A thicker rot‑tinged mist curled around Chen Yuan's ankles as he pressed against a bark‑lumpy tree, eyes fixed on the abandoned mill a hundred meters ahead. Its crooked wooden wheel half‑submerged in a fetid ditch, rafters hung with dried carcasses that clacked like rattling bones in the breeze.
[Life signs detected: 2 humans, 1 chaotic infant]
The system's display flickered at the edge of his vision, red pings marking heat sources inside. Chen Yuan patted his satchel—inside lay his two Spirit‑Purifier pills and a jagged bone shard pried from yesterday's bone beast. Those were his only "weapons."
"I hope they're not high‑tier monsters." Muttering, he plucked a broad fern leaf and, per the Blood‑Death Seal fragment's instructions, mixed a bit of his own blood to draw an Invisibility Sigil on its surface. The moment blood touched the leaf veins, they twisted into an eye‑shaped pattern, and Chen Yuan nearly flung it away in fright.
[Sigil drawn successfully: Basic Invisibility (15 min duration; costs 10% qi‑blood)]
Electric crackles in the system alert reminded him of the pounding at his temples—each time he wielded magic‑path power, a backlash bit at him. "Everyone else uses cinnabar; I'm stuck using my life essence." He pressed the leaf to his chest, feeling a faint green glow envelop him. "Once I have enough points, I have to redeem Sigil Paper Crafting—my blood can't keep this up."
The mill's wooden door was ajar, a trickle of dark red fluid seeping through the gap. Chen Yuan crept closer; the stench of rot and rusted iron assaulted him. Through the crack came low chanting mixed with infantile whimpers—just like in those cult documentaries back on Earth.
"By flesh as bridge, by soul as guide…"
"May the Abyssal Maw accept this newborn ward…"
Peering inside, he saw on a central stone altar a misshapen infant. Human‑shaped but with three scaled eyes and a blood‑pulsing slit in its abdomen, it gurgled as blood bubbles welled and burst.
"Last week's sacrifice: the ewe‑abyss tendril fusion."
"High Priest says if it succeeds, we enter the blood pool for the First Transference."
A bone dagger etched with spiral grooves was raised.
"Remember: sever its spine with three cuts before it opens its eyes—or chaos energy will rebuke the host."
As the blade fell, the infant shrieked like shattering glass, tens of tiny tentacles sprouting across its skin. The system exploded in red light:
[Refinable target detected: Failed Fusion Infant (Strength 0.6)]
His strongest target yet.
"Higher than me?" he ground his teeth. The invisibility glow was fading. "System, warn me earlier! Going out now is suicide." Then he noticed blood from the infant splattering the altar—its tentacles were absorbing the priests' shadows, their movements slowing.
"It's draining their energy!" Chen Yuan gasped, seeing one priest's arm rapidly keratinize into scales. "They're not sacrificing—it's reverse infestation!"
Seizing the moment, he bit his tongue and activated the Blood‑Death Seal, summoning a sharper red glow than ever. This was his first offensive before full refinement. The crack of his blood‑claw seized the infant's attention—its three eyes swiveled, emitting a high‑pitched buzz.
"Invisibility's down!" he swore, lunging toward a broken window. The infant's tentacles lashed faster than he expected, piercing the door and carving three lines across his back. Pain flared as he hurled the bone shard—miraculously, it flew straight into the infant's chest bubble.
[Special material trigger: Bone Seed Resonance]
His spirits lifted as the infant froze for half a second. He pounced onto the altar, pressing his palm into its blood‑bubble. The familiar refining heat roared through his arm, fiercer now—like molten lead flooding his veins.
Priests' screams burst around him. He glimpsed one fully monstrous now—his skull split in two, a maw of fanged throat swinging the dagger at him. At the crescendo, the system offered an emergency exchange:
[Emergency Redeem: Corpse‑Toxin Barrier (cost 5 points; unlocks at ≥10% corruption)]
"Whatever!" He spent all 5 points. A pale green toxin mist swirled about him, searing the monster‑priest's flesh where it touched, driving pitiful screams. The surviving priest trembled, dagger shaking in his scaled hand.
Refinement dragged on far longer than expected. The infant's core was a throbbing blood orb inscribed with dark runes. Each absorption flooded his mind with overlapping whispered syllables of the ineffable. Nosebleeds stung his senses and his vision blurred as corruption climbed to 18%.
"Hold on…" He clenched his second molar in his cheek as the iron tang steadied his mind. "System, next time you pull this stunt, I'm taking a vacation!" At last, the blood orb shattered in his palm. Experience rocketed from 45 to 87, energy points recovered to 3.
[Refinement successful]
[Gained ability: Tentacle Sense (detect energy fluctuations within 10 m)]
[Mental corruption: 18% (Warning! ≥20% causes physical mutation)]
Staggering back, he saw the infant's body dissolve, revealing an emaciated human baby underneath—long dead, with a tentacle‑shaped rune carved on its chest. One priest lay curled and lifeless; the other stared at him, dagger slipping from his numb, trembling hand.
"You… you're not one of us…" the priest croaked through sobs, pointing at the red glow in Chen Yuan's palm. "You're heresy—a foe of the Abyssal Maw!"
Before he could reply, the priest's throat constricted by an unseen force. Chen Yuan watched in horror as translucent tentacular energy sprouted from his own fingers, coiling around the priest's neck. He tried to retract the power, but the man's skin cracked like baked ceramic.
"Sorry…I didn't mean to…"
The priest's mouth split open in a twisted grin and a barbed tentacle lunged for Chen Yuan's heart. Instinctively, he rolled aside, the barbs grazing his ribs and scorching his robe. Then, without hesitation, he drove his Blood‑Claw straight through the priest's skull. Hot gore splashed his face—but instead of disgust, he felt raw power surge within.
