588: Chapter 588 A Feast of Slaughter, A Strong Possessiveness

Inside the bedroom, it was dead silent.

The curtains completely isolated the external hustle and bustle from the faint glow of the streetlights.

Fang Cheng sat cross-legged upright on the bed, his back straight and his eyes closed.

The rhythm of his breathing appeared deep and steady, but his consciousness was entering another dimension belonging to the spirit.

The familiar outlines of the furniture and the textures of the walls around him peeled off and vanished rapidly, like sand sculptures washed away by the tide.

A slightly cool night breeze took their place, gently brushing against his cheeks.

Fang Cheng opened his eyes, his figure suspended high up in the air.

At this moment, this place was likewise shrouded by a deep night veil.

In the center of the island, that towering and magnificent golden palace stood quietly, emitting a faint halo in the dark night.

In the remote corner on the west side of the island, that abandoned psychiatric hospital materialized from his memories still lurked dead and silent in the shadows.

The undulating mountain ranges, the winding rivers, and the dense forests surrounding them jointly constituted this vast and tranquil heaven and earth.

As for above the firmament...

Fang Cheng raised his eyes, casting his gaze toward the distant floating clouds.

That blood-colored waning moon, forcibly compressed by him, resembled a narrow, crimson eye, casting a dim red glow down upon the earth.

Ever since that fiendish mask was completely suppressed and integrated into the Inner Scene World, a brand-new set of operating rules had already taken shape.

The originally chaotic and disordered space quietly developed the phenomenon of day and night alternation.

Light and darkness alternated in rotation according to a fixed rhythm, with halos and shadows waxing and waning in an endless cycle.

Unwittingly, this Inner Scene World had actually formed a precise synchronization effect with the real world.

"Perhaps, this precisely accords with the principles of Yin and Yang complementing each other and endless vitality..."

Fang Cheng felt a subtle sense of enlightenment in his heart.

His gaze slowly swept across the heaven and earth, looking at this world presenting a different appearance.

Afterwards, he landed on a patch of verdant grassland, yet his brow furrowed slightly.

The instant he stepped in here, his acute perception captured a trace of palpitation.

That was a very peculiar induction.

If one had to use a word to describe it, it would be "subtle".

It was as if beneath the originally calm and rippmless lake surface, an extremely minute undercurrent had quietly emerged, making it difficult for one to pinpoint accurately.

Could it be that the consciousness of the Lord of Slaughter secretly left behind some hidden trouble before being expelled?

The thought flashed through his mind, then was immediately suppressed.

Fang Cheng was not impatient, calmly taking strides and strolling casually across this island belonging to himself.

His bare feet stepped across the soft soil, and the dew condensed on the grass blades moistened his ankles, bringing a trace of near-real chilliness.

The night breeze blew through the woods, and the leaves rubbed against each other, producing a rustling sound.

All the scenery appeared so natural and peaceful, without the slightest bit of dead silence and dilapidation from an evil intrusion.

Fang Cheng stopped his footsteps, raised his head, and cast his gaze toward that trace of blood-colored waning moon at the edge of the night sky.

The moment their lines of sight intersected, that faint palpitation deep within his mind suddenly became a bit clearer.

This induction seemed to be closely related to the mask.

Following the direction from which the induction came, he turned around and walked straight toward the surging river not far away.

Under the reflection of the red glow, the river water shimmered with ripples, and the sound of water gurgled.

Fang Cheng squatted down by the riverbank, leaning close to the water surface.

Deep within his pupils, two clusters of golden flames suddenly ignited.

That was the materialization of his highly condensed Mental Energy.

At this moment, Fang Cheng's gaze seemed to transform into a high-magnification microscope, rapidly magnifying the scene before him.

The originally clear and transparent river water gradually presented a completely different microscopic world within his field of vision.

Countless translucent, gelatinous, and variously shaped tiny light spots were slowly crawling and splitting within the aqueous liquid.

This is... microorganisms?

Fang Cheng stood up, a trace of surprise flashing through his gaze.

You must know that no matter how magical this Inner Scene World was, originally it was merely the product of his pure martial arts will.

At most, it could only be counted as a projection of the real world in the spiritual Domain.

Apart from those fixed mountains, rocks, grass, and trees, there did not exist any living forms capable of autonomous activity at all.

Then, where on earth did these suddenly popped-up microorganisms come from?

Fang Cheng stood quietly by the riverbank, his brain operating at high speed.

If it were a backup plan left behind by the Lord of Slaughter, these things ought to carry that nauseating rust smell and violent aura.

Fang Cheng shook his head slightly, directly vetoing this guess.

Because he had carefully perceived it; what these tiny lives emitted were the purest and most primitive life fluctuations.

As his thoughts turned lightning-fast, a thought parted the fog like lightning and emerged in his mind.

