Chapter 139: Chapter 139: It’s Fine to Lack a Qi Cultivation Method, the Enemy Has One

"Make your move!" Yu Pai roared, but they couldn’t find their target.

At that moment, Pan Xuan completely lost control. His skin turned a bizarre, fiery red, and his face twisted in a ferocious snarl as he let out a furious roar.

THUD!

Before he could even react, a black shadow smashed right into him.

The impact sent him flying. He was motionless when he landed, and it was impossible to tell if he was dead or just unconscious.

Then, the black shadow swept past again.

With each pass, another member of the action team was left dead or unconscious.

Yu Pai’s body trembled. He could sense the strangeness emanating from their opponent.

His power was called the Perception Force Field. It worked by converting his own Spirit into a constant force field.

Yet, while he could see his opponent with his naked eyes, there was no reaction from his Perception Force Field whatsoever. It was as if he was facing an invisible life form.

"You’re the last one."

A mechanical voice sounded in Yu Pai’s ear. A sharp pain bloomed at the back of his head, and his consciousness sank into darkness.

He knew he had been captured alive.

His last thought was that this violator was far too dangerous. They were completely out of their league.

After dealing with Yu Pai, Qi Suian fitted each person with a life support device before tossing them into his Subspace Pocket.

The entire process was seamless and performed with extreme proficiency.

’These people don’t just have special abilities and practice a Qi Cultivation Method,’ Qi Suian thought. ’They’ve also been modified.’

Qi Suian saw the difference at a glance. This wasn’t physical modification, but rather something based on specific knowledge.

Based on his preliminary data, it was a modification designed to enhance potential and increase growth efficiency.

’Some things aren’t necessarily stronger just because they’re older.’

’It’s like medical technology. You can’t just say the old ways were better than the new.’

’Modern people stand on the shoulders of their predecessors, constantly advancing. One day, they will become new giants, not just rest on the laurels of the ancients.’

’If things continue like this, the Cold Energy Monsters will probably soon be trembling before the power of humanity.’

’The main thing is that the survivors this time started with too great of an advantage.’

’Unfortunately, this advantage only exists in the Cold Winter World. The moment they leave it, all their advantages will likely become a burden.’

Qi Suian also saw the flaws in these individuals.

Just like the Cold Energy Monsters, they were highly dependent on the cold energy environment.

The concentration and temperature hadn’t even reached their peak yet, and they were already unable to leave it. If they were to travel to other Doomsday Worlds, they’d be crippled on the spot.

Furthermore, without the corresponding energy, they wouldn’t be able to practice their Qi Cultivation Method either.

It wasn’t that there was no solution. They could cultivate their Qi Cultivation Method to the maximum level before leaving the Cold Winter World, and then abandon the special powers granted by the cold energy.

It would be like keeping the stats but discarding the other extra effects.

Actually, saying they’d discard the extra effects isn’t entirely accurate. The effects would still exist, but without a cold energy environment, they couldn’t be activated at all.

’The Cold Winter World’s Extraordinary system has a slightly higher ceiling than the Polar Day World’s, but it seems rather useless.’

Qi Suian sighed. Excluding the Golden Light Man and Xu Tongming, the Qi Cultivation Method was indeed a tier higher than the Power of the Limit.

The Power of the Limit at one hundred degrees only gave 2.5 points in two stats, while the Qi Cultivation Method, if all went as expected, should have a ceiling of 3 points.

However, the Power of the Limit was not without its own advantages. As long as you had enough food and pushed yourself to the absolute extreme, anyone could achieve it.

Although it would shorten your lifespan, the progress was incredibly fast.

The Qi Cultivation Method, on the other hand, was probably not so easy.

After ’packaging’ everyone up, Qi Suian returned directly to his safe house.

He took out Pan Xuan, whose intelligence had been lowered earlier, and began to dissect and study him.

One could only say that the man was truly unlucky.

His special ability, his Qi Cultivation Method, the intelligence-lowering effect, and his own mindset were all too perfectly aligned. This series of compatibilities was what led to him losing control.

Normally, a situation like this wouldn’t have occurred.

This also proved that his potential was indeed immense. Otherwise, why would the ’protagonist’s halo’ affect him and not the others?

It meant the halo sensed that this guy could pose a threat to Qi Suian, so it chose to strike first.

And so, the man met his misfortune.

’Special abilities... ah, they call them "powers."’

’That name is so generic. The special abilities of the zombies in the Profound World are called "powers," and the special abilities of the humans in the Cold Winter World are also called "powers."’

Qi Suian didn’t really care. It was just a name for the abilities, so it was normal for the term to overlap.

’Whatever they’re called, as long as they can be used to increase my strength, it’s fine.’

As the dissection deepened, Qi Suian discovered a significant amount of cold energy inside Pan Xuan’s body.

The cold energy existed in a wave-like form and was located within his blood vessels.

Because of this, Pan Xuan’s blood had been further ’infected,’ imbuing it with a special power.

This was his power, Blood Rage.

It worked by using the blood vessels to affect the blood, causing it to accelerate and grant a temporary enhancement.

This was also why his skin turned red; his capillaries couldn’t withstand the process.

