Upon seeing the series of prompts regarding the Nightmare Brand, Fang Senyan nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. His gene potion brewing abilities required spell components; being unable to open his storage space meant his auxiliary skills were completely useless! Furthermore, he couldn't quickly replenish his supplies of medicine and food! More critically, "Ambition" was also stored there, instantly reducing Fang Senyan's burst power by more than half!

Thanks to some prior privileges Fang Senyan earned while mixing potions, the elf girl Wuge, Reef, and he were given a private room, drinking snowmelt water drawn directly from the nearby mountain. Their food wasn't terrible either; otherwise, that night they would have been forced to drink the orcs' sewage.

The next day was also sunny, the sun rising early. Just as Wuge was about to continue her prayer and cultivation under the sunlight, several ferocious-looking orcs suddenly burst in and forcibly bound them with black ropes. These ropes appeared to be twisted from some kind of vine, extremely tough and possessing a powerful sealing ability; even Fang Senyan and the others couldn't use their active skills! Naturally, Wuge couldn't cast any magic either. After Fang Senyan used his helmet’s built-in detection ability on the black rope, he finally obtained the relevant information:

Black Thought Whip Weaver: Saruman.iv Body. Secret Cultivator Special Item Material: Tainted Blood, Cursed Aura, Frozen Crystal, Black Cricket Vine, Duration: 12 Hours Use: Prevents bound creatures from using any of their own abilities. Weight: 0.3 kg. Length: 140 cm to 210 cm.

This rope, the Black Thought Whip, was clearly quite precious, evidenced by the fact that it was personally crafted by a clone of Saruman. The sealing capability upon being bound was immensely potent. It was a shame its duration was only 12 hours; otherwise, Fang Senyan would have very much liked to acquire one. It seemed the resilience of the Black Thought Whip wasn't quite enough, because after binding Fang Senyan and the others with one, these orcs continued to wrap them in another secret, sturdy rope made of twisted vines, clearly determined to leave nothing to chance.

Under these circumstances, the trio was led out and merged with seven or eight shivering humans/dwarves/elves huddled in the cold wind, forming a temporary group. A large contingent of fully armed orcs and three tentacled monsters, which Fang Senyan had encountered before, served as guards, escorting them toward the east. After laboriously crossing several barren ice ridges, they began ascending an icy path that coiled up towards a glacial peak.

Fang Senyan noted that the main structure of this winding mountain path was solidified from thick layers of ice. In some resting points midway, certain stones were polished incredibly smooth, indicating that the path was used frequently, with people constantly ascending and descending.

Despite the clear weather, the sunlight here appeared bleak, offering no warmth whatsoever. The wind, laced with ice shards, remained fierce, howling mournfully through the vast mountains and valleys, sweeping across glaciers that hadn't melted in millennia—the sound could hardly be described as less than demonic wailing. In this environment, the hearts and bodies of all the captives trembled and shook. Some even collapsed onto the ground during the trek due to hypoxia and fear.

At this juncture, the orcs revealed their savage nature. They began brutally beating and torturing the captives who couldn't keep up, though these beatings only inflicted internal injuries like fractures, stopping short of drawing blood.

When they were nearing the summit of the ice peak, the group proceeded along a long ridge, enduring another half hour of walking against the wind and snow. Ahead, the path finally ended, opening up to a flat expanse covered in ice and snow, about the size of a basketball court. Jagged ice fangs crisscrossed the perimeter of the clearing, with a bottomless abyss dropping below. In the center of the clearing was a long stone slab, large enough to lay a person upon. The slab and the surrounding rocks were stained with a bizarre blackish-brown color that stood out sharply against the pure white snow and ice.

Beside the slab were several crudely chiseled stone basins, their craftsmanship incredibly poor, surrounded by scattered bits of tattered cloth. These remnants fluttered in the cold wind like torn pieces of yellowed paper, yet possessed a tenacious durability. Despite understanding nothing, an indescribable, uncanny terror gripped everyone's hearts. The human captives, especially, began crying out loudly and struggling desperately.

But neither the orcs nor the tentacled monsters showed any reaction; they seemed prepared for this situation. Most of the captives were tightly bound, and moreover, the ropes binding them included the magically enchanted Black Thought Whips, making escape utterly impossible.

