Please spare a vote for the leaderboard; we're pushing hard for the rank change at midnight. …… Through the slaughter of his previous life, the killing intent within Ye Chen’s heart was profoundly severe, accumulating within him like a time bomb.

Had his state of mind not been so thoroughly tempered, allowing him to barely suppress it, he would have long since devolved into a bloodthirsty demon. Simply put, the higher one’s state of mind, the easier it is to settle the spirit, enabling one to enter the optimal state at any time, unburdened by extraneous thoughts.

In supernatural science, this is termed "Psychic Power"; in the ruins of ancient civilizations, it is called the "Ethereal Qi." The aftereffects of killing—the Seven Emotions and Six Desires—are known as the Qi of Slaughter. If any one of these emotions reaches its zenith, it can plunge a person into becoming a berserk killer, like one driven mad.

“Let’s go,” Ye Chen told Elvira. “To the Temple of Light.” “Mm,” Elvira nodded, taking the lead as the group departed the Energy Crystal Vault.

With a heavy thud, the massive door closed. They immediately turned and rushed back along the street they had taken, heading toward the Temple of Light.

Not long after, the group arrived before the Temple of Light. Since the city’s systems were now fully engaged, Ye Chen and the others dared not charge straight in this time.

They paused at the entrance, looking toward Elvira beside them. Elvira raised a slender finger, transmitting a stream of symbolic data.

Immediately, a flash of red light crossed the beautiful, azure crystal eyes of the two colossal statues flanking the entrance. She smiled.

“It’s done.” She led the way inside. Ye Chen and the others followed closely.

Rumble~~~ Elvira placed her pale, delicate palm against the temple door. The temple’s defense system received the command and opened the entrance.

The majestic doors swung wide to either side, and a red carpet stretched out from a distance, reminiscent of an ancient king’s castle. Elvira stepped inside and said to Ye Chen, “The Light Inheritance Orb and the other treasures are in the basement.” As she spoke, she walked over to an unremarkable metal pillar nearby, tapped it lightly, and the pillar, about 1.5 zhang in diameter, split open with a fissure, retracting to either side to reveal an opening just wide enough for one person.

“This way,” Elvira directed, stepping through first. Ye Chen and the others hurried to follow.

Upon entering, they were greeted by a passageway bathed in white light, sloping downward. Platinum-white steps layered upon one another extended for a hundred meters.

At the end of the stairway was a corner, behind which lay the basement. On the silent stairs, dust had settled for tens of thousands of years, gradually having its mysterious veil lifted by the excavators of later civilizations...

Ye Chen and the others made their way to the corner. Normally, numerous traps lined this path; any outsider who inadvertently strayed inside would instantly be blown to dust by the cannon barrels hidden within the metal walls.

However, under Elvira’s guidance, all these defense systems had been deactivated. Reaching the lower corner, Ye Chen looked up.

Before him stretched a space so bright with white light that the walls were invisible, seemingly extending infinitely into the distance. In the center, a crystal sphere the size of a football floated silently in mid-air, emitting a faint glow.

Below it hovered a smaller crystal sphere, entirely translucent, about the size of a fist. “The upper one is the Memory Inheritance Orb of the Light Emissary,” Elvira pointed to the crystal sphere suspended by an unseen force.

“I’ll retrieve it for you.” “En.” Ye Chen’s eyes shone brightly. Elvira moved closer, raising her hand.

Five beams of light shot from her fingertips as she inputted an informational password, peeling back an invisible barrier layer. The crystal sphere slowly drifted down, caught by her.

She tapped her finger, reaching toward the smaller sphere below, rapidly inputting symbols to open the invisible spatial layer protecting it, and grasped the small crystal ball. “This small crystal sphere contains the cultivation methods for the state of mind; it holds many techniques for mental refinement,” Elvira presented the sphere to Ye Chen.

“Both of these are inheritance orbs; they will shatter after a single use.” Ye Chen nodded. The reason such inheritance items often took the form of crystal spheres was that crystal was a relatively unique substance capable of storing information.

Furthermore, both spheres before him had been enhanced with special materials, making their effect even stronger. Taking the spheres, Ye Chen examined them closely.

They were flawless and crystalline, filled with tiny points of light—the Light of Wisdom—containing vast amounts of information. “Now is not the time to use them; let’s secure the Divine Blood first.” Decisively, Ye Chen stored both crystal spheres in the Rune Spaceship.

He then scanned the surroundings and spotted several exquisite small boxes on a metal platform not far away, crafted from an extremely rare material, neither metal nor wood. He walked over.

There were three or four boxes in total, intricately carved with ancient runes, somewhat similar to the script of the Rune Civilization. He couldn't help but turn to Elvira.

“What are these?” Elvira glanced at the boxes. “These were obtained by a certain Lord from an ancient ruin.

I heard that consuming what’s inside can strengthen the body.” Ye Chen started, then his eyes lit up. He picked up the first, black box.

It felt cold to the touch, hard as iron, yet held a slight roughness, like wood. He slowly opened it.