The Fiendish Mask — Feast of Slaughter.

That's right!

Fang Cheng's gaze flashed brightly, the flames in his eyes jumping abruptly.

According to the prompt information displayed previously, the core ability of this wondrous item was to absorb life energy by devouring prey.

Afterwards, the mask would intercept half of the energy, and feed back the other half to the host.

That red liquid creature previously parasitic in the clown mask, attempting to drill into his brain, had been utterly devoured alive by the fiendish mask.

At that time, Fang Cheng did not find the storage of True Qi within his Dantian to have increased, nor did he feel any sudden and violent progress in his Physical Body strength.

So it turned out that half of that converted life energy did not act upon the realistic shell at all.

Instead, it directly crossed the physical boundaries, pouring into this Inner Scene World deeply bound to his spirit.

Pure life energy precipitated within this heaven and earth, undergoing evolution.

Eventually, in this long river, it nurtured these most basic life forms.

To verify the conjecture in his heart, Fang Cheng once again cast his gaze toward that trace of blood moon high in the air.

A faint spiritual resonance came over, confirming his deduction.

That prompt information regarding the "Feast of Slaughter" emerged once more.

The Inner Scene World was truly evolving from a dead and silent space of will toward a complete world possessing a life cycle.

Although it was still very weak now and merely in its embryonic stage.

Yet this was undoubtedly a far-reaching metamorphosis, containing unimaginably broad growth prospects.

Fang Cheng raised his chin, the corners of his mouth curving into an excited arc.

He raised his right hand, his palm aiming distantly at that blood moon high in the air.

His five fingers spread open, then abruptly clenched into a fist.

Hum—

The mask's will, which had been tightly suppressed, instantly gave a response, docilely releasing the massive energy accumulated within itself.

Above the island, the airflow began to surge violently, and fierce winds arose abruptly.

The originally thin clouds rapidly gathered and thickened, obscuring the starry sky like thick ink.

After a few muffled rolls of thunder, a torrential downpour came pouring down.

Fang Cheng stood in place, letting the rain pour down onto his shoulders and face.

This rain was not in a transparent form, but instead shimmered with a trace of extremely faint reddish light under the night veil.

There was no corrosive feeling brought by acid rain; instead, it emitted a fresh scent mixed with the fragrance of soil.

He spread open his palms, catching a few drops of rain.

Under extreme vision, he could clearly see that those tiny life forms were likewise densely distributed within the water droplets.

At this moment, along with the rainfall, they were being evenly sprinkled onto the vast grasslands, forests, and mountain ranges, blending into the deepest parts of the soil.

"Isolated yang does not grow, solitary yin does not thrive; all things carry yin on their backs and embrace yang, blending qi to achieve harmony..."

Fang Cheng whispered a Daoist classic, and his previous insights became increasingly clear and thorough.

He strolled casually in the bloody rain, feeling the land beneath his feet greedily sucking in the vitality within the rainwater.

At the same time, a grand scroll was outlined in his mind.

Perhaps on some day in the future, as the mask devoured more prey and fed back even more massive energy.

These microorganisms would evolve into insects, evolve into birds and beasts, and multiply and thrive among this mountain forest.

And he was the Dominator, the Creator who governs all this evolution.

This authority to control a side of the world at will and witness the germination of life.

Was obviously far more shocking than simply throwing punches to kill people, and even more intoxicating.

Fang Cheng's thought moved.

The wind and rain across the sky stopped instantly, and the thick clouds retreated like the tide.

He shook off the water droplets on his body, turned around, and stepped onto the wide steps composed of obsidian, walking toward the magnificent golden palace.

The heavy palace doors were pushed open slowly, and the sound of footsteps echoed within the spacious main hall, carrying a kind of ethereal sense of holiness.

No lamps or fires were lit inside the hall, yet soft and bright golden light flowed everywhere.

The huge load-bearing pillars were carved with intricate patterns, and the dome soared into the clouds, as if connecting to the endless Void Realm.

Fang Cheng walked straight to the end of the main hall, sitting down upon the wide golden throne.

With his spine pressed against the back of the chair, he raised his head, casting his sight toward the vast dome of the palace.

A dazzling starry sky was rotating slowly.

Countless starlight points were orderly arranged on the profound canopy of heaven, as if rubbing the real Universe here.

Those flickering light points were precisely the consciousness coordinates of the believers who had established a spiritual connection with him.

Fang Cheng's gaze fell upon the outer layer area close to the center of the starry sky.

There were two exceptionally bright stars there, which were precisely the consciousness coordinates belonging to Lin Chuqiao and the professor.

After experiencing the battle last time where he mobilized everyone's Mental Energy and jointly resisted the Divided Soul of the Lord of Slaughter.

