Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 81 - Hunting? online for free - AllNovelFull
Ye Dai and Bei Wen were a bit taken aback after hearing Young Master Shirong's words, but they did not question it. They had already healed a majority of their injuries that had been caused by the backlash of regressing in their cultivation in these past two days.
Looking at Young Master Shirong's condition, they could tell that it was the same with him and he even seemed to be in high spirits for some reason.
The three of them were interrupted by the servants while they were leaving as they asked them where they were going. Shirong simply told them that they were going for hunting and the servants quickly moved, letting them pass. If it was just hunting, then there was no reason for them to be worried.
The three of them rushed to the exit of the city before flying from there.
"Why the sudden desire to hunt, Young master?" Bei Wen asked, feeling curious.
"I just have a few things that I needed to test out and the beasts would serve as the perfect subjects," Shirong answered.
They two didn't know what to think of this and simply continued flying onward. Soon the three of them reached the Millennium forest and started looking for beasts. This was a different part of the millennium forest and was in the opposite direction from the forbidden area.
After their previous experience, they definitely did not want to go to that place again.
It didn't take them long to find beasts either, as all it took was a sweep of Shirong's spirit sense. The beast they had found was a common fierce beast called as the long limbed lizard. As its name said, it had long limbs and that was all there was to it.
The beast was at the seventh stage of the body tempering realm and was quite easy for any of them to kill, which was why Ye Dai was a bit confused. He was about to speak, but then saw Young Master Shirong withdraw the green crystal spear from his spatial storage ring.
The beast had still not noticed the three of them as they were flying in the sky and was quickly killed without a noise. The spear pierced through its body swiftly ending its life.
Shirong furrowed his brows but then saw the body of the best rapidly drying.
"Young Master… this?" Bei Wen questioned with shock.
But Shirong did not answer and simply pulled out the spear from the body of the beast.
"Hmm, as I thought. Only the spirit beasts are worth hunting." Shirong muttered to himself.
He then found the next closest spirit beast and flew towards it, with Ye Dai and Bei Wen filling behind him.
The beast he found this time was called a purple furred coyote. It was an early stage qi refining realm beast and was similarly killed in a swift manner. The spear pierced the chest of the beast and rapidly started sucking on the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast.
Ten seconds later only a dried out husk of the beast was now left behind.
"Hmm, Yes this is it," Shirong said as he absorbed the spirit qi the spear gave him.
The quantity this time was much smaller than when he killed the drunk man, about four drops of liquid spirit qi. But Shirong did not mind it, as he had kind of expected it.
'There is quite a difference in the spirit qi obtained from beasts and cultivators.' Shirong thought to himself.
The two followers Bei Wen and Ye Dai were left dumbstruck. They had no idea what was happening and why was the corpse of the beast all dried out now.
"Young Master Shirong, that spear… what is it doing?" Ye Dai asked, unable to hold back anymore.
"The spear can absorb the spirit qi from the beasts and give it to me," Shirong answered simply.
"What!" Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen exclaimed.
They could guess what this entailed and knew that the value of the green crystal spear was elevated even more. They had never heard of any spirit weapon that could do the same, even if it was a pseudo immortal too.
"I want you to go around and capture spirit beasts for me to kill," Shirong ordered.
"As you wish, young master." The two of them replied together before flying away to do the task that was just given to them.
"Let's see how much you can give me today…" Shirong muttered and then began to hunt more beasts on his own.
About thirty minutes later, Ye Dai and Bei wen had captured about ten spirit beasts and total and brought them to Young Master Shirong. Shirong himself had hunted about seven of them on his own and was clearly happy with his gains.
~Shing~
~Slick~
The grows and cries of the beasts could be heard melding together as they saw their companions being killed one by one. The beasts were loud at first but then seeing what was happening to the beasts that were being killed along with the pressure that excluded from the three men, made them silent in fear.
Soon Shirong was done killing all the beasts and draining them of the spirit qi.
"Ahaha! Two hundred… an entire two hundred drops of spirit qi!" Shirong laughed out loud.
