Blood splattered Tian Lei’s robe and face.
Smoke curled from the shattered table.
The other captives screamed in horror.
Tian Lei wiped the blood off calmly.
"Hmm. Too fast," he muttered. "I need to do it slower."
He sounded like he was adjusting cooking instructions, not experimenting on human beings.
He didn’t blink.
He didn’t look disturbed.
He didn’t feel anything.
Not when the boy died.
Not even when the captives started crying and begging again.
Tian Lei’s face stayed neutral.
After all, he had no mercy for people like this.
His own girl the one he was going to marry had been a victim of a rapist like them in — so watching this scum blow up didn’t move him at all.
He sighed and snapped his fingers.
A golden wave cleaned the blood off the table.
He pointed at the next cage.
"You. Get out."
The next young master shook so hard he could barely stand.
"No... no... please..."
Tian Lei grabbed him by the collar and threw him onto the table with one hand.
"Stop crying," he said flatly. "If you don’t explode, you might walk out of here stronger than before."
He opened another box.
Another essence core glowed inside.
Tian Lei smiled faintly.
"Let’s try a slower infusion rate."
The runes brightened again as the second experiment began.
The red glow of the second essence core slowly sank into the young master’s chest.
For a moment, it looked stable.
The boy screamed, the runes flickered, the infusion slowed—
Then—
BOOM!
A second explosion echoed through the cave.
Blood sprayed across the stone walls. The entire table cracked in half. Bits of bone scattered across the floor like gravel.
Tian Lei shielded only his eyes with his hand.
"Still too fast," he muttered. "Even when I used only thirty percent of the core."
The surviving captives were sobbing nonstop now.
One fainted.
One threw up.
One was praying to every ancestor he knew.
Tian Lei ignored all of them.
He snapped his fingers again, cleaning the table.
"Next."
Again and again he failed.
He looked at his storage ring.
Inside, he had only two essence cores left.
He also had only two young masters left with strong enough bodies to survive even a partial infusion.
Tian Lei sighed.
"I can’t waste these last two. I need better control."
He tapped the table, thinking.
"The last one reached ninety-one percent synchronization before exploding... If I can hold that level steady, I might actually succeed."
He opened the next box.
A faintly glowing blue essence core floated above his palm.
He looked at the final two captives, both trembling like leaves.
"Relax," Tian Lei said casually. "One of you might survive."
He picked the stronger one by the collar and threw him onto the table like a sack of grain.
The boy screamed, but the golden chains locked him down instantly.
Tian Lei placed his hand over the core and muttered:
"Slow drip... micro-infusion... let’s see if this works."
The runes lit up.
A thin thread of blue essence slowly entered the young master’s chest.
Very slowly.
One percent.
Two percent.
Four percent.
The boy’s body shook violently, but he didn’t explode.
Tian Lei leaned closer, eyes glowing.
"Good. Stay stable."
Seven percent.
Ten percent.
Twenty percent.
The boy’s veins glowed blue, his mouth foaming slightly.
But he was still alive.
Thirty percent.
Sixty percent.
Eighty percent.
The core trembled. The runes flickered.
The captive screamed and thrashed violently.
Tian Lei held him down with one hand, calm as ever.
"Ninety percent... ninety-one..."
The boy convulsed.
But didn’t explode.
Tian Lei’s smile grew.
"Ninety-two."
He nodded.
"Looks like this one might actually—"
The table shook violently.
The boy’s spine arched like a bow.
Tian Lei paused.
"—survive?"
He narrowed his eyes and prepared the stabilizing rune.
This attempt... might actually work.
Tian Lei pressed the stabilizing rune down.
For a moment, everything went still.
The runes glowed... the essence core dimmed... the boy’s eyes rolled back...
Ninety-three percent.
Ninety-seven percent.
Ninety-nine percent.
Tian Lei leaned closer.
"Come on... hold it..."
For a full three seconds, the infusion looked perfect.
Then—
BOOOOM!!
The boy exploded like an overfilled balloon.
Blood, bones, and blue essence splattered the ceiling and walls. The whole table was blown apart. Even the formation flickered under the shock.
Tian Lei didn’t move.
He just sighed and wiped a bit of blood off his cheek.
"...Ninety-nine percent. So close."
He looked into his storage ring.
One last essence core.
One last young master.
He grabbed the final captive by the neck and threw him onto a fresh table.
The boy screamed. Tian Lei ignored it.
"Don’t embarrass yourself," he said, fixing the restraints. "The last guy reached ninety-nine percent. If you do worse, that’s pathetic."
He lifted the final essence core—this one glowing with a deeper, richer color. Higher quality.
Tian Lei cracked his knuckles.
"Last chance."
He started the infusion.
This time he controlled it perfectly—slow, steady, stable. The runes didn’t flicker even once.
Ten percent.
Thirty percent.
Fifty percent.
The boy twitched but didn’t break.
Seventy percent.
Eighty-five percent.
Ninety percent.
Tian Lei’s eyes narrowed with focus.
Ninety-four.
Ninety-seven.
Ninety-nine.
The boy’s body trembled violently—
but did not explode.
A blinding blue light burst from his chest. His veins lit up. His skin cracked—then healed instantly.
The core dissolved completely.
The boy gasped for air.
Tian Lei grinned.
"...Success."
The young master had survived. His bloodline had changed completely.
Tian Lei stood and stretched his arms.
"Good. That means I can inject essence cores into myself too."
He looked at his hand, a spark of excitement showing.
"After all, with the physique I have now... it’s almost guaranteed to work."
His red eyes gleamed with ambition.
"And once I absorb one of these cores... my strength will rise even faster."
The cave shook as the last captive whimpered.
Tian Lei didn’t even look at him.
Right now, only one thing mattered—
He was ready to start experimenting on himself.