The ghostly woman stared at the tiny white-scaled lizard.
Her translucent body trembled violently.
Part of her soul had already been erased.
Yet—
her instinct to survive still remained.
Desperation twisted across her ghostly features.
With a shrill, ear-piercing scream—
she thrust both hands forward.
Dark yin mist erupted outward.
Ghostly claws condensed from the surrounding resentment, tearing through the air as they lunged toward Lizarius.
**SKREEEE!**
The attack arrived in an instant.
Lizarius merely looked at her.
He didn't move.
He didn't dodge.
He simply unleashed—
another **Mental Shock**.
**BOOM!**
The invisible force crossed the distance without the slightest obstruction.
The ghostly claws collapsed before they could even reach him.
Her eyes instantly lost all focus.
Cracks spread across her translucent body.
"...Ah..."
She tried to speak.
No sound emerged.
The cracks widened.
Spread.
Deepened.
Then—
her soul shattered completely.
Like fragile glass.
Countless fragments of ghostly essence scattered into the night before rapidly gathering together once more.
They compressed.
Condensed.
Shrank.
Until only a single object remained.
A pale gray crystal floated quietly in the air.
It resembled a beast core.
Yet it felt far colder.
Within its translucent center, wisps of ghostly mist drifted endlessly.
Dense yin energy radiated from every inch of its surface.
Lizarius observed it in silence.
"...A Ghost Core."
Using gravity—
the crystal slowly floated toward him.
It hovered before his glowing golden eyes.
Silence.
*So... this is what remains after a ghost's soul completely collapses...*
He slowly rotated it.
The yin energy contained within was astonishingly pure.
Far purer than any yin-attributed herb he had collected.
Far denser than ordinary yin treasures.
*Interesting.*
Without another thought—
he opened his mouth.
The Ghost Core drifted forward.
Then—
he swallowed it whole.
...
For several long moments—
nothing happened.
Then—
cold.
An intense wave of icy yin energy erupted within his body.
It flowed through every meridian.
Every scale.
Every bone.
Every inch of flesh.
The sensation wasn't painful.
Merely...
cold.
An overwhelming, bone-deep cold.
His body instinctively began refining it.
The dense yin energy circulated through him again and again before gradually being drawn toward his golden core.
Layer after layer disappeared into it.
The chilling sensation slowly weakened.
Only a refreshing coolness remained.
Lizarius quietly sensed the changes taking place within himself.
*Its purity surpasses that of ordinary spiritual materials.*
*Almost no impurities...*
*The refinement efficiency is remarkably high.*
His golden eyes gleamed faintly.
*A single Ghost Core contains an astonishing amount of yin energy.*
His thoughts shifted.
*If every ghost cultivator leaves behind one...*
*Then ghosts may become one of the finest sources of yin energy.*
Silence returned.
He slowly lifted his gaze toward the battlefield behind him.
Twenty-two corpses lay scattered across the shattered wilderness.
Humans.
Beasts.
Ghosts.
Broken spirit tools littered the battlefield.
Storage pouches.
Storage rings.
Weapons.
Nothing escaped his notice.
The wilderness had long since fallen silent.
The moon hung high overhead.
Only the lingering scent of blood remained.
---
Lizarius stood quietly in his normal form.
The last corpse slowly disappeared within his maw.
Not even the smallest fragment remained.
His golden eyes stayed completely expressionless.
Then—
the familiar mechanical voice echoed within his mind.
**"Acquired: 79,769 Evolution Points."**
**"Bloodline Genes successfully extracted."**
A series of notifications immediately followed.
**"Obtained: Jade Wolf Gene."**
**"Obtained: Nightmare Hawk Gene."**
**"Obtained: Wind Spiro Gene."**
**"Obtained: Black Scale Serpent Gene."**
**"Obtained: Horned Mountain Beast Gene."**
**"Obtained: Stone Ape Gene."**
**"Obtained: Crimson Fang Wolf Gene."**
...
The list continued for several moments before finally falling silent.
The wilderness returned to complete stillness.
Lizarius remained where he stood.
His tongue slowly swept across his maw.
The final trace of blood vanished.
Only then did he speak inwardly.
*Explain the newly acquired abilities.*
There was no hesitation.
The System immediately responded.
---
**"Jade Wolf Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Jade Wind**
**Description:** Surrounds the body with compressed wind qi, greatly enhancing agility, burst speed, directional changes, attack speed, and overall control of wind-based movement.
---
**"Nightmare Hawk Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Nightmare Vision**
**Description:** Significantly enhances long-range vision and the perception of spiritual fluctuations, particularly in darkness. Upon establishing direct eye contact, the user may drag an opponent into a nightmare illusion.
