The closer the barbed spike got to the observer’s brain, the higher the chance of madness.
At this moment, Wang Yiweng had already pierced the barbed spike into his own palm,
Li Chengfeng stood in front of the water tank, monitoring the movements of "Hunger," which seemed eerily still.
"Yiweng, have you received the signal from Blood Well’s Brain?"
Li Chengfeng bent over and continued observing. Ordinarily speaking, once Blood Well’s Brain connects with the bizarre creature, the creature’s movements should become chaotic.
The perception generated by the four Blood Well Spirits was unimaginably terrifying, their combined perception even capable of distorting reality around them.
Such formidable perception, once infiltrating a creature’s flesh, flowed like surging electric currents that caused its body to spasm and muscles to twitch uncontrollably.
Yet "Hunger" seemed unnervingly calm. Too calm.
Before Li Chengfeng finished his muttering, he suddenly spotted a stick of incense standing upright before him.
The incense had the character "Book" written on it.
"A message from the City God’s people? Don’t they know I’m busy?"
Li Chengfeng intended to ignore the incense, but since it blocked his view of "Hunger," he reluctantly reached out to grab it.
"Whatever reason you’re summoning me, I simply won’t go."
As the incense burned away, a message crystallized in Li Chengfeng’s mind.
"The Buddha energy of Qiye Temple has been completely siphoned off. Those crude folks of the City God suspect the Young Master?"
Since it involved Zhou Xuan, Li Chengfeng became energized. He threw on his suit jacket and instructed Wang Yiweng: "Yiweng, I’ve got some business to attend to. If you happen to receive any signals from Blood Well’s Brain while I’m gone, make sure to record them properly."
"Understood, teacher," Wang Yiweng answered.
Approximately ten minutes after Li Chengfeng left, "Hunger" suddenly began thrashing about wildly in the water tank, as though severely wounded. Blood Well’s Brain flashed with a crimson glow,
and streams of images traveled through the blood vessels, transmitting directly into Wang Yiweng’s mind.
"Qiye Temple? Why are there images of Qiye Temple in Hunger’s memories?"
Wang Yiweng pondered over the memory fragments provided by "Hunger," but suddenly, a sensation surged within him — hunger!
In front of Qiye Temple, everyone was waiting.
Si Ming and Si Yuer were waiting for Li Chengfeng to arrive. Only the higher-ups of Bone Elder could settle the issues regarding Qiye Temple and appease those feral City Gods.
Zhang Yifeng was waiting as well, waiting for Li Chengfeng to arrive with Holding Armor Incense. He preferred not to be entangled in troubles, but Qiye Temple’s predicament was no trivial matter.
However, with two superiors arriving, the matter would become one between them. All Zhang Yifeng had to do was fulfill his orders, his "short hands and short legs" rendering him unable to meddle.
"Once this mess is resolved, I’ll indulge in an early drink, order a bowl of pig stomach soup, and enjoy a couple of light sips."
Only Zhou Xuan wasn’t idly waiting.
He was engrossed in observing his own Divine Revelation Secret Realm.
After the remains of Monk Zhu Jiu’s burning corpse had been divided between the two major Secret Realms, Zhou Xuan’s Divine Revelation Secret Realm underwent a transformation.
Within the black water representing Divine Revelation, amidst the rippling waves, a white skeletal human head slowly emerged and continued ascending over time. Now, the neck was visible too,
"Could there be an entire figure rising to the surface, not just the head?"
Zhou Xuan speculated.
The transformation of the "Red Moon" representing Blood Well was even more extraordinary. The edges of the red circular moon had turned golden, as if adorned with a gilded border.
Though Zhou Xuan hadn’t yet experienced the practical benefits of Divine Revelation White Bone, the golden edging of the Red Moon was immediately perceptible to him.
The Red Moon and perception held strong correlations, so as soon as the Red Moon underwent its transformation, Zhou Xuan instinctively began testing his own perception.
As he released a portion of his perception, he instantly noticed something amiss: his perception no longer dissipated.
When he locked his aura onto an object, the exact amount of perception he extended penetrated fully into the object, without encountering any intermediate loss.
The control of perception required awareness, and one primary factor behind the terrifying power of Blood Well Spirits’ perception was their dual awareness. Dual awareness governed perception far better than singular awareness.
Strong control over perception allowed one to minimize dissipation when releasing perception.
Zhou Xuan’s perception exhibited no dissipation whatsoever.
"It feels like there’s a layer of outer clothing wrapped around my perception!"
The presence of this "outer clothing" prevented his perception from dissipating.
Zhou Xuan felt a faint excitement begin to build within him. This layer vastly elevated the potency of his perception.
But that wasn’t what truly thrilled Zhou Xuan.
His perception had already earned the approval of many prominent experts — strong, exceptionally strong.
But the leap from exceptional strength to an even greater level was akin to improving from a score of ninety-eight to ninety-nine: progress, yes, but without an elemental breakthrough.
The source of Zhou Xuan’s real excitement,
was instead the "outer clothing" itself.
Because Zhou Xuan, with his exceptional perception, had developed an understanding of perception surpassing that of many spirits and divine beings with higher incense-fire levels.
In his understanding, when perception was released to probe another entity, it also exposed the user themselves.
Such exposure occurred because the opposing entity also possessed perception. When their perception collided with Zhou Xuan’s, a ripple was formed,
and that ripple would inevitably be detected, leading to Zhou Xuan’s exposure.
If perception was used to probe ordinary humans, their perception was so feeble it could practically be disregarded; thus, no ripple would form.
So, using perception to probe ordinary humans carried no risk of exposure.