"Brother Yi, eat whatever you want!" Qin Nan waved his hand dismissively.

At this point, he couldn’t be bothered to argue. They were all doomed men, tied to the same fate like grasshoppers on a string.

"Big brother, I don’t think he truly grasps the severity of the situation yet," Qin Zhiyu remarked as she approached. "Remember how optimistic we were when we first got trapped here?"

"He still has the appetite to eat now, but once he starts feeling his life force and cultivation draining away in a couple of days, I doubt he’ll keep this carefree attitude."

"Probably so."

Qin Nan sighed heavily, his face clouded with worry. "Let him be for now. When the time comes, he’ll panic more than any of us."

The siblings exchanged uneasy glances while Yi Feng had already retreated to the ship’s kitchen, indulging in a feast.

Amidst the boundless Black Domain—

An eerie darkness stretched endlessly, broken only by wisps of pale mist drifting through the air, casting an unsettling gloom.

But upon closer inspection, one could discern strange energies swirling in the void.

These energies were everywhere, like tendrils of smoke, each bearing one of two distinct hues.

They converged from all directions, flowing toward a single valley deep within the Black Domain.

Inside the valley—

Bones littered the ground, and the air was thick with the stench of death.

This was a graveyard of tombs.

Hundreds of burial mounds stood in grim silence.

Meanwhile, the drifting energies from afar were evenly absorbed into each of these tombs.

As the absorption continued, the mounds pulsed with an overwhelming aura, as though something dormant was on the verge of awakening.

Then—

One of the tombs suddenly trembled.

With a violent explosion, the mound shattered, revealing a pitch-black coffin.

The coffin was engraved with sinister runes, its surface dark and foreboding, exuding both weight and malice.

And now—

Within the coffin, a pair of crimson eyes snapped open.

The moment they did, twin beams of scarlet light shot forth, striking the coffin lid.

BOOM!

A mere glance was enough—the lid was blasted into the air before disintegrating mid-flight.

"Such… overwhelming power!"

The coffin’s occupant was a desiccated corpse, its shriveled body little more than skin stretched over bones, its crimson eyes bulging as if ready to pop out.

It stepped out of the coffin.

Those blood-red eyes swept across the valley, taking in the undisturbed tombs around it.

"These fools… still asleep."

"So I’m the first to awaken."

"Hahahaha…"

"Pathetic."

The withered face twisted into a grin, its laughter echoing through the valley, sending chills down any listener’s spine.

"But that strand of power that woke me… it was incredible."

"Damn it, though—the absorption stopped the moment I revived. If I could’ve kept drawing it in, my strength would’ve—!"

At the thought, greed flickered in its hollow eyes.

With a flick of its skeletal hand, tendrils of energy gathered in its palm, filtering through its grasp.

Yet—

None of these energies satisfied it. It only craved that one elusive strand—the one it had failed to fully consume before awakening.

Then—

Its eyes lit up as its fingers clenched.

"Found it… this is the one!"

The corpse trembled with excitement.

Though this strand was thinner than a hair compared to the others, the power it contained was immeasurable—far surpassing thousands of ordinary strands combined.

"Devour it!"

Driven by greed, the corpse unleashed a crushing force, wrapping around the energy and pulling it in.

In an instant—

A torrent of power, vast as an ocean, surged into its body.

Its withered flesh swelled visibly, its sunken face filling out with flesh and vitality.

"Yes… YES! Such power!"

Feeling its strength skyrocket, the corpse’s hunger grew uncontrollable. It accelerated the absorption, desperate for more.

In that moment—

Its cultivation soared.

Breaking through all previous limits.

The sheer exhilaration of this ascent drove it to madness.

"HAHAHAHA—!"

Its laughter shook the valley, making the mountains tremble.

But then—

Its expression twisted in horror.

Its body was expanding uncontrollably, its meridians unable to contain the flood of energy.

Like a riverbed suddenly filled with an ocean’s worth of water—

The dam shattered instantly.

Worse yet—

Despite absorbing so much, that hair-thin strand of energy showed no sign of diminishing. Its color and density remained unchanged.

"No… no…"

"Impossible—!"

"NO! NO! NO!!"

The laughter died in its throat, replaced by frantic, incoherent cries. Every cell, every drop of blood in its body was bursting with energy.

All of this happened in mere moments.

From a shriveled husk, its body had ballooned to the size of a small hill, its shadow engulfing the entire graveyard.

Its grotesque expansion had distorted its form beyond recognition, its face a twisted mask of agony.

"NO—!"

Finally—

With one last scream of despair—

BOOM!

The corpse exploded.

Limbs scattered, blood rained down, painting the already macabre valley in fresh crimson.