Others might not know the significance of the black bead floating above the altar, but Feng Luotian understood its function the moment his eyes locked onto its spectral pulse.
Since his arrival at the settlement, one persistent question had haunted his mind: how had this village managed to survive in such a lethal quadrant of the Warland Thicket? They were surrounded by monsters of Four Fangs or higher, yet their strongest defender, Wu Neng, was only a Seven Fangs cultivator. There had to be something provided by his clan to ensure the survival of their subjects.
The answer now lay before him in the form of the Underworld Orb.
This specific artifact specialized in repelling monsters. It established a static barrier of high-frequency energy strong enough to fend off even high-level Wing Realm beasts that might wander into the perimeter.
However, the orb had one fatal flaw: it had no effect whatsoever on humans. Its energy signature was tuned specifically to the bestial Theríon found in monsters, making the village a sanctuary against the wild while leaving it a soft target for human greed.
That explained how the village could survive among monsters yet remain vulnerable to bandit attacks.
This must be a result of my clan's carelessness, Luotian thought with a heavy sigh. The individual responsible for overseeing this sector had likely assumed that nature was the only threat worth guarding against, leading them to overlook the necessity of human-focused defenses.
A wave of guilt washed over him as he surveyed the modest room.
The villagers had suffered because of his clan's oversight, and though he burned to rectify the situation immediately, he knew he lacked the resources and the cultivation to rewrite the village's arrays.
For now, all he could do was make a silent promise to return and provide a permanent solution once his power had reached a sufficient peak.
Luotian shook his head, trying to clear the frustration. "How did the bandits learn about this?" he asked, gesturing toward the pulsing black orb.
Wu Neng quickly explained, his voice hushed in the presence of the artifact. "Our village was attacked by a One Talon Diamond Fang Rock Panther last month, my lord. The bandits must have witnessed the orb's power when it repelled the beast and noticed that the creature failed to breach the barrier despite its immense strength."
"A Talon monster? In this part of Warland Thicket?" Luotian asked, his brows raising in genuine surprise. "How many attacks did it deliver before giving up?"
"Three blows, my lord," Wu Neng replied, recalling the terrifying sound of claws on the invisible shield. "Each was stronger than the last. After the third impact, it simply turned and left without further attempts."
Luotian couldn't help but chuckle, a dry, knowing sound. "Can't you make it any less obvious?"
Wu Neng froze, blinking in confusion at the cryptic response. "What do you mean, my lord?" he asked, his tone uncertain and wary.
"Alright, I'm done here," Luotian declared, turning to leave without answering. He had seen enough to understand the village's plight.
As he turned toward the door, Luotian noticed an old tome in a dark corner. Dust covered its worn binding. He picked it up carefully, feeling the brittle parchment, and brushed the cover clean. His eyes lit up at the title.
"Underworld Physique Skill Book!!"
Luotian turned to Wu Neng in disbelief. "Is this how you look after a skill book? Do you know how valuable this is?"
Wu Neng hesitated, his jaw working as he struggled to find words. "This… I…"
Luotian interrupted, his voice carrying a half-joking edge that didn't quite hide his frustration. "If you'd shown me this book before the battle, things would've gone much easier. None of you would've had to endure all that pain and trouble."
Wu Neng dropped to his knees, trembling. "I'm sorry, my lord! No one in the village has ever managed to use it, however hard they tried. We left it here after that. I didn't think it could help us in the battle, so I never mentioned it during the meeting. If I have angered you—"
"Stop." Luotian interrupted again, reaching down to pull Wu Neng back to his feet. "I was just venting a little. There's no need to take it so seriously."
"But, my lord, I—" Wu Neng began, his voice shaky, but Luotian waved him off with a dismissive flick of his wrist.
"It's fine. Since you're not using it, can I keep it?" Luotian asked, his expression finally softening as he felt the weight of the tome in his hand.
"Of course, my lord!" Wu Neng stammered, his tone bordering on a panicked eagerness to please.
Luotian chuckled at his nervousness. With the Underworld Physique Skill Book in his hands, he laid his palm on the cover, eager to begin studying it.
Of course, he was already intimately familiar with this skill; it was one of the foundational techniques taught to every child within the Demon God Clan. However, ever since acquiring his new bloodline in this life, he had been frustrated to find himself unable to manifest even the simplest skills he had mastered in his previous existence.
He had been wondering how to learn new skills with his changed bloodline. Perhaps studying a skill book would work where relying on memory had failed. Here was a chance to try it with a technique he already knew well.
As he flipped open the cover to the first page, the air in the small room seemed to thicken with energy.
His bloodline began to react with a sudden, violent surge. Theríon seeped from his palm, spreading across the parchment as though the energy itself were a living entity. The dark mist engulfed the tome in a faint, ethereal glow. Within seconds, a powerful fluctuation surged through his soul core, resonating with the energy contained within the ink and paper.
///// [Underworld Physique] Level 1 (0/100): Multiply the weight of the user's body by 10 upon activation. /////
"!!" Luotian froze, his eyes wide.
"What's wrong, my lord?" Wu Neng asked anxiously. Luotian's sudden stillness made him fear he had done something wrong again.
