The entire day that followed, Zhang Ping and Liu Sishan were testing their abilities.

Compared to the Fire Eater, which Zhang Ping was already very familiar with, he was uncertain about the upper and lower limits of the Body of Nether Mist and Body of Pure Water, even though he could use them.

Therefore, testing was necessary.

After a day of experimentation, he gained a preliminary understanding of the two new abilities.

First, the Body of Nether Mist—this ability absorbs fear and converts it into Nether Mist, with a range limited to a ten-meter radius around him. In other words, if a target is more than ten meters away, he cannot absorb their fear.

Moreover, while the Nether Mist’s attack power is strong, each attack consumes part of the mist. This means that Nether Mist is a consumable resource, and the stronger the target, the greater the consumption.

However, in general, attacking fleshy, mortal targets doesn’t consume much, while energy entities or hard substances use up much more of the Nether Mist.

Lastly, by absorbing the target's fear, Zhang Ping could sense their level of fear. The more frightened the target was, the more fear he could absorb, and the more Nether Mist he could convert.

By the way, during the testing of distance, he discovered a little secret—Liu Sishan was afraid of bugs.

Next, he tested the Body of Pure Water.

The advantage of the Body of Pure Water is that it can transform the body into pure water, making it immune to most physical attacks. The downside is that Zhang Ping requires some time to make the transformation.

It takes about one second for him to change from a flesh-and-blood body into the Body of Pure Water, and partial transformation is a bit quicker.

Although the Body of Pure Water can absorb moisture from the air to restore stamina and heal injuries, the recovery rate depends on the environment. The higher the air humidity, the faster the recovery, while in dry environments, it slows down.

In some high-temperature environments, the Body of Pure Water actually consumes stamina instead of restoring it, and at a rate twice as fast as the consumption in a flesh-and-blood form.

Another drawback of the Body of Pure Water is that when the water content in the body is insufficient, it affects his height and physique.

If most of the body’s water evaporates, when converting back into flesh and blood, he becomes shorter and weaker, and may even take on a child’s form.

However, he also discovered that the Body of Pure Water could alter his form, and upon reverting to flesh and blood, there would be some fascinating changes. For example, when he controlled his back to grow wings, they would appear when he transformed back, but they would be made of flesh and wouldn’t be capable of flight.

Through this experiment, Zhang Ping realized that he could undergo cosmetic changes.

Lastly, he borrowed Liu Sishan’s water whip technique and created his own move, the chainsaw form.

In simple terms, it’s when both his forearms transform into chainsaw shapes, vibrating at ultra-high speeds. However, this technique consumes a lot of his energy, and he can only use it once. Moreover, the power is far weaker than Liu Sishan’s water whip, so it can only serve as a supplementary method beyond Nether Mist.

After the test, Liu Sishan gave his evaluation.

Zhang Ping’s strength was currently about equivalent to half an Advanced Level Awakener, mainly due to the Nether Mist’s damage surpassing the typical rank. Otherwise, he would be comparable to an Intermediate Level Awakener.

But his weaknesses were too obvious.

His level was too low, and his physical and mental energy weren’t enough to sustain a high-intensity battle.

Moreover, his battle experience was minimal. If his opponent, an Advanced Level Awakener, underestimated him, he might be able to catch them off guard. But as soon as the opponent took the battle seriously, his only option would be to flee, especially when facing flame or lightning-type Awakeners, which would significantly reduce his combat effectiveness.

By the time the tests were over, it was already evening.

The two returned to camp together.

Liu Sishan stopped at the camp entrance and said, “Alright, you should go rest in your tent. I need to go back to the city to grab something.”

“Mm, be careful on the way,” Zhang Ping nodded.

After they parted, Zhang Ping entered the camp, where several Salt Carriers were gathered around a campfire, talking.

“I didn’t expect Bighead to be dead. I was wondering why I didn’t see him last night.”

“Last night was when the Saltfrost Tree fruit ripened. Bighead went too far searching for minerals, and on his way back, he encountered a mutated White Ape. It was just his fate.”

...

“Speaking of which, the atmosphere in the city has been a bit strange lately. I heard about a bun shop owner who woke up one day and found his wife had turned into a human skin. The blood had already turned black, so it must’ve been peeled off a long time ago. The owner went mad on the spot.”

“I heard about that too. The wife was in the shop eating buns the day before, and many people can confirm it.”

As Zhang Ping passed by the campfire, he felt waves of fear coming from the Salt Carriers. He absorbed and converted it into Nether Mist, then decided to approach and listen in on their conversation.

“Kid, new around here?” One of the Salt Carriers noticed Zhang Ping’s unfamiliar face and asked with a smile.

“Yeah, just trying my luck,” Zhang Ping replied with a friendly smile.

He then leaned in closer and whispered, “Actually, I know some inside info about what they were just talking about. I was really scared, so I fled the city to lay low for a bit.”

“What inside info?” The Salt Carrier immediately whispered back.

