Zhou Ming sneered and stood up.
"First, I am not a member of your Yan Huang Legion, and I have no obligation to report the mission's progress to you."
"Second, from the moment I entered here until now, you haven't even introduced yourself or asked for my name, which shows that you don't really care about finding Brother Yang and the others. How do I know what your relationship with them is?"
"Third, I did think about joining the Yan Huang Legion before, but now I don't. Goodbye."
The man's movements paused, and he looked up again.
"Don't you want us to find Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man? Your relationship with them should be good, right? Do you know that they might be in danger right now, and because your message was a little late, you missed the best time to save them?"
"You should find someone else to do moral blackmail." Zhou Ming scoffed and directly chose to leave the Yan Huang Legion's space.
Swish! Zhou Ming's figure disappeared from the office.
Looking at the empty space before him, the man's expression turned gloomy… Zhou Ming returned to the Public Trading Space, and a hint of worry immediately appeared on his disdainful face.
"They both disappeared at the same time? Is it because they were searching for those three extraordinary items?"
"Pen of Destiny, Horn of the Demon, Stone of Death… Just hearing the names makes them sound complicated!"
"I hope they're okay. However, although that guy just now was arrogant, he was right. Yang Zhisheng and the others are very likely in danger. If the Yan Huang Legion can obtain information about that mission, they might really be able to find their whereabouts."
As lives were at stake, Zhou Ming certainly wouldn't genuinely hide information. He simply exited the Public Trading Space and returned to his personal space.
"Eh?" Zhou Ming looked at the clock on the wall with some surprise.
The time displayed there was the same as the time before he entered the Public Trading Space.
"After entering the Public Trading Space, is the time here also static?"
Zhou Ming realized that the flow of time in different areas of the Main God Space seemed to be different.
"After finishing the important business, I'll immediately return to the Main World to check!"
He opened the exchange list and searched through it, quickly finding what he needed.
Reincarnation Letter: A special letter for Reincarnators, only usable in the Main God Space. It can transmit information recorded on the letter to other Reincarnators. It can be designated for an individual, team, or legion. Exchange requires 100 reward points.
Zhou Ming directly exchanged for a Reincarnation Letter and recorded the experiences of Yang Zhisheng and Yu Man from the previous mission, particularly emphasizing the big explosion at the Cronus Organization headquarters and their mission change.
Then, he designated the Yan Huang Legion and sent the letter out.
With the Main God as the sender, there was no need to worry about lost mail.
This was all Zhou Ming could do.
After completing this task, the purpose of this trip was essentially achieved. Zhou Ming did not linger any longer and directly left the Main God Space, returning to the Main World.
Current remaining reward points: 3979.
Returning to the Main World, he was still in his small room.
Before Zhou Ming could react, the pure Soul Crystal in his hand suddenly emitted a soft white light.
Within the white light, the rhomboid crystal gradually deformed, slowly transforming into the shape of a ladybug, crystal clear as if carved from crystal.
At the same time, a mysterious and profound power enveloped him, permeated him, and then extracted certain things from his body.
His power was declining, his perception was weakening, and the energy circulation he had just built within his body was disrupted and dissipated.
His Bloodline was being stripped away.
Although he felt no pain, the sense of loss brought by the decline in power caused a torment named "loss," filling his heart.
The Bloodline that was being stripped did not disappear; instead, it condensed within his body, and under the influence of that mysterious and profound power, it was transforming into another existence.
At the same time, a piece of information automatically appeared in Zhou Ming's mind.
[Forest Spirit Gu, Rank Five, can transform into a Forest Spirit, increasing the recovery speed of true essence and the healing speed of one's injuries, and slightly enhancing the power of Wood Path Gu worms.]
"What a joke?" Resisting the sense of loss and weakness from deep within his heart, and feeling the unformed, chaotic state of the Gu worm within his body, a cold, severe sneer appeared on Zhou Ming's face.
"Without even saying hello, you just steal my things and then give me something I can't use at all. What do you take me for? Your tool for acquiring Laws from other worlds?"
"Main God, send me back!"
Swish!
Zhou Ming's figure suddenly disappeared from the small room.
The mysterious power that enveloped Zhou Ming, due to his sudden disappearance, left a large void, and immediately surged in from all directions towards the center, stirring together and becoming a chaotic mess.
In the Main God Space, Zhou Ming, who had left not long ago, returned again. As soon as his figure appeared, he fell to the ground, looking inward at his body, fully sensing the Gu worm that was in a state of being almost formed but not yet formed.
The mysterious power that had invaded his body, having its source cut off, instantly lost its spirituality and entered a stagnant state within Zhou Ming's body.
At this moment, as soon as Zhou Ming's spirit delved in, it immediately came into contact with that mysterious power. Some unpredictable change occurred, and he easily gained control of that mysterious power.
Leveraging the profoundness of that power, Zhou Ming's spirit ascended step by step, instantly rising to a state of supreme and distant clarity. Some abilities—no, it should be said, instincts—emerged in his mind.
He didn't know what that mysterious power was, but he knew what he could do with it.
He reached out and gently pressed and pulled at his chest, and a ball of light was drawn out from his chest. It was the unfinished Gu worm refined from the Forest Spirit Bloodline.
Zhou Ming held the ball of light in his left palm, facing upwards, and pointed his right index finger at the ball of light. Above this unfinished Gu worm, three blurry light figures appeared.
Three pieces of information emanated from these three blurry light figures respectively.
[Forest Spirit Gu, Rank Five, can transform into a Forest Spirit, increasing the recovery speed of true essence and the healing speed of one's injuries, and slightly enhancing the power of Wood Path Gu worms.]