Ye Dai and Bei Wen were shocked upon hearing this. They had not expected that the gains of their Young Master would be so good. This was much more than a peak grade spirit stone, and that too at a fraction of its cost.
After all, peak grade spirit stones were quite rare, but the spirit beasts were countless. The cost could not even be compared.
'Seems like a pseudo immortal weapon like this green crystal spear has many more mysteries than we through.' Ye Dai through to himself.
Shirong closed his eyes for a couple of minutes as he focused on absorbing all the spirit qi that he had been given.
'Hehehe, this time should be right!' Lin Mu thought to himself.
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While Shirong had obtained two hundred drops of spirit qi in total from the beasts that he had killed, he did not know that it was a mere fraction of the amount that Lin Wu himself had taken.
Lin Wu brought out the host data window and saw the spirit qi that he now had.
~Ding~
——
HOST CULTIVATION: Late stage of the Qi Refining Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1500] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 15002 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
"I reckon ten times as much spirit qi should be enough for me to reach the core condensation realm in one go, Hehe." Lin Wu thought to himself.
"Alright, system you know what to do. Make it as flashy as possible, we want to impress the audience."
~Ding~
——
UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Please wait patiently.
——
That's right, what Lin Wu was intending to do was none other than breakthrough to the core condensation realm. He was doing this not only to increase his cultivation base but also to keep Shirong's interest.
~Shua~
Suddenly a strong wave of spirit qi was released from the green crystal spear. Shirong was taken aback and almost let go of the spear.
"Young Master, what's happening?" Bei Wen questioned with apprehension.
The three of them had felt something similar back when they were inside the crater and were thus a bit shocked.
"I… I don't know." Shirong replied as he watched the spear.
The concentration of spirit qi in the area started rapidly rising, and Shirong found it hard to keep a hold on the spear. It was as if the spear was trying to fly away from his hand.
"Aargh!" Shirong cried and let go of the spear, which had suddenly turned burning hot.
The spear flew from his arm and floated up to a short distance in the air. Blades of wind swirled around the spear, and Shirong could feel the aura of the spear increase through the connection.
~Ding~
——
CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Reached peak stage of the qi refining realm.
HOST CULTIVATION: Peak stage of the Qi Refining Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 13502 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
"What are you waiting for? Continue!" Lin Wu ordered the system.
The spear started humming with power as the concentration of spirit qi in the environment rose again.
"The spear… it's getting stronger?" Bei Wen uttered with astonishment.
Shirong looked at the two men, Ye Dai and Bei Wen with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"You two know what to speak and what not, right?" Shirong asked in a cold tone.
~Gulp~
The two followers gulped in fear before responding, "Yes, Young Master!"
Shirong nodded his head and then focused on the Green Crystal spear, whose aura was growing more and more with each second.
A blinding green light burst out of the spear as an oppressive might exuded from the spear. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was blazing at the top of their heads, the light of the spear still drowned out the light of the sun.
Just from this, one could guess the amount of power contained within the spear.
But this was merely the start as soon the three men found their skin to be heating up. It was mild at first and was the same as being heated by the sun. But soon the temperature started rising.
"Wha-what is this!" Ye Dai uttered with fear.
"The heat… how?" Bei Wen stuttered.
"It's the spear, get back!" Shirong shouted.
The three of them moved a hundred meters back and finally felt a bit relieved. But even if the heat on their skin was reduced, the pressure that the spear was exuding was not gone.
Meanwhile, Lin Wu was rejoicing in his mind. Everything was going exactly as he wanted it to be.
~Ding~
——
CULTIVATING BASE UPGRADED: New realm reached - Core condensation realm.
NOTIFICATION: Initiate condensing beast core?
——
"Is that even a question? JUST DO IT!" Lin Wu ordered.
~Hualala~
Rhythmic waves of energy exuded off the spear as it started spinning. The three men were taken aback as they thought that the entire process was close to ending.
"Young Master, I fear this may go beyond or capabilities. The disturbance in the spirit qi that the spear is causing it is extending." Ye Dai stated.
