For Nan Fusheng, the "Thief" Pathway was the one he had chosen from the very beginning. Unless necessary, he would never easily switch to another pathway.
Even though he was currently only Sequence 4 on the Thief Path, with the help of the Origin Castle, he was still capable of using abilities from the other two pathways.
As he was mulling over these thoughts, his eyes fell on a target—a middle-aged man with an unremarkable face. His appearance was plain, but his identity was far from ordinary.
This was none other than the Captain of Tianhai City's Defense Corps. His exact name? Nan Fusheng didn't bother to remember—it wasn't important.
Parasitize.
The man's body stiffened for a moment before quickly returning to normal, his expression calm as he walked toward his original destination.
Nan Fusheng, having finished the parasitism, simply turned and left—already searching for his next target.
After becoming a Demigod, Nan Fusheng had acquired access to Zhang Sanfeng's memories and intelligence network, which included the full roster of Tianhai's high-ranking officials, along with the identities of the influential figures attending the Tianhai Federation Tournament.
And once he had the list of names, the next step was obvious. What else could he do but… parasitize them all?
As a Demigod, Nan Fusheng could now split off Time Worms directly, without relying on his Martial Soul—creating them from his essence to parasitize others.
Even if someone were to kill him now, as long as one worm could escape, he could still seize another body or use another person as a temporary vessel to heal himself.
That didn't mean his first spirit skill had become useless, though. With it, he could generate even more worms, sending them out to parasitize.
As a Sequence 4 Thief, the maximum number of hosts he could maintain as his clones was fifty—and that was only because he possessed the Origin Castle and multiple uniquenesses. Without them, the number would be much lower.
If he channeled the Time Worm Martial Soul as well, the upper limit rose to seventy before his soul would begin to suffer strain.
Strolling through Tianhai City, Nan Fusheng casually picked out hosts:
Head of Tianhai's Finance Department? Not bad. Parasitize.
Heir of a major family in Sunset City? Parasitize.
One of Shrek City's food supply tycoons? Parasitize.
The son of a Federation councilman? Oh, you dare walk right toward me? How amusing. Parasitize.
Nan Fusheng moved about recklessly, parasitizing without restraint. He had already come to understand the truth: all his cautiousness and humility before… it was only to prepare for this moment of decisive dominance.
Even if he was still "just" a Sequence 4, if someone truly forced his hand, he could drag all of Douluo Star down with him.
And perhaps not even die himself.
After all, he already had in his possession the formulas for Sequence 9 through Sequence 1 potions. In the past, he had always taken them step by step, one sequence at a time.
But could he skip ahead—directly drinking a Sequence 1 potion?
Of course.
The consequences, however, would likely be catastrophic. Not that he'd become a monster, but there was a real chance he'd lose control—driven mad by an overwhelming flood of knowledge, or stripped of humanity, forcibly elevated into the cold, lofty existence of a god.
At first, Nan Fusheng had worried whether the potions he drank might contain "contamination"—the lingering will of some ancient Celestial or hidden backhand from a True Deity. But after reaching Demigod, he realized he'd overthought it.
If he did swallow multiple Sequence 1 potions and forcibly fused the uniquenesses, he could indeed become a true god. The danger of losing control was very real—but before that happened, at the very least, he could ensure all of Douluo Star met their "God" alongside him.
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What's more, there was still the possibility he could recover afterward. The ceremony he had performed upon becoming a Demigod had established an anchor point. Though its stabilizing effect wasn't large, it existed—and that meant a slim chance of returning from madness.
If he did fall into a frenzy of uncontrollable insanity, Nan Fusheng could still accept that. After all, didn't the ancient gods of the Second Epoch in the "Lord of Mysteries" world use a sort of… piston method to expel their madness?
At worst, he could just stuff a few more vessels into the Origin Castle. When he finally regained himself, he might have a few extra "offspring."
In the following days, Nan Fusheng roamed Tianhai City freely, parasitizing whenever he found a suitable target.
He made no move to return to the Tianhai Grand Hotel. Instead, he had Zhang Sanfeng arrange a new residence.
Ever since becoming a Demigod, his entire perspective had shifted. No longer did he obsess over Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon King core. For him now, the true priority was accelerating his acting speed and reaching godhood as soon as possible.
Once he became a god, not to mention Tang Wulin's Dragon King core—even Gu Yuena's could be claimed, and fusing them to recreate the Dragon God's Core would be a simple task.
And even here on Douluo Star, he could already be counted among the truly powerful. Many things he once only dared to dream of could now be pursued boldly.
During these days, he also went to observe the Blacksmith Association Tournament, where Tang Wulin dazzled the crowd, drawing the attention of all the major figures in the forging world.
Nan Fusheng took the opportunity to parasitize several blacksmiths—including two rank-7 Saint Craftsmen.
No rank-8s, but all of them were influential members of Tianhai's Blacksmith Association.
Meanwhile, he also had to put up with the constant pestering of his clone—the one who stayed with Tang Wulin and the others.
Though it was technically his split self, the clone had its independent consciousness. While its core always aligned with his, its personality acted with its quirks.
Sometimes it would message him with updates like:
"We won this round of the competition."
"Tang Wulin got into an argument with Ye Xinglan. He was so petty that he only paid for his meal, leaving Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan to wash dishes! Now Ye Xinglan is furious and swore to crush him in the tournament."
Or just trivial gossip.
Damn it! It almost made Nan Fusheng want to kill the thing outright.
Normally, the chatter was tolerable—entertaining even, to pass the time.
But that damn thing dared to @ him in the middle of the night—not once, but several times in a row—keeping him awake until dawn.
Even so, he endured it. This clone, despite being annoyingly chatty, was in personality the closest to himself, and he had invested a great deal of effort in creating it.
Nan Fusheng couldn't just "conjure a person out of thin air"—not yet. This particular clone had been made by parasitizing a person whose Martial Soul was "an insect."
Using the powers of Error, he altered the host's Martial Soul. With the Faceless Man's ability, he reshaped his appearance entirely.
Then, by infusing a portion of his sealed power into him, he elevated the host to the strength of a rank-25 Soul Master.
As for spirit skills? As his clone, having access to the Thief's consciousness theft was only natural.
And to grant him access to the Path of the Door, Nan Fusheng had a Star Worm split off a sub-worm and handed it to the clone.
That sub-worm was specially modified, capable of normal use of spatial abilities.
Thus, a tool-clone—a substitute who could take his place—was born.