Chapter 428: Xu Yuan's Anticipation
The greatest advantage of the Blood Essence Dharma Image wasn't its defensive capabilities, nor its terrifying destructive power, but rather its endurance.
It was formed entirely from Xu Yuan's blood essence. As long as his blood essence was sufficient, even if it sustained damage, it could quickly recover.
The dent in Xu Yuan's chest rapidly mended itself. The area affected by the Abyss inferno was carved out and fell to the ground, naturally dissipating.
Seeing Ba An across from him, who still appeared to possess formidable combat ability, Xu Yuan knew there was no need to prolong the fight further.
The evaluation required them to continue advancing deeper; dragging things out any longer held no real significance.
Generally speaking, large creatures with immense physical strength shared a common weakness.
Xu Yuan unleashed his spiritual power like a storm, filling the entire cavern and surging toward Ba An.
**Boom!**
Ba An felt its mind go completely blank.
In the next moment, it lost consciousness.
**Thud!**
Its massive body collapsed, dissolving into a mass of energy.
Long Yuxue was left speechless.
She had naturally sensed the earlier spiritual storm, which was precisely why she was so shocked.
She had just witnessed Xu Yuan brutally overpowering the six-clawed bat-like creature and seen his Blood Essence Dharma Image clash head-on with Ba An. Naturally, she assumed Xu Yuan was a soul master specializing in raw physical power.
She even likened him to someone else she knew—a template that fit Jiang Wuyue, who possessed the Tyrannosaurus Rex martial soul—to barely make sense of Xu Yuan's seemingly illogical abilities.
However, just as she had mentally categorized Xu Yuan into one mold, he immediately surprised her again.
Such overwhelming spiritual power!
Does he have no weaknesses?
No.
Long Yuxue's mind was in turmoil. Just as one thought emerged, countless others followed.
For instance, moments ago, she was still marveling over whether Xu Yuan had any weaknesses. Soon after, she realized an exaggerated question:
Was Xu Yuan's spiritual power stronger than his physical body?
If that were the case, did that mean his physical strength was actually his weakness?
With a strange expression, Long Yuxue stared at the towering figure within the Blood Essence Dharma Image.
Xu Yuan, on the other hand, was oblivious to the mental chaos swirling in Long Yuxue's mind.
At this moment, he was deep in contemplation.
"Dreamspace..."
Xu Yuan's strongest ability was undoubtedly the spirit-type soul skill of his brain martial soul, among which the most frequently used was the Dreamspace technique—a skill akin to Tsukuyomi.
In the past, however, he primarily used this soul skill for cultivation.
Time acceleration was one aspect, but more importantly, it had another function: converting tangible energy forms into intangible ones, allowing him to study various peculiar energies he encountered.
When he activated the Dreamspace earlier, an idea suddenly struck Xu Yuan: Could Abyss energy be converted into intangible form by the Dreamspace?
If so, wouldn't that essentially mean the Abyss energy was being devoured by his Dreamspace?
The inherently illusory nature of the Dreamspace made it extraordinary, which is why Xu Yuan entertained this hypothesis. Perhaps the Dreamspace could serve as the bridge he needed to emulate the Sand Demon Worm's devouring talent.
"Officer, shall we continue advancing?"
Coming back to reality, Xu Yuan dispersed the Blood Essence Dharma Image and turned to look at Long Yuxue behind him.
"Yes!" Long Yuxue hesitated for a moment before hastily responding.
At this moment, she was incredibly curious about this man's limits.
As they pressed onward, Xu Yuan encountered Mo Mei—originating from the race of the Mei Empress (Beauty/Charm Empress), one of the Abyss's ten strongest Emperors.
While Ba An excelled in physical strength, Mo Mei specialized in mental attacks.
However, to Xu Yuan, Mo Mei's mental assaults posed little threat. At least, along the way, he had encountered three Mo Meis and hadn't found their mental challenges particularly taxing.
Nevertheless, in the end, he still fell.
There was no helping it—the simulation had reached an unwinnable scenario. Three Ba Ans and three Mo Meis appeared simultaneously.
Individually, none of the three Mo Meis posed a significant threat to Xu Yuan. However, their abilities were close enough to his level that their combined mental attacks could threaten even a Title Douluo. With the three Mo Meis coordinating to support the three Ba Ans, Xu Yuan couldn't fully utilize the Dreamspace to instantly eliminate the Ba Ans. Meanwhile, the Ba Ans surrounded him, forcing him into a progressively losing battle.
The door of the simulation pod opened.
Long Yuxue stepped out of the machine, her eyes fixed on Xu Yuan, who also emerged beside her. Her expression remained frozen in shock for a long time.
"Officer, may I ask how my evaluation results turned out?"
Xu Yuan waved a hand in front of Long Yuxue's face, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Long Yuxue took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling slightly as she struggled to compose herself. "Your results need to be discussed with higher-ups before I can provide an answer."
The so-called results naturally referred to his initial merit points, which would determine his starting rank upon joining the Blood God Legion.
Xu Yuan's letter of recommendation was unique—he was joining the Blood God Legion as a researcher, so his starting rank was already set to be relatively high. Given his absurd performance during the evaluation, Long Yuxue found it difficult to gauge whether this new recruit, who now addressed her as his superior, might one day surpass her and force her to call him "officer."
"By the way, when can I truly encounter those creatures?" Xu Yuan asked.
At this moment, he felt a surge of anticipation.
To be honest, he had been preparing for the task of devouring Abyss energy for a long time. Most of his efforts were focused on perfecting the Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique—a method designed to directly consume energy.
His encounter with the hundred-thousand-year Sand Demon Worm outside the Lava Basin had piqued his interest in its unique devouring mechanism. The evolved methods of the Sand Demon Worm revealed that, as its age increased, its devouring techniques improved. Xu Yuan had briefly sensed that the fluid of a ten-thousand-year Sand Demon Worm was far more potent than that of a thousand-year one, and the fluid of a hundred-thousand-year Sand Demon Worm was even stronger. Moreover, its method of releasing the fluid had changed—it no longer relied solely on its proboscis.
Furthermore, the utilization of the transformed energy was more practical.
Reaching ten thousand years marked a transformation for soul beasts.
The Sand Demon Worms, though commonly found in the western desert and notorious as harmful soul beasts, typically didn't live extraordinarily long lives. No one had anticipated such an evolutionary leap after surpassing the hundred-thousand-year mark.
Recognizing this, Xu Yuan became deeply intrigued by the Sand Demon Worm's fluid and its devouring mechanism.
Perhaps reaching a hundred thousand years wasn't enough—but what if it evolved one or two more times?
Although there weren't naturally occurring Sand Demon Worms that had undergone further evolution, modern soul-guided technology could extract their fluids, analyze their composition, and artificially explore the theoretical evolutionary state of their fluids, potentially creating even more potent devouring fluids.
"You're eager to encounter those things in reality?" Long Yuxue looked at Xu Yuan's excited expression in astonishment.
This was the first time she had met such a recruit.
Typically, after witnessing the terrifying nature of Abyss creatures in simulations, new recruits weren't particularly eager to face them. The Legion usually assigned them basic tasks first—studying knowledge about Abyss creatures, understanding their weaknesses, and gradually mastering the many soul-guided weapons specifically developed to counter Abyss creatures—before attempting to descend into the Abyss.
Yet today, Xu Yuan actively expressed his desire to venture into a real Abyss passage.
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