Buzz…

With a low, resonant hum gradually fading, the colossal forging furnace—hundreds of meters tall and etched with countless intricate energy circuits on its surface—finally ceased operation.

The heavy gate at the furnace mouth slowly lifted upward, driven by both mechanical hydraulics and runes.

In that instant, the residual high-temperature particle flow inside the furnace, reaching millions of degrees, surged out like a long-imprisoned mad dragon, rippling the laboratory’s specialized protective force field in layers.

A jade-like hand suddenly reached out from the still-dispersing energy turbulence, firmly grasping the scorching edge of the furnace mouth.

Then, Jie Ming’s head emerged.

Having completed his daily body forging, his face showed a trace of fatigue, but far more prominent was the comfort that came after tempering.

He let out a long breath laced with high-temperature white vapor, casually taking the fresh wizard robe respectfully handed to him by a black giant priest who had been waiting nearby for some time. With fluid movements, he donned it, concealing his body that had been honed thousands of times by the Body Forging Method, faintly flowing with restrained radiance.

Just as Jie Ming finished tying his robe’s sash, another black giant priest standing by stepped forward at the perfect moment.

In his hands, he held a small crystal display, scrolling in real-time with streams of complex data.

“Master, during your body forging session, the seventh project team has completed the third round of verification on the ‘element-spiritual force conversion efficiency threshold,’ with data matching expectations; the third project team has achieved a breakthrough in the ‘elemental shield folding’ bottleneck, reducing energy consumption of the new rune array by 17%; progress on the Incense Fire Divine Dao ‘automatic collection module’ construction has advanced to 42.7%…”

The black giant priest’s voice was clear and steady as he reported one achievement after another.

Jie Ming stretched his somewhat sore neck while listening to the report, a satisfied expression inevitably appearing on his face.

The comfort in his heart was simply indescribable.

After so many years!

He had finally personally experienced how blissful it was to have a group of efficient, intelligent, and absolutely obedient “qualified workhorses” as research assistants!

The excellence of these black giant priests far exceeded his initial expectations.

Perhaps because the base black giant race had been designed by him to be extraordinarily superior, every priest born from them possessed astonishingly high intelligence.

More importantly, they seemed to inherit the clan’s innate affinity for energy and time, displaying exaggerated learning talent in these two fields.

Often, with just a bit of guidance and some foundational knowledge, they could rapidly grow into outstanding assistants in their respective domains, capable of independently handling quite complex experimental tasks and data organization.

Moreover, the birth rate of black giant priests, supported by the massive population base, was quite considerable.

Roughly, for every ten million black giants born, one black giant priest would naturally emerge.

With the current exaggerated growth rate of the black giants, five to six new priests were stably added each year.

It was thanks to this steadily expanding “priest think tank” that Jie Ming could finally categorize the mountain of research ideas piled up in his mind, forming different project teams to advance them simultaneously.

This not only greatly improved research efficiency but also freed him from some tedious foundational work, allowing him more time and energy to focus on constructing the Incense Fire Divine Dao system.

His gaze swept over the last few reports on the display, and suddenly, Jie Ming’s eyes focused, locking onto a seemingly unremarkable data summary.

The next second, irrepressible excitement exploded in his eyes.

“It’s finally complete?!”

He almost immediately abandoned the priest still reporting, his figure flashing as he rushed into the nearby teleportation array.

In a flicker of light, he appeared in the core area of the main laboratory.

The report that excited him so much was the final confirmation of the completion of the “mutated spider-snake crystal shell spatial stabilization element model”!

The establishment of this model meant he had thoroughly analyzed the mystery of the shell’s spatial stabilization, quantified and datafied it, forming a foundational witchcraft theory that could be understood and applied.

Next, he could not only develop entirely new spatial witchcraft based on this model.

More importantly, he could apply its core principles to improving “Spatial Distortion,” that unstable great killer!

As Jie Ming had anticipated, relying on his solid foundation in spatial knowledge and the guidance of this key model, it took him less than a month to successfully construct two new spatial witchcraft models.

The first was named [Spatial Stabilization].

As the name suggested, it could create a region of stabilized space in a designated area.

Used alone, its power might not seem impressive, but against enemies skilled in spatial attacks or when trying to prevent an opponent from escaping via spatial teleportation skills, this invisible barrier would become the sturdiest shield and most effective cage.

