"May the Holy Light bless Anska with bounty and good harvests..."

Lu Yuan recited it once more.

The first time was halting, but the second time was already fluent and natural, as if it were his second mother tongue.

In fact, many of the characters on the handle of the steel fork in his hand had corroded and were unrecognizable.

But for some reason, Lu Yuan naturally filled in the missing parts.

It was as if... this steel fork was his own, and he himself had carved the line of characters on it.

The pearl I just absorbed, besides Death Qi, also contains a small part of the monster's memories from when it was alive...

Lu Yuan reached a conclusion that he found astonishing.

He quickly opened his Profession Panel, and several information prompts that popped up made his pupils constrict.

[Congratulations on mastering a new skill—Ancient Brent Language!]

[Congratulations, you have obtained material for Profession Advancement. Do you choose to advance your profession?]

[Prerequisites not met. Advancement failed.]

[Do you choose to merge the Profession Panel?]

The first message came from [Ancient Language Specialist].

On the [Ancient Language Specialist] panel, a Lv. 1 [Ancient Brent Language] skill had indeed been added.

The subsequent pieces of information, however, truly surprised Lu Yuan.

At this moment, both his [Ancient Language Specialist] and [Student] Profession Panels were glowing faintly.

The Profession fusion prompted on the panel likely indicated an opportunity for these two Professions to merge.

It's prompting that I've obtained material? What material? The monster's memories from its life, remaining in that black pearl?

Lu Yuan's eyes flicked rapidly as his mind raced.

The Crow God Sect's Red Bead he had previously absorbed hadn't given him a similar experience of gaining the previous owner's memories.

However, by absorbing the black pearls produced within the bodies of these monsters wandering the Lament Ruins, he could inherit some of their memories from when they were alive.

He could roughly make sense of this.

It might be because the former possessed a body of flesh and blood, while the latter's body had long been eroded by time, surviving solely on a shred of lingering obsession from life and Death Qi.

But why... would inheriting the memories of these monsters' past lives within the Secret Realm trigger an opportunity for Profession fusion?

Lu Yuan tried to search for information related to "Ancient Brent" in his existing database but found no results.

The [Ancient Brent Language] he had just learned wasn't in the database either, nor could he find any ancient languages similar to it.

It's located within the Secret Realm of the Lament Ruins, and this Evil God Secret Realm was only discovered recently. It's quite normal for there to be no recorded information...

An Evil God Secret Realm is a "paradise" created by an Ancient Evil God for its followers. It's not unusual for an independent ancient civilization to exist in an environment isolated from the rest of the world.

But isn't the common language of the Crow God Sect Ancient Lingual?

He had already self-taught this language to Lv. 2.

And... what is the Holy Light?

Apart from the "Holy Light" on the steel fork, in the memory fragment, the farmer named Anska, a moment before being engulfed by the black fog, had shouted his last words in Ancient Brent Language—also meaning "blessed by the Holy Light."

Numerous doubts arose in Lu Yuan's mind. After thinking for a moment, he chose to merge the Professions.

A progress bar immediately popped up, displaying: Merge Progress 0.1%.

Lu Yuan glanced at the Secret Realm map, which also showed the current exploration progress at 0.1%. His expression remained unchanged.

He checked his Profession Panels again and found that on the [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] panel, the Experience Points for [Netherworld Clothing] had increased by a few.

Now it was Lv. 1 (82/100).

It wouldn't be long before it upgraded to Lv. 2.

Besides that... it seems my intelligence has increased as well...

Lu Yuan noticed this through his Spiritual Power.

The total amount of his gaseous Spiritual Power had increased, though only by a very small amount. If not for his keen perception, he would hardly have noticed.

Lu Yuan crushed and absorbed the remaining twenty-odd black pearls in his hand, one by one.

On the [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] panel, the Profession Experience and the Experience Points for [Circulation of Death Qi] and [Netherworld Clothing] steadily increased.

