yuan, expressionless, walked towards Yun Yao.

His footsteps carried a steady and cold rhythm, as if measuring his territory.

"The Gu Master is dead."

Lu Yuan stopped in front of Yun Yao, his voice calm.

He waved his hand gently.

The war puppet's mechanical arm extended, its sharp fingertips cutting the threads entwining Yun Yao.

The silk cocoon peeled away.

Yun Yao fell to the ground, gasping for air, her pale face looking at Lu Yuan with complex emotions.

Lu Yuan looked down at her, his tone devoid of any fluctuation.

"Now, you are my asset."