Of course, as his strength increased, the durability of his capillaries would also be enhanced, and he would recover faster.

As for avoiding damage altogether, that was unrealistic.

The stronger he became, the more effective Blood Rage would be, and his capillaries would still be unable to bear the strain.

’Besides that, there are also changes to his Spirit. This should be because of his Qi Cultivation Method.’

Through a deep analysis of Pan Xuan’s brain, Qi Suian found cold energy present there as well, only this time it was in particle form, not wave form.

’Actively ingesting cold energy, then digesting and absorbing it, can enhance one’s physique and Spirit.’

’In terms of efficiency, it’s... just average.’

’However, it allows emotions to create an amplification-like effect through the Spirit, and it synergizes quite well with Blood Rage.’

’But this effect and synergy are limited to the emotion of anger, which makes it rather useless.’

’If he can’t control his own hormones, Pan Xuan will probably burn out.’

’Staying angry for a day or two, or even a month or two, might not be a problem.’

’But maintaining it for a lifetime? That’s probably not so easy.’

Qi Suian knew that after getting angry so many times and experiencing so much, the man’s threshold for rage would quickly rise.

Eventually, he wouldn’t get angry so easily. But that was assuming he could live that long.

Even if he hadn’t fallen into Qi Suian’s hands, his growth method—which required constant anger as a driving force—would not only easily offend people but also lead to various endocrine and related health problems.

Therefore, given Pan Xuan’s situation, the probability of him reaching his full potential was not high.

No matter how well his Qi Cultivation Method and his power synergized, by offending people and getting in their way, he would eventually be removed like a thorn in their side.

After all, this batch of survivors was organized by the various nations, whose relationships were complex and intertwined.

Pan Xuan was likely chosen for the mission to kill him, the "violator," largely due to his personality, not his actual strength.

’The cold energy combines with cells, forming an environmental adaptation, similar to a fish evolving gills.’

’Once they leave this environment, it’s like a fish on land—just waiting to die.’

’So if I want to acquire a cold-energy-based power, I’ll have to modify myself.’

’I’ll shelve that for now.’ Qi Suian didn’t fixate on the powers.

His gaze then fell upon the Qi Cultivation Method. Based on the changes in Pan Xuan’s brain and the data obtained from the giant clam, it was clear that a Qi Cultivation Method simulated from a Cold Energy Monster, while still requiring a cold energy environment, at least didn’t carry the risk of instant death upon leaving it.

For instance, many Cold Energy Monsters had survived from the last cold energy era to the present day through methods like hibernation.

The giant clam was proof of that.

’But... I don’t have a Qi Cultivation Method.’

Qi Suian’s eyes narrowed. The first thought that came to his mind was: steal one!

"Wisdom Brain, can you confirm which of the nations sent these people?" Qi Suian asked.

He was a man of action. Since they had made the first move, they couldn’t blame Qi Suian for retaliating.

He just so happened to need a Qi Cultivation Method. He would go over, steal the fruits of their research, and kill their people.

Let them feel some real pain.

[No corresponding information detected. Suspected to be a special covert unit.]

[However, analysis can be performed based on their morphological characteristics and behavioral habits.]

"Just do the analysis and give me a target," Qi Suian said directly.

He didn’t care if the Wisdom Brain’s analysis was wrong. His goals were to steal a Qi Cultivation Method and kill survivors.

Right or wrong didn’t matter, as long as he achieved his objectives—even if it meant an innocent party took the blame for the real culprit.

Being reasonable was not something Qi Suian needed to consider. What he needed to consider was how to grow stronger in a way that benefited him.

After all, he was no good guy. From the moment he survived the Rebirther’s Fusion Card thanks to his ’protagonist’s halo,’ he knew he no longer belonged to the ’good’ alignment.

To survive in the apocalypse, one had to be unscrupulous.

[Search complete. Preliminary estimate points to the Fei Kingdom, followed by...]

"Then let’s pick the Fei Kingdom. Lock onto their largest base or laboratory for researching cold energy, powers, and Qi Cultivation Techniques. We’ll pay them a visit."

Qi Suian didn’t listen to the subsequent speculations. He just wanted a target.

[Locking on...]

[Lock-on complete. Depart now?]

The Wisdom Brain was still very efficient.

"Depart immediately. Don’t leave anyone alive. What we want is the data," Qi Suian said.

As for encryption and security? It was true that Qi Suian couldn’t decrypt it, but the Wisdom Brain could.

The main difficulty would be physical isolation. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

In the Profound World, even artificial intelligence had been developed by the Divine Prayer Association. The Cold Winter World had nothing of the sort.

Not to mention, the Wisdom Brain possessed the complete database of Dawn, the artificial intelligence from Watchman Dawn, and was assisted by its language and translation modules.

If it couldn’t even decrypt this, wouldn’t the Wisdom Brain seem pretty pathetic?

’I’m actually a bit idle now,’ Qi Suian suddenly realized. Without his virus-related talents to research, he had a lot of free time. ’Do you think I should delve deeper into some other academic disciplines?’

[Of course. With your level of energy, you can easily take on the study of another discipline.]