Amon spent almost a full day understanding Yun Chao’s cultivation art. He finally made sense of it. The cultivation art was called the Prey Absorbing Art. It was a sinister art that increased one’s cultivation level by absorbing the energies of other cultivators. Yun Chao’s writings described all the techniques required to practice this cultivation art.

While it was tempting, Amon didn’t practice the art. He had two reasons.

The first reason was that, while he had no qualms about the morality of feeding on others’ energy to strengthen his own, this method made him dependent on others. It was the same as the dual cultivation Madam Lin once offered him. He didn’t like having to depend on others, even if said dependence was by forcing his will on others.

If he learned this cultivation art, he would have to go on a killing spree to advance his cultivation. This was not a good method for the long run. While he could advance his power rapidly, he would also draw ire from pretty much everyone. There would be a point when he would end up being the enemy of the entire world unless he reined in his advance, which would beat the purpose of his studying this art in the first place.

The second reason was what Yao Ai told him. He had an inkling that this cultivation art was above the Profound level. Yao Ai told him that at such a grade, if he learned other people’s art, it wouldn’t be as effective. This meant he would end up having the weakened version of Yun Chao’s art. He didn’t want that.

Thus, what he would do was take the essence of the Prey Absorbing Art and make it his own. He would create his own cultivation art.

As he pondered this, Yuka approached him. Amon sensed her. Before she got too close, Amon asked, "What do you want?"

"Are you going to keep wearing only that?" Yuka asked.

Amon looked at himself. Bo Wu covered his body using the Xian Cloth, but otherwise, he had nothing underneath. He pulled the Xian Cloth and looked at it. It was full of holes and scratches. The words of power were dim. He could no longer feel any power from it. He thought it was beyond repair.

’A pity,’ he thought and threw the cloth away.

He took spare clothes from the black space ring and put them on. He turned to Yuka and asked, "Anything else?"

Yuka appeared undecided. When she didn’t answer for a while, Amon told her curtly, "Go away! Do not disturb me. We have nothing to do with each other anymore."

Yuka fired back upon hearing that. "Bastard! You give me my freedom in such a place. What’s the difference with you still imprisoning me?"

"As I said, it’s not my problem. It’s not like I want to be imprisoned here as well. When I figure out a way to escape, you can use the same way. Until then, do not bother me!"

"Tch!" She returned to her undecided expression. Finally, she said, "Didn’t you say before that you wanted me to continue helping you? I’m willing to do it for the compensation of the Primordial Blue Lotus’ nectar."

Amon glanced at her. "You are willing to follow my order?"

"If you pay me with the nectar."

Amon showed a pondering face before saying, "Very well. We have a deal. Now, go away! I don’t have any orders for you at the moment. Do not bother me."

Yuka felt like she wanted to erupt. She was fuming there.

Amon snickered at her reaction. He decided not to tease her further. "If you want to return to my black space ring, why not just say so?"

Yuka was quiet for some while. Finally, she uttered, "Let... Let me enter your ring."

Amon extended his hand to her. She slowly touched it. She vanished soon after the touch. Amon returned his attention to the writings on the wall while thinking about how he could make use of them.

*

He spent a few days. He began to have an idea about how to proceed. He spent all his thoughts on it, while combining it with experiments using the meridian points technique to alter the energy usage described in the Prey Absorbing Art.

He was interrupted when a battle puppet inside his black space ring made loud beeping sounds. He summoned it out. From the battle puppet came Dao Su’s voice.

"Amon, are you not free yet for the alteration? I will soon run out of that Endless Slumber Poison. You will have to give me more, or I will have to put this Primeval Scortaur down."

Hearing that, Amon guessed he shouldn’t put this off further. He said, "I will be there in twenty minutes. Prepare the alteration process."

"Finally! I have already prepared everything in the confinement chamber. I’m just waiting for you. Come soon!"

Dao Su sounded excited. He probably saw Amon as one of his experimental projects. Amon didn’t mind. Unless, of course, if the alteration went horribly wrong, then Dao Su would have hell to pay.

He spent several more minutes there, gathering his thoughts and summarizing everything he had contemplated over the past few days. Afterward, he took out the prison box, opened its portal, and stepped into it.

The confinement chamber was Yuka’s old prison room. Dao Su had indeed prepared everything. The room was full of his equipment. Amon was surprised to see that Dao Su was not the only person in the room. Zee Whang was there.

Seeing Amon’s inquisitive glance, Zee Whang said, "I want to watch. It will be hilarious if something goes wrong."

"You’d better pray that it doesn’t happen. I don’t know what I will do if it does," Amon threatened.

"At least I will have a good laugh before whatever consequences you dish out," Zee Whang returned.

Amon didn’t bother to quip back. He walked to where Dao Su was, which was at the center of the room, beside the unconscious and weakened Primeval Scortaur.

"You ready?" Dao Su asked.

"I’m here, ain’t I?" Amon asked in return.

"I will give you the Endless Slumber Poison to put you to sleep. We will then..."

"No, perform the operation with me fully conscious," Amon interrupted Dao Su. "I want to be fully aware and without restraints. Furthermore, the Endless Slumber Poison doesn’t work on me."

Dao Su looked at Amon in disbelief. "Are you serious? I don’t want you to hit me involuntarily because of the pain."

"I won’t," Amon assured him.

"You don’t understand the level of pain you will experience. This is nothing like suffering wounds from a fight."

"I will endure through it," Amon insisted.

Dao Su didn’t know what to say. He had no trouble going through the screams of his victims. What he had trouble with was what those victims would do to him if they were not restrained. He had the urge to tell Amon he wanted to abort the operation if Amon refused to be drugged or restrained. However, he had another look at Amon’s face and knew that was not an option.

"Argh...! What the hell! So be it! Do not say that I didn’t warn you!"

Dao Su told Amon to remove his clothes and lie face down on an operating table next to the Primeval Scortaur. Amon’s back was facing up. Dao Su went through with Amon again on the alteration he wanted to have, ensuring that he hadn’t changed his mind.

After getting the affirmation, Dao Su got to work. He increased the dose of the Endless Slumber Poison on the Primeval Scortaur to make sure it didn’t wake up during the process. He performed some trials by stabbing a needle into multiple of the Scortaur’s pain nerves. It didn’t budge. Only then did he take his cutting tools and begin cutting.

Dao Su worked on the Primeval Scortaur for almost two hours before he returned to Amon. He gave Amon something to drink. When Amon gave him a look, he assured Amon that it was not a sedative. It was a concoction to reduce his body’s rejection of alien tissue. He then rubbed some gel on Amon’s naked body. The gel smelled awful and made his skin itchy.

Dao Su proceeded to use some large needles and stick them in many parts of Amon’s body. These needles had cables linked to a strange machine beside the table. The machine was humming and vibrating. Amon felt soft currents coursing through those needles into him.

"It’s show time," Dao Su told him. "Last chance. You sure you don’t want to be put to sleep?"

"No," Amon replied.

"Sigh... Make sure not to make any sudden moves. I’m serious. Don’t hold me responsible if things go wrong because you can’t stay still."

"Hehehe," Zee Whang laughed. He came closer to have a better look.

Amon folded his clothes and bit down on them. He used his hands to lock his arms. He did the same to his legs by crossing them tightly. He then gritted his teeth, just as Dao Su’s knife sliced into his skin.

He heard Dao Su’s voice. "This will take some time. I hope you know what you are doing."