Begging for monthly votes; can we break 700 today? …… The night passed, and dawn broke with the first rays of light. Ye Chen’s expression was unchanged.

Dressed in a worn suit and denim trousers, he pushed open the wooden door of the Buddhist hall facing the rising sun, took a deep breath, then turned his head to cast a cold glance at the women inside. Lingering no further, his figure flashed, and he shot off toward the distance. The dozen or so women keeping watch outside only felt a slight breeze pass, scattering a few fallen leaves, seeing nothing at all.

After Ye Chen departed, the women in the hall exchanged glances. One of them gritted her teeth and spat, “All men in this world are truly wicked. If I’d known, I should have just killed him with one blow.

Damn it!” Another, a charming woman, shot her a sidelong look. “Who told you to give him such a potent—” The others turned to look at the Young Mistress. One of them asked, “Mistress, shall we issue a kill order for this man?” The Young Mistress pulled her clothes on, biting lightly on her teeth.

“No need. Issue an order to search for news of him—I want to know his name!” “Yes!” …… Ye Chen left the Temple of Seclusion and ran at full speed through the wilderness. Before long, he reached the Calligraphy Ridge.

Along the way, he saw many zombie-like humans collapsed on the ground like corpses. He ignored them, circumventing them directly as he sped toward the Base City. The fourth month of the Dark Era had already passed; it was now the fifth month.

Only 11 months remained until the arrival of the man with wings and his forces. “Now, I have become a First-Order expert and awakened my talent. My genes have undergone metamorphosis, and under the tempering of divine blood, my main gene is even stronger.

I can now integrate a second superhuman gene,” Ye Chen mused, his mind working rapidly. He had long made plans for this second gene. The Ant Superman, the master of strength!

For his second gene, Ye Chen chose speed! In all martial arts, speed is paramount! When speed reaches its apex, it is more terrifying than sheer strength!

Ye Chen hadn’t run for long before he reached a hillside. He caught a faint, metallic scent in the air and immediately slowed his pace, crouching low as he advanced cautiously. Behind a patch of tall grass, he saw a python over twenty meters long, its entire body covered in gold and black markings, its mouth clamped around an animal resembling a deer-beast.

The saliva coating the snake’s body was venomous, paralyzing the deer-beast and rendering it immobile. The python coiled its massive body around the prey, swallowing more than half of it, leaving only a small section of a deer leg dangling outside. Its throat was grotesquely swollen, a horrifying sight.

Ye Chen peered closely and recognized the creature as a ‘Gold Silk Python,’ a monster saturated with potent venom. Judging by its size, it was likely Second-Order (Level 200). Ye Chen slowly activated his Eye of Talent.

A thin line split open on the skin of his forehead, revealing a pure black pupil that regarded the python several hundred meters away with utter, emotionless detachment. He saw that the life force emanating from the snake—a shade of bluish-green laced with gold—was close to awakening its own talent; it was a metallic creature. The critical point for talent awakening differs for every being.

Humans generally awaken around Level 100, but some monsters awaken in their teens, others in the hundreds. “With my current physique, combined with the Qi Power of a First-Order Qili expert, and my inherent talent abilities, I wonder if I can handle this Second-Order monster.” Ye Chen pondered. There was an inherent gap in natural combat technique between humans and monsters.

A Second-Order human, without a good weapon, could never defeat a Second-Order monster; humanity’s advantage lay in intelligence. “I’ll give it a try. If I can’t win, I’ll call Xiao Hei out,” Ye Chen decided, determined to test his abilities.

His eyes narrowed, and with a flick of his finger, his ring transformed into a shimmer of light, reforming into a blood-red battle saber. He reached out and gripped the hilt. The icy grip sharpened his focus.

He slowly braced his feet, his body coiling like a ready leopard, poised to strike. At that moment, the python seemed to sense something. It ceased swallowing, lifted its head cautiously, and surveyed its surroundings.

This evolved serpent’s eyes could perceive the meridian lines within living creatures and the heat signatures of life force. In its vision, red indicated blood and life, green represented plants, and charcoal-gray denoted earth. It glanced around, saw no red objects, felt a moment of ease, and resumed swallowing with greater speed.

Ye Chen remained prone behind the dry earth, focusing on the swollen throat of the Second-Order python, holding his breath and sealing every pore. Kill! Stillness like deep water, movement like a thunderclap!

Ye Chen knew he couldn't delay any longer. His figure exploded into motion, his legs churning the dirt, kicking up clods several feet high. His body shot out like an arrow.

At his current running speed, the few hundred meters separating them was quite short; he would cover it in about one second. The python’s neural response speed was terrifyingly fast. Almost the instant Ye Chen’s feet left the ground, it registered the disturbance.

Before it could clearly identify the threat, it violently whipped its body backward, sweeping its tail toward Ye Chen. Ye Chen’s eyes turned cold, and he rotated his wrist, sending the blood-red saber arcing down to meet the strike head-on. Shhhht!

