The talk about getting back at Team Nine's rookies is all nonsense.

Every man for himself, or the heavens and earth will annihilate you!

If X9500 came to Earth, it's naturally because there's something here that excites him!

"Three unripe fruits."

"You need to mature quickly..."

"Only then can you provide me with more nourishment."

Looking at the projection on the map of Ma Ran, Su Qiangwei, and Matt Gray, X9500 was reminded of events from fifty years ago.

When the fiftieth anniversary of the "Soul Cultivation Field" experiment commenced, a fascinating low-level civilization opened up.

In that civilization, the status of "Inner Qi Martial Arts Sects" was equivalent to the "Mysterious Research Institute" in the Eternal Civilization.

After utterly destroying the Inner Qi Civilization, X9500 unexpectedly acquired a technique unknown to the entire Eternal Civilization!

This technique was actually a fragment developed by those Martial Arts Masters, striving to surpass the limit of the Ninth Rank of Inner Qi, to explore the Tenth Rank Realm by pooling the wisdom of all geniuses and strong individuals of the civilization.

However...

X9500 had already wiped out that civilization entirely.

Therefore, this technique became his alone.

In the following years, X9500 kept a low profile, completely destroying all written information about the technique, memorizing it solely in his mind, and naming it "Thought Essence Purification Technology."

The greater the risk, the greater the reward!

The practical applications of the "Thought Essence Purification Technology" allowed X9500 to plunder the emotions of other life forms and use them to strengthen his own soul!

To keep the secret of the "Thought Essence Purification Technology," X9500 employed many tactics and even applied to establish a branch base of the Eternal Civilization on a remote, resource-poor planet, living in constant fear for several years.

As time elapsed, he finally became certain that the scholars above hadn't discovered his secret, and his experiments gradually returned to their original style.

There are indeed some side effects of the "Thought Essence Purification Technology."

After fifty years, with X9500's greatly enhanced soul strength, he was no longer as rational as before and had somewhat adopted the emotions of low-level civilization natives.

A person without forethought must have near worries.

Conversely, that saying also holds truth.

X9500 can live to at least three hundred years old, already surpassing most citizens of the Eternal Civilization.

But...

He's not satisfied.

Starting ten years ago, he's been making various attempts.

X9500 traveled to many low-level civilizations, collecting intangible emotions, spiritual power, and brainwaves, converting them into tangible "Thought Essence" to strengthen his own consciousness.

Whether Earth possesses technology to further extend life remains a mystery.

But the Thought Essence of Heroes is a priceless treasure in hand, and absolutely cannot be relinquished to others!

Even Thought Essences have levels.

Ordinary natives and hero natives are completely different!

The Thought Essence of ordinary natives is virtually useless to X9500.

But the Thought Essence of heroes is still effective!

And highly beneficial!

For such a long time, X9500 has only absorbed the unique soul of one local hero.

Since then, his soul limit has increased, allowing him to expect to live to about three hundred fifty years old!

"Earth... truly worthy of being a civilization opened only on the hundredth anniversary of the experimental plan."

"Though the civilization is of a low grade, before the disaster even erupted, three individuals with 'hero' potential had already emerged."

[Limited Foreknowledge]Ability User, Ma Ran!

[Myriad Transformations]Ability User, Su Qiangwei!

[God]Ability User, Mark Gray!

These three Earth natives with "hero" potential have already been marked on X9500's list!

Nobody can take them away!

Subject them to setbacks, blows, and challenging training, let them rapidly grow to their peak, then kill them to plunder their Thought Essence, enhancing his own soul...

In this way, X9500's lifespan limit could be extended to four hundred, even five hundred years!

Furthermore, if the bodies of these three are preserved intact, they could be taken back to the base and transformed into "Servant Cards" using cellular reboot and space compression technologies.

Just like the previous Steel Puppet Legion, they could become excellent chess pieces in X9500's conquest of other civilizations in the future!

Thinking of this, X9500 felt that personally descending this time was indeed the right choice.

The Lotus City battle was the first crushing defeat he gifted to Ma Ran and Su Qiangwei!

"Next..."

"Su Qiangwei can suffer setbacks, but can't be directly killed."

"Her people must die one by one around her first, to maximize her potential and make her Thought Essence more valuable!"

"That young man named Wan Haihao harbors a strong power within."

"Approximately equivalent to..."

"The total high-density biopower of a Seventh Rank Inner Qi Cultivator."

"Exactly like that little guy with the sword just now."

"If it accidentally explodes, it would waste a card..."

A string of dark green data flashed across the white helmet of X9500.

"I see."

"Ma Ran has divided three quarters of his own power to create an 'Inner Qi Talisman' for each of them..."

"There's a saying on Earth that goes—Mercy shouldn't govern troops, righteousness shouldn't gather wealth."

"Such behavior is truly foolish!"

"Can you save him once, can you save him a second time?"

Though X9500 felt disdain for Ma Ran's arrangement in his heart, his level of attention towards Ma Ran increased.

Who is a hero and who isn't, he doesn't decide, nor do the natives!

One must wait until the final harvest moment, judging from the quality of the Thought Essence!

X9500 speculates that those groups with strong individual combat power, who are caring towards companions, willing to sacrifice, and display courage, are more prone to producing "heroes."

In the past fifty years, he has only encountered two heroes.

The first was a "Sword Saint" encountered in the Inner Qi Civilization.

At that time, X9500 understood nothing, thought that mere low-level civilization natives were abundant and, seeing the Sword Saint's impressive combat power, directly turned him into a card.

The second was ten years ago.

After absorbing the Thought Essence of that hero, X9500's soul strength was significantly enhanced.

X9500 shook his head, cleared his thoughts, and quickly chose the most suitable soft target.

He held a card imprinted with a black fang and pressed it onto the small red dot representing Zhu Hanyi on the live tactical map.

...

Zhu Hanyi frantically fled beyond the pursuit range of the three Steel Puppets.

Not far away, Su Qiangwei, resembling a Valkyrie wielding thunder, crushed the Steel Puppets one by one with unstoppable force.

Zhu Hanyi was just thinking of rejoining with Wan Haihao, when he heard two youthful voices cry out not far away.

"Uncle! Hang in there a little longer!"

"My brother and I have come to save you!"

He glanced in the direction of the sound and saw two kids in school uniforms running towards him from about ten meters away.

He looked back.

Nobody there.

So...

They were calling him.

Zhu Hanyi tightened his grip on the longsword in his hand.

Uncle?

That title is ridiculous as hell!

He's only seventeen this year!

He realized that the two little munchkins running his way were holding toy water guns.

They clearly wore "fear" on their faces, yet still cawed bravely about saving him.

"So unlucky!"

Zhu Hanyi sighed and charged in the direction of the two overly enthusiastic children.

——

The following is free content:

Here's the sixth update for today! Consumed an Extra Chapter Card (100 monthly vote milestone in January).

Great job! The first order is almost a thousand! Nearing the goal! For every additional hundred after 1400, an Extra Chapter Card! Let's see how many more Extra Chapter Cards we can get today!

I'll take a break and then continue writing the seventh chapter!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.