Chapter 281: Seizing Control of the Malevolent Thoughts

The world of monsters and demons had been around for a long time, and all players had a deep understanding of the rules for refreshing tasks. Task refreshes seemed more like a cause-and-effect scenario. As long as players came into contact with or learned about certain events or information, corresponding tasks would be triggered.

Two days ago, when he had taken in Chen Ying, the "Avenge the Chen Family" task had been refreshed. Yesterday, after killing an elder from the Li Family, the "Resist the Li Family's Pursuit" task had been refreshed.

"Following this pattern, as long as I keep offending the major clans and make them take action against me, I can continuously refresh similar tasks," Su Nan thought.

Furthermore, he didn't even need to actively provoke the major clans; he could make them come after him on their own.

When the Grand Xu Nation's ruler had attacked him for the first time, it was not only to retrieve his Ancient God Key but also because Su Nan was an outsider. What if he openly revealed his identity as an outsider?

"If I were to do that, I definitely can't use my true self; I can only use my avatar."

"Moreover, even if I have to become enemies with the major clans, I can't antagonize them all at once, at least not like what happened with the Ma Family. I shouldn't perform one-off tasks like that," Su Nan mused.

Looking at the "Resist the Li Family's Pursuit" task on the panel, Su Nan had an idea. Based on his previous predictions, once he dealt with the Li Family's elder, the task would most likely be completed.

Su Nan speculated that as long as he resolved the issue with that Li Family elder, the task would be completed. According to his earlier predictions, after taking care of the Li Family elder, he would most likely proceed to annihilate the Li Family. However, due to the scarcity of tasks now, he had changed his mind.

Since the Li Family's pursuit could provide him with a two-star task, why not make it a long-lasting source of tasks? Su Nan's mind was racing as a feasible plan emerged.

Thinking about this, he immediately turned to the Death Prediction.

"Do you plan to create conflicts with the major clans using your avatar? This behavior may bring unknown dangers. Do you want to expend a certain number of prediction uses to foresee events that will occur in the three minutes before your death?" the message asked.

"Yes," Su Nan replied.

As he confirmed his choice, something surprising happened. A total of 65 prediction uses were consumed!

"Whoa! 65 times! So many?"

This was the first time he had consumed such a large number of prediction uses in one go after obtaining the Death Prediction ability. This also indicated one thing: he would have an unprecedentedly long time to survive in the predictions, up to three days.

"As an outsider, you possess a special ability that allows you to gain power from crises. You have decided to use your identity as an outsider to attract the attention of the major clans in the Lost Land."

"One hour later, on your way to the Grand Xu Nation's capital, you will pass through a town named Zhaoxi, which is one of the thirty-two clans, the territory of the Ge Family."

"Controlling your avatar at the early-stage Spirit Rank, you will intentionally spread the news of your outsider status in a tavern to attract attention."

"At first, no one believes you, but after you reveal various information about the outside world, some people begin to doubt. Soon, the Ge Family receives the news and makes tentative contact with you."

"Knowing that the opportunity has come, you deliberately continue to disclose more information about the outside world and publicly display a Xuan-rank bloodline and manual to prove that you are not only an outsider but also of high status."

"Two hours later, your actions finally draw the interest of the Ge Family, and they make a move, wanting to capture you. However, you manage to escape. The Ge Family does not give up; they mobilize all their forces to try to capture you."

"The Ge Family's actions, along with your possession of a Xuan-rank bloodline and manual, have confirmed your identity as an outsider. The news quickly spreads. In a world that has not seen outsiders for over a century, this has caused a huge sensation."

"After successfully spreading the news that your avatar is an outsider, your main body continues on the journey."

"Three hours later, your main body encounters a Li Family elder who has come to capture you. You kill the Li Family elder."

"Six hours later, your main body arrives at the Grand Xu Nation's capital. This time, you choose not to hide and enter the city as Chen Daohai."

"As soon as you enter the city, a group of Grand Xu Nation guards confront you, demanding you hand over the Ancient God Key. You do not hold back and directly kill the guard team."

"Eight hours later, the Grand Xu Nation ruler invites you to a banquet at the royal palace. You know there is danger in this trip and decisively refuse."