The water-bucket-thick serpent body was severed cleanly in a single stroke. The blood-red saber was capable of slaying Level 800 creatures—it was an Eighth-Order weapon! Blood splashed onto Ye Chen’s face.

He grimaced, quickly throwing his body back and sliding sideways, using the tip of the saber to brace himself against the ground, shifting himself three feet to the right. He avoided the main torrent, but a few drops of blood stained his lower jeans. Instantly, like exposed candlewick, the denim fabric began to corrode, riddled with holes.

Before the blood could soak in, the Qi energy within him erupted, pushing outward, shredding the ruined fabric and preventing the venom from touching his skin. The rest of the blood that struck the ground and nearby foliage caused the vibrant green grass to immediately turn black and dissolve into pus. “Hiss!” The Gold Silk Python roared in fury.

It twisted its body, rapidly swallowing the deer-beast lodged in its throat, then turned and lunged at Ye Chen with terrifying speed. It was so fast that Ye Chen’s retina couldn't track its movement; he only instinctively felt an intense danger approaching and whipped the blood-red saber in front of him to block. CRASH!

The blade vibrated violently, as if struck by a semi-truck. Ye Chen’s arm shook, and his body was involuntarily hurled backward. In that moment of flight, his eyes caught the monstrous visage of the Gold Silk Python lunging to bite, and he frowned slightly.

He flicked his finger, sending a bolt of Qi shooting out like a bullet toward the serpent’s eye. Qi energy was concentrated life essence. Against a common animal, that shot might have blinded it.

However, the Gold Silk Python was one of the rare creatures that could perceive life energy even before awakening its talent. Seeing a small red point of light approaching, it was greatly startled and desperately tried to evade. Ye Chen’s body slammed into and snapped several large trees.

His left eye rotated rapidly. This eye had fused with his physical genes and become an organic part of Ye Chen; it had also reached Level 100, granting him the ability to perceive the movement speed of creatures below Level 130. Ye Chen dug his feet into the ground, halting his retreat, and charged forward again.

The blood-red saber, spinning like a propeller, detached from his hand and was hurled toward the python’s head! The python’s pupils contracted, and its head whipped back, narrowly avoiding the blade. Just as it did, Ye Chen was already upon it.

He clenched his five fingers into a fist, a vicious glare in his eyes, and roared as the Qi energy within him coalesced around his punch! “Die!” The punch landed squarely on the python’s lower jaw. The Qi energy penetrated the scales, surging into the serpent’s body and destroying its brain core.

Thwack! One punch, instant death! The python’s eyes dimmed, and its massive body stiffened before crashing to the ground.

As Ye Chen punched, some of the dark blood dripping from the snake’s mouth splashed onto his arm, sending a searing pain that rapidly spread throughout his body. Ye Chen frowned, leaped off the python’s corpse, and felt his body alternate between burning hot and chillingly cold. Though he had no mirror, he knew his face must be deathly pale.

“This Gold Silk Python’s venom is truly terrifying,” Ye Chen thought grimly. He immediately circulated his Dark-Attribute Qi throughout his entire body, controlling the speed at which the poison spread, and forced the venom to the tips of his fingers to expel it from his system. Just then, Ye Chen abruptly felt the concentration of the venom thinning, as if ice meeting a blazing fire, slowly being refined by his Qi.

This sight startled him slightly. Sensing more carefully, he realized it wasn't an illusion. His Qi was actually devouring the venom!

“My Qi actually possesses the attribute of devouring—” A sudden realization dawned on Ye Chen. “Could this be the Devour Talent of the Dark Attribute?” He was still somewhat incredulous. He urged the Qi within him to spread toward the venomous blood, squeezing two drops of the dark serpent blood to his fingertip.

The Qi enveloped the two drops, and like chicken simmering over a slow flame, it began to corrode and devour them. “It really is the Devour Talent!” Ye Chen was inwardly shaken. This talent was exceedingly rare, the most famous among the Dark Attributes.

He recalled that in his previous life, only one person globally possessed the Devour Talent, and that person was eventually mobbed and killed on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Devour Talent: Anything within its absorption limit can be consumed! With this thought, Ye Chen hastily put away the blood-red saber, opened his Rune Space, tossed the python carcass inside, and then fled the area at high speed, running far away.

After running for half an hour, Ye Chen found a small slope, dug a shallow pit with his battle saber, and opened the Rune Space. He sliced off a section of the Gold Silk Snake’s corpse. Through his Eye of Talent, he could see the section steaming with a bluish-gold aura.

He quickly circulated his Qi and began to siphon the life essence that was about to dissipate into the environment. The life essence flowed from the section of the snake body into his palm. Countless dark Qi energies surged forward, enveloping the bluish-gold aura.

The greener portion was swiftly refined, leaving only a few wisps of golden essence still fighting tenaciously. Ye Chen clenched his hand, and the power of Devour enveloped those few golden wisps. Like several ferocious mouths, they instantly refined and consumed the golden essence, tempering it into his own Qi.

The process was incredibly fast, unlike the slow absorption of the life essence from the Anaconda and Overlord Lion before.