The moment Yao Si stepped into the cave, a gush of cold air washed over her. Even though if was blazing hot outside, her entire arm went down in goosebumps.

Cold! Cold!

In order to improve the beginners’ training, there would occasionally be gifts in the third district. An encounter with the gift could effectively boost the beginner’s mental strength, but that would depend on the individual. An encounter with the gift would also bring about a considerable amount of risk for the beginner, so Yao Si had never harbored much hope.

Somehow though, her luck was over the charts. She was actually going to encounter the gift.

The beginner guide mentioned that the gifts were all different, hence she had no idea what it consisted of. As she ventured into the cave, the temperature continued to drop, and the surroundings turned darker with each step. She was suddenly reminded of the gigantic bug in the demonic realm. Was there a beast in this cave?

“Hehehe… Someone is here on their own accord,” a sinister voice said.

The voice was low, frosty. The main problem was however that Yao Si had no idea where it was coming from.

She couldn’t help raising her hand in greeting. “Hi!” With a 360° scan, all she could see was pitch darkness and all she could hear was the dripping of water.

“Why is it another human without spiritual energy?” the voice continued, his tone filled with disgust. Just then, a figure appeared from the darkness. It wasn’t tall but incredibly thin, the bone structure of his arms visible to the eye. He had on a long robe that covered his face, shielding his appearance.

The instant he appeared, a nauseating rotting stench filled her senses.

“Hello, may I—” She was just about to enquire about the gift when the man interrupted her.

He smirked, disregarding her entirely. “Forget it, it’ll be better without any spiritual energy, just another soul to fill me up. I guess meeting me was your own misfortune.”

“Wait a minute!” What’s with this situation?  “I’m—” Here to collect the gift!

“I’ll collect your little gift.” A devilish smile covered his face, and the eerily cold wind became stronger.

Yao Si felt the temperature drop once more, and it was the same feeling as before in the demonic realm – multiple invisible objects seemed to be colliding with her body, trying to pull her apart.

Yao Si eye went wide; she now understood the situation.

He… He was from the indigenous tribes!

F*ck!

“Ah?” He stilled, the surrounding wind stopping as well. “You are resistant to the Soul Devouring Wind!” He started to feel excited, and his maniacally bright eyes went even wider. “Great! To think I could encounter someone with such an amazing external consciousness. I just have to suck your soul for my soul devouring flag to be fully cultivated, hahahaha!”

“Soul eater?” What’s that?

Isn’t this a little extreme? Where’s my level up gift? This was totally not mentioned!

The man lifted his hands abruptly, gesturing weirdly, and the flag that was floating in midair turned bright red all of a sudden, brightening the entire cave. An enormous suction force came out from within.

Yao Si felt herself getting lighter, her awareness turning unstable, struggling within her, attempting to escape into the flag.

Her heart sank, understanding the situation.

F*ck! Is this the gift? Since my awareness cannot be exerted, they got an indigenous person to force it out? 

This method was indeed effective in allowing her to experience what it felt like to have her awareness exerted, but the main point…

Once her awareness was out, how was it going to go back?

He was obviously an indigenous person and not a NPC of the celestials. After taking her consciousness, there was no way he was going to release it!

What kind of gift is this? Yao Si face-palmed internally.

Celestials’ advertisements were indeed unreliable, especially since they promised many things free of charge.

This was bad!

Yao Si felt her insides churn. She had been too rash, entering this place all by herself. It was really bad. What could she do now?

She bit down on her lip, struggling to retain her consciousness, preventing it from escaping while stumbling backwards.

“Trying to escape?” The man smirked, sensing her movements. “With such a precious material at hand, do you think you can leave?” He snapped both palms together, murmuring a chant.

A bright glow struck Yao Si, and the next instant, she felt herself paralyzed, the weight of a step increasing by a few million fold.

Yao Si’s heart lifted, he had finally used an ability!

The next moment, a familiar surge of energy erupted within her. It sent a piping hot sensation throughout her body, which was in stark contrast to the eerily cold air in the cave. The heat chased away the frost inside her, and the heaviness of her body changed into lightness and swiftness as her power gushed out.

With just a step, her entire body rushed forward like an arrow, away from his restriction. Just like a flashing shadow, she glided through the cave, heading forward at full speed. She could barely be seen, until…

She hit a wall!

F*ck!

“That f*cking hurts…” She grabbed onto her head while kneeling onto the ground. When she touched the back of her head, there was indeed a bulge there.

