Chapter Sixty-Three: A Strange Sensation

For a long while, Su Yi was left utterly bewildered, unable to recover his senses. With a heart full of unease, he once more conducted a meticulous internal examination—nothing! Absolutely nothing!

From head to toe, inside and out, from organs to meridians to blood vessels, Su Yi checked every conceivable place, yet found not the slightest trace of battle energy.

His spirit trembled violently, unable to accept this dreadful truth. He had felt this same crushing despair a year ago when his energy vortex was destroyed and he could no longer cultivate battle energy—a mix of helplessness, hopelessness, and humiliation that remained seared into his memory to this day.

Though the blow this time was not quite as severe, it was not far off. Su Yi took pride in his exceptional cultivation talent, but all his abilities were built upon the foundation of battle energy. Without it, he was like a river with no source; no matter how great his talent, it was utterly useless.

Battle energy was now more crucial to Su Yi than ever. Take, for instance, the formidable Black Dragon Tendon—if he wished to wield it as a deadly weapon, he had to infuse it with battle energy. Without that, it was no better than an ordinary rope, utterly devoid of killing power.

Making matters worse, Su Yi had crippled Auben Yu’s right hand, offending the Auben family and provoking them into sending a battle master to capture him. His situation, already precarious, had grown even more dangerous today with the addition of the Liu family.

And just moments ago, he had sown the seeds of a grave enmity with the Lie family. Should that conflict erupt, he would have to face their furious wrath.

Though for now the auction house provided a measure of protection, ultimately the most important thing was to improve his own strength. Only by growing stronger could he confront all threats and take control of his own fate.

For Su Yi, the Black Dragon Tendon was an invaluable asset. With his current strength, he could rival a peak first-rank magical beast and surpass a peak tenth-level fighter, but that was still woefully inadequate compared to a true battle master.

The gap between a battle master and a fighter was immense. Even if he went all out against a weaker battle master, his chances of victory were slim.

The power of the Black Dragon Tendon was most evident in such situations—its speed was as fast as lightning, its sharpness as keen as a blade through mud, greatly enhancing Su Yi’s combat ability.

If he could launch a surprise attack, even an ordinary battle master might not gain the upper hand over him; the fate of Zhong Yuan was proof enough—not only did he fail to prevail, he died a bitter death at Su Yi’s hands.

Yet at this most critical moment, his battle energy had inexplicably vanished without a trace!

Unable to use the Black Dragon Tendon was like losing an arm—Su Yi felt utterly defeated. Not long ago, he had displayed such power; was it all to be buried and forgotten now?

He touched the Black Dragon Tendon wrapped around his arm, clinging to it like a drowning man to the last strand of hope, attempting to infuse it with battle energy. But as before, nothing happened.

After several futile attempts, Su Yi finally gave up in frustration. He considered for a moment, then reached for the storage ring on his left hand, intending to stash the Black Dragon Tendon away for now. Since he couldn’t use it, better not to leave it in plain sight.

After all, “a man’s wealth is his own ruin by bringing it to others' attention.” Few could recognize the Black Dragon Tendon, but it was best to be cautious.

But to Su Yi’s surprise, he fiddled with the ring for some time to no effect. Startled, he suddenly remembered: to use a storage ring required not only a trace of soul sense, but also the absorption of a minute amount of battle energy.

The required amount was so negligible it was almost unnoticeable, and as long as one possessed even the faintest wisp of battle energy, the ring would function. Conversely, ordinary people simply couldn’t use storage rings. This realization drove home the truth for Su Yi—

He truly had not a shred of battle energy left.

Su Yi was left utterly stunned—not just by the loss of his battle energy, but by the implications for all the battle skills and weapons he’d stored in the ring! There were piles of high-tier mysterious-grade battle skills in there, and one scroll was so valuable that it would incite envy across the entire continent—a legendary earth-grade skill!

Although he had already studied most of the other scrolls, the earth-grade skill still held immense allure. Now, he couldn’t retrieve it at all!

Nor could he access his weapons or the large sum of gold coins—they were all “look but don’t touch.” And then there was the white mask…

The thought of the mask made Su Yi’s brow furrow even more deeply. Though he didn’t fully understand its properties, it might be the only thing left that could help him, originally intended to deal with the evil soul inside him. But now, even that seemed out of reach.

Since he was already thinking about the evil soul, Su Yi, despite his apprehension, decided to thoroughly inspect his body once more. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. When he and Lie Feifei had been together, it was as if they had dual cultivated; he remembered a strange heat flowing into his body, a sensation both dreamlike and nightmarish.

As he prepared to examine himself internally once again, a strange and subtle sensation arose within him—unlike before, he could actually sense the evil soul residing in his body. The feeling was not especially strong, but neither was it faint.

It was akin to sensing the flow of one’s own blood, or being aware of the shadow cast at one’s feet.

Experiencing this odd sensation, Su Yi’s expression grew grave. There was no good reason for such a change. Had the evil soul somehow become more closely bound to his body?

“If that’s really the case, then things have just become much more complicated…” Su Yi muttered darkly, his hands clenching tightly.

He exhaled, forcing himself to put these worries aside for now, and began his internal examination once more. This time, he added his keen soul sense to the search, making his inspection more thorough than ever. In doing so, he soon discovered a cluster of multicolored energy hidden within his body.

“Hm? I was so focused on searching for battle energy earlier that I overlooked this… This… It has the scent of medicinal herbs. Could it be… the remnants of those medicines I consumed?”

Remembering the excruciating agony of that transformation, Su Yi shuddered. He couldn’t help but admire his own daring—judging by the lingering medicinal energy, he had indeed overdosed, and it was left by that mysterious elder. It was a miracle that such a lethal dose hadn’t torn him apart.

“So, the heat I’ve been feeling these days is almost certainly caused by this multicolored medicinal force…”

Su Yi pondered for a moment, then continued searching for anomalies within his body. After several circuits, he found nothing else unusual, except that each time he passed his chest, he vaguely sensed a black pyramid-shaped object. Yet whenever he tried to focus on it, the sensation vanished.

Unable to find anything else, Su Yi concentrated harder, probing deeper into the area around his bones. Following along the bones, he finally discovered several strange wisps of white energy, like tiny serpents, coiled around his skeleton and gently drifting about. Yet these gave him no sense of battle energy.

Suddenly, Su Yi remembered what this white energy was. After the evil soul had seized control of his body, it had not only killed the mysterious elder, but had cruelly refined the corpse into several wisps of white energy, which it then absorbed!

At this memory, Su Yi’s stomach churned violently—he nearly vomited. Who could remain calm after finding a dead man’s corpse energy entwined around their own bones? He tried using his soul force to attack the white wisps, but it had no effect. With his battle energy gone, there was nothing else he could do. Resigned, Su Yi withdrew his senses, choosing not to see what he could not change.