The Underworld Sable Envoy: I Cultivate Immortality at the Department of Spiritual Investigation

The jolt of the helicopter landing hadn't even faded from my bones when I was taken to the laboratory. A silvery-white orb hovered beside me like a ghost, and the muzzle of the "17" gun escorting me maintained a subtle and wary angle.

The laboratory door closed slowly behind me, shutting out all outside sounds. The only sound coming from inside was the increasingly urgent, piercing alarm from the life support monitor.

"Director! Number 089's vital signs are plummeting! It...it's aging rapidly!" The researcher's voice trembled with panic.

I rushed over and saw the stinky thing in the crystal cage.

It lay curled up, its once snow-white and glossy fur now dull and yellowish, like withered grass, clinging tightly to its jagged, protruding skeleton. It didn't even have the strength to lift its head; only its nostrils twitched very weakly, and each breath was so long it was heartbreaking.

On the monitoring screen, the curves for heart rate, body temperature, and respiratory rate almost touched the ground, while red warning symbols jumped wildly.

Laboratory researchers began emergency rescue efforts, but the speed at which life was lost exceeded everyone's expectations.

Director Yang walked slowly behind me, his gaze sweeping over Chou Chou before landing on the silvery-white ball of light beside me. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Su Nianyang, open the cage."

Director Yang's voice rang out behind me, devoid of any emotion: "Use your black mist to contact it and see if you can stabilize its vital signs."

"No!" I turned around abruptly. "Every time I use the black mist, Chou Chou's lifespan will shrink by one point!" The heart palpitations and terrifying suspicions I had felt in the helicopter were now transformed into cold, irrefutable evidence.

"So...you choose to watch it die?" Director Yang said in a deep voice.

A creature, most likely from an unknown world, capable of transferring its power to ordinary people to help fight supernatural entities, is of immeasurable research value. Moreover... there seems to be some strange bond between this ferret and Su Nianyang. Regardless of the reason, the ferret must be protected as much as possible.

I stood frozen in place, my fingertips digging into my palms.

Just then, Chou Chou's body moved almost imperceptibly. With its last bit of strength, it turned its nose toward my side—towards the floating silvery-white orb of light.

There was no sound, only a faint ripple of consciousness, almost swallowed by death, tremblingly touching my senses:

"...Cold...So cold...That light...Warm..."

Like a dying spark, it instinctively craved the last bit of warmth.

The curve on the screen plummeted again. Its vitality was slipping away, measured in seconds.

There was no other choice.

Guided by intuition, I tried to direct the silvery-white light swirling around my fingertips towards the crystal cage. Just as the silvery-white light touched the cage wall—

"boom!"

The silvery-white sphere trembled violently! A vast, primal torrent of thought, brimming with boundless vitality, surged into my consciousness, flowing against the bridge of black mist!

It was a frozen imprint of time: the majestic silver dragon, as imposing as a mountain range, was disintegrating, and its last life essence condensed into a core of light, which fell into the nascent peach forest and has slumbered ever since.

Sacrificial Snow Dragon Scales!!!

This word wasn't learned; it's the true name that's imprinted on this fragment of history.

However, before the shock could even begin, despair had already set in.

In my indescribable sense of inner vision, that extremely faint black mist, like a rusted broken pipe, was drawing out the pure, silvery dragon power from the silvery-white light cluster, but it was frantically dissipating during the transmission process.

Even more fatally, this pure torrent of life created a fundamental and destructive rejection with the already depleted, extremely yin and cold "origin of the underworld" in Chou Chou's body!

"No! Stop!" I tried to interrupt the process.

On the monitoring screen, Chou Chou's life curve plummeted to the bottom due to this violent conflict! Its body convulsed violently, and the last ripple of its consciousness completely dissipated.

It was I... who hastened its death!

Chou Chou's last thought drifted into my mind at this moment, as light as a sigh, yet as heavy as a thousand pounds:

"It's too late... Perhaps I shouldn't have saved you that night in Lago Village. Even through countless reincarnations, we would have eventually met again... Now that the contract is in place, our destinies are intertwined... I have completely severed your path of reincarnation..."