Meanwhile, he continuously endured the influx of various memory fragments.

They were largely similar—images of despair and fear as they were engulfed by the black fog at the moment of death.

Occasionally, one or two images of peasants working in the fields with hoes would pop up.

It looked like all the residents of this village were poor peasants.

DING!

Upon absorbing the seventeenth black pearl, Lu Yuan received a notification that [Netherworld Clothing] had leveled up.

Lv. 2 [Netherworld Clothing].

Lu Yuan immediately activated it.

Instantly, a large amount of Death Qi converged and solidified around him, forming a layer of thin, semi-transparent gauze that enveloped his entire body.

It was much thicker than the membrane at Lv. 1 and even had a few faint patterns on it.

Better than nothing.

Lu Yuan gave it a brief look and continued absorbing the remaining few black pearls.

After all the black pearls were absorbed, he stood still with his eyes closed for a moment.

The moment he opened his eyes, Lu Yuan moved swiftly.

He quickly vanished into the black fog ahead, weaving through it.

After a short while, he stopped amidst a pile of ruins.

A tentacle-like pillar of condensed Death Qi shot out with a WHOOSH, shattering and overturning several large boulders in the ruins.

Lu Yuan stepped in, bent down, and in a decaying corner of the ruins, brushed aside sand and stones to finally find a palm-sized statue missing its upper half.

The original appearance of the statue was completely unrecognizable.

Turning it over, he found some characters inscribed on the back.

"Praise..."

These two words were in [Ancient Brent Language], followed by two more words: "Death."

The word "Death," however, was written in [Ancient Lingual].

Four characters, two different scripts, yet the handwriting appeared to be from the same person.

Interesting...

Lu Yuan stood up, his eyes glinting. He felt as if he had grasped a corner of the truth.

He had a faint guess in his mind, but he needed further confirmation.

He recorded the statue, inputting the data into his database, and had the drone pack the statue itself.

He also recorded the remaining inscription on the steel fork he had found earlier.

These were all considered important pieces of information related to the origin of the Secret Realm. After exiting the Secret Realm, they could be uploaded, and if appraised as valid, would be converted into corresponding exploration progress.

The ruined village Lu Yuan was in wasn't large. After he eliminated all the Peasant Monsters, it became quiet.

Then he observed the Death Qi that had been lingering throughout the village ruins begin to flow forward.

Consequently, the black fog in this area also thinned out.

Death Qi tends to linger in areas where monsters are present. When the monsters are eliminated, the Death Qi flows away...

Lu Yuan vaguely understood the principle.

He continued on.

Along the way, he encountered several more similar ruined villages, killing a total of about a hundred Peasant Monsters.

These Peasant Monsters weren't actually very strong. Setting aside the enhancements from Death Qi, their strength and speed were only slightly greater than a Professional Grade One Fighter.

One-on-one, even a Martial Master realm Fighter could easily slaughter them, making them no match even for the Divine Servants of the Crow God Sect.

His exploration progress finally reached 1%. The skills under his [Death Teller (Extraordinary)] Profession had also improved.

What pleased Lu Yuan the most was that after the continuous influx of fragmented memories, the increase to his intelligence attribute became more pronounced.

His gaseous Spiritual Power had increased by roughly ten percent. Its original detection range of 300 meters had now expanded to about 330 meters.

This is the first method I've encountered that can directly increase the intelligence attribute. For this point alone, this trip to the Secret Realm has been worth it...

Besides that, Lu Yuan also obtained a new clue from the memories of the Peasant Monsters—

It was an image. In it, a gigantic black meteorite descended from a clear blue sky, bringing with it a sky-obscuring flock of crows...

Lu Yuan recalled the scene from the memory fragment. He closed his eyes and continuously adjusted his orientation.

When he moved to a certain position…

He suddenly opened his eyes.

