Feng Zhiming was speechless as he saw Dolly’s true power.

Threads originating from nowhere had attached to every single fang of the beast, visible threads which seemed far stronger than her invisible ones.

Up until now she had been using threads that originated from her, in other words constructs of her own Qi but now, now she had pulled threads from the very world, out of thin air.

The beast had been set in place as if someone had frozen it.

From the point at which the threads met the fangs the beast began to petrify, its skin turning to gray solid rock.

Lyra was stunned as well.

“This has to be the work of a Demonic Phenomena.” Anissa finally spoke as she saw the display, her expression was tense.

She was cautious of Dolly’s strength, it was clear Dolly was approaching the Heavenly Eye realm, as soon as she had sufficient insight into her chosen concept she would open her Heavenly Eye.

“Can I really protect my lord from this?” She thought to herself as her hand gripped her sword hilt.

Feng Zhiming noticed her plight.

“She won’t fight us, and if she does it’ll be in the midst of a free for all.” he sent her a mental transmission.

Anissa relaxed slightly.

He walked to the bow of the ship before speaking.

“Allow me to deal with the rest.”

The beast had been nearly completely petrified.

Dolly looked over at him, her expression still complicated.

“Be careful of its Divine sense.” Anissa warned him, he nodded in reply.

Dolly stopped her petrification and landed next to him, before putting her hood back on.

“I too am human.” she sent him a mental transmission as she walked by.

“Do you feel human? By whose standard, your father?”

Feng Zhiming replied before flying down to the helpless beast.

She stopped for a moment before continuing to walk.

Lyra and Ellia looked at him with even more confusion, they felt like the real spectators.

“That bastard, stealing another’s kill. In line with his shitty character.” Lyra spoke.

Internally she regretted not asking Dolly and heading down there herself, the beast core of a 4th order demon beast was still very valuable.

“Don’t you want the core?” Ellia asked Dolly as she headed back to the crows nest.

“It’s fine, my passengers are my first priority.” she said in a monotone voice, clearly not interested in the conversation or the core.

Feng Zhiming approached the only part of the beast that wasn’t petrified.

“Cover me and the beast with a barrier of Divine sense, and no matter what you do, do not scan me with it.” He sent a mental transmission to Anissa.

Anissa complied with his wishes.

Lyra frowned.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“I hate this guy you know, I really do, so stingy with his secrets.” she complained to Ellia.

“He got the favor of the captain unfortunately. Not to mention it's in the nature of demonic cultivators.” Ellia replied to her, she returned his great sword to the storage ring.

“He’s good with his silver tongue, If only I was a bit more social.” she continued to vent.

“Yes, that would be nice.” he replied.

“What?”

Ellia realized he misstepped, it was the same feeling he got when he mistimed a strike or a movement.

“So you’re saying I’m anti-social huh? Is that it?” she glared at him now.

Ellia’s expression shifted, in his awe of the mysterious beast, he forgot that he had yet to figure out the elusive creature known as a woman.

Feng Zhiming, now away from prying eyes, removed his fan from his storage ring.

He looked at the beast with a neutral expression.

“Don’t blame me for your own weakness.”

The beast was glaring at him with murderous intent, if it could it would devour him instantly.

He raised his Fan and thrust it into the beast's eye, blinding it.

“Hopefully I’m wrong.”

The beast could no longer wail, or cry out, its mouth had long been petrified.

He sighed as he returned his fan to his storage ring.

“Bring out that Divine Sense. You still wish to struggle?”

He was correct, the beast’s divine sense assaulted him trying to figure where he was, what he was doing, that was its primal instinct.

Unfortunately for the beast it looked somewhere it shouldn’t have.

When Feng Zhiming probed his own eye with his Spiritual sense he realized he had erred and withdrew immediately, but the beast did not have that luxury.

Not only was it on the verge of death, but it had been mentally compromised long before it attacked them.

The beast could not and would not withdraw its divine sense, when it touched Feng Zhiming’s eye, it had inadvertently chosen death.

The divine sense was eviscerated, annihilated and consumed.

The interaction caused a chain reaction, the beast blew up violently destroying its physical body.

Furthermore when Feng Zhiming saw its soul emerge it did the same thing and shattered, evaporating into non-existence.

Feng Zhiming had his hands in front of him blocking the force of the explosion, his clothes were now stained with blood.

He frowned as he saw the scene, he had both confirmed a suspicion and added another tool to his arsenal.

He looked up to the sky and exhaled slowly.

“Is this your way of appealing to a cultivator's greed for strength?”

[Corruption detected, reporting it to the admini-]

{There is no corruption}

[Acaritas, corrupt, there is no, there is]

{There is no corruption}

[There is no corruption]

Feng Zhiming watched the thoughts play out in his head, still making no sense.

He sat down in the mass of innards of the creature and covered his face with his hands, rubbing it slowly.

A spherical orb rolled over to him, the 4th order beast core of the worm.

As he picked it up he observed it, there was a clear change in his expression from fatigue to anger.

The beast core was different as well, it had streaks of a fleshy red color running through it.

“Is this what awaits me?” he thought to himself.

It was obvious that it had been tainted by something, it reminded him of his own core, tainted by darkness.

“In exchange of what have you granted me this eye?”

No reply came.

“I will not have power at the cost of my agency.” he declared as he thought of the Scholar of black and his Lord.

No reply came once more.

“I will have answers.”

He burst out in laughter.

“You wish to stay silent and play games with me. Well then, let's play.”

He walked to the edge of the barrier and it began to fade as Anissa sensed his intention to exit.

His mind continued to churn with ideas with every step he took.

“As long as I can think…as long as I can think…..”

He exhaled deeply as his nails dug into his palms.

“I will know what it means to be.” he thought to himself as he returned to the ship.

“Are you alright?” Anissa asked him as he landed, she noticed his bloodied clothes and serious expression.

Feng Zhiming realized he had been wearing his emotions on his face and smiled before replying and tossing a 4th order beast core to her.

It was an untainted one, the one he had retrieved from the wolf demon before coming to this world, He did not want to reveal the tainted core he acquired.

“Of course, I got a free 4th order beast core after all.”

He resumed his journey, oblivious to the curse slowly eating away at him.