The moment the words left my lips, I clearly felt something concerning "future" and "possibility" snap and vanish forever. It wasn't an illusion; it was a real loss, like a corner of my vision being permanently plunged into darkness.

Stinky... My cycle of reincarnation...

Large tears fell to the ground, and a flood of memories rushed back: the adorable way Chou Chou nuzzled against my palm when he was first born, the resolute way he stood up for me that night in La Ge Village, the profound meaning behind the bite he took before we parted...

It has always been protecting me in its own way.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

A roar erupted from the deepest recesses of my soul! It wasn't sorrow, it was rejection! Rejection of this predetermined ending! Rejection of exchanging its death for my own wretched existence!

The surging will transformed into a violent obsession, gripping the out-of-control wisp of black mist tightly! This time, it was no longer a clumsy "use," but absolute "control"!

Under my forceful shaping, the black mist suddenly boiled and differentiated! It was no longer a disorderly dissipation, but condensed into hundreds of "threads" finer than a hair, like the most precise surgery, accurately piercing the core of the silvery-white light cluster.

No longer a brutal extraction, but "analysis," "tempering," and "transformation"—using my absolute obsession as a furnace, I forged that vast and violent pure dragon power into the purest and gentlest "life essence flow"! Then, "bridging" and "injection."

The black mist threads bypassed all the old channels that would cause rejection, as if opening up a brand new capillary network directly on a dry riverbed, precisely and without leaving a single drop of the refined, warm life essence into the depths of Chou Chou's already depleted Yin essence.

I understand! In the blink of an eye, a sudden realization illuminated my mind:

Previously, using the black mist was like igniting a foul "life force" to drive the "power of the underworld," which was a waste. But this "pure dragon power" is the purest "life fuel," unburned.

My role was to use my unwavering belief as a "furnace" and "conduit" in a desperate situation to complete a risky and potentially fatal "energy conversion"!

"Buzz—!!!"

All the instruments in the laboratory emitted a sharp, long whistle!

The silvery-white light rapidly dimmed and contracted. The next second—

"bite."

A crisp sound as it hit the ground.

A scale, flowing with a warm, silvery luster and containing boundless vitality, fell to the ground.

Sacrificial Snow Dragon Scales!!!

Almost at the same instant the dragon scales touched the ground.

In that crevic of rules between "three" and "four," lies the ultimate boundary of the flow of Yin and Yang.

A howling wind arose, and the gates of hell opened. A terrifying humanoid figure, shrouded in eerie mist, took a numb step, plunging into the all-consuming vortex of reincarnation. One foot was already submerged in nothingness, and the gravitational pull of death began to tear at its very existence…

Just as the other foot was about to step in.

"boom--!!!"

A force originating from an individual in the mortal realm, transformed from an extreme will of "rejection," a force that transcends the rules, descended fiercely from the infinite heights! It was not an attack, but a tyrannical "denial" of the predetermined fate that "Chou Chou should enter the cycle of reincarnation"!

The gates of hell were shaken!

The Yin body was violently pulled back by this force and slammed onto the Yellow Spring Stone outside the pass. From within the pass came the endless, resentful screams of vengeful spirits, the pull of reincarnation forcibly severed!

The portal to annihilation slammed shut before this almost perverse obsession!

The numbness in the eyes of the underworld being gradually faded, and a glimmer of spiritual light re-condensed in its blood-red vertical pupils...

Linzhi Branch Laboratory.

Dead silence...

Then, on the life monitor, the three lines that were originally straight suddenly rose up like a giant dragon awakening, and then stabilized in a strong and steady band!

Inside the crystal cage, its stale, withered fur visibly returned to its snow-white, fluffy state; its sunken eye sockets became full; and its faint breathing became long and steady. It twitched its little paws, slowly raised its head, and looked at me with its beady black eyes, letting out a soft, characteristic ferret moan:

"Gurgle..."

