Reborn through an arranged marriage, I awakened the Shennong farming system.

Arriving at the bedside, Bai Ze channeled his spiritual power to examine Su Bai's condition. Unlike Hua Gengchen, he examined the changes in Su Bai's blood.

However, blood flows everywhere along the blood vessels, and to examine all the blood would require a lot of time, effort, and spiritual energy.

Sure enough, after half an hour of exploration, Bai Ze had only just finished examining one-third of Su Bai's blood when his spiritual energy was exhausted. Bai Ze was covered in sweat, but he dared not stop his work, because stopping would cause irreversible damage to Su Bai's blood vessels.

He shouted at Hua Gengchen, "Transfer spiritual power to me."

His spiritual energy was about to run out, and if it wasn't replenished in time, both he and Su Bai would be harmed. Bai Ze hadn't expected that his spiritual energy would be insufficient, but thankfully Hua Gengchen was there.

Upon hearing this, Hua Gengchen placed his hand on Bai Ze's back without hesitation and slowly channeled spiritual energy into Bai Ze's body. He dared not use too much force, nor did he dare to suddenly channel spiritual energy into Bai Ze, for fear that his actions might cause some harm to Bai Ze.

Sensing the spiritual energy transmitted by Hua Gengchen, Bai Ze raised an eyebrow. To be frank, he had never seen Hua Gengchen so cautious.

However, now was not the time to think about such things. With a continuous flow of spiritual energy, Bai Ze focused on examining Su Bai's blood. An hour later, Bai Ze finally ended this long examination process.

"How is it? What exactly happened?" The moment Bai Ze let go, Hua Gengchen couldn't wait to ask. Hua Jueming and the others also focused their concerned gazes on Bai Ze, making him feel immense pressure.

Fortunately, Bai Ze did find some evidence; otherwise, he wouldn't know how to face Hua Gengchen and the others' expectations.

"I think there's a high chance Su Bai is alright." Bai Ze came to this conclusion only after confirming it several times. Although it sounded absurd, he couldn't think of a second explanation.

Upon hearing Bai Ze's words, Hua Gengchen's brows furrowed, and his face became exceptionally serious. "What evidence do you have?" He knew that Bai Ze wouldn't speak without certainty at this time, but when it came to Su Bai, Hua Gengchen simply couldn't believe it.

“I have just examined all the blood in Su Bai’s body and found that half of it is in a state of change,” Bai Ze said. “Although the change is not very obvious yet, it is indeed happening, and I can confirm that the bloodline that is changing is Shennong’s bloodline.”

It took Hua Gengchen a while to understand what Bai Ze meant. "You mean the black crystal is promoting the awakening of Shennong's bloodline in Su Bai's body?"

"It should be." Bai Ze didn't know why either, but that was the truth.

"How is this possible! The black crystals come from the black energy, and blackness is nurtured by the demon race, how could it be..." Hua Gengchen felt that this sounded too far-fetched. Black energy is only harmful to both monsters and humans, when has it ever been beneficial?

“Otherwise, I can’t find any other explanation for Su Bai’s current situation.” Bai Ze explained to Hua Gengchen in the simplest language possible: “But the black crystals can’t directly activate the Shennong bloodline in Su Bai’s body. Su Bai had previously taken a divine medicine to activate his bloodline, but the medicinal properties were only latent in Su Bai’s blood. The black crystals are like a catalyst. After Su Bai absorbed them into his body, they quickly dissolved into his blood and reacted with the divine medicine to activate his bloodline, which is why we see them now.”

Although Bai Ze's explanation was reasonable and well-founded, Hua Gengchen still found it hard to believe.

"How is this possible? The black crystals come from the demon race..."

“Nothing is impossible! Perhaps the demons don’t know that black crystals can promote bloodline activation.” Bai Ze didn’t think anything was impossible, but this unexpected situation caught them off guard, which is why they panicked. “After all, everything has two sides. Black energy can’t be said to be entirely bad. It’s just that we haven’t yet discovered any use for its good side.”

Hua Gengchen fell silent upon hearing this. Bai Ze's words were reasonable and well-founded, and he would have believed them under normal circumstances. However, since it was Su Bai lying there, Hua Gengchen dared not believe him completely, because he could not allow any accident to happen to Su Bai.

He can't afford that outcome.

Neither the emperor of the demon race nor he himself could bear it.

Seeing this, Bai Ze understood Hua Gengchen's meaning. However, Hua Gengchen had checked himself, and Bai Ze had also checked. Su Bai was just unconscious. Once the changes in his bloodline stabilized, Su Bai should wake up. However, he couldn't be sure how long that would take.

Suddenly remembering what he had seen on Su Bai's hand when searching for the black crystal, Bai Ze gave Hua Gengchen another boost of confidence, "Do you remember what Su Bai was wearing on his hand? You put it on yourself. Before you received the phone call, did you sense any danger?"

Upon hearing Bai Ze's words, Hua Gengchen suddenly remembered that he had given Su Bai a life-saving charm, which was the first scale on his forty-ninth rib. It was closely related to him, and if Su Bai were really in danger, he couldn't possibly not have noticed anything.