A frown appeared on Shirong's face as he knew what could happen if anyone else came here after noticing the spirit qi fluctuations. He didn't exactly know what the spear was doing except for the fact that it was increasing in strength, as that was what he could perceive from its aura.
Shirong gritted his teeth and took out a bunch of things from his spatial storage ring.
"Here, take these and quickly set up an isolating formation array," Shirong ordered the two.
"Yes, Young Master." Ye Dai and Bei Wen quickly took the components of a formation array from Shirong and started setting them up.
They planted eight flags in an octagonal pattern and then placed sixteen talismans in the gaps of the octagon. They gestured with their hands and formed a multitude of mudras. Formation runes appeared in the air as they started to embed themselves into the air.
Meanwhile, Shirong took out a formation plate and poured spirit qi into it, completing the isolating formation array. And just as he did, an explosion happened.
~Hong~
Spirit qi converged upon the green crystal spear as it started to rapidly pour into the spear. The heat that they had felt before returned, and this time with an even higher temperature.
"Go to the very edge of the formation!" Shirong shouted.
The three of them retreated and held on. They could not leave the formation or it would stop working and expose the phenomena that the spear was going through.
~Ding~
——
BEAST CORE: Condensed.
HOST CULTIVATION: Early stage of the Core Condensation Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/6000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 10502 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
Lin Wu looked at the shocked faces of the three men and let out an almost audible laugh.
Shirong could swear that he heard something, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as the pressure increased once more.
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Lin Wu saw that he had more than enough spirit qi to continue upgrading thus that's exactly what he did.
"MORE! MORE! MORE! Upgrade again!" Lin Wu ordered the system.
~Ding~
——
UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: please wait patiently.
——
The heat that was assailing the sense of the three men Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen was increased once again and they could do nothing this time. They were already standing at the very edge of the isolating formation array and they definitely could not leave it or that would expose the presence of the spear.
"Use all your defensive techniques and tools!" Shirong spoke.
A bell shaped barrier surrounded Shirong as he used his defensive technique. Ye Dai pulled out a long feather from his ring and broke it, this created an armor made out of features on his body. Bei Wen used a different technique and a curtain of wind surrounded him.
With the defensive techniques activated, the three men were able to take a breath of relief.
"Reserve your spirit qi and keep the spirit stones handy, we don't know how long this will last," Shirong said in a serious tone.
The green crystal spear was still spinning, and the spirit qi the air was gushing at it, rapidly being absorbed. Because of his spirit sense being restricted by the pressure exuded by the spear, Shirong could not estimate the quantity of the spirit qi.
But from the looks of it, it was quite a massive amount.
~Ding~
——
UPGRADE COMPLETE: Host's cultivation base has reached the Mid stage of the core condensation realm.
LIFESPAN: 300 years
HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 4502 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
Finally, after ten minutes, Lin Wu had entered the mid stage of the core condensation realm. He looked at the remaining amount of spirit qi and the amount needed to upgrade to the next level.
"If I'm able to keep up this pace, then I should be able to upgrade to the next level in a few days or weeks." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
But just as he said this, he suddenly felt something happening inside his body.
"Aargh! What… is this pain?!" Lin Wu wondered.
For some reason, a pain was assaulting Lin Wu deep within his body.
"System, what is happening?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: According to the system's analysis, everything is within the normal parameters, yet the host seems to be under some kind of distress. This could only mean that whatever is happening, it is not recorded in the system's Data banks and cannot be detected by the system.
——
"AH! Dammit!" Lin Wu cursed.
He started to think what it could be, but could not come up with anything. But Lin Wu didn't know that he was not the only one who was feeling the pain. Shirong and his two companions were also burning up now.
For some reason, their defensive techniques were not working anymore and blisters had started appearing on their skin.
"Young master, we have to retreat farther or I fear we may not come out of this unscathed." Ye Dai said with urgency.
But before Shirong could even answer, he suddenly felt his vision going dark. And along with him, the vision of Ye Dai and Bei Wen went dark as well.
