Time flew by, and dozens more cycles of cold and heat passed.

The sky over the Infernal Sulfur plane remained a perpetual crimson, while the energy cycle of the Incense Fire Divine Dao continued its unhurried expansion.

Helping Ang’s descendant improve their aptitudes had gone smoothly. Jie Ming had harvested ten million low-level military merits with barely any effort.

After that, the majority of his energy was completely immersed in exploring the mysteries of space.

Inside the laboratory, Jie Ming’s eyes burned with intensity as he stared fixedly at the bizarre creature secured on the runic experiment table—a mutated spider-snake whose entire body seemed carved from colorless crystal.

This was the rare specimen he had painstakingly collected from the Void Plane in his early years.

Decades of frantically supplementing his knowledge of space had finally given him the confidence to safely dissect and study this spatial creature.

And today, it seemed his research had reached a critical breakthrough.

With utmost care, he used a specially made alchemical engraving knife to remove a small piece of the crystalline shell fragment.

In his eyes, the radiance of the All-Purpose Eye witchcraft flowed in layers, countless minute streams of data and information cascading like a waterfall over the fragment’s structure.

“I never expected…” Jie Ming murmured to himself, his tone brimming with excitement. “The core function of this thing isn’t to strengthen spatial abilities—it’s to… stabilize space!”

This discovery overturned his long-held assumptions.

He had always believed the mutated spider-snake’s ability to hide within spatial folds relied on its crystal shell masking or refracting spatial fluctuations.

Yet the actual analysis revealed that the shell’s essential role was to form an extremely tiny stable spatial anchor, like a sea anchor in a storm, ensuring the microscopic space occupied by the spider-snake wouldn’t collapse during spatial traversal or concealment.

Then where did its concealment ability come from?

Jie Ming’s gaze shifted to the internal structure exposed after removing the shell.

Unlike ordinary shelled creatures, beneath the crystal exterior was not soft muscle tissue but an extremely complex, semi-transparent, net-like membrane resembling biological fascia.

In his perception, it was these seemingly fragile web-like membranes that continuously emitted subtle yet active spatial fluctuations.

Fortunately, having advanced to a third-level wizard, and with the All-Purpose Eye’s sensitivity to spatial fluctuations, he was able to detect this unassuming network of fascia that looked like ordinary blood vessels.

“The secret lies here…” Jie Ming held his breath and focused, beginning to mimic the unique energy conduction pattern of this web-like membrane.

He carefully constructed a delicate network of mental power, simulating the nodes and circuits of that fascial web.

Buzz!!

Almost the instant his simulation succeeded, the spatial energy in the laboratory suddenly turned violent and chaotic. Invisible ripples distorted the light, emitting a low hum.

Prepared for this, Jie Ming immediately activated the energy suppression devices around the lab. A powerful force field descended instantly, forcibly smoothing out the near-uncontrollable spatial turmoil.

“That was close… but also… incredibly powerful!” Jie Ming felt lingering fear yet was utterly exhilarened.

Just a preliminary imitation had caused such intense energy disruption—this proved its immense potential.

What followed was the tedious and precise work of refinement.

Relying on his solid foundation in spatial knowledge, he began analyzing and identifying which specific energy circuit combinations in that complex web-like structure effectively dominated the spatial interference effect.

Then, he attempted to compare, integrate, and optimize these naturally formed biological rune circuits with standard spatial runes from the wizard system.

After countless failures, adjustments, and retries…

Several days later, in the center of the laboratory, Jie Ming wore a solemn expression.

He concentrated his focus, carefully guiding his mental power toward an alloy target inscribed with multiple layers of protective runes.

The moment the technique completed, an invisible distorting force field suddenly spread from his fingertip.

The space in the target area seemed to turn into rubber clay kneaded by an invisible hand—light bent and fractured within it.

The alloy target underwent a massive change without a sound: irregular dents and tear marks instantly appeared on its surface, as if torn simultaneously from different directions by invisible colossal forces, yet without any sound of metal ripping.

“Success… Spatial Distortion!” Mad joy exploded in Jie Ming’s eyes.

Jie Ming tested it several more times, and the results were exhilarating.

This new witchcraft he named “Spatial Distortion” had exaggeratedly powerful effects.

If the target lacked specialized spatial resistance defenses, its own energy intensity would need to reach at least level six to barely withstand this direct tearing from the spatial level.

However, the drawbacks were equally obvious.

This witchcraft was extremely unstable—like throwing a boulder into a calm lake, the ripples would spread uncontrollably.

If the external energy environment was already chaotic, or if the casting was strongly interfered with, the range and intensity of the spatial distortion could expand dramatically, even backlashing the caster himself. It was truly a dangerous double-edged sword.

“Stability… it’s still a stability issue.” Jie Ming calmed down, his gaze returning to the crystal shell fragments on the experiment table that he had removed for study. “So that’s why this creature evolved such a shell…”

He immediately dove into researching the source of the crystal shell’s spatial stabilization ability, seeking a way to combine these two seemingly contradictory properties—”stabilization” and “distortion.”

As long as he could resolve the stability problem, this witchcraft would become a new combat tool in his arsenal.

Just as he immersed himself fully in perfecting the new technique, a faint yet unmistakable palpitation transmitted through the soul contract link from the core region of the distant Infernal Sulfur plane.

“Hm?!” Jie Ming looked up alertly and carefully sensed it.

From the black giants… something unusual seemed to have occurred?

Jie Ming frowned slightly and temporarily set aside his research.

With a thought, he directly summoned one of the black giant leaders through the soul contract connection.

Soon, a teleportation array in the corner of the laboratory lit up. A massive figure appeared—shrunken in size but still three meters tall, pitch-black all over, radiating a contradictory aura of cold and heat.

This black giant leader was one who had accompanied Jie Ming to the “Justice” plane earlier. Though it hadn’t been needed, fortunately, with their internal spaces, they had been unaffected when Jie Ming died.

“Master.” The black giant leader bowed respectfully, its voice deep and deferential.

Jie Ming directly inquired about the disturbance in the clan.

The black giant leader seemed to have anticipated this and replied steadily: “Reporting to the Master, I have already conducted a preliminary investigation. It appears that the clan’s population has reached a certain critical threshold, causing a qualitative change from the convergence of vital life forces. According to the feedback from the ‘Incense Fire Divine Dao’ system you established, Master, as well as the vague collective will spontaneously emerging within the clan… it seems our race is about to naturally give birth to the first batch of ‘priests’.”