Lu Sheng scratched his exposed belly, feeling uncomfortable in the small sized rags that barely covered his fat body. He impatiently waited for the hour to pass so that he could finally leave this Void Anchor Standard Trial Spatial Weaved Realm.
Seated on his trembling scared clone, Lu Sheng couldn't help but feel a bit bored. The other clones that had fled didn't return, leaving him to entertain himself. As his mind wandered, he began to ponder new ways to test his luck.
"Hey, what if I could cultivate Chaos Essence now that I've been exposed to it?" he asked mischievously, addressing his Automated System, a sly grin spreading across his face as he entertained the idea of gaining an cheat ability.
[I strongly advise against it. We shouldn't take unnecessary risks.]
"But think about the potential benefits! Wouldn't it be a wasted opportunity if we didn't explore it?" Lu Sheng persisted, his thirst for a cheat code and OP ability still unsatisfied, and his frustration with the Automated System only mounting, his brow furrowing in annoyance.
[How many times do we have to have this conversation?]
"Yeah, yeah, we've talked about a lot of things," Lu Sheng countered sarcastically, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "Maybe it's time we stopped repeating ourselves. We're a team, right? We should be figuring things out together, not shutting down every idea."
[...]
"Let's give it a try. After all, we haven't harvested any Chaos Essence yet, which was the whole reason we came to this Trial in the first place," he suggested, a hint of eagerness creeping into his voice.
[Then let's harvest Chaos Essence.]
"Yes, let's do that," Lu Sheng agreed, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. As he stood up, the trembling clone beneath him attempted to flee, but he quickly pinned it down with his foot, a sadistic glint in his eyes.
[Why are you tormenting him? Do you enjoy seeing yourself getting tormented?]
"Nah, I'm just curious about something," Lu Sheng replied casually, his tone casual but his eyes had a twisted satisfaction. Deep down, he found a twisted sense of satisfaction in bullying the weak. Having been bullied himself throughout his childhood, Lu Sheng now relished the feeling of power over someone who was weak, even if it was his own clone, sharing his own face.
"What was that Evil method we got from Yun Yunxia?" he suddenly asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes, his sadistic tendencies resurfacing.
[You mean? You want to?]
"Is it a bad idea?" Lu Sheng smiled mischievously.
[I am not sure about the Morality of it, but are you sure?]
"Why not? One day we would have to give it a try," Lu Sheng said dismissively, waving away the Automated System's concerns with a casual flick of his hand.
[Okay, but I think there is a problem here.]
"What is it?" Lu Sheng asked impatiently, his brow furrowing in annoyance at the obstacle being presented.
[We would have to be closer or cross the Foundation Realm first, then we will have enough to perform the Evil Soul Slave Method.]
"Oh, then what are we waiting for?" Lu Sheng asked eagerly, his eyes shining with anticipation at the prospect of gaining more power.
[We are waiting to exit first; committing a breakthrough here would be the stupidest move we can make knowingly.]
"Oh, yeah, you mentioned something about Weaved Spatial Realms like these not being the ideal place for cultivation, only for training," Lu Sheng recalled, his tone slightly disappointed as he was forced to acknowledge the limitations of their current environment.
[Yes, let's get out of here first. But…]
"But?" Lu Sheng prompted impatiently, drumming his fingers against his thigh in a show of growing irritation.
[We can try Breakthrough of You.]
"My breakthrough? What do you mean?" Lu Sheng asked, confusion written on his face as he furrowed his brow, unsure of what the Automated System was proposing.
[You as a soul, we are also cultivating that method we were given to detect the resentment and souls, The Shinigami Soul Reaping Method.]
"How is the Shinigami method going to help with the Soul Slave technique?" Lu Sheng asked skeptically, his lips pursed in doubt as he struggled to follow the Automated System's logic.
[It's a Soul Slave method so what would be the best resource to use it, the Soul Essence and Shinigami Soul Reaping Method cultivates You, the soul.]
Lu Sheng had no idea what the Automated System was talking about, so he shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Meh, if you are saying it then it will be," he said carelessly, waving away the explanation he didn't understand.
"But we are not in some graveyard so where would we find resentment to cultivate the Shinigami method?" Lu Sheng asked skeptically.
[Sadly, I am going to propose your risky method.]
"Chaos Essence? I knew it. You'll start to appreciate my ideas," Lu Sheng said smugly, feeling validated that his risky stupid idea has been chosen.
[I don't have a death wish like you but you have a logic here so this will be a slight test, Okay?]
"Fine, so Automate it," Lu Sheng agreed eagerly, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
[Automation Initiated.]
Lu Sheng sat down again on the naked body of the clone on the ground and let the Automated System do its magic, a mix of excitement and nervousness flickered across his face. He was curious to see what would happen, but also a little worried.
His 108 pores opened and started sucking like a vacuum as the faint Chaos Essence lingering everywhere around this Standard Trial came closer, but before they could get sucked in, the Automated System closed all the pores except only one which was on the tip of the index finger of the right hand.
In theory or practical, both Lu Sheng and the Automated System did not know that Chaos Essence was not meant for cultivation because of its obvious chaotic inclination. No one had tried it before, and whoever had attempted it is no longer alive to tell the tale of their achievement. It has been theorized that one would need talent, fate, physique, constitution and bloodline, all of them at once to cultivate Chaos Essence, but no one has possessed all of these qualities simultaneously to be the once-in-a-lifetime individual to achieve such a feat.
However, fate was playing a game here, making Lu Sheng with none of these things and yet the first person to try to cultivate it, dying in an explosion, gaining his body back, and then stupidly trying again. Is it fate or just an idiot testing his luck?