The Celestial Spirit Venerable was dealt with quickly. After being stuffed directly into the Melting Furnace, Qi Suian resumed his usual simple routine.

He focused on studying and research, while the Tai Sui God hunted to grow stronger.

During this time, his Seven Elements Refining Technique reached the third level.

His progress was quite fast, mainly due to the continuous supply of Feast Energy.

This was mainly due to his weak foundation and low potential. Every improvement required procedures like strengthening his Cultivation Technique and supplying nutrients, all centered around a steady, step-by-step approach.

After all, his upper limit was low. To advance, he first had to raise his own limit before any further progress could be made.

Qi Suian’s path to power had no real bottlenecks; he was making steady gains every day.

The Tai Sui God, on the other hand, was progressing much more slowly.

It hadn’t encountered many Beast King-level Cold Energy Monsters, let alone Venerable-level ones. Almost all of them were ordinary grade.

The quality of the "survivor fuel" was also poor. His actions on the Ice Continent had sent its inhabitants into a panic.

There was a second attempt to annihilate him, but Qi Suian was no pushover. The survivors who came to surround him were all stuffed into the Melting Furnace as fuel.

Unfortunately, he never again encountered any top-quality fuel.

While these survivors were, to some extent, better than ordinary ones, they were only comparable to ordinary-grade Cold Energy Monsters if he had to make a benchmark.

Unless the numbers were massive, the returns weren’t very high.

However, his actions also gave rise to differing opinions within the various nations.

These included potential solutions like recruitment, assimilation, or even just ignoring him or sending tribute to get him to settle down.

Of course, some people disregarded these discussions, focused instead on the reward for killing Qi Suian.

But regardless of the approach, no one could come up with a concrete plan, so the bickering continued.

Although many had died, it had yet to affect the interests of those in power, so everything had to go through proper channels.

If they truly loved their citizens as their own children, they wouldn’t have resorted to experimenting on civilian survivors in the first place.

This situation ended up benefiting Qi Suian. He could only remark that the "protagonist halo" of Celestial Fate: Profound was truly worthy of its X-rank.

’It really is amazing.’

It might not be as absurd as making wishes come true or having his every word become law, but it still provided him with immense help.

"I’ve noticed this Doomsday World is the most resilient one yet. There’s still no sign of it blowing up." While researching the Low-level Poison Element Attachment Technique, Qi Suian suddenly realized things had been a little too quiet recently.

It was like he had hit a lull.

[No. It is that you have been too idle recently.]

[The survivor community is not calm at all. Due to the Tai Sui God’s hunting activities, the survivors are in a state of panic.]

[Furthermore, if you wish to destroy the planet, I recommend you seek the source of the Cold Energy. You will soon be able to proceed to the next Doomsday World.]

Whether the world blew up didn’t depend on the apocalypse itself. After all, the apocalypse in the Polar Day World had been running for over a hundred years without a problem, yet just a few days after Qi Suian arrived, he had pulled out the sun in a bottle.

This forced the doomsday game to relocate.

So, without the interference of a violator like Qi Suian, the doomsday game would operate within a Doomsday World for a considerable amount of time.

The time the regressor had experienced was the normal length of survival, not one where survivors were wiped out every other day. This level of difficulty was anything but normal.

[Special lifeform detected entering reconnaissance network range. Data shows anomalies. Proceed with investigation?]

Before Qi Suian could even speak, the AI displayed a notification, simultaneously projecting a three-dimensional model of what the reconnaissance network was monitoring.

As Qi Suian manipulated the model, he quickly understood why the AI had described it as a "special lifeform" and "anomalous."

It was a person, yet its body contained a core that only Cold Energy Monsters possessed.

"A human who has completed their evolution?" Qi Suian murmured.

[Negative. Data from the reconnaissance network indicates the target’s core data is abnormal. Lacking advanced analysis and sensory modules, further confirmation is impossible.]

As the AI spoke, the three-dimensional image zoomed in, with data readouts appearing alongside it.

"It’s like a fragmented core... no, that’s not it. It should be a sub-core that was split off." Qi Suian’s eyes narrowed. "Could it be an avatar of some Venerable-level Cold Energy Monster?"

Avatar-type abilities weren’t unheard of, after all.

"But I thought all the Venerable-level ones were in hibernation," Qi Suian said.

[Do you recall the Dragon Roar Daoist’s final letter?]

The AI’s question was an instant wake-up call for Qi Suian.

"You’re saying... this person could be a Cultivator from the previous cold energy era? That they survived into this new age by transplanting the core of a Cold Energy Monster?" Qi Suian instantly grasped the AI’s implication.

[Correct. But there is another possibility: it is simply an avatar of a Cold Energy Monster.]

[The specifics can only be determined once you have performed a dissection.]

[However, based on its behavioral logic, the target possesses a complete sense of self and does not appear to be controlled.]

"Then let’s make our move. Have the Tai Sui God capture it alive," Qi Suian said without hesitation.

