"Taishang Lingling, transcend your lonely souls, all ghosts and spirits, all four born are blessed!"
The moment the numerous ghastly creatures pounced, Xu Mu recited a Taoist scripture. From his body as the origin, several golden lights imbued with Taoist seals burst forth.
Those ghastly creatures that came into contact with the golden light instantly emitted thick black smoke, sizzling like flesh being seared by fire.
"This thing is too tough, I can't dig it out!"
Xu Mu grunted softly. He could feel his hunting knife clearly touching the totem Charles had mentioned, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pry the totem from the ground.
Even with all his might, the hunting knife, which had been reforged by Charles using Earth's methods, was nearing its breaking point under his exertion. Logically, even a large tree should have trembled, but this totem remained unharmed!
"Are you an idiot?" Charles's voice echoed in Xu Mu's mind. "Vilitan must have set up a restriction. Your knife may seem to have touched the totem, but in reality, you've only been touching his psychic energy shield."
"Otherwise, why do you think he dared to place a third-tier anomalous object so brazenly here? If he hadn't set up some barriers around it, it would have been discovered long ago!"
*Crack!*
Upon hearing this, Xu Mu decisively backhanded the skeleton that had just crawled out of the ground, his face anxious:
"So, what do we do? The Night of Strange Events is almost here!"
Charles pondered for a moment:
"It's actually not that difficult. You can think of this restriction as a wall."
"As long as you're strong enough to push this wall down, the restriction will naturally be broken."
Hearing this, Xu Mu's veins bulged on his forehead.
Push down a wall?
Although he was strong, this was a defense set up by a third-tier psychic. How could he, a "psychic" who hadn't even awakened his powers, break through it?
And even if he could push the wall down, he would have dug it out by now!
"Don't worry, this restriction will weaken over time. If it were in its full state, how could this pollution be released?"
"Actually, as long as you find the right moment, just as it's about to automatically disable its defenses, destroy the totem, and the crisis will naturally be resolved."
Charles calculated and then provided a detailed data analysis:
"Currently, the speed at which this restriction is dissolving is showing a percentage increase."
"Considering the environmental pollution, air humidity, wind speed, gravity, and other factors... at precisely 11:46:23, it will be your best moment to act."
Xu Mu's face darkened instantly upon hearing this.
He couldn't possibly carry a clock with him everywhere. To be precise to the second, was Charles treating him like a robot?
"Do a good deed and see it through. Just tell me ten seconds in advance when the time comes."
Xu Mu crouched low, continuously fending off the approaching ghastly creatures, covered in blood and sweat-soaked clothes, his chest heaving, his face pale.
Even with his excellent stamina, under such high-intensity combat, he was nearing his breaking point.
If it weren't for the continuous replenishment from the psychic energy repairing his injuries, Xu Mu would have long collapsed on the altar of Cemetery Mountain, and it would be a big question whether he could even return to the village.
"I apologize, Host, I cannot inform you ten seconds in advance."
Xu Mu's heart surged with anger when he heard Charles's calm voice. He thought Charles was having another episode, but he still patiently restrained himself and asked in a gentle tone:
"Why!"
"Damn it, you eat my food and live in my place, what's wrong with helping me? At worst, you can help him tonight too, that's fair!"
Charles, who had been cursed at, sighed:
"Actually, what I mean is, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that the time remaining until 11:46:23 is less than ten seconds."
"Oh, it's time for the countdown. Five, four, three, two..."
Charles calmly counted down in Xu Mu's mind. Xu Mu felt an icy chill surge straight to the top of his skull.
"Charles, you bastard!"
Xu Mu cursed under his breath, then spun around and stopped. He gripped the handle of his hunting knife with both hands and plunged it into the ground with all his might.
"One."
In the final second of Charles's countdown, Xu Mu's hunting knife pierced the earth, landing precisely on the totem's defense.
"Crack!"
There was no sound of shattering glass as he had imagined. Under Xu Mu's powerful strike, this weak restriction shattered completely.
*Whoosh!*
Instantly, the restriction was broken, and Xu Mu was enveloped by the black mist that surged towards him.
The air density skyrocketed, and countless psychic energies, or rather, dark energies, devoured and assimilated everything around them, making it difficult for Xu Mu to breathe.
The sensation was akin to being submerged in thick honey, and Xu Mu felt as if every cell in his body was being occupied by this sticky substance.
"This totem is a third-tier anomalous object. Your knife is not enough to destroy it."