Why was a speed ability awakened at this time? Just because she was paralyzed at that moment, the counter to it was speed? This kind of ability was useless to bloodlings who were already blessed with physical qualities that were out of this world! The main problem was just that she wasn’t familiar with it!

“You are indeed someone with an ability!” the man said, having frozen for a moment. “Let’s see where you can run to.” He waved his arms once more, and this time, several black spiritual swords appeared. They all seemed to have eyes as they headed toward her.

Yao Si’s heart sank. With her newly gained lighting speed, she hid within the cave, her figure becoming yet another shadow.

The spiritual swords continued to chase after her continuously, but all she could do was utilize the unfamiliar speed ability to change her directions, avoiding the attacks.

The swords headed to the left, she escaped to the right, casually punching the man in the middle – then proceeding to hit a wall.

Ai! Ouch… 

The swords headed to the right, she escaped forward, casually punching the man once more – then proceeding to hit a wall.

Ai! Ouch…

The sword headed forward, she escaped backward, casually punching the man in the middle – then proceeding to hit a wall.

Ai! Ouch…

Loud banging sounds rang in the cave for a time. After about ten minutes, multiple wounds had formed around Yao Si’ head. At this rate, it was soon going to be filled with buddha-like bumps.

The man was almost at his end as well. Under her relentless attacks, his plight was similar to hers; they both ended up looking like pig heads.

The cave started to gain an odd sense of liveliness due to the noise of combat, and the two opponents with pig-like swollen heads glared at each other as they panted uncontrollably!

“F*ck.” Pant, pant.  The man caressed his face as he panted continuously. “How dare you hit my face!”

“What’s wrong with hitting you?”

Pant. Pant. 

He is speaking as though it was an easy feat! Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. It was so painful! Why did that pig head want to make things difficult for this pig head?

“You-you- If I don’t defeat you today, I won’t be worthy of my Best Demonic Cultivator title!” The man glared at Yao Si as though he’d been forced to his wit’s end. He raised his arm then and did a weird gesture. The red glow within the cave intensified, and with a violent swing, a huge gush of dark energy erupted from his body.

Bone-chilling temperature spread through the cave, and cold wind swept toward Yao Si. It also became even harder to see in the already dark cave.

Was this… going to be a strong move?!

Yao Si’s heart sank. Even though she wasn’t sure what the black air was, it was definitely something bad. She instinctively turned to run; she had to escape! Without wasting a moment, she turned around and bolted.

Just then… she smashed right into something that felt soft against her face, and her entire consciousness seemed to have been caught.

A spiritual light flashed, and she understood what had happened – she had smashed right onto the Soul Eating flag!

F*ck!

She had actually headed right into the flag all by herself!

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

A certain someone who had prepared for his finishing blow was left speechless.

And so was Yao Si.

F*ck this speed ability! 

–

After half a minute…

The man in the cave summoned the Soul Eating flag with mixed feelings. His tone of his words was a mix between joy and perplexity. “Heh, serves you right for going through this calamity, but your initiative indeed saved me some energy.”

He kept his dark energy, returning the cave back to its original brightness. He then glanced at the ground suspiciously as though trying to find something. After a while, he frowned. “Where’s the corpse?” Did the body perhaps get sucked into the Soul Eating flag together with the soul? His Soul Eating ability must have risen to another level. At that thought, his face brightened with joy, and with a badly bruised face, he returned to the depths of the cave with his flag.

Outside the cave…

Gu Shucheng glanced down at the time, counting the minutes silently.

It was currently five hours, twenty-seven minutes, thirty-six… thirty-five… thirty-four seconds… from Her Highness’ dinner time.

–

Yao Si felt her body become light, as though all her weight had disappeared. It was just as how she’d felt when she had first entered the Galactic Web. She could distinctively sense her awareness leaving her body, barely feeling its presence, yet she could still sense everything around her.

It looked like a fog was floating towards her… Was it made up of… humans?

Her heart clenched, and her eyes went wide. Was she all right?

“Heh, you’re awake!” a mocking voice asked with a scoff. “Another one is here.”

A white ball of fog suddenly appeared before her, floating around like a cloud.

“What-what are you?” Yao Si jumped backwards in shock, but just as she was about to lift her hand, she felt a layer of fog around her. Instinctively, she lowered her head and discovered another ball of white fog. “What the f*ck!”

Flips table! 

Where’s my body? Why is it just fog below me?