"Fang Ming, are you alright?"
Seeing Fang Ming emerge from the basement unharmed, Yi Hao and Qing Mian quickly came over to ask.
Fang Ming shook his head, indicating he was fine.
"Let's hurry to where the principal buried things."
Led by the Lizard Fierce, the group hurried to their destination, soon arriving at the unfinished building.
This place was even more desolate than other parts of the hospital. The weeds were one to two meters tall, and the abandoned foundation was only half built. A discarded tower crane remained, creaking in the breeze.
"It's here. I don't know the exact spot," the Lizard Fierce admitted.
Fang Ming scanned the surroundings. On the surface, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
However, since it was something the principal left behind, it was bound to be different.
"Can't you go into the ground? Go down and look," Fang Ming said to the Lizard Fierce.
The Lizard Fierce frantically shook its head. "No, no, I'm scared. Forget looking, I've been getting chills since I got here. I don't dare."
Fang Ming gave Yi Hao a look. Unseen, Yi Hao positioned himself above the Lizard Fierce, his fingertip tapping the top of its head.
The slight pain sent a chill through the Lizard Fierce.
"No, no, no! I was wrong, I was wrong! I'll go down and look right now, right away," the Lizard Fierce immediately pleaded.
Fear wouldn't kill it, but if it didn't go, these fearsome figures would surely kill it!
Fang Ming sneered. It would have been easier if it had agreed earlier, forcing him to use means.
The Lizard Fierce relented, its body sinking into the ground, soon disappearing from sight.
"Will it run away?" Zheng Zhu Six worried.
Fang Ming shook his head. "Probably not."
After all, finding a place to sustain a fierce in the real world was not easy. If this Lizard Fierce ran away, it would be no different from willingly begging for food.
Indeed, a few minutes later, the Lizard Fierce emerged from underground.
"The item is beneath that broken foundation. You can dig down, about ten meters deep," the Lizard Fierce said.
"Did you see what it was?" Fang Ming asked.
Lizard Fierce: "I don't know. I really didn't dare to get close. I tried to approach just now, but a suffocating feeling pressed down on my heart, and I didn't dare to get any closer."
"Is that so..." Fang Ming stroked his chin. He couldn't guess what the principal had buried that could frighten a fierce to such an extent just by its aura.
In that case.
"Dig!"
No sooner said than done. Fang Ming directed Qing Mian and Yi Hao to assist, and then further threatened the Lizard Fierce, making it almost cry. What a tragic scene.
"Fine, I'll dig, but please don't keep that knife hanging over my head," the Lizard Fierce sobbed.
Fang Ming shrugged. "Nobody wants this, but it helps you resist your inner fear. This is training you!"
Fang Ming's pretense of looking out for it made the Lizard Fierce inwardly curse.
But curses aside, the work had to be done.
The Lizard Fierce activated its talent, and the soil above the target location began to churn, transforming from incredibly hard to soft and mushy.
"You all need to move this soil. I can only make it soft."
"Coming."
Fang Ming transformed into his fierce state, his sharp claws digging into the soil and then forcefully tossing it outward. Soon, a large pit appeared before them.
"Still a bit more," the Lizard Fierce reminded them.
Fang Ming continued, but he still warned the others, "Everyone be on guard. Just in case there's anything dangerous inside."
"Understood." Qing Mian and Yi Hao remained vigilant as Fang Ming's pit grew deeper.
Finally, Fang Ming also felt a palpitation, originating from underground.
"It's... it's about to be dug out..." the Lizard Fierce stammered.
Fang Ming's expression also turned grim.
"Bang!"
Fang Ming felt something block his hand, and a chill instantly surged through his body.
Suppressing the discomfort, Fang Ming reached into the ground and fumbled around. He felt the outline of a box, about two meters in size.
"Ha!"
Fang Ming grabbed the sides of the box and pulled it forcefully from the earth.
It was a square wooden box, about two meters in diameter, covered in runes. Despite being buried for ten years, its surface showed no signs of decay and looked as good as new.
Palpitating waves emanated continuously from the box.
"What on earth is this?"
Fang Ming carried the box out and placed it on the ground. The Lizard Fierce scrambled backward, keeping a safe distance.
Yi Hao and Qing Mian cautiously approached, while Zheng Zhu Six, after glancing at the box, felt nothing unusual. Just as he was about to approach, Fang Ming stopped him.
"Grandpa Liu, don't come closer! Quickly retreat!"
"What's wrong?" Zheng Zhu Six asked, confused, but he still obeyed and retreated several steps.
