Chapter 348 – Divinity Suppression Device, Great Power Surge

“Cuckoo!”

The cuckoo bird protested loudly, but its eyes showed signs of evasion, which Lu Yuan quickly noticed.

Lu Yuan couldn’t be bothered to argue with it and simply tossed the “fake” Phoenix Feather back to the bird, then picked up the pure golden acorn and popped it into his mouth.

“Never mind, I’ll just eat it myself… you have no sincerity.”

“Cuckoo!”

Seeing the pure golden acorn really go into Lu Yuan’s mouth, the cuckoo bird became truly anxious.

It chirped frantically and reluctantly explained the situation.

According to the bird, a Phoenix Feather can only remain in the world if the Phoenix fails its nirvana rebirth.

Otherwise, it would have been completely incinerated by the flames.

Some of these feathers contain the immortal essence, while others do not, which is why there can be subtle internal differences.

The feather it had given Lu Yuan was indeed a real Phoenix Feather; it just wasn’t the “best” one.

The best one was of great use to the bird itself and it would never trade that with Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan listened with a peculiar expression on his face.

It was the first time he had ever heard that a Phoenix could fail its nirvana rebirth.

Although it sounded somewhat unbelievable, the earnestness in the cuckoo bird’s tone made it seem like it wasn’t lying.

“Let me confirm.”

Thinking for a moment, Lu Yuan took back the feather he had thrown to the bird and tried to activate [mysterious perception] on it.

Having used the [mysterious perception] skill repeatedly, it had upgraded quite quickly and was now at LV2.

He activated [mysterious perception] and fragmented, blurry information flowed from the golden feather into Lu Yuan’s mind.

In a trance, Lu Yuan saw fire.

Fire was everywhere.

Scarlet, orange, golden, blue, purple…

Countless chaotic and frenzied flames pierced through the sky and melted everything.

Amidst the flames, something seemed to be struggling desperately, emitting an incredibly melodious yet sorrowful and painful cry.

Suddenly, a blazing fireball fell from the sky-high conflagration and crashed to the ground.

After an unknown amount of time, the flames extinguished, revealing a pile of severed, dimly glowing golden feathers…

“Hoo-“

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, deep in thought.

From the information gleaned from this golden feather, it seemed the cuckoo bird hadn’t been lying.

If the scene he saw was indeed from a Phoenix’s nirvana rebirth, it truly did look like something had gone wrong. The feather had definitely fallen from a real Phoenix.

But… what did that have to do with him?

He needed legendary level material, and even if this feather was truly from a legendary Phoenix, it held little value to him.

“Well, it’s not completely useless. At least it can help me unlock another extraordinary profession.”

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and decided not to return the feather to the cuckoo bird. Instead, he picked one of the four acorns he had, choosing a half-ripe one, and tossed it to the bird.

“A defective Phoenix Feather can only be traded for a defective acorn. Take it or leave it…”

“Cuckoo! (No way!)”

The cuckoo bird screeched in anger, demanding that Lu Yuan hand over the pure golden acorn.

Lu Yuan didn’t bother to respond. He simply crunched the acorn between his teeth and swallowed it under the bird’s “despairing” gaze.

“Boom!”

The moment the acorn entered his stomach.

A surge of unprecedented evil deity factor and energy exploded within Lu Yuan’s body.

His internal “blood pill” ballooned almost instantly.

The four basic attributes on his attribute panel began to fluctuate wildly.

“Rumble!”

“Whoosh!”

“Crack! Crack! Crack-“

His chest thundered, Five Viscera glowed, blood surged like a tide, and his bones and muscles roared in unison…

Intense white light even seeped through his skin, making his entire body glow like a bright incandescent bulb.

Lu Yuan ate three acorns in one go.

Then he proceeded to consume the oak leaves he had plucked one by one.

The incessant “cuckoo” sounds rang in his ears, and with his eyes closed, he could imagine the cuckoo bird furiously hopping about.

Finally…

Everything was absorbed and digested.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes.

In the dim forest, lightning seemed to flash.

He stood up.

Bones and muscles crackled with joint friction, an invisible force emanated from his body and a wind started to blow around him.

He had grown much stronger…

“Can you find him?”

In the meeting room, the head of the Distant Star Federation asked his subordinate in a stern tone.

At this moment, almost all discussions in the meeting room centered around one topic.

The seventh stage…

The mysterious Hidden Star…

At the center of the room, the virtual light screen cycled through the progress of exploration activities at several target locations.

During these joint exploration missions, the team had successfully acquired several wondrous items, one of which was a peculiar branch whose value even surpassed that of the Phoenix Feather they had obtained earlier.

However, few paid attention-most merely glanced at it and moved on.

“No, we can’t find him.”

A glasses-wearing man shook his head. “Embers Mountain is too vast, and the legendary aura is too overwhelming. Even with the support of ‘Pursuit of Deity,’ many areas have special signals that either can’t penetrate or we can’t receive any feedback from…”

The head of the Distant Star Federation frowned and said nothing, turning his attention to Dean Cassel, who had been reviewing several analysis reports.

“Dean Cassel, have you found anything?”

The head of the Federation asked.

Cassel put down the report in his hands and looked up, a slight furrow in his brow.

“According to the reports, that Hidden Star is indeed at the seventh stage of power.

However, it seems to be just at the early seventh stage and isn’t overly formidable.

But, the methods he used midway through… were quite peculiar.”

“Oh? How so?”