The second was an advanced application imitating the mutated spider-snake’s concealment ability: [Phase Space].

The effect of this witchcraft was actually quite simple—it could briefly “peel” the space at the target’s location away from the main space, forming a temporary parallel phase space.

Jie Ming eagerly headed to the laboratory’s testing area for preliminary trials.

After casting [Phase Space], Jie Ming combined it with [Spatial Stabilization] to stabilize his own space and hide in the gap between the two spaces.

The instant he slipped into the spatial gap, Jie Ming felt the world before him change.

Though the surroundings appeared unchanged, it was as if a layer of frosted glass had appeared in front of his eyes, making everything somewhat blurry.

The nearby black giant priest had already begun detecting the area where Jie Ming disappeared, following instructions given in advance, using instruments.

Jie Ming stood in place for a while, then actively walked over to the instruments.

From the data analysis, the instruments detected no traces whatsoever.

His figure, aura, energy fluctuations, and all physical signs had completely vanished from the main plane, as if he had never existed.

Whether visual, olfactory, or various energy detections, it was extremely difficult to discover his presence.

However, correspondingly, because the method was still relatively crude, spatial detection instruments could easily pick up the spatial fluctuations produced by this technique.

But this was already sufficient, and from the analysis data, this move could not only evade detection but also avoid most area-of-effect attacks from the main plane.

And if this phase shift were applied to attacks…

Recalling the damage the mutated spider-snake had once inflicted on him, Jie Ming approached a target and began adjusting the witchcraft model in his mind.

The originally stable model was purposefully “distorted” by him, transforming it from a sustained “state maintenance” spell into an instantaneous burst “switch.”

The core runes of the model were reordered, energy circuits compressed to the limit—all structures designed solely for that momentary release: the switch from phase space back to the main plane.

“First, test basic feasibility.” Jie Ming silently thought.

He remained in the phase gap, surrounded by the blurred main world scenery.

He reached out, trying to directly touch the alloy target, but his hand passed through unobstructed, like passing through a phantom.

This was normal—the fundamental property of phase space movement: unable to be interfered with by main plane attacks, while also unable to directly interfere with the main plane.

The next moment, Jie Ming’s eyes sharpened.

He locked onto the target’s surface, his will activating the modified witchcraft model!

In that instant, Jie Ming seemed to hear an extremely faint “crack,” like glass being forcibly snapped.

The moment his entire body switched back from phase space to the main plane, in the air less than a centimeter in front of him, an extremely thin and dark black line flashed and vanished.

That was not light but a “wound” in space—an absolute fault line produced when two layers of reality were forcibly misaligned.

Hiss!!!

On the alloy target, a cut appeared, half a finger deep, smooth in a way that chilled the heart.

The cross-section was mirror-like, even reflecting the faint light sources in the training field.

No sparks, no melting traces—it was as if the material in that area had been “erased” by some supreme force.

The nearby black giant priest had been staring intently at the instruments and suddenly gasped.

On his energy detector, almost no energy burst had been captured in that instant, but the spatial fluctuation detector recorded a spike so sharp it nearly exceeded the scale.

“Success…” Jie Ming gazed at the cut, a surge of heat rising in his heart.

This confirmed his initial hypothesis: the spatial shearing force erupted the moment phase space was disrupted could indeed ignore conventional physical strength of matter.

The violent spatial shearing force produced when two phase spaces intersected would form a [Spatial Slash] that, in theory, could destroy any substance!

“Next, test power and controllability.”

He stepped back a few paces and re-entered phase movement state.

This time, he simulated combat advancement.

His figure flickered in and out of the phase space like a ghost, instantly “passing through” another new alloy target in several flashes.

The moment his form solidified in the main plane, a clearer tearing sound came from a target beside him.

Rip!

This time, the spatial fault was no longer a fleeting thin line; with the “momentum” he carried during the switch, its duration was prolonged.

The thick alloy target was diagonally sliced from top to bottom into two halves!

The upper half slowly slid down along the smooth cut surface, finally crashing to the ground with a “clang,” kicking up some dust.

The incision remained perfectly smooth, without any burrs.

Jie Ming sensed the mental force consumption in his body and the burden on his brain’s “computational power.”

Mental force consumption was low; the main issue was computational load. Every second in phase space required Jie Ming to constantly calculate various data to maintain stability, and movement or sudden exit dramatically increased the required calculations.

Fortunately, though continuous use was burdensome, it remained acceptable.