"Your actions anger the Grand Xu Nation ruler. The Grand Princess helps, and with the power of the Life and Death Silver Mirror, you successfully kill the Grand Xu Nation ruler and obtain two Ancient God Keys."

Once again, Su Nan killed the Grand Xu Nation ruler in the prediction, but this time, he wasn't nervous. Although he might still face attacks from the existence in the Grand Temple, the fact that 65 prediction uses had been expended indicated everything.

"Your strength astonishes the five major clans. They don't understand why you are so powerful, but they also dare not easily provoke you."

"You go to the Wang Family, using the Ancient God Key as bait to invite them to explore the Ancient God Tomb together."

"Seeing your strength, the Wang Family's patriarch does not hesitate to agree. Afterward, you go to the other four major clans."

"Ten hours later, all five major clans agree to your invitation. However, due to your use of the Life and Death Silver Mirror, you will encounter misfortune for the next three days. You can only decide to go to the Ancient God Tomb three days later."

This time was different from previous predictions. It was evident that because of his display of immense power, the five major clans didn't show any reluctance. They all agreed to his proposal.

Furthermore, two hours had passed since he had killed the Grand Xu Nation ruler in the prediction, and his main body hadn't encountered any issues. This indicated that, just as he thought, as long as he didn't enter the Grand Xu Nation royal palace, there wouldn't be any problems.

"At the same time, your avatar is continuously fleeing from the Ge Family's pursuit. You pass through the territories of the Yang Family, Zhao Family, and Zhang Family. Once they learn that you are an outsider with a Xuan-rank bloodline manual, these three families also come after you."

"In addition, as the news continues to spread, more and more martial artists join the hunt for you."

"One day later, there are a total of twelve families trying to capture you, and among the Ten Great Clans, three of them are finally unable to resist and want to obtain the Xuan-rank bloodline manual in your possession."

"You know the time is right. You begin to attack the Spirit Rank martial artists among

 the major clans, killing them."

"Your actions do not make the major clans fear you; instead, it angers them, and more Spirit Rank martial artists join the pursuit."

"A day and a half later, a total of twenty-three families are chasing you. Among the Ten Great Clans, six of them make a move. Under the pursuit of the major clans, your avatar arrives at one of the four forbidden lands in the Lost Land, the Black Magic Lake."

"You know that Black Magic Lake may contain something related to demons, and you dare not approach it. You plan to bypass it. Unfortunately, due to the influence of misfortune, you are unlucky and are targeted by an entity within Black Magic Lake."

"Misfortune!"

"Has the negative effect of using the Life and Death Silver Mirror appeared?" Su Nan's brows furrowed.

After using the Life and Death Silver Mirror, the user would experience three days of misfortune, a mechanism Su Nan had some understanding of.

For misfortune to occur, there had to be some presence in the vicinity that could cause adverse effects, such as the current situation with Black Magic Lake.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that misfortune might strike out of the blue, even when one was safely at home.

Chapter 281: The Possession of Malevolent Thoughts

You react swiftly, realizing that the entity entering your body may be malevolent thoughts. These malevolent thoughts intend to possess your avatar. You make a quick decision and decisively withdraw your divine soul from the avatar, intending to control the avatar solely through magical means.

"Malevolent thoughts trying to possess me?" Su Nan was startled.

He had encountered malevolent thought possession before; Hu Xiaotian had almost become a controlled monster due to malevolent thoughts.

"So, there really are malevolent thoughts there!"

Previously, when he heard about the malevolent aura in Black Magic Lake, he had suspected the presence of malevolent thoughts. He hadn't expected his guess to come true, and now they were targeting him.

"You may be disappointed. After you retrieve your divine soul, you can still connect with your avatar through magical means, seeing everything your avatar sees, but you cannot completely control your avatar."

"You see that under the control of malevolent thoughts, your avatar begins to ruthlessly kill the pursuing martial artists. The martial artists from the major clans are no match for your avatar and are killed one by one. Afterwards, your avatar turns and enters Black Magic Lake."

