Honestly, Haru couldn't shake the feeling that his transmigration must have come with some sort of "hidden master" like those chinese novels attached to him.
Why else would the energy he'd painstakingly cultivated over the past year vanish without a trace, just like that certain famous discarded young master, Xiao Something-or-other?
Well, maybe not vanish. It felt more like it was being absorbed by something.
And then fed back to him!
If it weren't for the fact that the Sect Leader Sister had repeatedly checked and confirmed that he wasn't wearing any strange jewelry or being haunted by some spectral entity, he'd truly believe his golden finger was a "hidden master." Sadly, it wasn't.
Furthermore, even though he was practicing the Peerless Divine Art of Dominance, Haru felt more like he was cultivating some Devouring Art.
It was simple: every time he sparred with Sect Leader Sister, he'd unconsciously and passively absorb a portion of her cursed energy (qi).
The amount each time was small, but it happened constantly!
Because of this, day after day, his reserves of cursed energy (qi) had grown to terrifying levels. In just one year, he'd completely surpassed Lu Yinghua, who had been training for years.
Sect Leader Sister, curious about this phenomenon, had even tried studying it. She attempted something like an "energy infusion" to boost his cursed energy (qi) directly.
But frustratingly, his body only absorbed a tiny fraction of it.
In the end, she theorized he might possess a special constitution that allowed him to plunder others' cursed energy (qi). The strange part was that this effect didn't work on Lu Yinghua at all.
After numerous failed attempts, Sect Leader Sister could only shelve the issue for now. However, she still transferred a small amount of her energy to him daily, continuing until he reached his apparent daily absorption limit.
This was precisely the reason he'd managed to master the Peerless Divine Art in just one short year.
His energy wasn't disappearing; it was accumulating bit by bit within his body, being refined and tempered into cursed energy (qi) that was uniquely his!
The sheer volume of Sect Leader Sister's cursed energy was monstrous. Even the small amount Haru absorbed daily, after accumulating and transforming, granted him a vast and incredibly pure reserve of power.
And that was just the portion he could use. The majority of the energy he'd absorbed over the year lay dormant within his body.
If it were ever unleashed, even Haru himself had no idea what kind of temporarily terrifying, explosive power he might wield!
After all, he'd been stockpiling the monstrous cursed energy of a God-Slayer!
BOOM—
Amidst the swirling mist, Haru felt his consciousness rise, as if breaking through some kind of barrier.
The cursed energy he could consciously control erupted from within, forming a shockwave that rippled through the peach grove. The next second, the cracking sounds from his body softened and faded, and the white mist encircling him began to thin.
Then, with his breathing, the mist started flowing back into him, sucked in until not a wisp remained.
But Haru's consciousness didn't return to the surface. Instead, it sank deeper into his sea of awareness, plunging into a vast, pure white space.
Before he could even get a clear look at his surroundings, a faint outline of something foreign materialized in his sea of consciousness, just floating there silently.
It looked like a large, disc-like shield... or maybe a ring?
All he could make out was a blurry silhouette. It vaguely resembled a heavy, steel disc, and etched on its surface was what seemed to be a dragon head totem. Eight sword-like markings were positioned around it, pointing in all eight directions.
Huummm—
Just as Haru tried to move closer, to get a better look or maybe study it, the large disc gave a slight tremble.
In an instant, his consciousness felt like it was being yanked backward, pulled right out of his sea of awareness and back into reality.
"..."
So, after all this time, there really was something inside his soul?
Some foreign object that was either a shield or a ring!
He had no idea what it actually was, or whether it was a good or a bad thing for him.
Back in the real world, Haru opened his eyes with a frown. Anyone would be unsettled to find an unknown object suddenly residing in their soul.
And he couldn't tell if it had been there before his transmigration, or if it was something he'd acquired after.
Burning with questions, he tried to meditate again, to reach out and make contact with the large disc, but found he couldn't budge it an inch.
It was only after establishing that initial, fleeting connection that he understood: this large disc—which was probably, maybe, his actual golden finger—was the thing that had been hoarding and siphoning Sect Leader Sister's cursed energy.
Because now, he could feel it. A familiar, terrifying power radiating from within the disc. Her power.
If it were ever unleashed, it held enough force to shake the heavens and shatter the earth.
But all that was the Sect Leader's energy. It only became his own power after being converted, which was why Haru had mistakenly thought he was practicing some "Energy Devouring Art."
So, his cheat was an item that passively converted other people's energy?
No way. It couldn't be that simple, right?
That massive, intricate disc looked far too mysterious and complex for such a basic ability.
Sure, in a wuxia world, a power like that would be utterly broken. But this was the world of God-Slayers. Here, just absorbing and converting someone else's cursed energy felt... significantly nerfed.
And why did it only work on the Sect Leader? Why did it have no effect on Lu Yinghua?
"Old Lu!"