Chapter 15: The Rewards of Devouring Geniuses

Having experienced absorbing a mage’s life energy before, Neo was well-prepared this time. Enduring the pain, he allowed the torrent of energy to surge through his neural network centered around his brain.
Undoubtedly, Neo’s choice was risky. If he had known what “mental shock” entailed, he might not have been so reckless.
On the other hand, creating directly on a blank slate offered freedom from constraints, though it lacked structure. Once frameworks were established, creativity would be stifled by those limitations. Neo was like a blank slate in the realm of magic—unstructured, careless, with poor elemental affinity. Clearly, he wasn’t meant for the path of a mage. Yet, with his powerful mental strength, he was destined not to become a conventional warrior. Though the path ahead remained dark, it was no longer vague. A roadmap was taking shape, waiting for Neo’s attention, exploration, dedication, and faith…
The mental shock was far less painful than the agony from previous battles. Neo only felt as though cold well water had been poured over him. While the stimulation caused intense pain, his consciousness became extremely clear and focused—so focused that he easily entered a state of light meditation at that moment.
“What is this? Is it the casting state of a battle mage? Or an illusionary expansion caused by rapid mental enhancement?”
After marveling at this phenomenon, Neo rationally chose to adjust his mindset and try to organize the energy within him. This was a rare opportunity—wasting it would be shameful. To his surprise, his efficiency was astonishingly high, as if four versions of him were working simultaneously.
The first handled matters in the real world—such as reducing Fatak’s body to less than one-third of its original size and making simple arrangements at the battle site.
The second focused on organizing the energy within him in a state of light meditation. As he had guessed, the feeling of pressure after transforming into a wolf indeed diminished significantly. This meant not only faster energy consumption but also a higher potential in wolf form, as proven by his quick realization that, if organizing energy was like clearing a road and its surroundings, he suddenly had much more space to maneuver in wolf form.
This discovery made Neo realize that, if possible—or rather, as his future goal—that he should train both his human and wolf forms to their critical limits before advancing (changing training methods and priorities involved a comprehensive adjustment. Advancement didn’t bring a significant boost but rather ensured certain abilities met standard levels. Strength always accumulated gradually; only special artifacts could cause sudden increases in ability). This would align with a stable path of cultivation, and such advancement would seem more natural. Unlike his previous level 3 breakthrough, which relied on life-and-death experiences and a burst of potential.

Honestly, though surprised, Neo didn’t intend to rely too much on this forced, life-or-death method of improvement. It’s like if you really want to make money through gambling, you should systematically study all the intricacies behind it, rather than risking everything on each hand—no matter how strong your heart is, your life can’t take it.

No one can win forever, and Neo, who spent his youth in the arena, knew this well. Moreover, what’s gained too easily is often lost just as quickly—there’s such a thing as fleeting wealth, and Neo had no intention of following those who were ready to let it all go at the slightest hint of trouble.

Thirdly, he was fully focused on healing his wounds. The injuries caused by the corrupt cysts were relatively superficial; their symptoms could be seen as severe burns. For ordinary people, this meant not only skin damage but also serious systemic reactions, such as metabolic disorders and dysfunction in various systems and organs, along with potential infections and other complications.

But for Neo, the situation was much better. All he needed to do was tear away the damaged skin layers to prevent them from further eroding his body. However, not here—Neo had no intention of leaving any flesh for the dark mages to curse and use in their spells. With the full power of his “Wolf Bloodline” healing him, the corrosive wounds hadn’t worsened any further.

What really caused trouble for Neo were those dark energies. The stab wounds from the energy spears were secondary; the main issue was that energy was a form of power, not a physical substance. There was no particularly effective way to remove it—only to use force (Neo’s use of power was still quite primitive) to strike repeatedly and gradually dissolve it. Until those energies completely disappeared, the feeling of being pinned down by dozens of wooden stakes was extremely uncomfortable. Of course, the constant pain also persisted.

Fourthly, he acted like a bystander, observing and analyzing various changes and reactions in his body, gathering all his feelings and thoughts from this perspective.

Relatively speaking, this “self” was clearly the wisest and closest to his usual learning state. Thus, three were working while one was thinking, giving Neo the sense that mental and physical labor were separated.

Then, inspired by fortune, Neo tried to guide the work of the first three using his fourth “self.” The interaction was highly successful—a perfectly balanced little team!

“Amazing! Is this the legendary ability to multitask? How did I suddenly gain such a power?” This extraordinary discovery delighted Neo greatly. (Fatack screamed loudly: “That’s my ability! Mine! You devil, you’ve squeezed my soul into juice and drunk it! Your mental network is filled with the soul elements of the genius that I am! Cursed be you! Gaining power on the bones of others!”)

“Alright! I admit I can’t figure it out. This feeling is truly amazing and exciting. But there are obviously more important tasks to do now.” Neo grabbed the magic staff that Fatack had thrown aside in his haste to cast spells and rushed into the graveyard.

“Ohhh…”

Though he was somewhat prepared, the sight in the graveyard still shocked Neo greatly.

The once peaceful and serene backyard of life had now become an experimental field. Skeletons and the undead stood in neat rows here, while beneath them, massive magic arrays worked day and night. Glowing toxic green lights, like fireflies, fluttered in the faint, rising black smoke, facilitating a clear exchange of energy among the undead—especially the zombies—where bright light entered and dim light exited, repeating like breathing.

Faced with such a scene, even the least educated person could associate it with explanations like “creating the undead” or “strengthening the undead.”

