NOVEL WEB CHAPTER 353
CHAPTER 353: The Black Mist Again
Although he hadn’t encountered any immediate danger, Lu Ming felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding. He had the distinct feeling that he was in serious trouble.
The dense black mist that surrounded him carried an ominous scent, triggering memories from the past. It was reminiscent of the time when the Holy Tower first appeared in Nanxiang City, heralding the beginning of the apocalypse.
“It’s a shame about my experiment,” Lu Ming muttered with a sigh. “But it wasn’t a huge loss.”
The experiment to reshape the divinity had barely made any progress—less than 1%.
Deep down, Lu Ming had already sensed that failure was inevitable. His skill with Array Formations simply wasn’t advanced enough to ensure success. Interrupting the experiment wasn’t a disaster, given the current circumstances.
He wasn’t in any position to continue with it anyway.
Looking into the distance, Lu Ming peered through the Array Formations within the Boshi Tower, attempting to survey the world beyond.
All he saw was a spreading darkness.
The thick black mist obscured everything, blocking his vision and senses entirely.
He couldn’t see anything beyond it. The sheer unknown only heightened his unease, deepening the sense of dread he already felt.
Suddenly, faint traces of golden light began to dissipate from the Boshi Tower, seemingly merging with the black mist outside. Lu Ming frowned as he watched the scene unfold.
“The Divine Origin is leaking,” he observed, “and at a faster rate than expected.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, lost in contemplation.
“The characteristics of this black mist seem oddly similar to the system’s...” Lu Ming muttered to himself. It was just a passing thought, a vague feeling, and after voicing it aloud, he dismissed the notion of any real connection between the two.
Raising his hand, he unleashed a burst of Origin Power, commanding the Array Formations within the Boshi Tower. With swift precision, he retracted all the Divine Origin from inside the tower. There was no need to worry. Outside, the Divine Realm experts were likely in the same state as Shufang and the others—drained of their Divine Origin by the black mist, their divinities having fallen into a dormant state.
Even if someone managed to stay mobile despite their condition, they would hardly be in any state to concern themselves with the Boshi Tower. The only real threat within the tower was Moonfiend.
By retracting the Divine Origin, the strength of the array that trapped Moonfiend and Lin Feng would weaken significantly. If Moonfiend regained consciousness and recovered enough strength, she could potentially dismantle the Array Formations Lu Ming had set up.
But Lu Ming wasn’t concerned.
First, he wouldn’t give Moonfiend the chance to regain consciousness.
Second, even if she did wake up, the four Divine Realm experts—now safely inside the tower—would be waiting for her.
In short, the only real threat Lu Ming faced at this moment came from the strange black mist outside.
But then, something changed.
His expression darkened as he realized, “There’s an outflow of Origin Power!?”
“This is bad,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing.
Within the black mist zone, almost all supernatural abilities were dependent on Origin Power. Now, having removed the Divine Origin, Lu Ming discovered something far more alarming—the black mist wasn’t just draining Divine Origin; it had the capacity to absorb Origin Power itself!
The implications of this were far more dangerous than anything he’d initially anticipated.
In the outside world, as the black mist spread, all the areas it touched became barren, devoid of any Origin Power. They turned into what could only be described as ‘Origin Power deserts.’
Without Origin Power in the environment, the Boshi Tower could no longer replenish its own reserves. The Array Formations that powered the tower also relied on Origin Power to function. Now, under the suffocating spread of the black mist, vast amounts of Origin Power were being drained away. The once-bright Array Formations began to flicker, their glow dimming as they gradually lost their effectiveness.
Sensing the change, Lu Ming narrowed his eyes, taking in the full scope of the situation.
“If that’s how it’s going to be,” he murmured, “then I’ll have to handle this another way.”
With a single thought, Lu Ming unleashed a torrent of Origin Power and Divine Origin from within his own body. He ignored the black mist’s natural ability to absorb energy, pushing back against its pull with sheer willpower. Despite the mist’s relentless suction, he began to feverishly modify the Array Formations inside the Boshi Tower, infusing them with his own energy to compensate for what was being drained.
✦✧☠︎✧✦
—Qinghe Province
On the battlefield…
In the midst of a chaotic clash, Jiu Han floated in the air, his long beard and hair whipping around him like tendrils of energy. He stood alone, facing off against three Divine Realm opponents, yet showed no signs of being at a disadvantage.
The battle had raged for days without pause, leaving Jiu Han completely unaware of the events unfolding in Xuanshui City. He remained focused on the conflict before him until, suddenly, a tremor shook his heart.
Something was wrong.
He could feel it—a rapid weakening of his connection to the Boshi Tower. It wasn’t just control he was losing. No, this was something far more severe.
Someone was seizing ownership of the Boshi Tower.
“Who is it?” Jiu Han muttered, his thoughts racing.
Beside him, a strange, floating cloud-like entity spoke in a soft voice, “It’s Lu Ming. I can feel it. He’s the one who has taken ownership of the Boshi Tower.”
The voice belonged to the Tower Spirit of the Boshi Tower.
Back in Xuanshui City, Lu Ming stood outside the Boshi Tower, feeling the heightened control that came with full ownership of the tower.
“I’m sorry, Teacher,” Lu Ming whispered. “I had no choice but to do this.”
With a single thought, he exited the tower, stepping into the pitch-black surroundings. The world around him was an abyss of darkness. If not for his hand resting against the outer wall of the Boshi Tower, he wouldn’t have even been able to see the massive structure beside him.
“Become a miniature version of the tower for me.” Lu Ming’s voice echoed through the void as Origin Power surged violently around him. In response, the Boshi Tower began to shrink. The towering structure, which had once loomed over the sky, rapidly contracted until it fit into the palm of his hand.
Bending down, Lu Ming picked up the miniature tower from the ground and tucked it into his pocket.
“This is much more convenient,” he said, satisfied with the results.
The Boshi Tower had always possessed the ability to shrink or expand, but its previous limit was no smaller than ten meters in height. It was only through Lu Ming’s modifications to the Array that it had been able to shrink to its current size.
And without taking full ownership of the Boshi Tower, he wouldn’t have been able to activate the shrinking array.
Now that everything was complete, Lu Ming stood where the Boshi Tower had once been, glancing around. But the darkness remained impenetrable, and his vision was utterly blocked.
What troubled him more, though, was the state of his own body. He could feel the Divine Origin within him dissipating continuously, slipping away into the black mist. His Origin Power was draining uncontrollably, and even the three Silver Dao Patterns etched into his skin were warping and distorting, on the verge of collapse.
“However, the Divine Origin within the system isn’t being drawn away by this black mist,” Lu Ming noted. “And though my Origin Power is being drained, the power of my blood qi remains unaffected. The mist cannot disturb the Primordial Dao Patterns either.”
In the blink of an eye, Lu Ming pieced together these critical observations. A spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.
“What if I do this?” he murmured.
With a single thought, he began pulling all of his remaining Origin Power deep within his body, retracting it entirely. At the same time, the power of his blood qi surged forward, replacing the Origin Power and circulating through him—this was the Force System at work.
As soon as Lu Ming shifted to the Force System, his vision blurred for a moment, but then something extraordinary happened. The black mist that had completely blocked his senses before was no longer an obstacle.
Suddenly, everything around him came into sharp focus, the obscuring darkness lifting.
And that’s when he saw it.
A slippery tongue, like a giant earthworm, was slowly arching toward him. Its surface glistened, and it slithered closer with eerie precision, its intentions unmistakably hostile.
End of Chapter 353