Unknown to Lin Wu, a strange Aura was being released from his body. The aura had covered the entire isolating formation and was still growing.
~Pop~
The formation could not hold on anymore and shattered the next second, releasing all the spirit qi that was being restrained. It was as if a dam was broken and Lin Wu's aura spread in an area of two hundred kilometers. It even reached the Deer Wood city and every cultivator in it felt it. The ones that were stronger felt their vision going dark as well.
But this was merely the start of the nightmare as soon they started seeing things.
A pair of eyes appeared in their vision. The eyes were blood red and had purple outlines to them. The size of the eyes was massive through and the people thought as if they were mere ants compared to them. Every single inch of their bodies was filled with absolute terror as they froze in place.
Shirong and his two followers saw this as well. Thought this was not the first time that Ye Dai had seen these eyes. Back when he had touched the spear for the first time, he had the illusion that he had seen these eyes. But at that time he thought it was due to bloodline suppression.
This lasted for an entire minute, which to all the people was as if hours had passed by.
~Ding~
——
ABNORMALITY: Stabilizing
CHECKING HOST VITALS: Host Vitals stable
CHECKING FOR ANOMALIES: Anomaly found
BLOODLINE: Change in host's bloodline detected.
HOST VITAL ENERGY: Depleted
——
Lin Wu took control of his wits after the pain faded away. But he realized that his form had changed, and he was back to his full sized worm form instead of the spear one.
"What! Dammit, it must have happened during the pain!" Lin Wu cursed and got ready to defend.
But to his surprise, Shirong and his two followers were knocked out cold. The three men were the closest to Lin Wu and had thus borne the full brunt of the pressure. Their clothes were torn and burned in multiple places, and their skin was covered in blisters.
Lin Wu took a look and was shocked.
"Seems like the heat from Radiation manipulation got quite high." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
In order to make it flashy, Lin Wu had asked the system to do some things while he broke through. This was also to mask his breakthrough and hide that he was actually a beast. He knew that radiation did not work well with spirit qi for others, and thus used the radiation manipulation skill to suppress the senses of the three men.
'I should return to my spear form quick before they wake up and then take a look at what's changed.' Lin Wu thought.
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Lin Wu triggered the innate skills cellular manipulation along with cellular crystallization and shrank his body while morphing to become a spear again. Unlike before though it was not as painful and he finished the process in a minute.
Seeing that he was back in his spear form, Lin Wu took a breath of relief and looked at his body. Finding no change in it, he wondered what happened.
"System show me the Host Data." Lin Wu ordered, thinking that there were bound to be a few changes.
~Ding~
——
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 24 days
LIFESPAN: 300 years
HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm
HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]
BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)
2. Unknown (3)
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None
QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)
INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Manipulation (minor) (Proficiency: Intermediate)
2. Cellular Manipulation (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)
3. Cellular Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)
INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal plate, Pink Women's underwear, Dagger
BEAST CORES: 1.Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)
2. Incomplete core
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 4980 units
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:
1. Common Grass Mouse
2. Rock Trampler Boar
3. Human
4. Unknown (3)
5. Ash Crowned Buck
——
As Lin Wu had expected, a lot of changes had happened to the Host Data and he didn't know where to begin.
Nearly all of his spirit qi had been used up for some reason and his vital energy had been totally depleted. His second bloodline seemed to have upgrade somehow and there was even an additional core that seemed to be incomplete.
"System, what happened?." Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: From the system's analysis, it seems like the host's second bloodline was activated further and had grown on its own. The host having two bloodlines seemed to be have created an imbalance. This possibly happened due to the host's cultivation rapidly increasing.
The host's innate skill Radiation manipulation has also increased in proficiency due to the improvement in his bloodline. The host's vital energy has been depleted as well, which can be attributed to the upgrade in the bloodline as well.
An incomplete second beast core has also been created in the host's body which is another effect of the bloodline as well.
——
Seeing that nearly everything was caused by the unknown bloodline that he had, Lin Wu was appalled.
