C5 There will be a Day

Everyone has dreams, whether they're grand or modest, within reach or seemingly unattainable.

Yang Xiaoyan seemed to have been lost in an extensive dream where she became an admired goddess, soaring into the heavens and living a life of freedom. Yet, dreams inevitably come to an end, and it's upon awakening that one feels the weight of their own body and realizes that reality remains unchanged.

Yang Huang's room was filled with an array of experimental items, leaving just enough space for a bed. Though not as fully equipped as his laboratory, the room was packed to the brim within its hundred square meters. Yang Xiaoyan was lying on his bed while he tinkered at the experiment table.

He had attempted to divine today's events multiple times, but the outcomes were unclear. He was aware that his sister would make an appearance. Ding Yuhuan and the cloaked man were supposed to bring a badly damaged female corpse, a detail not precisely foretold by his divinations, which were known to be hit or miss. Yang Huang wasn't fazed by this.

Within his knowledge, Ding Yuhuan and the man in the cape were destined to visit the Corpses Processing Center headquarters, creating chaos before absconding with a corpse. They would then head to No.8 Hidden Corpse Hall, intending to conceal the stolen body there and eventually encounter Yang Xiaoyan, who would likely be unconscious by then. This would prompt them to notify Yang Huang's father, drawing him to the Corpses Processing Center—Yang Huang's ultimate objective.

Moreover, Ding Yuhuan was a prize Yang Huang was eager to claim. She possessed an incredibly high Martial Arts Cultivation Level with formidable lethality, taking pride in her status as an Evolver and her Super Ability birthed from consuming the Ancient Fruit.

Despite the final outcome deviating from his plan, Ding Yuhuan was now under Yang Huang's control, and the cloaked man had brought some unexpectedly pleasing elements to the table. All things considered, it wasn't a total loss.

"If you're feeling alright, you can head home. Your parents must be worried after your disappearance for a whole day," Yang Huang remarked, noticing Yang Xiaoyan stirring awake.

"Brother, I have a few questions," Yang Xiaoyan said as she rose from the bed, sitting upright and fixing her gaze on Yang Huang, who was absorbed in his work at the experiment table.

"Hmm, go ahead and ask," Yang Huang said without looking up, his tone indifferent.

"How did you know that Ding Yuhuan, Shen Moyan, and I would come here today? And how did you manage to control Ding Yuhuan?" Initially, Yang Xiaoyan had wanted to inquire about what Yang Huang had done with the other two individuals, but after some thought, she decided against asking.

"I can't answer your first question. Regarding the second... After the earth underwent its transformation, not only did humans change, but so did the flora. Yesterday, I found a milky white grass with golden flowers growing on it in the outskirts of West City. I've named the grass 'Soul Grass' and the flowers 'Bewitching Flowers.' I spent all of last night researching and finally concocted a medicine. When an ordinary person drinks it, they're protected from low-level Soul Arts control for an hour. If they consume the medicine again within that hour and face another soul attack, they can reverse the effects and control the attacker's soul for an hour," Yang Huang explained, his hands busy continuing his experiment.

The Golden Bewitching Flower actually has another effect. When ground into powder and dispersed in the air, anyone who inhales it within an hour will fall unconscious within ten minutes, remaining so for up to ten hours.

Yang Huang had derived these figures after conducting animal tests and then calculating the effects on both ordinary people and Evolvers.

"I have another question. What was the drug you used to knock out the four of us yesterday? And how did you know we would be passing through West City?" Yang Xiaoyan asked, rising from the bed. She had a hunch that the white-haired young man had been killed by Yang Huang. Her main concern was understanding why Yang Huang had done it.

"That was Purple Leaf Grass, discovered and named by a research institution a month ago. Its primary effect is to induce sleep," Yang Huang replied, only revealing part of the truth. He left out that Purple Leaf Grass, when used alone, could only hypnotize ordinary people. However, his research had shown that when combined with the brain matter of a control-type Evolver and ground into powder, it could induce a transformative change, enabling it to hypnotize more advanced beings.

"Alright, it's getting late. You really should head home now," Yang Huang said, seemingly eager to avoid further questioning as he initiated the conversation.

"I'm leaving, brother. But remember, this is the last time I'll be exploited by you. Next time, I absolutely won't let you commit murder!" Yang Xiaoyan's eyes shone with resolve. She had long been aware that her brother resorted to various methods to kill, but sadly, she had spent the past three years immersed in her martial arts cultivation.

She believed that Yang Huang's moral decline was due to his inability to become an Evolver. As a sibling who had grown up with him, she felt compelled to save him.

"What are you talking about? Any cunning plan pales in comparison to sheer power. Once you're strong enough, you'll call the shots," Yang Huang said with a wry smile, as if speaking to himself.

"There will come a day," Yang Xiaoyan affirmed, clenching her fists before departing on her own.

