8: Moon Village 6

Shi Yan put away his Blood Tattooed Transformation and sat cross-legged on the bed.

The night was still long, and Shi Yan didn't think this mission would be exactly the same as yesterday's; if it were, it would be too boring.

“I hope the next treasure chest brings me a different kind of surprise.” Shi Yan licked his lips. In his heart, these inexplicable things had already become his treasure chests; killing one would yield many treasures.

Time flowed slowly, and the night grew deeper.

“Thump, thump, thump!”

A series of knocks suddenly came from behind the door.

“Who is it?”

Shi Yan asked. Receiving no response, Shi Yan stood up and walked to the main door, gently pulling it open.

The doorway was empty; only the pristine white wall opposite could be seen, and the corridors on both sides were pitch black, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

“Did I mishear?”

Shi Yan narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly closed the door. After waiting a few seconds in place, Shi Yan suddenly pulled the door open again.

The doorway was still empty.

“I really did mishear.”

Shi Yan closed the door again, turned, and returned to the bed in the center of the room, resuming his cross-legged position.

Of course, Shi Yan wouldn't think he had misheard. Anyone else might mishear, but he absolutely could not.

It seemed his activation method was incorrect, Shi Yan mused in his mind.

About ten minutes later, another series of knocks came from behind the door.

This time, Shi Yan decided not to open the door to see what would happen.

The knocking, after discovering no response, grew increasingly urgent. The sound became so rapid it seemed to blend together, as if whatever was behind it was furious.

The urgent knocking suddenly stopped, and the surrounding environment became eerily silent.

Shi Yan watched silently the entire time, without speaking or making any movements, simply sitting cross-legged on the bed.

Suddenly, patches of deep black shadow slowly spread out from the gaps around the door. Wherever the shadow extended, it became pitch black.

The shadow slowly stopped after covering about half a meter of the wall and floor around the door.

A black tentacle, about half a meter long, slowly extended from above the door covered by the shadow. When the tentacle first appeared, it swayed from side to side, much like grass blown by the wind. After a brief period of swaying, it suddenly transformed into an incredibly sharp, streamlined black spike.

With a whoosh, the spike shot fiercely towards Shi Yan’s eye. The spike’s speed was extremely fast, almost reaching Shi Yan’s eyes in the blink of an eye. Just as it was about to pierce Shi Yan’s eye, a hand covered in Blood Marks suddenly intercepted it.

“Clang!”

A jarring metallic clang rang out, accompanied by a shower of sparks.

Shi Yan had already stood up and heightened his vigilance the moment he saw the black shadow, his eyes fixed on it, his right hand ready at any moment for Blood Tattooed Transformation.

Shi Yan raised his right hand and looked at it; the part attacked by the black spike showed no change, not even the slightest mark was left.

“Plenty of speed, but too little power.”

Shi Yan lightly poked the black spike that had fallen to the ground with his right index finger, and his sharp fingertip immediately pierced through the black spike.

“Crack!”

The black spike emitted a sound like shattering crystal. Cracks spread outwards from where Shi Yan’s index finger had pierced it, finally breaking into pieces of black crystal.

The black mass, sensing this, seemed to be enraged. It suddenly condensed five black spikes and shot them all towards Shi Yan’s position.

Shi Yan dodged four of the spikes by shifting to the left, blocking the ones he couldn't avoid with his arm, which was already in Blood Tattooed Transformation. He accelerated towards the wall covered by the black shadow, and his entire arm, thickened by Blood Tattooed Transformation, slammed heavily into that section of the wall.

With a loud boom, the entire wall where the door was located was smashed, creating a man-sized hole. Through the large hole, the pristine white wall on the opposite side of the corridor could still be seen.

The two people in the other rooms stood up after hearing the loud noise. Since tonight's mission didn't state that only one person could be in a room, the two discussed privately and decided to cooperate.

“From the sound, it’s coming from Shi Yan’s side. Quite a commotion,” Li Zhao speculated.

“It seems Shi Yan encountered a strange being. Let them fight, the harder the better,” Wang Yang said with a smile.

The two exchanged glances and chuckled softly.

Strange beings were their collective term for these non-human species. The grade of strange beings was divided into 70 levels, corresponding to human level divisions. Human levels were also divided into 70 levels, with significant differences in combat power at each level.

Wang Yang and Li Zhao were both Level 3.

Shi Yan slowly stood up from the hole. Suspended in the air beside him was a deep, dark, rhomboid crystal.

“Is it that weak? It really can’t take a hit. Am I too strong?”

Shi Yan leaned down and touched the black crystal; a cold sensation spread throughout his body.

His Panel also popped up at this moment.

Abilities: Elementary Head Transformation, Intermediate Bloodline Control, Primary Panel Enhancement, Elementary Shadow Transformation.

Focusing his attention on the words “Elementary Shadow Transformation,” a piece of information entered Shi Yan’s mind.

“Can partially virtualize the body, can generate, store, and fire shadow spikes, with a maximum storage of five at a time.”

He had gained a divine skill this time. Firing shadow spikes was nothing, but the key was the virtualization. Although it could only virtualize a part of the body each time, it was enough to turn the tide in critical moments.

Shi Yan could feel that as long as he stayed in a place with shadows, he could continuously draw a mysterious energy from the surrounding shadows. This energy slowly gathered in Shi Yan’s right chest, forming a tattoo shaped like a spike.

Shi Yan suddenly turned his head to the left, and a half-meter-long black spike suddenly shot out from Shi Yan’s right chest. Its speed and power were the same as the one shot by the black shadow just now.

“Is this a shadow spike?”

Shi Yan could feel that this spike could be fired from any part of his body. At this generation speed, it would only take a few minutes to accumulate five spikes.

Shi Yan looked down at his right hand and used virtualization. His right hand, covered by the strange Blood Marks, slowly became transparent, finally stopping in a state between disappearing and not disappearing—that is, translucent.

“This feeling is truly marvelous.”

Shi Yan gently touched the virtualized area of his right hand with his left hand. Although he could still see it, his left hand passed right through, touching nothing.

“It’s a pity it can only virtualize an area the size of a right hand. This is only Elementary, yet it’s so strong…”

Shi Yan licked his lips, his gaze fixed on the dark part of the corridor.

“I wonder if there are any more, but unfortunately, the mission requires me not to go out.”

Shi Yan didn't want to try violating the mission requirements yet; he wasn't that arrogant.