'Looks like I need to keep both bloodlines in a balance or something similar may happen again. It also seems like it created another core for the unknown bloodline, that is where all the spirit qi had been absorbed into.' Lin Wu thought.
Now Lin Wu was in another dilemma. With the amount of spirit qi that had been depleted along with the vital energy, he didn't know how long he could maintain the system energy for.
"Hmm, though I should be able to hold on for a couple of days as long as I don't spend the system energy on anything extra." Lin Wu muttered.
~Groan~
Just as he said that, Lin Wu saw Shirong groan. His hands moved around, and he seemed to be getting a gauge of where he was. His eyes were perhaps still blurry, or he was not able to see, but soon he was able to prop himself into a sitting posture.
Shirong took out a few healing pills from his ring and ate them, starting to heal the injuries that he had. Two minutes later, Ye Dai and Bei Wen had woken up as well, and the first thing they did was to try to heal themselves.
"Huh? Shouldn't they try to assess whether they are in a safe area first?" Lin Wu wondered.
'Maybe they are just too dazed.' Lin Wu thought.
Ten minutes passed, after which Shirong seemed to have taken full control of his senses. As soon as he did though, his eyes went open wide and a shocked expression appeared on his face momentarily.
"What!" He exclaimed as his expression turned serious.
Lin Wu then felt the spirit sense of Shirong touching him.
"Now you realize…" Lin Wu muttered in his mind.
~Phew~
Shirong took a breath of relief seeing that he was safe and then looked at the green crystal spear that was lying a short distance from him. He looked around and saw that the isolating formation that they had set up had been utterly destroyed.
He looked at his two companions and saw them to be recovering. Even if the blisters on his skin had been healed, the ones on Ye Dai and Bei Wen were still there.
"What in the world was that?" Shirong said out loud as he remembered the phenomena that he had just gone through.
He stood up and walked to the spear, staggering a bit. It was evident that some of his internal injuries had flared up due to the pressure.
"Dammit!" Shirong cursed as he felt the pain within his body.
He then bent down and picked up the spear with difficulty.
"Did… did it get heavier?" Shirong questioned.
Not knowing whether it was true or not, Shirong pushed that thought to the back of his mind for the time being and checked the spear. It still looked the same as it did before, though the power contained within it had certainly increased.
He probed it with his spirit sense and then the two blood red eyes with purple outline flashed in front of his eyes.
~Thud~
Shirong let go of the spear due to the shock and then remembered what he had seen before passing out. The absolute terror that filled his body, it was not something that he would ever forget.
"Hahaha!" But then he started laughing.
"Perfect! The more powerful you are, the better for me. Soon the three guardian clans will be a thing of the past and I'll be ruling the world." Shirong proclaimed.
'Seems like I went a bit overboard. This guy has become even more unhinged.' Lin Wu thought as he shook his head in his mind.
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Regardless of whether Lin Wu had hurt Shirong or not, all he wanted to do right now was to figure if out there was anything additional that was wrong with him. He wondered if he had been wrong in upgrading his cultivation so fast.
Even if the system told him that everything seemed to be relatively fine, Lin Wu could not help but doubt it.
'There are still things that are beyond the system's understanding. I can't be fully dependent on it. Who knows if it'll be wrong one day and even it won't know.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He then suddenly felt himself being picked up from the ground. Shirong had picked himself up again and was now dusting off the soil that had stuck to him. He then stored him back into the spatial storage ring and went to check up on his two companions.
"Get ready, you two. We need to leave, the other cultivators should be coming here soon!" Shirong ordered.
Ye Dai and Bei Wen opened their eyes and nodded at their Young Master's words. They knew that waiting here for any longer would be dangerous and could arouse suspicion if they were found. Even if they were currently hurting inside, they did not dare say anything and pulled out their spirit swords.
The three of them jumped on each of their spirit weapons and flew away.
But to Shirong's misjudgment, there was no one that was currently heading in this direction, as they all were currently trying to recover themselves.