"You see that at the bottom of Black Magic Lake lies a peculiar-looking skeleton, surrounded by a substantial amount of malevolent aura. Under the control of malevolent thoughts, your avatar approaches the side of the skeleton, intending to cultivate using the malevolent aura."

"Unfortunately, to the disappointment of malevolent thoughts, your avatar is only a creation of magic and cannot cultivate independently, its strength increasing only with your main body's advancement."

"Malevolent thoughts are both angry and unwilling. In the end, they enter the huge skeleton and absorb its power, wanting to use the skeleton's strength to modify your avatar."

"During this process, you make repeated attempts to control your avatar, but each time ends in failure. Ultimately, you have to give up."

"Two days later, you discover that under the modification by malevolent thoughts, your avatar undergoes a strange change. Under the control of malevolent thoughts, your avatar can actually absorb the malevolent aura from the surrounding lake water to cultivate."

"Cultivate?"

"The avatar can cultivate?"

Su Nan was astonished.

His avatar appeared no different from a real person but was fundamentally a creation of magic. A magical creation couldn't possibly cultivate; he had tried it before. Moreover, the information from the previous prediction clearly stated that the avatar couldn't cultivate.

Yet now, after a day of modification by malevolent thoughts, it could actually absorb the malevolent aura for cultivation, which was beyond belief.

"How did malevolent thoughts modify the avatar like this?"

Su Nan became interested. If he could figure out how to modify his avatar, he might want to improve it. Unfortunately, the death prediction could only provide a general idea, and there were no detailed instructions.

Even if he used the prediction to foresee every minute, with 69 prediction uses, he could only predict three and a half hours, far from enough to predict the entire process of malevolent thoughts modifying the avatar.

The prediction continued.

Up to now, the predicted time had reached two days later, which was the third day of the prediction, and the end was not far off. He wanted to see how he eventually died.

"You once again attempt to control the avatar, but it still ends in failure. Furthermore, you find that as your avatar cultivates, you gradually lose contact with it."

"Just as you completely lose contact with the avatar, you suddenly see your avatar, under the control of malevolent thoughts, looking in your direction."

"You feel uneasy but have no way to deal with it."

"Two and a half days later, while you were cultivating the Great Sun Golden Body Sutra, you suddenly see a familiar figure appear in front of you, which is your avatar."

"You are terrified and immediately stop cultivating, joining forces with the Grand Princess of the Celestial Wolf Clan to confront the avatar controlled by malevolent thoughts."

"Your body is drained of strength under the scorching flames of the Great Sun, your power reduced to almost nothing, and you are no match for the avatar. One minute later, you and the Grand Princess are heavily injured by the avatar controlled by malevolent thoughts."

"Seeing the situation is not good, you decisively use the Heavenly Translocation and escape with the Grand Princess."

"Two minutes later, using several consecutive Heavenly Translocations, you successfully shake off the avatar controlled by malevolent thoughts."

"However, not long after, the avatar appears in front of you again. You realize that the reason malevolent thoughts were able to find you was because of the connection between you and the avatar. With that connection, you cannot escape."

"Three minutes later, you are defeated by the avatar controlled by malevolent thoughts."

The prediction ends, and this time, it was unusually long.

A total of three days and more had passed.

"Trouble comes from above even when you are at home!"

The fact that the avatar was controlled was bad enough, but in the end, his main body was also targeted and killed by the avatar. This was something he couldn't accept.

"Malevolent thoughts can change the avatar. This is definitely not something ordinary creatures can do. It's highly likely that in ancient times, that creature was an extremely powerful existence."

"Most importantly, Black Magic Lake has existed for so long, and malevolent thoughts have never possessed anyone before. Why did they choose to possess me when I arrived?"

Su Nan's expression turned serious, and he had a bad feeling.

Fortunately, aside from the unexpected malevolent thoughts, this prediction didn't encounter any other problems.

The existence in the Grand Temple was just as expected, as long as he didn't enter the Grand Xu Nation's royal palace, it wouldn't take the initiative to attack him.

Of course, for now, it seemed that way. After all, death prediction could only provide a general idea.

If it did attack in the end, he would need to use future prediction several more times.

"Regardless, I'll stick to the plan for now."

(End of this chapter)