Before him lay a dense black fog. Comparing it with the Secret Realm map, the direction it pointed to was—

The deep red Forbidden Zone in the furthest depths of the map!

Perhaps... I should pay a visit to this so-called Forbidden Zone.

Lu Yuan was now filled with curiosity about the events that had transpired in these ruins.

This civilization, known as Ancient Brent, seemed to have experienced a tremendous calamity.

This calamity led to the formation of the present-day Lament Ruins.

And the instigator of this calamity... seems to be linked to the Crow God Sect.

Let's continue exploring. According to the memories of the Peasant Monsters, there should be a city ahead.

Lu Yuan glanced at the Secret Realm map and moved forward swiftly.

Two black Death Qi Wings, each several meters long, sliced through the dense black fog like giant blades.

Faithfully following behind him was the drone, carrying a resource pack and some miscellaneous items Lu Yuan had salvaged from the ruins.

Through this period of exploration, Lu Yuan's control over Death Qi had improved considerably.

The Death Qi Wings he conjured were no longer as indistinct as before; now, at least, a clear outline was visible.

Lu Yuan even tried to condense Death Qi into the shape of a spear for throwing.

Unfortunately, his [Circulation of Death Qi] skill level was still too low. The Death Qi concentration wasn't sufficient to channel much of his strength, and the spear would disintegrate before flying very far.

5:21 PM.

As Lu Yuan neared his destination, the silhouette of the City of Ruins had already appeared in the images transmitted back by the Dead Spirit Crows.

Lu Yuan checked the time. He realized nearly seven hours had passed since he entered the Lament Ruins.

It was difficult to perceive the passage of time within the Secret Realm, but his long-established biological clock reminded Lu Yuan that it was time to eat.

He thought for a moment, untied the resource pack from the drone, and was about to take out some food to replenish his energy.

Suddenly, Lu Yuan's expression shifted. In an instant, he withdrew all his Death Qi and stood silently on the spot.

Soon, dozens of drones appeared in his vision.

Next, five human figures appeared, walking slowly in his direction.

「...」

A five-person team strode across the Death Qi-shrouded wasteland.

Nearly everyone was enveloped in a thin barrier of light, which repelled the Death Qi, allowing them to exert their full combat strength.

Xie Jun walked at the head of the team. Slung over each of his shoulders was a deep blue super-alloy longsword, each over a meter in length.

Fine arcs of electricity danced along the longswords; their appearance alone was exceptionally impressive.

"I didn't think it would go so smoothly; the first exploration point was dealt with in less than five hours..."

In the team, a young man in red exoskeleton armor spoke while casually playing with a thumb-sized, deep black bead he held in his hand.

"An S-grade Evil Energy Pearl... I heard the research team is recently developing a Crow God series Evil Energy suit. The value of this thing is skyrocketing..."

"Be careful not to crush it," a person beside him couldn't help but warn. "Losing Merit isn't a big deal, but this thing contains a curse. Without a condensed Light of Spirit, anyone below SS-grade can't withstand it; they'll go mad..."

The young man responded with a chuckle, then carefully put away the bead.

After stowing it carefully, he couldn't help but ask, "Xie, since we're passing by anyway, why don't we clear out this area too?"

Xie Jun, leading the way, maintained his steady pace and replied unhurriedly, "The City of Ruins contains multiple S-grade Evil Energy Fluctuations. Our team has the strength to take it on, no problem."

"But the Evil Energy Power Field inside is very strong, and the Death Qi is especially dense."

"The energy of our protective Power Fields might run out before the battle ends. The gains wouldn't outweigh the losses..."

The youth nodded thoughtfully.

Just as they were speaking, Xie Jun suddenly halted.

He seemed to have seen something; his eyes narrowed slightly, and an unexpected expression appeared on his face.

The others were somewhat surprised.

Following Xie Jun's gaze, they looked ahead. The swirling black fog before them parted, and a figure gradually materialized in their sight.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.