Neo felt an urge to rush in and destroy this undead cultivation array, along with the skeletons and undead, but he ultimately restrained himself. “Priority, priority…” he muttered. According to the order of destruction, the first should be the Soul Tombs of the Wandering Souls.

“Where are the Soul Tombs?”

Scanning the surroundings, Tulip Town’s cemetery wasn’t very large…

“I found them!”

The Soul Tombs and magic arrays were located behind the triangular formation of the undead. If not for part of them occupying the slope of that half-mound, they wouldn’t have been easily spotted from the entrance of the cemetery.

Like a wolf spotting a hare, Neo didn’t hesitate and pounced.

There was nothing to fear. Even without considering the skeletons and zombies’ current state, akin to unactivated puppets, he wouldn’t dread these mindless creatures!

He accelerated, leaped, and performed three consecutive forward rolls in midair before landing steadily like a boulder. His movements were smooth and precise.

After transforming into a wolf, Neo’s overall strength had reached that of a level 5 warrior. Even though he was injured, he was far beyond what his human form could achieve. Moreover, a wolf’s ability to bend joints greatly aided in jumping, allowing Neo to execute his moves flawlessly—true to the traditional style of the Dark Clan.

The Soul Tombs of the Wandering Souls had a unique design: a square base, a long, rounded cone shape, with a vertically opening hole at the top. At that moment, they were spewing smoke within the magic array, resembling the steaming stone pillars seen in volcanic areas. These tombs weren’t very large, less than 40 centimeters tall, and at first glance resembled some kind of trophy.

Neo didn’t dare step into the glowing magic array. Instead, he grabbed a toppled tombstone, apologized, and used it as a shovel to fiercely dig at the edge of the array, then flung the soil forward.

Using soil piling and bottom-shoveling methods was indeed a way to destroy the magic array, but it was also a brutal and crude approach.

Buzz!

The array’s self-protection mechanism activated, with black, smoke-like light spreading out.

The dark energy itself was extremely harmful to life. Now, waves of energy rippled outward. Neo was naturally a victim. Fortunately, the soil piled in front of him protected him from being directly hit by the light waves. He only felt dizzy and nauseous, with his mental and physical strength rapidly depleting, but he could still hold on. Relying on sheer determination, he finally managed to break the light framework of the array from below.

Like a extinguished flame, the array’s glowing light gradually dimmed and eventually vanished, leaving behind patterns drawn in some unknown material. The spreading light waves stopped before that.

Unsure, Neo quickly removed another large portion of the array’s patterns.

The ground shook as a poisonous green light seeped out from the magic circle, forming numerous human figures in mid-air with twisted expressions and gestures of pain, before rising into the air and disappearing without a trace.
Neo let out a long sigh. It seemed right that he had been cautious—the magi’s tricks were full of traps and schemes at every turn.
Ugh…
There were still some hidden elements beyond Neo’s control, and the warning magic horn sounded at that moment.
The necromancer who had arrived at Fatack’s temporary room and found no one there heard the horn’s sound, smashed through the window, and rushed out. Around him were swirling black winds, along with three skull heads emitting green flames. Their mouths opened and closed with a clicking sound, and the faint flames in their empty eyes shifted in brightness, resembling human eyes, giving the skull heads a lifelike appearance.
With the horn’s sound, Neo realized he really didn’t have much time left. He tried to smash those standing soul tombs with the stone slab but found them unusually hard—even the slab couldn’t break them.
“Can’t even deal with you now?” Neo growled in frustration. He crouched down, spread his arms, and scooped them up.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
All the soul tombs were stuffed into his discarded cloak. Only then did he realize that these rock-like materials were actually bones, not as heavy as they appeared.
By now, the necromancer riding the black winds was less than 30 meters away from the cemetery.
Neo smelled the strong scent of death, and his keen sense of danger, sharper than that of a beast, kicked in. He realized that an overwhelmingly powerful enemy was approaching at high speed. If he didn’t leave now, he might not get a chance.
Go!
Carrying Fatack’s corpse like a small bundle, Neo grabbed the last soul tomb he could see, picked up the heavy load, and rushed toward the hillside before leaping down from a cliff over ten meters high.
The werewolf’s ability to bend joints greatly helped cushion his fall. A height of three stories wasn’t enough to break his legs.
Bang! Thud!
First the bundle, then Neo himself—he landed successfully and rolled forward to absorb the impact, letting out a pained groan from his injuries.
He stuffed the single soul tomb into his temporary bundle, tied it tightly, slung it on his back with a knot at the front, and crawled forward on all fours, fleeing at full speed toward the South Sandalwood Forest.
A section of the low wall around the cemetery suddenly exploded, sending stones flying. The necromancer, flying low above the ground, rushed in. With a quick glance, he saw no signs of a battle and, without hesitation, headed straight for the magic circle in the immortal breeding area. There, he found the damaged magic circle and the missing soul tombs, and then saw the figure speeding across the snow-covered field.
“Ah!” The necromancer roared wildly. With a wave of his hand, the three skull heads howled as they charged toward Neo.
At that moment, a transformed high-ranking Dark Cultist also arrived.
“Grab your man. I want this beast to suffer every kind of pain…” the necromancer snarled viciously.

“Yes! Lord Eirith!” Thesenior dark cultist leaped off the cliff and chased afterNeo, shouting as he ran. Soon, over 10 demonized beings and more than 20 demonized undead emerged from the town and joined thesenior dark cultist in the fields, continuing to pursueNeo.
By then, the three skull heads had finally fallen beyond range, landing about 10 meters behindNeo and creating three pits emitting poisonous green light.
Ahowl…
The howls of wolves echoed across the fields. To Eirith’s ears, they were unbearably harsh, filling him with rage.