"I suspect there's something with a heavy amount of resentment inside. If you get too close, it'll be bad if you get infected," Fang Ming explained.
The box itself did not contain any signs of life. Fang Ming suspected it held something imbued with resentment.
He didn't rule out the possibility of a particularly powerful resentful fiend, so he chose to be cautious.
"You two keep watch. I'll open it."
Fang Ming waved Yi Hao and Qing Mian away and stepped forward himself. He grasped the lid of the box and forcefully lifted it.
The runes on the box instantly brightened, resisting Fang Ming's strength. For a moment, Fang Ming couldn't budge the box.
Fang Ming sneered, "Today, I must see what you are!"
"Annihilation!"
The rune on Fang Ming's chest emitted a fluctuation. The entire box resisted for less than half a second before disintegrating. The runes turned into light and disappeared, and the wooden box began to decompose.
The contents of the wooden box were finally revealed.
It was a spatial portal!
A gloomy resentment emanated from the portal, instantly condensing into white mist upon contact with the air.
However, this was not due to the intensity of the resentment, but rather its extremely low temperature, which caused condensation when it met the air.
"Fang Ming, this is..." Qing Mian stepped forward, asking in confusion.
Fang Ming shook his head. He didn't know what was happening or where this portal led.
Broken Horn Peak, ancient tower.
The principal, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes.
"Damn it! Who opened the great gate?" The principal stood up abruptly and glanced at Nian Nian, who was suspended above him.
At this moment, countless chains formed by runes pierced Nian Nian's body, pinning her firmly in the air. A green heart pulsed in her chest.
Nian Nian's aura flickered, but with each rise, her power grew stronger!
"I didn't expect the divine child to be so resilient, enduring such torment without a cry," the principal marveled.
His plan was for the divine child to undergo rapid cultivation through the rune formation. However, the power amplified by the rune formation had its limits and was not infinite.
Therefore, he had Fang Dao Long enter the Everlasting Realm to search for another item needed for the plan – the Miner's Fiend Heart!
The miner itself was not strong, but its ability was unique. Unless the fiend heart was removed, it could revive continuously, and with each revival, its strength would increase further!
Fang Dao Long took the fiend heart to place it on Nian Nian, then use these rune chains to quickly kill her, and then revive her again!
But these rune chains were not a lullaby. Each death was no less painful than flaying for Nian Nian! Under these conditions, she was passively strengthening her power until, one day, she reached the intensity required by the principal's plan!
As for why Nian Nian was tortured in this way, it perfectly aligned with her talent. Nian Nian's hidden talent was to erupt with even greater power in the face of pain, constantly evolving, evolving, an evolution without limits!
Of course, Nian Nian's ability was not innate.
Nian Nian's birth was meticulously arranged by the principal and Fang Dao Long. She was not a naturally born resentful fiend, but a special resentful fiend cultivated by the two using some secret technique, nurtured by the old well fiend!
The professor on the eighteenth floor and the Blood Kin King also contributed greatly. Without the professor's superb skills, they would not have been able to fuse such an existence as Nian Nian, a "resentful fiend."
Nian Nian's essence was, in fact, approaching that legendary figure – Everlasting!
In other words, given time, Nian Nian would one day achieve the same level as Everlasting.
The principal and his companions were merely accelerating this process.
Of course, this came at a cost.
This rapidly cultivated "Everlasting" had an extremely short lifespan. However, the principal and his companions didn't care. In their eyes, Nian Nian was a disposable item. Once she reached the level of Everlasting, this artificially created "Everlasting" would naturally be destroyed.
"In just a few days, the first stage has already reached the Ghost Fiend stage," the principal sighed. "This way, it probably won't be more than two months before we can begin the separation."
"At that time... Hmph, Everlasting, your death day will be here!"
The principal let out a sinister laugh, but then, remembering that the gate he had stored was opened, he instantly suppressed his smile, his face turning cold as he vanished into a wisp of white mist.
Lianghu Hospital.
Fang Ming and his companions stared at the spatial portal, debating whether or not to enter and investigate.
"What should we do? Should we go in and take a look?" Yi Hao whispered.
Fang Ming hesitated. He didn't know where this led, and more importantly, the diary contained no record of it, which made him even more uncertain.
If the future was not recorded in the diary, did it mean he would die if he went in?
This was why Fang Ming was still hesitating.
The diary had given him foresight, but it had also constrained his steps.
However, this portal was something the diary had prompted him to find. Would the diary lead him to seek his own death? Surely not!
This meant that the destination of this portal was outside the diary's predictions!
This was the first time Fang Ming had encountered such a situation, and he was conflicted.
"Go in! At worst, we die!"