"The only way is to use you as a vessel to absorb all this overflowing psychic energy. The source of pollution will naturally cease to exist."
Charles observed the Iwuu totem through the large pit on the ground and reached this conclusion.
"Are you kidding me!"
Xu Mu bit his tongue, forcing himself to stay conscious, then held his breath and forcefully pried the totem from the ground.
"So small?"
Xu Mu held the Iwuu totem in his hand. It was oval-shaped and not thick, only about half the size of a Demon Extermination Division identification card.
Intricate patterns and figures were carved onto it, resembling demonic kings from myths.
"Iwuu Demon God, one of the seventy-two demon gods worshipped by the Golden Horde."
"Like other anomalous objects, this totem is only a part of it. Collect them all, and you will gain corresponding opportunities."
Charles spoke softly, gazing at the totem in Xu Mu's palm.
"You know quite a lot!" Xu Mu replied grumpily, while simultaneously doing his best to absorb the psychic energy released from the totem. His entire body was filled with darkness, and even the blood flowing in his veins seemed to have been replaced.
The darkness in the surrounding space rapidly disappeared, absorbed into his body, and then transported through his meridians and blood vessels to a mysterious area in his lower abdomen.
If an explanation were needed, Charles would tell Xu Mu that this location was called the Dantian, a mysterious area often mentioned in ancient Earth texts.
However, after only five seconds, Xu Mu's body reached its limit.
His Dantian was saturated, and no more psychic energy could enter. It was like a water vat filled to the brim; the slightest movement from Xu Mu would cause countless energies to flow out of his Dantian and then leak out from the pores on his skin.
Xu Mu looked down at his body, which was radiating black mist from head to toe. The scene was as if he were a walking, human-shaped source of pollution. If the Demon Extermination Division saw him like this, they would probably execute him on the spot as a ghastly creature!
"It's overflowing, think of something!"
Xu Mu swallowed a mouthful of saliva and then covered the Iwuu totem with his hand, as if trying to stop its diffusion. But this was clearly useless, so Xu Mu threw the problem back to Charles.
"Who said it's overflowing? It's just that you're unwilling to take more in."
Charles said dismissively.
This much psychic energy was nothing. It wasn't even enough for the "White Eyes" to use their powers once. How could Xu Mu, as the owner of this body, not be able to absorb it all?
"A first-tier psychic can only absorb a limited amount of psychic energy, but this amount is merely a drop in the ocean for a second or even a third-tier psychic."
Charles said.
"You mean, you want me to use this opportunity to directly break through to second-tier?"
Xu Mu was somewhat stunned. He had only become a psychic an hour ago, and he hadn't even awakened his powers yet. Was it too fast to break through to second-tier?
"Don't forget, this body is not being used by you alone," Charles said meaningfully, looking at Xu Mu. "You've never considered that, what you call a breakthrough, you've actually already broken through."
"So, the advancement, the limitations of a first-tier psychic, are all self-imposed."
"Perhaps, you were meant to be second-tier all along?"
Xu Mu's expression suddenly froze upon hearing Charles's words.
Right, a breakthrough could only happen once. And that guy had already broken through using his body!
"Although your body's genetic sequence changes when souls switch, and you can't fully utilize everything of his, you are ultimately sharing a body. You can't be completely separated into two individuals."
"Host, don't limit yourself. From now on, believe that you are second-tier, believe that you possess psychic powers."
"Believe I am second-tier?"
Xu Mu opened his palm, gazed at the terrifying image on the totem, and narrowed his eyes.
He had indeed pondered this question, but it had yielded no results. If that guy had awakened his powers using his body and broken through realms, would the improvement be his, or his own?
Or perhaps, both?
Xu Mu had actually considered this question before, but the answer he came up with was that everything between them was independent and separate. That guy had monstrous cultivation abilities, and he couldn't benefit from them at all.
However, recent events and Charles's words had given him new ideas.
"So, there is still some connection between him and me."
Xu Mu said calmly.
"Like when the infant ghost attacked me, that instinctive sword strike was actually a muscle memory formed from his countless hours of sword practice at night."
"I've never touched a gun, yet in the training at the Heavenly Palace, my shooting was almost always a perfect score."
"My logical reasoning is poor, and I have no talent for drawing... so any abilities I've demonstrated are thanks to him."
Xu Mu spoke as he absorbed the dark energy.
This time, he was like a vortex suddenly appearing in the deep sea; all the darkness in the surrounding space could not escape.
He was like the pole of a magnet, an endless black hole, consuming everything without a limit.
...