“He seems to possess a terrifying ability to directly attack the soul of his opponent,” Cassel explained.

“An attack… on the soul directly?!”

The head of the Distant Star Federation blinked and pondered for a moment, then asked, “Are you talking about some kind of mental type attack?”

“No, it’s different.”

Cassel shook his head and explained, “Mental-type attacks result in damage to an opponent’s mental will. Mental injuries can be healed and recovered. But soul attacks are different…”

Cassel paused briefly and then spoke directly, “Haines’s injury report shows that both his normal personality and violent personality were completely erased.

Instead, his demon personality was not severely damaged.”

“I think I understand what you mean.”

The head of the Distant Star Federation said slowly, a peculiar glint in his eyes.

“This reminds me of those who died in extraterrestrial forbidden zones, where even their uploaded consciousnesses were forcibly erased, rendering them completely irrecoverable.”

Cassel nodded, “Exactly.”

The head of the Federation pondered for a moment and then asked, “Is it possible that this is a special ability of the power of the evil deity from the Crow Deity Sect? For example, the projection of that giant black crow…”

“Perhaps…”

Cassel didn’t dwell on this question, instead inquiring, “Is there any way we can find him?”

The head of the Federation’s eyes flickered as he replied, “It’s difficult… but I think there might be a chance.”

With a quick tap, he switched the light screen.

Several images quickly appeared on the screen. One showed an unknown beast bone radiating a red glow, another depicted a mysterious black stone slab engraved with a Phoenix pattern…

“These are top-tier wondrous items that we haven’t secured yet. Since he came for the acorns, he might be interested in these too…”

“You mean… set a trap in advance to capture him.”

Cassel immediately understood.

The head of the Federation nodded, “Let’s give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else.”

“I think it’s feasible. But…”

Cassel considered for a moment, frowning, “He’s at the seventh stage and has special means. With our current strength, can we capture him?”

“It’s not difficult.”

The head of the Federation gently tapped his fingers on the table, speaking with ease, “Although he’s at the seventh stage, his weaknesses are quite apparent.

First, he’s not good at close combat.

Without fully unleashing his powers, even the sixth-stage Haines could easily crush him.

Secondly, his abilities rely on the power of the evil deity.

To deal with Hidden Stars, we have plenty of methods at our disposal. The simplest and most effective of which is…”

The head of the Distant Star Federation smiled and said, “The divinity suppression device.

It can significantly suppress evil energy waves within a certain range. Even Torr fears it, let alone a mere early seventh-stage Hidden Star…”

“Divinity suppression device.”

Cassel raised an eyebrow slightly at the term.

He hadn’t expected that the Distant Star Federation would even have this prepared.

There’s no way it could be temporarily requisitioned; it must have been pre-arranged.

Could it be that these guys have been planning all along to capture the Phoenix alive from Embers Mountain? Such immense ambition.

“…Just in case, I also mobilized two sets of Sky Armament. The pilots are sixth-stage supernovas.

With the power of the Sky Armament combined with sixth-stage supernovas, they can unleash combat power comparable to the seventh stage in their ultimate form.

Adding the effect of the divinity suppression device, I think handling an early seventh stage should not be a problem.

And don’t forget, we’re inside a secret realm. The legendary aura suppresses Mecha, modifications, new martial arts, and supernovas’ strength to some extent.

Conversely, the evil deity’s methods won’t be affected, and they might even be amplified. His combat power is already exaggerated in this environment…

Under the divinity suppression device, he’ll be forced back to his original form.”

The head of the Distant Star Federation spoke with confidence and composure.

He looked up at the light screen in front of him and said calmly, “Now, what we need to consider is… whether he will come.”

Unconsciously, the meeting room fell silent.

No one spoke; their faces all reflected… the eager anticipation of hunters waiting for prey.

…

[Name: Lu Yuan]

[Age: 17]

[Strength Points: 32 (limit break 2)]

[Agility Points: 32 (limit break 2)]

[Constitution Points: 32 (limit break 2)]

[Intelligence Points: 34 (limit break 2)]

Strength, agility, and constitution attributes all increased by 2 points, and intelligence attribute increased by 1 point.

A total increase of 7 attribute points.

Converting this to attribute points, it totals… 21 points!

“Phew-“

Lu Yuan exhaled deeply, and the breath he expelled shot out like a blade, piercing a hole two fingers wide and an unknown depth into a thick ancient tree several meters away.

What a massive improvement!

“If I could get a few more pure golden acorns, I might be able to hit the limit break three more times in one go… Imagine how many attribute points that would save me.”

Lu Yuan sighed inwardly.

He then checked his internal condition.

With the significant increase in his four attributes, the First Transformation Blood Pill had also expanded several times over, becoming about the size of an adult’s fist. It spun rapidly within his chest cavity, surrounded by countless dense blood strands.

“In my normal state now, my strength can be considered firmly within the third stage.

With 34 intelligence points, my mental power is equivalent to that of a middle-stage fourth-stage…

Combining this with various techniques of a martial arts Grandmaster, defeating a fifth-stage opponent in my normal state shouldn’t be a problem.”

If he used the secret technique, The Fusion of Two Flowers, with the ninefold boost to mental power, he could instantly soar to the middle-stage of the seventh stage.

“I still have three attribute points left unused. If I allocate them to intelligence points… and then use the secret technique, The Fusion of Two Flowers, my mental power could reach the high-stage seventh stage, nearly touching the eighth stage!”