The Ascension of Contracted Spirits

Chapter 57 - 56: Key of the Grey Moon_1

In the heart of the gray sun.

The Desert Witch, who was listening to Ye Hanjun, became more radiant, even shrouded under the dusky glow from beginning to end.

"So, isn’t this also an excellent opportunity to comprehend new skills?"

"After all, the more we try, the easier it is to stimulate changes in our bloodline."

"Hard to say." Ye Hanjun paused, "The pseudo-body can’t be perfect."

"For example, when facing the slaughter of the Lizard People, your inner fury ignites, and you surpass your body’s limits, unlocking some of the hidden power of your bloodline."

"But in the process of the Death Challenge, this isn’t your real body, it can’t replicate the overly subtle energy fluctuations, so such phenomenon won’t occur here."

"Correspondingly, participating in the Death Challenge, the difficulty of acquiring skills through a pseudo-body is not less than that of the real world."

"I named this drawback ’Numbness of the Void’, which exactly cancels out the advantages brought by fearlessness of death."

Ye Hanjun expressed logically, sternly and cautiously:

"In the final analysis, the ’Death Challenge’ is a training session in another space."

"Its main function is to hone your combat skills and mental fortitude, and maybe just improve the rapport between a Patron and the Fond Spirit, don’t expect too much."

"Hmm...I have a question," Huazhu curiously asked, "Are there only black turtles as combat avatars?"

If the only opponent for practice is a black turtle.

Over time, being killed repetitively by turtles.

This continuous experience indeed casts a shadow on a Witch’s life.

"That’s unexpected." Ye Hanjun’s smile was a bit awkward. "I stewed a turtle a few days ago, thinking it would benefit my health and improve my meals."

"I simply threw it in the pot, lit a fire, added some seasoning."

"I didn’t kill it myself, the boiling pot did."

"Who could have imagined that my ability would still record it, and hold me as the culprit..."

"..."

Huazhu paused, seemingly mustering up the courage to ask a question.

——Could it be that the Shield Armor Turtle didn’t want to live, and it jumped into the pot itself?

This irrefutable logical relationship, if you didn’t kill it, who else could it be?

Moreover, where did the meat of the Shield Armor Turtle go?

If I remember correctly, the soup and meat have all gone into the Master’s belly, right...

Considering Ye Hanjun’s prestige and identity, Huazhu decided to keep silent.

But he kept in mind: The Master’s physique is quite weak, and if he can get high-quality ingredients, it should be really beneficial....

"In any case! Once you have the ability to go out and hunt, and kill more prey, the types of combat avatars will naturally be enriched."

"For now, you only have the Shield Armor Turtle as a company, and they are all black, temperamental, and all are of Mud-cast fetus · Small Achievement level ... kill one and two will appear, kill two and three will appear, they will keep coming..."

"I understand."

Huazhu, who had already experienced it once, nodded his head seriously.

Whether it’s honing skills or fighting different enemies, the key lies in different ways of adapting.

Let’s start by working hard to defeat the Shield Armor Turtle, and try to kill all three in the third round to advance to the fourth round...

"By the way, you can acquire a pseudo-body every 24 hours to activate a Death Challenge."

"There’s no time limit each time."

"However, during the challenge, once it’s perceived that there’s no clear winner or if the challenger is deliberately stalling or combatting negatively, the combat avatars will automatically strengthen. Their goal is to knock you down as fast as possible, at all costs."

"Keep this in mind."

Ye Hanjun solemnly advised:

"In the real world, the fiercest predators have natural enemies. When there is absolutely no hope of victory, it is natural to retreat."

"It’s different with combat avatars. They are very extreme."

"I hope that you, in the future, no matter how much combat experience you’ve gained here."

"Once back in reality, remember to distinguish between practice and the difference between actual combat, don’t blindly become arrogant or overly cautious to the point of sitting on your hands."

"I will heed the Master’s teachings."

Huazhu bowed, placing his right claw on his chest, mimicking the human gesture of respect.

"Leave with me, and prepare to exit here."

"But before that——"

Ye Hanjun slightly narrowed his eyes, looking into the distance.

Just at the outer ring of the gray sun, three massive gray crescent moons were slowly turning, presenting an unchanging and stable posture.

Between the lines of his composed speech, a gray glimmer shone on Ye Hanjun’s forehead, and a miniature gray sun emerged above him.

A tremendous gravitational force exploded in an instant, shaking the three crescent moons.

Three incredibly bright gray beams shot out from the inside, targeting the floating position of Ye Hanjun.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The world-shattering beams harshly hit Ye Hanjun, but they didn’t cause any harm.

Huazhu covered his eyes, struggling to look through the gap between his claws. Vaguely, he saw three gray light clusters, floating above the Master’s palm, like three gray orbs rotating at a constant speed.

"This is the Key of the Grey Moon, it can be considered as one of my active abilities."

Emerging signs from his brow, Ye Hanjun’s aura was completely different, seeming even deeper, more ancient, and more elusive.

He lowered his head, watching the three light clusters slowly shrink, their light gradually dimming.

