The sudden voice in his head left Gu Chen stunned, reeling. He could hardly believe it. A Divine-Blood creature? A Divine-Blood Spirit Core? Were those words even real? He knew the hierarchy, of course. The creatures of Spirit Crucible were divided into four tiers: ordinary, primitive, mutant, and at the very apex, Divine-Blood. Eating the flesh of each type granted different Lingyuan Points, the very fuel for human evolution. Humanity knew of four such Celestial Domains. To access the next, one had to complete a physical evolution, and the quality of the Lingyuan Points consumed determined one's power—and their chances of survival—in the harsher realms beyond. And Divine-Blood Spirit Cores were, without question, the most coveted of all. A single one could fetch a fortune, enough to change a person’s life forever. As the reality of his fortune sank in, a tremor ran through him. With unsteady hands, he used his dagger to pry open the Obsidian Beetle’s shell and scooped a mouthful of meat as tender and yielding as jelly. "Flesh of Obsidian Beetle eaten. One sacred Lingyuan point gained." The sensation of the meat dissolving into a current of raw energy, coupled with the voice echoing in his mind, almost brought Gu Chen to tears. He seized one of the Beetle’s claws, cracking it open and sucking the meat from the shell. Waves of heat pulsed through his body, making his blood sing. It wasn't so different from eating a large crab. After devouring the meat from all six claws, Gu Chen turned his attention to the body, slicing into the main shell. "Flesh of Obsidian Beetle eaten. One sacred Lingyuan point gained." "Flesh of Obsidian Beetle eaten. One sacred Lingyuan point gained." The voice chimed again and again in his mind, and with each announcement, Gu Chen felt an exhilarating rush that made him feel invincible. As he carved away more of the flesh, his dagger struck something hard with a sharp, metallic tink. Gu Chen froze. Black beetles, much like crabs, were tough on the outside but filled with nothing but soft, boneless meat. What could possibly be inside? He pulled his dagger back, pushing aside the severed meat. A sliver of black glinted within. He carefully cut away the surrounding flesh until the object was fully exposed. At first glance, it looked like polished metal. But as he lifted it from the shell, he saw it was a smooth black crystal, about the size and shape of a pigeon’s egg. Gu Chen held the crystal in his palm. It was cool to the touch but otherwise felt inert, like a beautifully rounded river stone. On closer inspection, however, a galaxy of starlight seemed to swirl within its depths, a mesmerizing, miniature cosmos. This is supposed to be the safest, easiest zone in all of Spirit Crucible, Gu Chen thought, his mind racing. Primitive creatures are rare enough here, let alone a Divine-Blood. And how did it just appear out of nowhere? He’d never even heard of a Divine-Blood Ironscale Beetle; they were among the lowest forms of life. On top of it all, this one had been outrageously weak. Could it all be because of this crystal? He had no answers. Shoving the mystery aside for now, he devoured the rest of the Beetle's meat until he was completely full. In total, he had gained seven sacred Lingyuan Points. Seven sacred Lingyuan Points. It was a windfall beyond his wildest dreams. A man of his means had to risk life and limb just to hunt a primitive creature; killing a Divine-Blood one had been an impossible fantasy. The Beetle’s carapace was a precious material in its own right. Gu Chen carefully gathered the empty claws and the large upper and lower pieces of the shell, stuffing them into his pack. An ordinary Beetle shell was worthless, but brewing a soup from a Divine-Blood carapace could potentially yield another one or two sacred Lingyuan Points. It was his first time consuming a Divine-Blood creature, and he knew a full ten Points was the maximum gain. He had seven from the flesh; the last three were likely locked within the shell. If he chose to sell the shell instead, the profits would be staggering—enough to buy a private star-hopper back in the Tianhe Star Federation. On the way back to Steel Armor Castle, the usual jeers and mocking laughter followed him. People pointed, their faces twisted with scorn, and parted to give him a wide berth. To everyone else in the shelter, he was less a person and more a walking joke. Normally, even a poor newcomer with decent martial skills could find a group to hunt with, to take down a few primitive creatures together. No one should have been as isolated and miserable as Gu Chen. But in all of Steel Armor Castle, not a single person was willing—or dared—to associate with him. It all started over three months ago, on his very first day in Spirit Crucible. The moment he’d stepped outside Gangjia Fortress, he spotted a giant, white-furred unicorn wolf standing with its back to him just around the corner of the rampart. Without a second thought, Gu Chen had drawn his dagger and lunged, fiercely stabbing the creature right in its rear. That single stab had instantly turned both Gu Chen and a woman named Qin Xuan into the biggest laughingstocks in Gangjia Fortress. Because the white wolf unicorn was not a creature at all. It was a human, just like him, transformed by a Spirit Core. And that human was Qin Xuan, the most powerful and respected woman in the entire shelter—a prodigy on track to complete her first evolution with a full count of sacred Lingyuan Points. A rookie stabbing the formidable Qin Xuan in the backside became the joke of the year. While no one dared mention it to her face, everyone in the shelter was privately howling with laughter. From that day forward, Gu Chen was known by one name in Gangjia Fortress: “Ying Gui.” Qin Xuan had then made a simple declaration: anyone who associated with Gu Chen was her enemy. Few in Gangjia Fortress could afford to make an enemy of Qin Xuan, and even if they could, none would risk her wrath for a nobody, an outcast known only as Ying Gui. That was the source of his misery. Yet, he couldn’t truly blame Qin Xuan. It was his own fault. He’d been a nervous wreck on his first trip to Spirit Crucible, and having never witnessed its bizarre creatures or a Spirit Core transformation before, he’d made an unforgivable mistake. Gu Chen considered himself lucky that she hadn't simply killed him on the spot. His only sliver of good fortune in the whole affair was that one’s first teleportation into Spirit Crucible was random. There were no familiar faces in Gangjia Fortress, so at least here, no one knew his real name.

Chapter 2: His Blood Began To Sing