It was then that a tentacled monster, seemingly larger in the head, approached under the escort of the orcs. It used a tentacle to pull a bag made of cowhide from a pouch it carried on its back, then pulled out the stopper and proceeded to feed the liquid inside the bag to the captives one by one.

Normally, in such circumstances, no captive would have the inclination to drink anything. But this tentacled monster acted quite cleverly: it first took a sip from the cowhide bag itself, then used a bowl to pour out some of the liquid. It was clearly visible that the liquid contained within was a viscous, murky substance with scattered blue speckles. Although the bowl remained stationary, the liquid seemed to possess a life of its own, fluctuating, even showing small tides and waves.

These people had sustained injuries of varying degrees when captured, and after days of confinement, they were already weak. Now, after trekking so long on the mountain path, they were utterly exhausted. One by one, they drank. Fang Senyan, though he didn't recognize the substance, was terribly thirsty, and the rope chafing his wrist caused intense pain, so he too opened his mouth to drink.

To his surprise, this blue liquid was intensely cold. As soon as it hit his throat, he felt as if an unbroken line of ice was pulling into his abdomen, lingering long after—his entire body involuntarily shivered, feeling paralyzed by the cold. After enduring the trembling for a while, he suddenly realized his chest and lungs felt icy cool. The fatigue from traversing the snowy mountain vanished entirely; instead, his whole body heated up, as if the energy of his limbs and bones had been ignited and was converging into his bloodstream.

The Nightmare Brand also relayed a prompt to Fang Senyan: “You have consumed High-Grade Potion: Hichimga Slime. This is a powerful gene potion meticulously prepared by a clone of Saruman, a secret medicine compounded from the gene fluid of the giant octopus Hichimga mixed with various spell components.” “First-time consumption grants a permanent special effect: Health (+50 points), Spirit Limit (+50 points). (This reward can be taken out of this world).” “After consumption, you gain a temporary special effect: Your health regeneration rate is additionally increased, ranging from an extra 1 HP every 10 seconds up to 10 HP per second, lasting for 120 minutes.” “Note: The more severely injured the drinker is, the more effectively the Hichimga Slime can activate the injured person’s potential, causing their health recovery rate to increase rapidly! However, certain adverse aftereffects may follow.”

“What are they planning?” Reef, who had also taken a swig of the slime and benefited greatly, couldn't help but ask Fang Senyan. Since these two possessed the ability to return to the Spatial Zone at any moment, they felt emboldened.

Even though Fang Senyan was extremely skilled at inference, he was momentarily baffled by this bizarre encounter. These orcs and tentacled monsters absolutely did not bring the slaves here with good intentions, yet at this very moment, just as the trap was about to spring, they offered them this incredibly precious medicine!

After everyone had drunk the "Hichimga Slime," a short, stout orc stepped forward. This orc was covered in scars, appearing like a fierce ghoul; its expression was numb, yet its eyes held an indescribable fanaticism. A thick, wide belt was wrapped around its waist. Fang Senyan found the orc’s face vaguely familiar; he seemed to have encountered it while preparing spell materials in the Mage Tower.

Next, two orcs dragged a captured human forward onto the stone slab, completely disregarding his resistance, and bound him forcefully to it. The squat orc drew several thin, sharp little knives from the belt around its waist, placing them sequentially along the edge of the slab. Then, using its scarlet tongue to lick the sharp edge of the knife in its hand, it slowly sliced open the captive’s arm. Amidst the man’s piercing screams of agony, the orc began methodically carving the flesh before it!

Although the orc’s actions appeared brutal, its movements and demeanor were no different from a human slaughtering livestock and skinning it. Clearly, in its eyes, these elves and humans were nothing more than cattle.

Fang Senyan instantly understood what those tattered cloth-like things nearby were: they were human skins, flayed alive from the body and dried by the wind! At this moment, even Wuge, who had maintained a remarkably placid demeanor, was completely saturated with terror and began trembling involuntarily. Looking out from her eyes, the entire world seemed to lose its color, because she suddenly realized there were fates in this world more terrifying than death! And worse, the elves' suicide ability was sealed by the Black Thought Whip—even dying was difficult!