More importantly, he felt he could control the “form” and “range” of [Spatial Slash].

Simply put, with different release methods, it could be a concentrated “stab” at a single point or a sweeping “slash” across an area.

“Finally, test limits and characteristics.”

He had the priest replace it with a biological armor simulation plate specially designed for testing sixth-level defensive strength.

This plate emanated a powerful energy field, capable of deflecting and absorbing most peak fifth-level attacks.

Jie Ming took a deep breath, adjusting to his optimal state.

He slipped into the phase gap once more, silently approaching the astonishingly defensive simulation plate.

The instant he drew close to the glowing field…

Switch!

Buzz!!!

This time, the sound changed.

No longer a crisp cutting sound, but a low tremor as if space itself were wailing.

The emerging spatial fissure was no longer purely black; its edges even flickered with unstable prismatic light.

Yet the result remained shocking.

That powerful sixth-level energy field was like butter before a hot knife in the face of the spatial fault—easily “torn” open with a gash.

The biological armor simulation plate behind it was likewise sliced with a deep crack; though its thickness prevented complete bisection, the damage depth reached one-third!

Most crucially, instrument data showed that at the moment Spatial Slash took effect, the energy field’s strength provided almost no mitigating effect.

The attack seemed to “skip” the energy confrontation process, directly acting on the substance and the energy field’s very essence.

Experiment concluded.

Jie Ming dispelled the witchcraft, breathing slightly heavily.

Looking at the wrecked testing field and the targets and armor plates destroyed by “Spatial Slash,” excitement and contemplation gleamed in his eyes.

“As expected… the theory holds. The power of this [Spatial Slash] comes from spatial-level shearing, not energy collision. As long as timing is grasped well, it can indeed pose a lethal threat to higher-tier enemies.”

He walked to the sliced sixth-level defense plate, running his finger along the smooth incision.

“However, the moment of switching exposes oneself. And attacks on high-energy entities seem to cause more violent spatial reactions, requiring stronger control to stabilize… These are directions for further optimization.”

Unlike the violent and unstable [Spatial Distortion], which was greatly influenced by external energy environments, [Spatial Slash]’s power before phase switch completion was almost unaffected by external energy intensity.

In theory, as long as Jie Ming successfully closed in with this move, even a sixth-level being without targeted defenses could very likely be severely injured or instantly killed!

“Of course, this is only the optimal theoretical scenario.” Jie Ming calmly analyzed. “In actual combat, beings reaching sixth level basically all possess keen spatial perception; sneaking up silently is nearly impossible. Even if closing in, the opponent could predict and evade or defend based on spatial fluctuations.”

Regardless, this undoubtedly provided him with an extremely threatening new single-target killing technique.

In summary, his current three spatial witchcrafts:

[Spatial Distortion] for large-area group attacks and zone suppression; [Spatial Stabilization] for defense, lockdown, and countering; [Phase Shift] and its derivative [Spatial Slash] focused on concealment, mobility, and lethal single-target assassination.

Attack, defense, control, stealth—a relatively complete spatial tactical system had begun to take shape.

Jie Ming was quite satisfied with this result; his century of bitter study had not been in vain.

However, amid satisfaction, a new thought surfaced.

Because spatial witchcraft involved rule-level operations, their energy structures and operational logic were extremely unique and precise.

He found he could not, like with ordinary energy-type witchcraft, simply use the cultivation system’s “talisman seal” techniques to greatly draw external elemental power for effect enhancement.

“With the instability of spatial techniques, rashly using talisman seals to reinforce elemental energy input would instead greatly increase the chance of technique failure, and even if barely successful, the effect might be inferior to the original. However…”

Jie Ming rubbed his chin, eyes flickering: “The cultivation system is vast and profound; besides talisman seals, there seem to be other things that could be useful, such as certain array principles involving spatial applications, or unique understandings of ‘void’ and ‘mustard seed’ concepts… I remember seeing something about that in a book…”

He seemed to glimpse a new path of fusion, ready to delve deeper.

But before Jie Ming could sink his consciousness into the depths of his mind, his personal maginet terminal suddenly emitted a unique and familiar fluctuation.

Jie Ming instinctively glanced at it—it was a message from Mentor Clark.

Jie Ming’s brows twitched slightly; he had to temporarily set aside his desire to explore cultivation spatial techniques and turn his attention to his mentor’s information.