Yang Huang didn't take his sister's words to heart. Yet, he harbored affection for her; despite the fact that he would sacrifice her without hesitation if necessary to achieve his goals, she was still family—the only one who still showed him any affection.

After Yang Xiaoyan had gone, Yang Huang made his way to the first-floor cold storage and retrieved two living bodies—a man and a woman. They were Ding Yuhuan and the cloaked man known as Shen Moren, both of whom had been injected with a hefty dose of Mihuan drugs and frozen for an entire day, their skin now dusted with a light frost.

He transported them to a room on the second floor, cleared off the Experiment Table, and selected an exceedingly sharp scalpel. Stripping Ding Yuhuan of her clothing, he placed her body on the table and began with an incision in her skull.

Despite his natural aptitude for biology, Yang Huang had seldom conducted live experiments, making this a significant challenge for him.

He uncovered a square object wrapped in black cloth. Lifting the cloth revealed a square container brimming with blood, which he had collected earlier from a laboratory at the garbage dump. The blood had been steeped in a myriad of drugs for an extended period, drugs that had potent stimulating effects. Injected into the brain, they could alter its structure and delay brain death.

He set out to replace a portion of Ding Yuhuan's brainstem tissue and some of her Blood Essence.

The surgery took nearly eight hours, concluding only as dawn broke. After sewing the final stitch on Ding Yuhuan's scalp, Yang Huang breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've achieved a body that's undergone a complete transformation, yet this surgery was surprisingly challenging. It seems that after an Evolver's mutation, their entire body structure becomes more complex," Yang Huang gasped, feeling somewhat fatigued, but he couldn't rest just yet; another operation awaited him.

"That man in the cloak is a bit peculiar. I consulted the Eight Trigrams and it seems something is concealed within his mind." After dressing Ding Yuhuan and gently laying her on the bed, Yang Huang hoisted the cloaked man onto the Experiment Table.

This time, Yang Huang didn't perform a craniotomy; he simply severed the man's entire head. With the head removed, the man's Life Aura vanished, and he was utterly deceased.

Using a scalpel, Yang Huang extracted the man's brain and, after some probing, located a jade pendant at its center.

The jade pendant was an unremarkable emerald green, no larger than a fingernail, and appeared unpolished.

Yang Huang attempted to engage with the Eight Trigrams but got no response. He recalled ancient Taoist tales of jade slips containing golden scriptures and wondered if crushing the pendant might reveal something.

With a forceful pinch of his fingers, the jade pendant shattered easily, and a stream of golden energy swiftly materialized in his mind, forming an extensive text reminiscent of the Grand Upper Essence Returning Divine One Qi.

"Haha!" Yang Huang laughed aloud.

The text that emerged in Yang Huang's mind upon crushing the jade slip was the Void Step Array Dao Talisman Divination Record. The instant the words took shape in his mind, they signified complete assimilation, obviating the need for further reading.

"This is a Taoist scripture, split into an upper and a lower section. The former primarily discusses formations, while the latter deals with talismans." Yang Huang's joy stemmed from the fact that in contemporary society, arts like the Array Dao Talisman had fallen into obscurity. Even the Dao Arts practiced by the Daoist priests of Final South Mountain were rudimentary at best, hardly worthy of the name.

The Void Step Array Dao Talisman Divination Record might have been a common sight during the era when Qi Refining Masters roamed the land, but in today's world, it's an invaluable treasure.

"The Array Dao is incredibly intricate. It would take me at least a decade to grasp the basics. But the Talisman Divination is a different story. With the Innate Qi within me—the supreme Genuine Qi of Taoism—I'm confident that once I refine it and combine it with the Void Step Array Dao Talisman Divination Record, the power unleashed will be beyond imagination," Yang Huang mused to himself.

He was aware that crafting a talisman, whether it involved preparing the talisman paper or inscribing the characters, required the infusion of Genuine Qi to activate the talisman. Without Genuine Qi, attempting to draw a talisman could drain one's Qi and lifespan, a risk not worth taking.

"Thankfully, I'm on the verge of refining Innate Genuine Qi. Once I do, drawing talismans won't be an issue," Yang Huang considered, anticipating the imminent breakthrough to the first level of the Grand Upper Essence Returning Divine One Qi. It might be time to start preparing.

Yang Huang had dedicated three years to reaching this stage, enduring countless trials. He couldn't afford any setbacks now.

At five in the morning, the sky was beginning to lighten. Yang Huang set aside his contemplations for the moment; there were immediate matters to attend to.

He began by taking a bottle of white powder from the experiment table and gently blew it into the air to neutralize the overpowering scent of blood in the room. Next, he spent an hour meticulously reassembling the cloaked man's corpse, eventually storing it in an empty space on the second floor.

Finally, after cleaning the blood that had splattered during the surgery, he noticed the sky was fully bright. Despite the weariness from a night's labor, he decided against resting. There were still tasks that needed his attention today.

At that moment, Ding Yuhuan awoke.