Inside, nestled in jade, was a round, smooth, pearl-like pellet. As the box opened, a delicate fragrance wafted out.

Inhaling it, every pore on his body seemed to relax, a sensation of deep comfort. “A great treasure!” Ye Chen’s eyes brightened.

Seeing three characters inscribed below, he turned to Elvira. “What does this say?” Elvira approached, looked, and replied, “This is the script of the Misobudaya Civilization, which arose during the Second Solar Epoch, the Ikotl era.

It is called the Qi-Yuan Pill.” The Misobudaya Civilization was a continuation of the remnants of the previous civilization, known for their profound love of cuisine. Any ordinary person from their time could be a master chef in the modern era.

“Qi-Yuan Pill?” Ye Chen was slightly surprised. In his previous life, he was intimately familiar with these three words, though he had never seen what the item looked like.

He had heard on the Dao Path that this object possessed miraculous effects, capable of increasing internal Qi force and opening meridians—it was exceedingly precious. “I wonder what grade this is,” Ye Chen said, his eyes gleaming.

The Misobudaya Civilization specialized in medicinal foods, adhering to the principle that food is paramount to the people, believing that if one ate well, even a pig could achieve longevity. The foods they created were divided into three major realms: Qi Realm, Spirit Realm, and Immortal Realm, with ten grades within each realm.

The term “Immortal Elixir and Marvelous Medicine” referred not only to its powerful effects but also to its ethereal mystery, as if it belonged to immortals—perhaps never truly existing. “I wonder what grade this is,” Ye Chen felt a surge of excitement and lifted the pill, placing it in his mouth.

This pill was only effective for those who had already generated Qi force; for ordinary people without Qi force, it would have no effect beyond loosening the joints and invigorating the blood. The refinement process for this pill was incredibly complex, containing innumerable times the energy of precious materials like ginseng and Fuling.

It was made from rare prehistoric ingredients. With modern technology, even leading nutrition scientists and dieticians could only create things like nutrient wafers—one tablet providing the nutrition of an entire day's food—but they were prohibitively expensive for common folk.

Ye Chen did not swallow it immediately, fearing that if the pill was too high-grade, it might overload and potentially detonate his physical body. The pill rested smoothly on his tongue, filling his mouth with fragrance.

He bit off about a third and swallowed it, controlling the Qi force within his body to decompose and refine it. Hoo.

Ye Chen felt the Qi force inside him surge, rising continuously, jumping instantly from the early stage of the Second Tier to the peak of the late stage. He quickly swallowed the remainder, completely decomposing and refining it.

The Qi force expanded, circulating through every limb and organ. Compression.

Condensation... Boom~~~ A sudden buzzing echoed in his mind, and his consciousness experienced a momentary haze.

However, he quickly sobered up. The previously expanding Qi force within his body became even more condensed, reaching the middle stage of the Third Tier of Qi force.

Black sweat seeped in trickles from his pores, soaking the wolfskin robe he wore. Ye Chen clenched his fists, feeling his physique significantly enhanced.

The world before him appeared clearer, more transparent, and he couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised. He threw a punch, eliciting a sound of air being sliced apart.

“My physique increased by about nine levels, from the original Level 53 to Level 62,” Ye Chen’s eyes lit up. As physique strengthened, the increase provided by Qi force diminished.

A human awakened after Level 100, increasing their Qi force from the first to the tenth tier, would only gain about 10 points in physique, reaching Level 110 at best. Through the enhancement from the pill, Ye Chen could roughly estimate its grade.

He felt a slight regret that it hadn't even reached the Qi Realm, classifying it as an unranked grade. Had it reached the Qi Realm, the energy contained within would have been terrifying, potentially boosting his Qi force to the tenth tier instantly.

However, given Ye Chen’s state of mind, he didn't feel overly regretful. Things one encounters are fate; failure to encounter them is simply bad luck.

This was a mindset of being able to “let things go.” Easier said than done—in the vast, chaotic world, how many living beings truly possess such acceptance? Ye Chen looked at the remaining three boxes beside him and quickly asked, “What are the names of these three?” Elvira glanced at him.

“You seem a bit stronger. These remaining three boxes are the Hundred Spirit Pill, the Qi-Yuan Pill, and the Blood Body Pellet.” Ye Chen started.

“Hundred Spirit Pill?” “Indeed,” Elvira nodded. Ye Chen was slightly amazed, wondering if his luck was truly this good to encounter a Hundred Spirit Pill?

The Hundred Spirit Pill, it was said, was created by the Misobudaya Civilization by extracting the blood and genes of over a hundred different life forms, combined with precious rare materials. It was rumored that this substance could accelerate the fusion speed of superhuman genes.

Superhumans were divided into five tiers. Every 20 points of fusion constituted one tier—a significant threshold.

Ordinary people relied only on the subtle work of time to slowly fuse two genes and advance to the second, third, or higher superhuman tiers. However, by consuming a Hundred Spirit Pill, perhaps someone who had just become a Superhuman Warrior could immediately reach the second or even third tier.

Of course, this depended on the specific grade of the Hundred Spirit Pill.