18 Artifact Spirit!
Hong's eyes widened in horror seeing the giant ring falling towards the ground!
"Shit!" He screamed as he ran away as fast as he could!
Never did he think that it would leave his dantian and expand to its original size! At this moment, he couldn't think of anything else and poured all his remaining strength into his muscles.
The giant ring cast a large shadow as it fell towards the ground. Birds and creatures instantly fled in a panic for fear of being crushed!
Trees instantly collapsed and broke apart as the ring smashed through them.
Boom!
Dirt, branches, and leaves flew into the air as the ring hit the ground. Hong narrowly missed it by a few feet. He did a leap forward and landed on the ground.
Then the ring leaned and fell onto it's side, causing another explosion of plant material and dirt! More trees collapsed as the ground trembled slightly.
Cleaning the dirt off his hands, he stood up and gazed at the giant ring that made him look like an ant.
Everything quickly settled down as the ring released it's mysterious aura. Spiritual energy leaked from the ring before stopping about a hundred meters in all directions.
[Warning! Unknown energy in owner's surroundings! Effects of energy unknown! Does host wish to dispel surrounding energy? Yes/No]
"No!" He said, staring at the ring with worry.
The plant life around the ring quickly turned vibrant as it greedily absorbed the spiritual energy like it was thirsty for water. The remaining spiritual energy past the 106 meter mark rapidly dissipated away.
"Without spiritual energy in the air, the ring artifact won't be able to maintain it's spiritual energy and will gradually leak it all away! The size of this and the impact will surely attract others! I need to store it away!" He quickly thought.
Without hesitation, he ran to the side of the ring and furiously bit his thumb. Blood dripped out and he rubbed it against the ring. The ring greedily sucked away his blood like a leech, causing his face to gradually pale. He tried to remove his finger but couldn't!
[Warning! Owner's blood is rapidly depleting! Blood levels will reach critical levels in 1 minute 3 seconds!]
"Shit!" Hong could feel his body getting weaker by the second, to the point that his tiredness was overcoming the anti-sleep stimulants.
[Warning! Owner is at risk of losing consciousness! Deploying nanobots to cut off blood circulation in the finger...]
"No! Don't do that!" He yelled as his eyes gradually dimmed.
[What does owner suggest?]
"Do you have emergency blood?!"
[System has 5.5 liters of emergency blood stored up. Does owner wish to use some?]
"Yes!"
[Deploying emergency blood...]
A half-transparent tube with a needle end flew out of the screen of the console like some weird magic. It grew longer and suddenly jabbed at the arm that the ring was sucking blood from.
Dark red liquid came out from the console and into the tube. It traveled the tube before entering his arm.
[Injection successful. Estimated recovery time: 6 minutes]\
Hong's arm felt a little bloated as blood was poured into his body. However, the exhaustion stopped and he slowly regained energy. He was gaining more blood than he was using!
Feeling himself recover slowly, he sighed in relief.
"I had forgotten that I have no Qi or spiritual energy! Without those two, the amount of blood needed for a mortal to gain control is death-inducing! Hopefully there's enough blood saved up!" He thought as he scanned the area.
"System, is there anybody approaching the area?"
[Scanning maximum radius area...]
[Scan complete for a 200-mile radius! System has picked up no approaching people or craft!]
"Phew!" He sighed with some relief.
If there really was people that came to check it out, it'd be impossible to escape. There's no way he'd be able to escape far enough to avoid being caught even if he flew into the sky. Even if he had his previous cultivation, it would be highly difficult due to many factors.
Two minutes later, the draining stopped and the ring emitted a bright glow. The leaking spiritual energy was quickly sucked back inside before it rapidly shrank to the size of a dot. Then it entered his body and quietly settled in his dantian.
[2.2 liters of emergency blood has been used up. Remaining emergency blood is 3.3 liters. System recommends purchasing blood online or activating Emergency Blood Recovery Mode]
"What is Emergency Blood Recovery Mode?" He asked, wiping the sweat off his face from nervousness.
[Emergency Blood Recovery Mode is a process in which blood is slowly drained from the circulatory system at a rate that your body can sustain. Owner's bone marrow produces an average of 40 milliliters of blood a day, and can sustain double production since you are a young adult with no gene modifications]
[If owner chooses 40 milliliters, the owner's body can produce an additional 40 ml to compensate at the cost of increased iron and nutritional demand. This is the highest setting, and will take 55 days or 1.8 months to replenish original supply. Owner has the option of choosing any number below 40 if so desired]
"Eh... just choose 40 milliliters then." He said without much care.
[Command received... activating Emergency Blood Recovery Mode]
Hong tiredly moved away the floating notification as he sat on the ground, calming his breath and struggling to stay awake. He had overworked his mind today which was killing him, but he could not afford to sleep yet.
Once again, he sat in meditation and observed the ring in his dantian.
He could now feel a connection to the ring, like it was an extension of his body. If he wanted, he could send it out and make it big or small. As for activating any of it's abilities, that is too far fetched being a mortal.
Hong sent his divine sense through the ring hole once again and the ring buzzed once more.
Instead of flying out, the space in the ring hole trembled as his divine sense disappeared inside.
His surroundings trembled and turned black before he regained his senses. To his shock, he was no longer in the forests, but in another space.
Dense spiritual energy filled the air and an ancient aura pervaded everywhere. Ancient trees were hundreds of meters tall! Countless immortal-grade herbs scattered the lands, giving off a spiritual presence that seemingly made gods bow!
Just like artifacts, herbs are graded by mortal, heaven, divine, immortal, god, and dao.
Not only that, but the plant life was full of vitality and spiritual energy!
Fierce auras from demonic beasts were everywhere and their domains constantly caused the air and spiritual energy to tremble!
Two suns were in the sky and it seemed like he was in some Immortal Realm!
Hong couldn't help but have his mouth wide-open from shock! Just as questions ran through his head, an ethereal existence suddenly appeared in front of him, emitting an ancient, mysterious aura with a fog blocking it's face.
"You are the new owner of the God Ring?" The voice seemed neither male or female, and could not be discerned. But the voice seemed ancient and eternal, like the dao was forever in it's voice.
"Y-you're the artifact spirit?!" He stuttered in shock!
Only dao weapons in the cultivation realm have artifact spirits except for god weapons but they are pseudo-spirits with no consciousness! Hong couldn't help but feel intense excitement, since this would mean that this artifact is dao-grade!
"If I wasn't, do you think I'd bother to appear in front of you?" The voice said with a faint sneer.
Hong couldn't help but gulp with waves in his heart.