All life has returned to its rightful place!

It was even more vibrant than ever before, and all the researchers stood frozen in place, as if witnessing a miracle.

Director Yang didn't speak. His gaze was fixed on the dragon scale on the ground, then slowly moved to the revitalized Chou Chou in the cage. Finally, it settled on my pale, sweat-drenched face.

The last wisp of black mist at my fingertips slowly dissipated.

I hugged Chou Chou tightly: "Chou Chou, are you alright, Chou Chou?"

Chou Chou licked my hand with the tip of its tongue; it was the fingertip that had previously connected to the silvery-white light. Consciousness drifted into my mind again, but this time, Chou Chou's consciousness was no longer fragmented.

"Little Su, I was right about you. By the way, where did you find the dragon's reverse scale?" Chou Chou remained silent, and our thoughts began to connect and communicate again.

"All I know about this thing is called Sacrificial Snow Dragon Scale. This name suddenly popped into my head, kind of like a telepathic exchange between us."

Director Yang was whispering something to "17" while glancing at me and Chou Chou, who were both motionless.

Her eyes darted around, and after clearing her throat, she finally spoke: "Nianyang, are you alright?"

"It's alright." At this moment, the dissipating black mist, the exchange of thoughts, and the massive amount of information from the Sacrifice Snow Dragon Scales overwhelmed me.

This scene was recorded in real time by the laboratory's monitoring system, and the information flooded to the Bureau of Spirits Investigation across the country, including the Bureau's headquarters.

A moment later, Director Yang's phone screen lit up. He glanced at it, didn't answer, and simply placed the screen face down on the table. He then received a few more text messages. But in that 0.3 seconds, I caught a glimpse of the caller ID—LS.

"Hey you, have the cafeteria add extra food for lunch today. And go buy two cases of Coke, the bullet-shaped kind!" As he spoke, Director Yang pulled out several large bills.

This was based on the Bureau of Investigation's understanding of Su Nianyang's past, and in fact, that was the case.

In Su Nianyang's online shopping records, the only beverage purchase record was several cases of bullet cola.

That's how the adult world is, especially in the workplace. Not everyone is either friend or foe. Many relationships are built up if possible. The reason I'm in this position today isn't just because of my abilities and opportunities, but also because of my approach of making many friends and few enemies.

"Nianyang, thank you for coming all this way to deliver this. We don't have anything fancy to offer you, so please stay for lunch."

I know this is just an excuse, an excuse that I can't refuse.

But this is for the best; perhaps that stifling "interrogation" can now take place on the cafeteria table.

I nodded and smiled, then asked Director Yang, "Director Yang, should I put these dragon scales in the laboratory's containment box first? Otherwise, I'm afraid the staff might get hurt."

"This is a good opportunity for me to get closer to each other. Maybe as the relationship develops, I can get my crotch back."

Just as my fingertips were about to touch the Sacrificial Snow Dragon Scale, the expected thing did not happen. The black mist did not appear from my fingertips, and my fingers had already touched the dragon scale.

Contrary to my expectations, there was no bloodshed or severed fingers. The ten-inch-long sacrificial snow dragon scale lay quietly in my hand.

The staff in the laboratory were all astonished, as those dragon scales had burned off the fingers of field personnel.

I looked at Chou Chou, then at the dragon scales, and murmured: Could it be... that the silvery-white light on the dragon scales is a kind of energy, and it is this energy that allows Chou Chou to regain its life?

Stinky's voice rang out, broken and intermittent: "Reverse scale... dragon seed... remnant soul..." I was stunned for a moment, trying to piece together its fragmented words: "You mean, the dragon scale may contain a trace of the dragon seed's remnant soul left behind before it died?" Stinky's tail flicked very lightly.

Dragon seed, reverse scale, cultivation, remnant soul... These few words seemed to open up a whole new world for the members of the Spirits Investigation Bureau...