Mo Chuan was quite sure that the white fluffy mass before him was Mo Fei.
The same appearance, the same demeanor, the same... no, an even stronger affection.
The changes in Mo Fei were nothing more than her hair turning silver-white, her figure becoming more mature, her demonic energy being incredibly potent (though he could sense Mo Fei suppressing its rise), and her strength being at least eighth-tier.
Wait a moment? Eighth-tier?
Mo Chuan suddenly realized how Mo Fei had torn open his armor with her bare hands.
The last time he had seen Mo Fei, he remembered her being stuck at the sixth-tier and unable to advance.
Normally, for ability users, unless their talent was extremely peculiar (like a toilet plunger), regardless of their ability or focus, the first three tiers were easy to upgrade, basically a natural progression.
But starting from the fourth tier, the difficulty of each advancement gradually increased.
The fourth-tier advancement had the first threshold (B-class threshold), the fifth-tier advancement required impacting thirteen spiritual acupoints, the sixth-tier advancement was the second threshold (S-class), and the seventh-tier advancement required comprehending the initial intent of a domain (involving spatial ability perception). The eighth-tier advancement had requirements for domain, spiritual energy value, spiritual power quality, and many other indicators.
As for the ninth-tier or even the legendary Saint tier?
There were still some legends about the former, stating that eighth-tier ability users could advance to the ninth-tier by finding a sacred artifact corresponding to their ability.
The latter was a true legend.
Previously, the Cross Alliance and the now-ruined Beautiful Country claimed to have a Saint-tier ability user, but the results were quite clear – the former was bragging without paying taxes, even shaking themselves, resulting in widespread civil unrest within the Germanic states. The latter had already turned to ashes, lost in the river of history.
Of course, Mo Chuan had his cheat, so he couldn't be compared to normal people. After all, he could advance without accumulating spiritual energy over time; as long as his soul lamp swept, his spiritual power would surge.
In conclusion, Mo Chuan came to a realization: had Mo Fei been eating ability users to grow this month? Why had she directly reached the eighth-tier?
Unlike Mo Chuan's bewildered expression, Mo Fei was accepting her beloved's gaze with affection.
Perhaps the uncontrollable demonic energy was affecting Mo Fei's thoughts and sanity, but she still managed to suppress the expansion of demonic energy with astonishing willpower—because this way, she wouldn't displease her brother upon meeting him.
"You've gotten thinner." Mo Chuan smiled slightly, affectionately stroking Mo Fei's white hair, and asked, "Why has your hair turned white?"
"I don't know... Fei'er was shut away in the Sword Tomb for a long time. After coming out, she was like this..." As Mo Fei spoke, her face inexplicably began to flush with an unusual redness, and her legs started to move restlessly, rubbing against each other.
No... her emotions were about to become uncontrollable.
It was important to note that demonic energy not only amplified the negative emotions of demonic cultivators but could also amplify positive emotions.
Mo Fei, who was intensely suppressing her lustful thoughts and had not accepted the invitation from the inner demon on Mo Chuan's back, was already showing the greatest degree of restraint.
"Hurry up! Let's make the rice cooked! That way I can get some soup too!" The inner demon, perched behind Mo Chuan, took a deep breath of Mo Chuan's emotions from his neck and then rolled its eyes in comfort.
High, definitely high.
Mo Fei shook her head, suppressing the wicked thoughts in her mind, and buried her head in Mo Chuan's embrace again, taking a deep breath.
...
Finally, Mo Fei sent Mo Chuan back to the center of the battlefield. He first used his soul lamp to sweep the surrounding fragmented souls, and then retracted his domain.
Stacking passive abilities, no shame in that.
As for Mo Fei, perhaps due to being in a state of mental tension for a long time, she actually fell asleep in Mo Chuan's arms after suddenly relaxing, with only her small hands tightly clutching Mo Chuan's waist and refusing to let go.
Mo Chuan had no choice but to return to the south bank to wait for Mo Fei to get enough sleep, and then prepare to take the Wang brothers back to Luoyi.
But before leaving, Mo Chuan called the three brothers aside for a talk.
"Brother Hu." Mo Chuan handed each of the three brothers a pack of cigarettes and asked, "What happened to you guys?"
"It's a long story..." Wang Hu, after taking the cigarettes, didn't open them immediately but first sniffed them. Then, he carefully put them away and said, "As soon as the Southeast Alliance and the Northern Government (Suiren Government) started fighting, the Southeast Alliance's army was routed. If it weren't for the Yellow River holding them back, it's hard to say how far they would have pushed the front lines."
"This damn Southeast Alliance isn't any good either. They rounded up a lot of strong men like us, shoved guns into our hands, drilled us in the barracks for a few days, and then threw us onto the battlefield as cannon fodder. And what they called training was basically just teaching you how to fire a gun and throw a grenade, because all the instructors knew that this cannon fodder basically wouldn't survive ten days on the battlefield, so they didn't bother putting effort into them."
"Cannon fodder serves three purposes: serving the regular soldiers, taking bullets on the battlefield, and helping officers embezzle funds."
"We actually wanted to leave when the war started, but for us hooligans, besides Jibei City, where else did we have connections? Going south, we were unfamiliar with the place, and we might have been eaten without even our bones being left. So we decided to drag it out day by day."
"In this world, it's hard to survive..."
"Do you yearn for power?" Mo Chuan asked.
"What did you say, brother?!" Wang Hu looked at Mo Chuan in disbelief, and Wang Lang and Wang Bao also looked at Mo Chuan incredulously.
"I'm saying, if I could increase your strength to the level of a fourth or fifth-tier, or even a fifth or sixth-tier combat ability user, but with certain side effects, would you want it?"
"I want it!" Wang Hu agreed without even considering the cost of gaining power.
As long as they had strength, they could live! They could even live very well! No matter what the side effects were, even if it shortened their lifespan! It would be worth it for a few years of wealth and prosperity!
Wang Lang and Wang Bao thought the same, so they also nodded.
"Good." Mo Chuan nodded, and a dark green mark appeared in his hand.
...
Mo Chuan cast the [Contract of Death] on the three of them and handed [Soul Lotus Darius] and [Soul Lotus Yorick] to Wang Hu and Wang Lang, respectively.
As long as these two wanted to use the skins, Mo Chuan would know and grant them permission.
Mo Chuan did this because he suddenly had a bold idea:
I want to build a temporary underworld!
I want to dye this thing green! (Referring to the underworld)