[First human sacrifice detected]
[Warning! Refining human yields double corruption!]
His heart sank as corruption leapt from 18% to 34%. Cracks appeared at vision's edge, reality fracturing. Worse, pale scales bloomed on the back of his right hand, rising and falling with each breath.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He rifled for a Spirit‑Purifier but found only one. Throwing it down his throat, corruption fell to 29% and scales receded to a faint blue mark.
Galloping hooves sounded outside. Through the broken window, Chen Yuan saw a six‑bone‑beast team pulling a covered wagon, its driver a wide‑brimmed man adorned with amulets of monster eyeballs.
"Old Mo?" Chen Yuan recognized the wandering merchant from the system's outline—the same stranger glimpsed at the forest edge. He darted into an upstairs loft, peering through slats as Old Mo tapped the ground with a bronze staff, rune patterns flaring around the wagon.
"I scent chaos energy," Old Mo rasped with a smile. "And human blood… Ah, two failed priests and a fusion infant? Intriguing—there's a third party's energy residual."
Producing a crystal orb, he focused it on Chen Yuan's hiding spot. Panicked, Chen Yuan suppressed his qi‑blood signature with the Blood‑Death Seal; the orb's image blurred.
"Clever kid." Old Mo stowed the orb and began collecting monster remains. "But brandishing magic‑path aura in the Cthulhu World is like holding a lantern before wolves—sooner or later you draw eyes."
Once the wagon vanished into mist, Chen Yuan descended. Heart pounding, he saw a new system prompt:
[Dual energy conflict detected in host. Recommend redeeming "Demonic Body Stabilization" (cost 20 points).]
"Twenty points?" He glared at his paltry 3. "You wanna rob me blind? Five points for two monsters… At this rate I'll be a tentacle fiend before I get twenty!"
Yet Old Mo's warning was clear. Though he'd gained Tentacle Sense, his magic‑path aura set him wholly apart from Cthulhu practitioners. The priests' dying gaze showed that being an outlier meant death—by monster or by cult.
"I need a more secluded training ground." He kicked aside a bone and noticed faint runes carved on a phalanx, echoing the cloud‑thunder pattern of his pendant. "Maybe Old Mo's caravan has leads—but I'm not ready. I must get stronger first."
Leaving the mill, he pocketed the bone dagger and the eyeball amulet. Testing the dagger with his blood, runes glowed on the blade—proof that Cthulhu artifacts could be adapted by magic‑path power.
"I'll not only refine beasts, but study their gear too." He stored the dagger and saw in storage the new core from the priest marked [Refinable; +15% corruption risk]. "I'll save that for a rainy day—maybe as bait."
As mist lifted, dawn sun barely warmed his chill resolve. The mill's horrors reminded him that danger came not just from monsters, but corrupted humans who'd lost all mercy.
"System, open my status panel."
Host: Chen Yuan (Human/Magic‑Path Cultivator)
Realm: Qi‑Refinement Level 2 (87/100)
Mental corruption: 29% (Threshold 30%)
Abilities: Basic Refinement; Tentacle Sense; Corpse‑Toxin Barrier (temporary)
Inventory: Bone Dagger; Eyeball Amulet; Spirit‑Purifier ×1; Bone Seeds ×2
"Level 2 Qi‑Refinement, corruption nearly critical." He wiped the dagger's edge on his sleeve. "Next threat, I must always weigh the corruption risk first. Surviving is the goal, not kicking down doors."
He retraced a quieter path home, avoiding the priests' route. His new senses sharpened—he could hear insects buzzing a hundred meters off, even distinguish scents left by different creatures. No doubt from Tentacle Sense.
By sunset he returned to the cave. Lighting a fire, he examined the eyeball amulet: each orb corresponded to a monster. The crow‑eye suddenly rolled its pupil, projecting a map of Old Mo's caravan heading southwest.
"A tracking talisman?" He removed the eye and saw coordinates inscribed in Cthulhu script. The system auto‑translated: "Mist‑Hidden City ・ Shadow Circle"—his first concrete human faction name.
"Shadow Circle… Lilith's order."
Recalling the backstory, he knew this secretive shadow‑energy cult might shelter him—if he could mask his magic‑path aura. But he was too weak now; he needed at least Level 3 Qi‑Refinement.
He drew out the Blood Pool fragment from the mill—diagrams of the temple's subterranean layout. Though he couldn't parse all the runes, he recognized key spots: the blood pool, the altar, and a secret chamber marked "First Magic‑Path Patriarch's Remnant Soul."
"Patriarch's soul… might explain the pendant's secret."
Storing the fragment, he then heard stones tumble deep in the cave. Clutching the bone dagger, his Tentacle Sense keyed in on a faint energy pulse through the rock ten meters away.
[Hidden site detected: Ancient Magic‑Path Ruins]
[Residual energy field detected. Recommend resonance.]
His heartbeat raced. Though the jade pendant was gone, he felt its essence burn at his chest. Pressing his palm against the stone, ancient runes flared and a hidden door creaked open, revealing a bone‑filled chamber—each skeleton seated in meditation, clutching different magic‑path scrolls.
[Hidden technique unlocked: Myriad‑Bone Soul‑Refinement (fragment)]
[Recoverable materials detected: Magic Jade Slips ×7; Bone Artifacts ×3]
"Perfect timing." He swallowed hard and stepped inside. At the center lay a crystal coffin containing a perfectly preserved cultivator, gripping a cloud‑thunder–etched jade token—identical to the one he'd touched in the museum. He realized that the true legacy of the magic‑path cultivators was only now beginning to unfold.