He suspected another fortuitous opportunity had just landed in his lap. Otherwise, why would he have discovered it so conveniently?

’My protagonist halo probably thinks my growth has been too slow during this lull and decided to give me something to do,’ he mused.

The Tai Sui God deployed immediately. Flying through the sky, it soon spotted a portly, middle-aged man dressed in a bizarre fashion.

He wore a chaotic mix of modern clothing and ancient accessories, giving him a garish, punk-like style.

His strength seemed considerable, however. He was using Cold Energy to ward off the wind and snow, allowing him to walk through the blizzard with little hindrance.

At close range, the reconnaissance network’s accuracy increased dramatically.

[Data comparison complete. No matching profile. Preliminary conclusion: a surviving lifeform from the previous cold energy era.]

"You won’t even call it ’human,’ opting for ’lifeform’ instead."

"Looks like the odds of it being human are slim." Qi Suian had great faith in the AI.

[Its species cannot be defined. It can be confirmed that it is neither human nor Cold Energy Monster, but a third classification.]

At these words, Qi Suian’s eyes narrowed again.

The AI’s statement meant this target was of immense value.

"Looks like I’ll need to be careful with this experiment," Qi Suian muttered to himself while infusing the Tai Sui God with a massive amount of Feast Energy to augment it.

"Go."

The moment he gave the command, the Tai Sui God plummeted downwards like a meteor.

"A meteor? Why is it so fast? And it’s coming right for me!" The Tiger Roar Daoist was on his way to carry out a mission for the Taiyin Celestial Monarch when he looked up and saw a black dot rapidly growing larger.

"What rotten luck..."

Before he could finish, the black dot grew large enough for him to see what it was.

It was an Iron Armor Man. Before the Daoist could react, its massive hand was pressing down on his head.

The Tiger Roar Daoist tried to dodge, of course, but it was too late. Before he could even move, the iron palm fell.

The good news: he felt no pain. The bad news: he lost consciousness on the spot.

Once he was unconscious, the Tai Sui God injected him with a heavy anesthetic, hooked him up to a life support device, and tossed him into the Subspace Pocket.

"Something’s off. The data doesn’t add up." While the Tai Sui God was busy, Qi Suian ran a quick scan on the Tiger Roar Daoist.

He discovered that his target, as a human who practiced a Qi Cultivation Method, had dual attributes that had reached 7 points, which should have placed him in the top tier of cultivators.

Yet he hadn’t reacted at all. Logically, even if he couldn’t counter the attack, it was strange that he couldn’t even muster a reaction.

In the AI’s and Qi Suian’s estimation, there was a thirty percent chance he would counter, a sixty percent chance he would dodge, and a ten percent chance for other outcomes.

Neither of them had even considered "unable to react" as a possibility.

The multiple-choice question had turned into a fill-in-the-blank.

’Whatever. I’ll take him back and examine him properly to find out the reason,’ Qi Suian thought.

’There’s more and more that’s strange about this guy.’ Qi Suian didn’t dwell on it for long.

Now that the man was in his hands, he was sure to meet a grim fate.

In his eyes, every human on this planet was a survivor, which meant they were all fair game.

-----------------

"I’ve broken through to the fifth level. The Taiyin Refining Technique is perfected. A shame I don’t have the Red Dragon Pearl." Although Tang Qing had achieved a breakthrough, he wasn’t in a good mood.

The Red Dragon Pearl had fallen into the violator’s hands. The chances of getting it back were slim to none.

By now, he had given up any thought of trying to kill the violator.

Ever since the nations began their encirclement, the death toll associated with the "Permanent Event: The Violator" had rarely stopped climbing.

The man was as terrifying as a tireless killing machine.

Yet he also understood that if the violator continued to grow stronger, it would eventually become his problem.

Just then, the Dragon Roar Daoist walked in. "Not bad, you’ve already broken through to the fifth level. Shouldn’t we be heading back now?"

His words put Tang Qing on high alert.

From what he knew, the Dragon Roar Daoist loved to wander. So why was he in such a hurry to get him to go back?

Especially since their time together had been perfectly amicable, with no conflict to speak of.

"I want to get some more experience. I’ll head back later," Tang Qing replied.

"Experience for what? With Taiyin to guide you, it’s better than fumbling around on your own," the Dragon Roar Daoist retorted. "Besides, if you stay here, can you cultivate the sixth level of the Taiyin Refining Technique?"

Hearing "the sixth level," Tang Qing’s eyes flickered. "But Teacher said I need the Red Dragon Pearl for that."

"I’m not sure about that, but Taiyin has probably improved the technique," the Dragon Roar Daoist said, not seeming very surprised. "No wonder you came to Celestial Pillar Mountain. So this was your plan."

"A pity the Red Dragon Corpse is nowhere to be found and the Red Dragon Pearl is gone. Even if you want to go out for more experience, it’s not too late to do so after you get the sixth level from Taiyin."