In the end, what fell into his palm were surprisingly three three-inch-long gray keys.

Judging from their auras, these three keys definitely came from the same origin as the one that Ye Hanjun had previously pulled out from between his brows.

The only difference is that one of them is engraved with a mysterious, ancient grey sun; it is profoundly mysterious and fascinating.

Another one is engraved with a grey moon that bears the shape of a crescent. On first glance, it has an incomplete beauty to it. But instinctively, it doesn’t seem to hold a candle to the grey sun.

In fact...Huazhu wasn’t sure if it was just her illusion.

She felt that the key representing the moon seemed to tremble in the presence of Ye Hanjun.

It was not excitement; it was fear.

Was it the long-gone wanderer finally returning home?

Or the neglected concubine finally regaining favor?

A subject seeing his king? A soldier facing his general?

...

It gave off a very strange feeling, which was indescribable and indefinable.

Ye Hanjun remained silent, playing with the three keys as if they were walnuts.

As he squeezed them with force, the three keys dispersed into a foggy state.

At this point, the miniature grey sun between his brows released a faint glow, and within the circle of the grey sun, three grey crescent moons gradually appeared, each stock-still in relation to the others.

"Let’s go, let’s get out of here first," said Ye Hanjun.

He reached for his forehead, awkwardly pulling out the key in the middle.

This time, he didn’t need to insert the key into a hole.

The Gate of Life and Death of this world was too large; just the hole alone was spacious enough to host hundreds of villas without feeling cramped.

Ye Hanjun merely aimed at the grey-white stone door from afar and made a simple motion of turning the key.

The next moment, the grey void, like a savage beast unleashing its fury, instantly devoured him and the Desert Witch.

All their senses were blocked, they couldn’t see anything, hear anything. Subconsciously, they felt as though they were in some sort of sticky tunnel, sliding swiftly towards an unknown direction.

...

"Phew —"

Inside the mechanical training room filled with the sounds of clanging targets, the rigid and immobile Ye Hanjun suddenly exhaled a murky breath.

He subconsciously straightened up his back, scanning his alert eyes around him, then balled his fist, kicked his leg, twisted his neck, split his leg, tiptoed...making a series of bizarre movements.

"How miraculous..."

"It’s kind of like the legendary ’spirit’s avatar’, but the body without a soul remains unchanged, there’s no backlash or anything..."

Ye Hanjun confirmed that he had become himself again.

He was not like Huazhu. Huazhu replicated her physical state when she entered the door. Without reminders, she couldn’t even sense that she had switched her body.

Yet when he was in the Gate of Life and Death, he constantly felt a sense of unreality, as if he could control everything at his will.

Now he no longer felt like that.

He could now feel fatigue, weakness, and powerlessness; his heart would occasionally ache, leading him to cough up small amounts of fresh blood.

The familiar formula, the familiar taste.

That was more like it.

"Yiye?!"

The little tadpole inside the water bottle on the ground, which had been motionless, suddenly came back to life.

It sensed that the "game was over", and GuaGua and Little Black Hat had reverted from their lifeless states back to their original forms. Being adept at mimicking others, it naturally didn’t need to keep playing the game.

With a slightly excited cheer, GuaGua poked its head out of the mouth of the bottle, widened its small rice-grain-like eyes as much as possible, and then spat out water habitually to express its enthusiasm.

"Huh?"

Ye Hanjun’s eyelids twitched, and he finally noticed the source of the subtle anomalies.

His gaze locked onto the small tadpole, and he was surprised to discover that the body of the originally pure white tadpole, which was completely free of impurities, was rapidly returning from its semi-transparent state back to normal.

What...what’s happening?

An outrageous thought suddenly popped into his mind, and without hesitation, Ye Hanjun decisively activated his active ability: Talent Identification.

...

[Chaos Spirit Pattern]: 88 patterns "Immovable Like a Rock", 12 patterns "Spitting Water", 16 patterns "Floating Bubble", 55 patterns "Water Invisibility Technique".

...

"The fourth skill?"

"Turtle turtle, it’s indeed the Water Invisibility Technique, the one with 55 patterns?"

Ye Hanjun opened his mouth slightly, as if he had been struck by lightning.

His gaze faintly intersected with that of the small tadpole a dozen meters away; although its eyes were small, under his meticulous observation, the innocent, cute, and guiltless look on its face truly left him speechless.

"Could it be...it has mastered another skill?"

Huazhu also confirmed through simple testing that this was her real self in reality.

Her perceptive abilities were not as astonishing as Ye Hanjun’s.

Moreover, the pure white tadpole had always remained detached from the world.

Unless it took the initiative to greet her, Huazhu was unable to instantly pinpoint the little tadpole’s location once her focus was a little scattered. She needed to channel her focus once again to discern its location carefully.

"It’s only been a few days, and it’s already mastered four skills?"

"Also, the Water Invisibility Technique is a skill that few clay bodies can comprehend, let alone the Water Attribute Fond Spirits."

"If you turn invisible in the water, coupled with your innately low presence, who could ever catch you in the future when you arrive without a trace and leave without a trace?"