He could clearly perceive that the connection channel between himself and these two people had become broader and more stable.

Previously, wanting to cross spatial barriers to summon them still required mobilizing a massive force of will to hard-shake that layer of high-dimensional barrier at the source of their abilities, much like chiseling a hole on hard rock.

But now, those barriers seemed to have opened a crack of a door for him.

He only needed to expend less energy, following that already widened channel, to cross an even shorter boundary and pull the consciousness of the two people into the Inner Scene World.

Fang Cheng withdrew his gaze, his sight sweeping along the dome toward the more peripheral areas of the starry sky.

There, more than a dozen extremely faint light points were still sporadically scattered.

They were like the morning stars about to vanish at dawn, looming in and out of sight, continuously flickering at a bizarre frequency and transmitting obscure signals.

Those were the coordinates of members who recently joined the "Illuminati".

Because deep spiritual shackles had not yet been established, the connection between them and Fang Cheng appeared elusive and extremely unstable.

Fang Cheng gazed at these light points, his eyes gradually becoming profound.

He could see through the outer periphery of these light points, all of which were wrapped in a hazy barrier.

That was precisely the protective shell naturally carried in the subconscious of extraordinary individuals who underwent Awakening of special abilities.

Behind this protective shell, some massive and mysterious unknown entity was hidden, granting them abilities and also grasping their lives.

In other words, in a certain sense, these extraordinary individuals belonged to the property of those high-dimensional consciousnesses, serving as spiritual food kept in captivity by Them.

Seeing this, an intense desire for possession surged from the bottom of Fang Cheng's heart.

Since these people had already sworn allegiance, joined the organization, become his subordinates, and worked for him.

Then he would absolutely not allow the deep recesses of their Souls to still be carved with the brand of other existences!

Of course, besides the desire for possession and enhancing his own strength, this was even more to guarantee their absolute loyalty.

For these newcomers of unknown background, if he were to slowly contact and inspect them in reality, it would not only be extremely risky but also extremely exhausting to his energy.

Starting directly from the spiritual source, imitating the way he established spiritual connections with Lin Chuqiao and the professor back then, he would forcibly invade their subconscious.

Diluting or even erasing the original marks, blending their consciousness into this starry sky, and branding it as belonging to Fang Cheng.

This was the most efficient and once-and-for-all approach.

Thinking of this, Fang Cheng's sight began to patrol among those dozen or so faint stars.

Eventually, his gaze locked onto an exceptionally dim light point.

That was the consciousness coordinate belonging to "Fire Dragon".

Perhaps because he witnessed with his own eyes the terrifying scene of that battle at the Silver Wing Building, extreme fear was produced within his heart.

Coupled with the fact that in order to survive at the time, he had once lowered his head and begged him.

Therefore, it made the flickering frequency of this star become slightly faster, which was acutely captured by Fang Cheng.

According to the news transmitted by the professor, after waking up, Fire Dragon had been recuperating from injuries over at the clinic, and the recovery progress was considered not bad, already able to speak.

Because of the Special Investigation Team exams these past few days, Fang Cheng had not spared the time to go over and interrogate him.

The original plan was to wait until the exam was finished, pry the password for Masked Man's hundreds of millions in overseas deposits out of Fire Dragon's mouth, and then decide the other party's life or death.

But under the current situation, this decision had become somewhat tricky.

Let him go?

The military was currently searching the city like a pack of rabid dogs; letting a survivor who had once participated in the battle at the Silver Wing Building go out would be no different than courting endless trouble for himself.

Kill him to silence him?

It seemed to vainly waste the other party's unusual combat capability and intelligence value.

Furthermore, he had personally promised before that as long as the other party handed over the password, he would spare his life.

Although Fang Cheng was no saint, under circumstances where it was unnecessary, he did not want to easily break the rules he had set.

His fingertips rubbed against the cold armrests of the throne, and a captivating brilliant flash swept across the depths of Fang Cheng's eyes.

Right now, he seemed to have a brand-new choice.

There was no need to agonize over the difficult problem of killing versus releasing anymore.

As long as he forcibly invaded the depths of Fire Dragon's subconscious just like connecting the consciousness of Lin Chuqiao and the professor back then.

Tearing open a breach on the other party's spiritual barrier, which was weak to the extreme, and forcefully snatching away Fire Dragon's "ownership" from the hands of that unknown high-dimensional existence!

By that time, Fire Dragon would not only obediently spit out the password, but even more likely become a die-hard loyalist without any reservation and with absolute loyalty.

Fang Cheng slowly stood up, his sleeves stirring up a slight airflow within the quiet main hall.

Looking up at that faint star belonging to Fire Dragon, the corners of his mouth curved into a cruel smile.

Then, let's use you to try it out first!