Luotian didn't hear him. His attention was fixed on what had just happened within his soul core.
Ordinarily, the process to learn a skill from a tome was a painstaking endeavor of months, if not years. A cultivator would need to carefully study every stroke of ink, analyzing the flow of energy and comprehending each cryptic line before they could even begin the physical practice. Even then, success was never a guarantee; the mind often failed where the spirit was willing. The difficulty of mastering a skill was dictated by its rank—Rare skills were far harder to grasp than Special skills, and Special skills were significantly more challenging than Normal ones.
Yet, Luotian had just mastered the Underworld Physique skill without reading a single word of the text. His bloodline had simply reached out and absorbed the knowledge directly, and now, he felt the weight of the technique settled into his marrow. He was certain he could activate it this very heartbeat.
With a faint, knowing smile, Luotian closed the book and handed it back to Wu Neng. "On second thought, this skill book should stay within your village. Even though no one here can use it now, someone might be able to in the future. For example, Wu Xin might be able to practice it once she awakens her bloodline. Make sure to take better care of it and pass it on to her when the time comes."
The face of Wu Neng brightened instantly, a look of profound relief and gratitude washing away his fear as he accepted the tome with both hands as if it were a holy relic. "As you command, my lord!" he said, nodding heavily.
At the side of the room, Wu Xin tugged at the sleeve of Wu Ya, her innocent curiosity shining through the lingering shadows of the morning's events. "Why is Father acting like he's so scared? Big Brother is super nice and gentle, you know?"
Wu Ya smiled warmly at her daughter's words, though a flicker of solemnity remained in her eyes. "He's not acting, Wu Xin. It's just that your big brother comes from a very terrifying place. Anyone from there could kill those bandits without even lifting a finger."
"Wow!! Big Brother must be super powerful, too, right, Mother?" The eyes of Wu Xin sparkled with a pure, unadulterated admiration.
"Yes, Wu Xin," Wu Ya replied, her tone soft yet laced with a maternal pride. "He's incredibly strong. Even when he was two levels lower than your father, he defeated someone your father wouldn't dare to face. But remember, it's not that your father isn't strong—it's that your big brother is simply too strong."
"I got it, Mother! Don't worry, I won't tell Father that you said he's weaker than Big Brother!" Wu Xin chirped with a cheerful, toothy grin.
The lips of Wu Ya curved into a wry, slightly embarrassed smile. Her daughter probably hadn't grasped the true meaning of her words, but the girl's enthusiasm was contagious nonetheless.
As they returned to the front room where Tu Lingxi was still seated, her breathing evening out as she continued recuperating, Luotian broke the silence. "Okay, Village Head. Let's talk about the least important thing. May I sit down?"
"My lord, please," Wu Neng said, hurriedly gesturing toward a sturdy chair, his movements filled with a frantic hospitality.
Luotian settled into the wooden chair, and Wu Neng, Wu Ya, and Wu Xin sat down with him.
"How much do you know about the Demon God Clan?" Luotian asked.
At the question, Wu Neng let out a long, weary sigh before recounting the fragmented history of his people.
About a thousand years ago, their ancestors had severed ties with the main branch of the Underworld Raven Clan and settled in this remote, suffocating corner of the Warland Thicket. The specific reason for their exodus had been swallowed by the fog of time, as no scrolls or tablets remained to explain why a powerful lineage would choose exile in such a treacherous wilderness.
However, a single, absolute teaching had been etched into the soul of every generation: they were to perform a sacred ceremony on every dead body—whether human or monster—to send their souls to the underworld using the ability: Guide of Soul.
The teaching emphasized that this was their sworn, eternal responsibility to serve the Demon God Clan. Yet, as the centuries bled into one another, the villagers had begun to doubt. They wondered if the underworld was merely a myth and if the clan they served was nothing more than a ghost of the past.
Despite their growing skepticism, they continued the practice, honoring the ancient instructions with a desperate, habitual piety.
But as time passed, the vitality of the bloodline gradually withered.
Initially, their ancestors had been formidable cultivators, far surpassing the martial heights of this continent. However, generation after generation saw a steady, inevitable decline in their strength and skill proficiency, until the present day, when the village's strongest fighter had dwindled to a mere Seven Fangs Fighter.
Wu Neng paused, his eyes glazing over as he shifted into a more personal account.
"About forty years ago, my grandfather, who was the village head and a Talon Warrior, passed away. My father, who was only a Ten Fangs Fighter, became the strongest person in the village and assumed leadership by default."
The voice of Wu Neng grew more solemn, the flickering candlelight casting long, dancing shadows across his face. "At the time, I was just a child. One day, a stranger came to our village. He introduced himself as a disciple from the Demon God Clan. That person used the Underworld Orb to set up the monster-repelling barrier that has protected our borders ever since."
Wu Neng hesitated for a moment, his hands clasping tightly together before concluding. "I assume the reason for his visit was my grandfather's death. With his passing, our village lost its strongest protector, and my father wasn't powerful enough to take on the mantle. The array within the orb was likely established as a final safety net to ensure our survival. Without it, the Warland Thicket would have reclaimed us decades ago."
Feng Luotian nodded, his understanding of the situation deepening.