"So... Su Bai is really alright?" Hua Gengchen's voice trembled noticeably, and everyone present heard it.

Bai Ze hesitated for a moment, then nodded affirmatively.

Unexpectedly, Hua Gengchen, who has been single for thousands of years and whose eyes are only on the masses, has finally fallen in love!

Bai Ze was genuinely happy for Hua Gengchen, and also happy to have survived the ordeal. "The medicine I prepared was meant to subtly stimulate Shennong's bloodline in Xiao Su Bai's body. I never expected that the black crystal would catalyze the medicine's effects by mistake. Xiao Su Bai fell into a deep sleep because she couldn't withstand the effects of the medicine. She will wake up once her bloodline has fully awakened."

"I understand." Hua Gengchen stared unblinkingly at Su Bai lying on the bed, his eyes filled with heartache.

Bai Ze didn't want to disturb the two of them, and he also needed time and space to calm his frightened heart, so he exchanged a glance with Hua Jueming and slowly retreated.

Afterwards, Hua Jueming and the others quietly retreated, leaving the two of them with complete space.

Upon reaching the first floor, Bai Ze gasped for breath, the feeling of escaping death making him exceptionally excited. "That was close! I really thought I was going to have to atone with my death."

Hua Jueming felt the same way, but he wouldn't say it. He said to the others, "Go do your own thing! Don't go to the second floor unless you have to."

After everyone left, Bai Ze caught his breath. "Little Jue Ming, the research on the black crystal has finally found a direction. I'm going to get busy now. Remember to have someone bring me a midnight snack." After saying that, Bai Ze returned to his room. He couldn't wait to use what he had just discovered to thoroughly study the black crystal.

Let's rewind to the time when Su Bai felt as if he was bewitched by something.

Su Bai was still very vigilant. When he sensed something was wrong, he tried to break free from the spell. However, he soon realized that he was not being spelled by anything, but rather that something was controlling his body.

Because he couldn't control himself and tried to snatch things from Bai Ze's hands, which was something he was never supposed to do!

He tried to pull his hand back, but found that his body wouldn't obey him.

Upon realizing this, Su Bai suspected that the system was controlling his body, repeatedly asking on the screen: 'System, are you controlling my body?'

Su Bai called out many times, but the system did not respond. Su Bai became even more certain of his suspicions and became more wary of the system.

'System, I command you to immediately cease all actions.'

The system flashed twice on the screen, but still did not respond.

When Su Bai realized that the system was controlling his body and trying to snatch the black crystal with his bare hands, he remembered Hua Gengchen's instructions to him. Having stopped trusting the system, Su Bai immediately decided to stop it.

He can't let the system succeed!

When Su Bai obtained the system, he checked its usage instructions, which included a method to forcibly shut down the system. However, once the system was forcibly shut down, he and his companion would be forcibly separated. In other words, once Su Bai chose to forcibly shut down the system, he would completely sever his connection with it.

Faced with the choice between his own life and the system's cheat-like advantage, Su Bai would choose his own life without hesitation, so he decided to forcibly shut down the system.

However, the operating system sensed Su Bai's intentions as soon as Su Bai started operating, and the situation outside was also quite urgent. After hesitating for a moment, the system decisively chose to obtain the black crystal before Su Bai forcibly shut it down, thus stopping Su Bai's actions.

It has to be said that the system made a very decisive decision. Just when Su Bai thought he was about to succeed, he suddenly felt dizzy and fell into a deep sleep.

When Su Bai woke up again, he found himself in a foggy world where he couldn't see anything clearly.

Suddenly, a small ball of light appeared in front of Su Bai's eyes. The ball of light gradually grew larger and larger, eventually transforming into the system screen that Su Bai was used to seeing.

[The Shennong bloodline has been activated to 30%. The host can now sign a formal contract. Please select: Sign Contract / Cancel Temporary Contract.]

Su Bai stared at the message, bewildered, and asked, "What's going on? What's this temporary contract and what's this formal contract? He was completely confused by the system."

[The host's previous Shennong bloodline only reached five percent of the threshold for signing a temporary contract. During the temporary contract period, the host violated regulations by using system energy that can only be used under a formal contract, resulting in insufficient system energy and triggering the system's self-rescue mode.]

In other words, his body was being controlled by the system, and the system was trying to save itself?!

That explanation makes sense, but Su Bai just finds it a bit fantastical. Isn't that absurd? What kind of system can control the host's body? Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?

Su Bai no longer wanted to experience this feeling of being controlled and powerless. 'What would happen if I chose to terminate the contract?'

【die.】

Such simple and straightforward words! You can understand what they mean without even needing to understand them.

Su Bai couldn't help but smash the cup, saying that there were two options, but isn't this just one?

'After signing the formal contract, can the system still manipulate the host's body?' This must be clarified, otherwise Su Bai would rather die than sign the contract. He said that he would never be anyone's pawn again, including the system.

Being controlled by others is a terrible feeling!

No. Once the formal contract is signed, the host possesses absolute rights.

Seeing this, Su Bai felt a little relieved, but he was still hesitant, since the system didn't give him a good feeling this time.