A pristine soul drifted out of Lu Cang’s body and slipped into the dungeon entrance before him.

VMMMM—

The glowing ring at the dungeon entrance changed from light blue to black.

Chi Cheng blinked.

He’d never seen a move like that before.

"This is..."

Lu Cang smiled and replied, "Just some of my own ideas."

"Didn’t Iz say we should think for ourselves?"

Over the past half a month, Lu Cang had done a lot of thinking.

About Magic.

About Death.

About Priests.

About Sacrifice.

’What is the true nature of Sacrifice?’

’To make the weak strong.’

’To turn unfamiliarity into mastery.’

’Its essence... should be ascension.’

’In that case, can Sacrifice only be used on oneself?’

Lu Cang had conducted many experiments, reaping some benefits from sacrificing souls to enhance his physical strength.

But after just 100 souls, Lu Cang felt he had reached a limit.

His body couldn’t withstand that level of ascension.

Even so, it had raised his overall physical attributes to the level of a Level 1 Warrior.

Lu Cang felt the reason he couldn’t improve further was that he lacked a Combat Element Profession, making his physical foundation too weak.

As for Magic, his Level 201 Beyond Magic could accommodate a maximum of 10,000 sacrificed souls at once.

Any more than that had no additional effect.

As for Death Spells.

He hadn’t yet found the upper limit for Soul Sacrifice with them.

Perhaps this was the difference between the Magic of a Mage and a Death Priest; Death Spells were practically tailor-made for Sacrifice.

Beyond these Sacrifices, Lu Cang had also tried to use Sacrifice on his own Talent.

The final result was... no effect.

Last night, he had looked up more records about Death Priests.

He’d read that in order to cause widespread, tragic death, some Death Priests would create powerful dungeons and unleash the demons inside.

And now, seeing the dungeon before him...

An idea formed in Lu Cang’s mind.

’Try using Sacrifice on the dungeon.’

As expected...

It was a success.

The dungeon entrance’s glowing ring turning black was the result of the Sacrifice.

"Want to go in and see?" Lu Cang asked.

"Haha, how interesting! Let’s go!" Chi Cheng was characteristically bold, striding in first.

Lu Cang didn’t hesitate.

He followed him in.

But the moment he stepped inside, Lu Cang froze.

Before him was a vast, open space. Ahead was a mountain, with a straight, dark tunnel leading into it.

To his left and right stood two giant, six-legged insects. Their upper bodies resembled longhorn beetles, but they had human-like hands gripping enormous Black Blades.

He glanced back... but the exit had vanished.

This made Lu Cang frown slightly.

"Black Blade Horned Bull Insects!"

"And there are two of them!"

Chi Cheng exclaimed.

"Tier Three King Level Demons, right at the entrance."

’King Level?’

Lu Cang was just about to raise his hand.

BOOM!

A crimson slash flashed through the air!

SWISH!

The upper bodies of the two giant insects slid off diagonally.

"Oh! That’s the quality of a King Level, alright!"

At some point, Chi Cheng had already appeared up ahead, strolling in front of the two severed corpses.

"I’m going to check out what’s ahead."

With that, his figure vanished again.

RUMBLE—

A massive tremor shook the entire ground!

Lu Cang turned his head and saw that the exit had reappeared.

A mere five seconds later, Chi Cheng emerged from the cave, carrying a corpse the size of a small mountain.

"Haha, what a great haul!"

"There were actually ten King Level Demons."

’Chi Cheng, I was the one who opened this instance.’

’I haven’t even done anything yet.’

’Well, even so, a thousand souls isn’t much. They were all just worthless ants.’

"Let’s split the loot!"

"How about fifty-fifty?"

Lu Cang retorted, "Brother Chi Cheng, I feel like you just stole all my kills..."

’I can one-shot a Tier Three King Level Demon too.’

’But he beat me to it.’

"Haha, but I’m the one who did the harvesting."

"Besides, it’s faster if I kill them."

’That’s true.’

Chi Cheng skillfully divided the loot. His strength was undeniable; he tossed the massive corpses around as if they were weightless.

Within just a few minutes, he had finished sorting the spoils of war.

Gleaming Black Iron, a Black Celestial Horn, a Sharp Spike Leg...

These were all materials from King Level Demons, each worth about two thousand Gold Coins.

The ten demons yielded a total of twenty thousand Gold Coins.

With a fifty-fifty split, Lu Cang would get ten thousand.

Money suddenly seemed so easy to make.

’Sigh, but the difference outside of a Harvest Moon is just too obvious, isn’t it?’

Lu Cang vaguely remembered that the materials from a single Bloodline Monarch had been worth 10,000 Gold Coins. Now, ten of these were only worth twenty thousand combined?

Seeing this haul, he felt a faint sense of weariness.

Once you’ve experienced a Harvest Moon, you can never go back.

When he first learned about the Harvest Moon, he’d wondered if it was some cruel trap to lure people into taking risks.

Now he just felt... ’Oh, trap, please spring on me a few more times.’

"Ready to go?"

"Let’s go."

After splitting the loot, the two shared a tacit understanding.

After leaving the dungeon, Chi Cheng glanced around and pointed in a direction.

His keen Perception told him the nearest dungeon was that way.

The two hurried on their way.

They arrived.

Lu Cang looked at a mark on the nearby wall.

"This dungeon is marked."

"Who cares? Let’s just do it."

’That’s true,’ Lu Cang thought. ’At worst, whoever accepted the commission for this dungeon can just claim their reward directly. It’s not like it’s much money anyway.’

"Brother Chi Cheng, you should be able to handle it even if it’s a little tougher, right?"

Chi Cheng: "Hmph, who do you take me for?"

"Is there a Warrior on the Ruelun Continent stronger than me? As long as I’m here, you can rest completely assured."

Lu Cang: "Alright, I’ll put my trust in Brother Chi Cheng."

Lu Cang extended a hand toward the dungeon and, in an instant, activated Sacrifice!

[Sacrifice—10,000 Souls]

VMMMM!

Pristine white souls flew out from Lu Cang’s body.

They continuously streamed into the dungeon ahead.

BOOM—

The dungeon’s glowing ring began a bizarre transformation.

It went from pale orange, to orange, and gradually to red...

Finally, the glow of the dungeon entrance settled into a pale red.

Once the color stabilized, the souls stopped flying out of Lu Cang’s body.

The two exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

Chi Cheng strode forward, stepping into the dungeon.

Lu Cang waited outside for about ten seconds.

’Looks like this entrance doesn’t disappear,’ he thought. ’Only the exit does.’

Only then did he walk inside.

And upon stepping inside, he saw the ground littered with the carcasses of giant demons.

The echoes of a great roar still reverberated in the air.

Billowing clouds of dust had not yet settled.

’It seems that in just ten seconds, Chi Cheng had already finished off all these demons.’