[Forest Spirit Gu, Rank Five, can change the user's race to the Tree Spirit Race. A one-time consumable Gu.]
[Forest Spirit Gu, Rank Five, can enhance a Gu Master's Aptitude, raising Grade B Aptitude to Grade A Aptitude.]
These were the three directions for Gu Refinement, formed by combining the Forest Spirit Bloodline and Zhou Ming's will.
"Heh." A faint smile appeared on Zhou Ming's face.
He reached out and gently tapped the third blurry light figure again.
Immediately, the other two blurry light figures burst like soap bubbles, all merging into the ball of light.
At the same time, the mysterious power Zhou Ming controlled also surged into the ball of light, until all the power had rushed into the ball of light, not a single trace remaining.
Within the ball of light, a Gu worm quickly came into being.
Subsequently, the ball of light dissipated, and the Gu worm, which had no independent consciousness, was grasped by Zhou Ming and easily refined.
The dust settled.
Aside from the Human Race, the beings of the Gu World also included Stranger (Xenohumans), which are intelligent beings of other races.
There were beastmen, Stone men, Smallman, merfolk, Inkmen, mushroom men, Eggmen, Snowmen, Feather Folk, Hairy Men, and Dragonmen. Among them, only the Dragonmen were created Acquiredly by the Eight-Cycle mighty Dragon Duke, while the others were Innate.
If Zhou Ming had chosen the second Gu Refinement direction and used it on himself, then the Gu World would have gained a new race—the Tree Spirit Race—although the entire race would consist of Zhou Ming alone.
Zhou Ming would also be the second existence in the entire Gu World, after Dragon Duke, to Acquiredly create a new race.
However, this held no meaning for Zhou Ming.
The Tree Spirit Race and the Tree Spirit Bloodline were completely different things. There was no energy circulation, no elemental Incarnation, and no potential for upgrades—after becoming a Tree Spirit Race member, one could not further upgrade the Tree Spirit Bloodline with the Main God.
As for the first type, it was not even worth considering; that Rank Five Gu worm, even if given to Zhou Ming now, he couldn't use it.
Therefore, Zhou Ming's only choice was the third type.
Although he sacrificed almost all the abilities of the entire Bloodline, in exchange for raising his Aptitude to Grade A, Zhou Ming still felt it was worth it.
"Indeed, this damned Gu World has tied me to the identity of a Gu Master, and I can't break free. I can only go all the way to the end!"
Zhou Ming sighed deeply and used the newly refined Gu worm.
Within his Aperture, boundless turbulent waves surged once more, and the sea level rapidly rose.
Sixty-eight percent, sixty-nine percent… The true essence seawater rose extremely fast, reaching eighty percent in a blink of an eye, already meeting the minimum standard for Grade A Aptitude, yet its momentum remained unchecked, continuing to surge fiercely.
Eighty-three percent, eighty-four percent, eighty-five percent… Finally, the true essence sea surface settled at eighty-eight percent before gradually calming down.
This was the true settling of the dust!
No, it wasn't!
This was not the end; on the contrary, it was the beginning.
Zhou Ming sat on the ground, looking up at the Main God's great light sphere.
"Why me?" he asked.
After returning to the Main God Space, one's series of encounters, as long as one wasn't too foolish, could lead to some reasonable conjectures.
Clearly, the Main God wanted to obtain the Laws of the Gu World, so it offered a high price to acquire Gu worms, using profit to drive Zhou Ming to collect Gu worms for It.
The Gu World also needed the Laws of other worlds, and it also started with Zhou Ming, but Its methods were much more overbearing than the Main God's.
Anything Zhou Ming brought back that didn't belong to the Gu World was twisted into Gu worms by It, thereby acquiring the information about the Laws of other worlds contained within them.
In this process, Zhou Ming was merely a chess piece, a channel for two-way Law transmission, a tool.
Both the Gu World and the Main God were using him as a tool; the only difference was that one's method was gentler, and the other's was more overbearing, but in essence, there was no difference.
So Zhou Ming wanted to resist. While the Gu worm in his body was not yet refined, he was willing to pay a huge price, even if it meant wasting 1000 reward points, even if he lost his Bloodline, he had to return to the Main God Space to prevent the Gu World from obtaining the Laws of the Forest Spirit Bloodline.
However, what happened after he returned to the Main God Space was completely beyond his expectations.
Zhou Ming had never imagined that such a thing would happen—that the mysterious power from the Gu World could actually be used by him to help him refine Gu.
Being in the Main God Space, Zhou Ming naturally assumed immediately that this sudden event was the Main God's doing.
However, it was clear that this question would also not receive any confirmation.
Zhou Ming sat in silence for a while, then suddenly chuckled, a relaxed expression reappearing on his face. He clapped his hands and stood up.
"No matter what, being chosen by you all, the benefits gained always outweigh the costs. There's no need for me to wallow in self-pity and act like a petty child."
"Since you both chose me, such a good opportunity, I have no reason not to seize it!"
"Main God, send me back!"
The scenery changed again, and Zhou Ming, who had just left, returned to his small room once more.
"You made me waste 1000 reward points for nothing; I must get it back from you all in the future!"
Zhou Ming muttered fiercely, picking up the Gu worm refined from the pure Soul Crystal.
[Soul Crystal Gu, Rank Three, can strengthen the Soul and increase the Gu Master's Soul foundation. Can only be used once per day. A one-time consumable Gu.]
Zhou Ming expressionlessly refined this Gu worm and stored it in his Aperture.
It was a common occurrence.