---
**"Wind Spiro Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Wind Current Perception**
**Description:** Detects even the slightest fluctuations in surrounding air currents, allowing precise awareness of movement within the detection range while also improving control over wind.
---
**"Black Scale Serpent Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Black Scale Reinforcement**
**Description:** Temporarily hardens the user's scales, greatly increasing physical defense.
---
**"Horned Mountain Beast Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Mountain Charge**
**Description:** Compresses spiritual energy throughout the body before releasing it in a single overwhelming charge, dramatically increasing impact and momentum.
---
**"Stone Ape Gene"**
**Innate Ability: Earth Grip**
**Description:** Greatly increases stability while standing upon the earth, making forced displacement significantly more difficult.
---
The list finally came to an end.
Silence.
Lizarius quietly analyzed every entry.
The moonlit wilderness remained utterly still.
His golden eyes slowly narrowed.
*Nightmare Vision...*
*The only truly new ability.*
The remaining entries...
He had encountered abilities like them before.
They were simply different expressions of elemental affinity.
Wind.
Earth.
Physical reinforcement.
Useful—
but not fundamentally different from the abilities already present within his bloodline.
He reached his conclusion almost immediately.
*Only one genuinely new ability.*
*The others merely broaden my existing elemental adaptations.*
Without another thought—
gravity spread across the ruined battlefield.
**Whoom—**
Storage pouches.
Storage rings.
Spirit tools.
Weapons.
Formation flags.
Everything left behind by the fallen cultivators slowly rose into the air.
One after another—
they flew toward him before disappearing into his storage ring.
Only the shattered earth remained.
Satisfied—
Lizarius' body gradually faded.
His white scales dissolved beneath flowing shadows.
Moments later—
nothing remained beneath the moonlight.
---
Some time later—
within the Night Sheep House—
the concealed doorway quietly opened.
**Rumble...**
A shadow silently slipped into the room.
Moments later—
the hidden entrance sealed itself once more.
The Spirit Gathering Formation continued humming softly.
Ling Yue and Ling Wei remained exactly where they had been.
Neither had awakened.
The shadow drifted toward the table.
It slowly dispersed.
The tiny white-scaled lizard gradually emerged once again.
The jade room token floated gently out from the darkness before settling neatly upon the tabletop.
**Clink.**
Lizarius calmly glanced around the room.
Scattered wine jars.
Broken ceramic fragments.
Two cultivators peacefully refining spiritual energy.
Nothing had changed.
Only then did he turn toward the supplies.
The storage pouches resting upon the table slowly floated into the air.
One after another—
they descended beside him.
With a gentle wave of gravity—
their contents poured onto the stone floor.
Dozens of yin-attributed herbs.
Crystalline ores.
Spirit flowers.
Moon Essence Dew.
Ghostly herbs purchased from the Night Market.
Beside them—
hundreds of beast cores rolled across the floor before gathering themselves into orderly piles.
Then—
another collection appeared.
The materials obtained from the recent battle were emptied as well.
Additional herbs.
Rare minerals.
Spirit fruits.
Several more yin-attributed treasures.
Spirit ores.
Every material sorted itself into neat groups under the guidance of invisible gravitational force.
Lizarius silently observed the enormous collection before him.
Without hesitation—
his body began expanding.
One meter.
Two.
Three.
The familiar tiny form disappeared.
An enormous white-scaled lizard now occupied much of the room.
His ancient golden eyes swept across the countless piles only once.
Then—
he lowered his head.
**Crunch.**
A beast core vanished.
**Crunch.**
Another immediately followed.
Herbs disappeared whole.
Crystalline ores shattered effortlessly between his jaws.
Bottles of Moon Essence Dew burst apart as their contents flowed directly into his mouth.
Ghost herbs.
Spirit flowers.
Rare roots.
Spirit fruits.
Nothing was refined beforehand.
Nothing was processed.
Everything entered his body exactly as it was.
The room echoed only with the steady rhythm of his consumption.
**Crunch.**
**Crack.**
**Crunch.**
Within his body—
countless different energies immediately separated from one another.
Pure yin energy drifted toward his damaged soul.
The refined essence contained within the beast cores flowed directly into his golden core.
Bloodline genes were extracted one after another.
The spiritual essence dispersed throughout every part of his body.
Medicinal properties merged into his flesh.
Elemental energies flowed toward their corresponding affinities.
Every material fulfilled its own purpose simultaneously.
The entire process unfolded with astonishing precision, as though countless invisible mechanisms were operating within him at the same time.
Yet throughout it all—
Lizarius' expression never changed.
He simply continued eating in complete silence.
Only a short distance away—
Ling Yue and Ling Wei remained peacefully immersed in cultivation, completely unaware of the quiet transformation taking place beside them.