The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

After that, Wu You went to the deep dark domain again.

He passed through the portal and arrived beneath the familiar dark red sky.

Then he went into each of the danger zones and took a look.

The fog was still there, and the marks he had made on the ground were still there, but the zombies were gone: all the danger zones remained empty.

Without further hesitation, Wu You returned directly to his courtyard and spent two leisurely days there.

During this time, Wu You would occasionally look at the information on martial artists and ability users, and then continue to improve the lower and middle levels of the new swordsmanship.

Tired of thinking, Wu You temporarily put aside the idea of ​​creating a new sword path and instead began to practice his skill in planting talismans and sword techniques.

He sat in the courtyard with his palms facing upwards, and then pure white and silvery smoke swirled, condensed, and took shape between his fingers.

Small swords appeared in his palm, which he then casually placed on the stone table beside him.

The number of talisman swords on the stone table increased from a few to a dozen, and then to dozens. The pure white and silver-white small swords were stacked together, shimmering with golden light in the afternoon sun.

His movements as he condensed the talisman sword became faster and smoother, the whole process flowing effortlessly.

At the same time, the proficiency of the Talisman Sword Technique on the panel is also increasing rapidly.

If he didn't want to grind for skill points anymore, Wu You would start practicing his swordplay in the courtyard.

The sword technique he was practicing wasn't any other sword style, but the one Wu You first acquired and started practicing from the very first day he transmigrated: the basic sword technique.

But to Wu You's surprise, as he resumed practicing basic sword techniques, he found inspiration to solve some of the difficulties and problems he had encountered when creating his new sword style.

His hands were moving, his sword was swinging, and his body was spinning and leaping, completing one movement after another with each thrust and sway.

Then, those questions that I couldn't understand, those things that I had thought about countless times on paper and in my mind but still felt were a little lacking, suddenly became clear in the gaps between those actions.

Wu You also realized that although his basic swordsmanship had long been perfected, this perfection was only for himself.

The basic swordsmanship he has mastered is now the most suitable and perfect one for him.

However, Wu You's original intention in creating the new swordsmanship was to extend it to others and create a swordsmanship suitable for everyone to practice.

There are still significant differences.

A flash of inspiration struck Wu You, who couldn't help but exclaim, "Reviewing the old helps us understand the new; the ancients were truly right!"

His voice echoed in the courtyard, carried away by the afternoon breeze, and disappeared into the distant sunlight.

Then he dispersed the longsword formed from starlight, letting the silvery-white particles of light drift between his fingers.

On his last night before returning to Lanhe, Wu You drifted off to sleep with a mixture of anticipation and wistfulness.

While Wu Youan was sleeping.

The capital of the Eastern Spirit Kingdom, Donghua City, Eastern Spirit Research Institute.

The research institute's buildings stand in the northwest corner of Donghua City. Each building has a gray exterior and a square outline, without any superfluous decorations, except for a fist-sized torch symbol carved above the main gate.

It was late at night, but white lights were still shining from the windows of most buildings.

In one of the buildings, in a small office, a researcher wearing a white lab coat and with heavy bags under his eyes walked in quickly, holding a tablet.

His white coat was wrinkled, the collar was open, revealing a faded dark blue T-shirt underneath, and his hair was messy, as if he hadn't washed it for days.

He emanated a faint energy fluctuation, clearly indicating that he was also a power user.

But for someone with such abilities to be so busy that they have such dark circles under their eyes, it's clear that the research institute is under a lot of pressure.

The other person in front of him, wearing a white coat, was a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses.

He sat behind his desk, tapping away at his tablet with a stylus, as data charts on the screen switched one after another.

"Team leader, the analysis of those two ritual sets is almost complete." (Two ritual sets seized during Operation Purification)

Upon hearing this, he temporarily removed the stylus from the tablet, shifting his gaze from behind the screen to the person behind his black-rimmed glasses, his voice steady:

"What was the result?"

The researcher with dark circles under his eyes immediately reported: "Team leader, one of them is just a simple dark energy induction ritual. Aside from instantly unleashing a large dark energy fluctuation, it's basically useless."

The team leader's expression didn't change much, except that his chin twitched slightly, signaling him to continue.

The researcher on dark circles immediately continued: "But the other set is the one that looks simpler in structure and has fewer lines."

"The difficulty of the analysis is many times greater than that of the previous set."

"It looks simple, but the way every line and every node is arranged is unlike any ritual we have ever seen before. Its design logic is completely different from our existing framework."

"But thankfully, it was eventually deciphered."

He held up the tablet and turned the screen towards the team leader. The screen displayed several densely packed diagrams of the ritual structure and corresponding analytical annotations: "It has two main functions."

"One is that once activated, it can extract energy from the dark domain and convert it into energy that can be absorbed by the ability user."

"It's similar in principle to the energy supply rituals we designed before."

He paused, a hint of emotion creeping into his voice.

"But we have to admit that the design of this ritual is much better than ours. It is not only simpler, but also requires less energy to start."

"After thoroughly understanding this ritual, we can also upgrade the energy supply rituals for the training rooms in each Jiuli base. Not only can energy consumption be reduced, but efficiency can also be increased."

Upon hearing this, the person in the white coat, referred to as the team leader, nodded, their expression remaining calm: "What's the other function?"

Then, the researcher with dark circles under his eyes suddenly became serious.

"The second function is to drill holes."

The team leader's brow twitched slightly.

"Activating that ritual in the Dark Realm is not a problem."

"It will function normally in the dark domain, drawing in and converting energy, and then operating stably without producing any abnormalities."

"But once activated in the real world, it will create a hole between the dark realm and the real world while drawing energy from the dark realm!"

"The holes it produces are extremely small and very difficult to detect."

"If each set of data hadn't been rigorously verified, we almost would have missed this change."

"At the same time, precisely because this hole is extremely small, the dark aura seeping out from these holes does not even reach the minimum detection threshold of the dark energy detector."

"In other words, every time this ritual is activated in the real world, it leaves behind a tiny hole that connects reality and the Dark Realm, a hole that cannot be detected by the Dark Realm's energy detector!"

Upon hearing the researcher with dark circles under his eyes' last few words, the white coat, who had been sitting, immediately stood up.

The chair slid backward a bit as he suddenly moved, the wheels screeching on the ground.

His hands were on the desk, his body leaning forward, his eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses wide open, the pupils reflecting the dense analytical data on the tablet.

"Why wasn't such an important thing mentioned first!"

Then, without waiting for the researcher with dark circles under his eyes to speak again, he reached out and picked up his phone from the table and dialed a number.

He held the phone to his ear and spoke very quickly, with almost no pauses.

"Now, connect me to the Investigation Bureau headquarters!"

"I have extremely important news to report!"