Zhang Ping noticed that the other Salt Carriers around them had perked up their ears. He smiled mysteriously and said, “I’ll tell you, but you can’t spread it around. There have been several similar incidents, and they’ve all been suppressed by the higher-ups. If you don’t believe me, you can ask around. Was there anyone missing from Jiu’an Furniture or Longspear Forge?”

“I know about Longspear Forge, three people are missing.”

“I also know about Jiu’an Furniture. I bought a chair from them not long ago.”

“Hiss, does that mean five people are dead?”

“Maybe even more. But the real question is, how did they die to leave just a human skin? The blood was already blackened. How long have they been dead?”

“What’s even scarier is, the people we saw before, were they humans or ghosts?”

The Salt Carriers started discussing in hushed voices, and the air grew even more terrifying. A few timid Salt Carriers wanted to leave but were too afraid to be alone in their tents. They didn’t know whether to stay or go, their faces pale.

Zhang Ping stood in the crowd, absorbing the fear around him and slowly converting it into Nether Mist. He soon realized that fear could vary in intensity.

When testing earlier in the morning, Liu Sishan’s fear wasn’t very strong. Although she was afraid of bugs, her fear was more about disgust than genuine terror. Her emotions leaned more toward unease rather than deep fear.

Tonight, the Salt Carriers exhibited a higher quality of fear. If compared, it was similar to the kind of fear a person might feel while watching a horror movie in a theater—an unsettling but not overpowering dread.

As the night deepened, the Salt Carriers gradually returned to their tents.

"I wonder how intense the fear would be when one faces life and death?" Zhang Ping thought to himself, still sitting by the campfire.

In just a couple of hours, the Nether Mist had transformed from a bracelet into a belt. If used in battle, it could even form into weapons like swords and knives.

Unfortunately, such opportunities didn’t arise every day.

Salt Carriers wouldn’t constantly feel fear over the same issue.

Looking at the belt formed by Nether Mist, an idea crossed his mind. "What if I start telling ghost stories here tomorrow? Maybe I can collect more fear that way?"

"Or maybe, I could pretend to be a ghost and try scaring them?"

Ideas kept popping up in Zhang Ping’s mind. The Nether Mist was his only way to deal with Advanced Mutated Beasts, and he wished it could cover his entire body. He fantasized about using thousands of Nether Mist blades to cut down enemies before they even realized he was there.

To achieve this goal faster, he recalled the horror films he had seen in his past life. Gradually, a thought formed: maybe pretending to be a ghost would work!

He decided to give it a try. He used Nether Mist to cover his face, and by adjusting its thickness, his face began to resemble a black skeleton.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a terrified scream came from not far away, followed by a sudden silence.

Zhang Ping was startled and looked up to see a Salt Carrier staring at him in terror. The Salt Carrier then fainted, eyes rolling back in his head.

Had he scared him that much?

Zhang Ping quickly wiped his face, and the Nether Mist skeleton mask disintegrated. He hurried over to check on the Salt Carrier and, relieved to find that the Salt Carrier was fine, he sighed in relief.

He hadn’t expected the effect to be that strong. He couldn’t help but wonder, was it really that terrifying?

He tried to wake the Salt Carrier by pressing on his pressure points, but as soon as the Salt Carrier saw his face, he fainted again, and this time, Zhang Ping absorbed a large amount of fear.

"Never mind."

Zhang Ping moved the Salt Carrier closer to the campfire and then headed back to his tent. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought a mirror, so he couldn’t see how terrifying the black skeleton face looked.

"Wait, water might reflect my face," he suddenly thought.

He transformed his lower body into a puddle of water, with his face still covered by Nether Mist, and quickly turned it into a black skeleton shape.

Although the Night Walker ability gave him night vision, the reflection in the water still required light. The tent was too dark, and without enough light, the reflection wasn’t very clear.

He lifted the corner of the tent, allowing the firelight to shine in. As he looked at his face, his heart nearly stopped.

It was an extremely terrifying face. Due to the dynamic effect of the Nether Mist, the skull’s appearance kept changing, and the most terrifying part wasn’t any one face but the overwhelming sense of fear it conveyed—like witnessing the deathly expressions of countless beings.

Zhang Ping swallowed hard, feeling a chill run through him.

This makeup was too sinister. It seemed like he had created something incredibly terrifying.

"Ah!"

The Salt Carrier by the campfire slowly regained consciousness.

He frowned as he sat up. When he looked up, saw the corner of the tent raised, and glanced inside, his eyes widened in horror. With a scream, he fainted again.

Zhang Ping stared at the unfortunate Salt Carrier, lost for words.

He couldn’t blame the Salt Carrier, could he?

He silently lowered the corner of the tent and dispelled the Nether Mist from his face.

Honestly, even he didn’t dare to stare at that skull face for too long when alone—it gave off an unnerving feeling.

But if used in battle, it could likely put immense psychological pressure on the enemy. It would be like a special piece of equipment that weakened their state dramatically.