Chapter 415: Chapter 349: Rune [2]
This was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties.
She carried a tattered black backpack on her back.
She wore a grey-and-white camouflage jacket, stained with a bit of grime.
On the left breast of the jacket was a black patch, on which special, leaf-like symbols were outlined in white thread.
Her hood was up, bundling her up tightly.
Only a pair of strikingly clear eyes were visible. A few fine strands of hair slipped out from under the hood’s brim, clinging to her cheeks.
A red birthmark on her face was particularly conspicuous; it was twisted in shape, like a hideous scar.
She held a sharpened Dagger, and after appearing, she remained silent, simply staring at Hu Qi with a guarded expression.
"What is this place? How far is the nearest human settlement?"
Hu Qi paid no mind to the woman’s wary gaze and asked casually.
Lu Shan heard him and fell silent for a moment, recalling the way he had just appeared.
She spoke anyway, her voice muffled through a simple respiratory filter.
"This is Blackthorn Ridge. The nearest settlement is Rotten Leaf Territory, ten kilometers from here."
As she spoke, she pointed in a certain direction.
"Take me there, and this dead wolf is yours."
Hu Qi kicked at the dead Long-eared Wolf at his feet.
A conflicted look appeared on Lu Shan’s face, but it vanished just as quickly.
"Alright, I’ll take you there."
After getting Hu Qi’s approval, Lu Shan deftly sheathed the Dagger on her thigh and walked over to the corpse of the Long-eared Wolf.
Then, she bent down and strained.
She actually managed to hoist the nearly 330-pound Long-eared Wolf and settle it securely on her shoulder.
However, it looked like she was struggling a bit.
Hu Qi watched this with a calm expression, making no gentlemanly move to help.
’The human bodies in this world seem to be a bit stronger than those in the previous two worlds, but only to a limited extent. Besides, to put it bluntly, the body he currently occupied was just that of an ordinary person. That series of maneuvers from before had all been accomplished by relying on the Damaged Black Banner. If not for the Damaged Black Banner, this Clone of his probably would never have escaped that place.’
As he recalled the prior events, a strange light flickered in Hu Qi’s eyes.
’After he had forcibly broken through this world’s restrictions to make a move on Xi Zhongsi and failed, the world had completely sealed itself off, prohibiting his power from entering. He hadn’t given up, though. There was no way he would let that bastard Xi Zhongsi go. He had directly separated a wisp of his essence, descended, and possessed a survivor near Xi Zhongsi, killing the body’s original occupant. Originally, his plan was for this essence Clone to kill the body possessed by Xi Zhongsi. His main body would wait outside the world for him to walk right into his trap.’
But what Hu Qi hadn’t expected was that the Damaged Black Banner he’d obtained from the previous world could actually be used here.
The Ability of this Damaged Black Banner was Spirit Control—the power to command all things that possess a spirit.
It was an extremely powerful Ability.
This wisp of his essence could be seen as a sliver of soul separated from his main body.
As such, it naturally maintained an intricate connection with his main body.
Therefore,
he could summon the Damaged Black Banner through the Mind Realm.
However, what surprised Hu Qi was this:
’Normally, a world’s will instinctively repels and rejects the entry of all foreign powers. The only exceptions are transforming into the Light of the Soul to possess a new body, or having the Three-Eyed Primordial Serpent’s Twisted Light Talent, which can hide one from the world’s will. But even then, using one’s own power would attract the world’s will, resulting in suppression. In severe cases, one could even be forcibly expelled and killed by the world. The only way to avoid this is to do nothing at all.’
And yet, when he summoned the Damaged Black Banner, he could use it without the slightest suppression.
The world’s will itself showed no reaction whatsoever.
It was as if it couldn’t detect the banner at all.
’But how is that possible?’
’The world’s will is the true Manager of the world. It can even guide the world’s development along the general script it has planned. If any problems arise, it can intervene.’
But now, this was well and truly happening.
There was clearly only one possible reason for this.
It was due to the special nature of the Black Banner.
’This thing is far from simple.’
Although Hu Qi had successfully refined the Damaged Black Banner, its origins remained a mystery to him.
’Perhaps if I can find a way to fully repair it in the future, I might glean some useful information from it. However, at the current rate of repair, that will take an exceedingly long time.’
After capturing Xi Zhongsi within the Damaged Black Banner,
Hu Qi had temporarily changed his plans.
’This world is very powerful. Based on what his main body perceived when it forcibly broke through the world barrier earlier, there were quite a few auras in this world that had reached the Apostle Level. Although most of them had only barely reached the Early Stage Apostle Level, that alone was still terrifying. The previous Nightmare World didn’t have a single being at the Apostle Level. And in all the worlds he had traveled through before that, the highest level was only the Spirit Level. Perhaps Xin, the one hidden within the Black Banner, could be counted as half.’
Comparing the two, it was clear at a glance which was stronger.
’He was very interested in this world. Since he was already here, he decided to have this Clone gather information on this world’s Extraordinary System and condense a Spirit Seed. It was just that the methods of the White King, a suspected True God, were unknown. To be safe, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the White King might use Xi Zhongsi as a beacon to find this place. Though the probability was low, he still had to take precautions. Therefore, his main body had not entered this world.’