Back at the Deer Wood city all of the city's cultivators had been knocked out by some kind of a power and this had scared all the commoners. They did not know if it was a disease or something, thus were terrified that they would be affected too.
Thankfully, there were plenty of body tempering realm guards in the city and they were able to control the people and did not let them go overboard with the hysteria. There were also some wise people, who while not cultivators themselves, had the experiences of many years.
They were able to guide the people and prevent anything bad from happening.
The people of the city were currently trying to nurse all the cultivators that had been knocked out in the clans, as they were the ones that had the most authority in the city. Even the Clan heads who had the cultivation base of nascent soul realm had been affected by the power and were currently in meditation.
By the time Shirong and his followers reached the city, they saw the randomly lying cultivators. They didn't know what happened here and were a bit overwhelmed as well. But after asking around a few questioned, Shirong realized that everything that happened with them also happened with the other people of the Deer Wood city.
"Young master, what are we to do now?" Bei Wen questioned.
"Nothing, we do nothing." Shirong simply stated.
"But young master, won't it be inappropriate if we don't do anything?" Ye Dai asked.
"No, rather this is the best for us. As long as we don't interfere, no questions will be asked and our involvement in the entire thing will be hidden. Seeing that all of the cultivators were affected by this and barely any of them are awake, we can claim that we don't know anything." Shirong explained.
The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen thought over it for a bit and realized that young master Shirong's words seemed to be wise and it would be better if they simply followed him. Besides, if anything happened their Young master would become the umbrella that would shield them from the rain of problems.
Thus, Shirong and his two followers silently went back to their assigned courtyards and started recovering their injuries.
Shirong had thought that someone should be coming to check up on him soon and it was exactly what happened.
"Young master Shirong! Are you fine?" A man shouted from the outside.
Shirong was a bit annoyed by the shouting but did not show it on his face. The man entered the courtyard and saw Shirong sitting in the main room cross legged.
Shirong gently opened his eyes and made it seem like he had just been awakened. He recognized the man and knew that he was one of the Lu clansmen and was probably sent here to check up on him.
"What is it?" Shirong asked, pretending not to know much.
"The fainting spell! Is the young master fine, or does he have any difficulties?" The Lu clansman asked.
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. Albeit my injuries are still hampering me a bit." Shirong answered.
The Lu clansmen then started explaining to him all that had happened and the condition of the clans. He was told that the clan heads all had recovered mostly and would be having a meeting tonight. The clansmen also asked whether Young master Shirong would like to come.
Shirong was a bit averse to the idea but then realized that he should know what was going on exactly and what the clans' conclusion would be to this. Anything pertaining to the spear needed to be kept secret and if any suspicion was going towards him or close to him, he needed to deflect it.
"Alright, I'll join the meeting tonight as well," Shirong answered and sent the Lu clansmen away.
"Seems, like I'll have to be careful with the spear. I do not know if something like this will happen again, but there should be some logic behind it. Hmm, the most likely reason should be that the spear absorbed enough spirit qi and released one of the seals placed on it." Shirong muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, Lin Wu was just listening to Shirong speak and was a bit happy.
"Man, you really are preparing all the excuses for me, aren't you? Hahaha! Just keep on doing it, it'll save me a lot of thinking." Lin Wu said.
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Shirong was currently heading towards the meeting hall where the meeting of all the clans was to be held. His two followers were currently not with him as the invitation had been to him only. Considering the seriousness of the event it was obvious that the clans did not want many people to know about it.
After all, if it was found out that this was something caused by another cultivator, all hell would break loose. Such kind of a power that can knock out all cultivators despite their cultivation bases was terrifying. Thankfully, no one died today, though they all could imagine the destruction that can happen if this kind of power fell in the wrong hands.
Soon Shirong entered the hall and saw about half of the seats filled.
"Greetings Young Master Shirong. I hope you were fine during the entire ordeal?" The Lu clan Head asked.
"I'm grateful for the concern. I am fine if not for my previous injuries." Shirong answered.
"That is good then. Please, take a seat others should be here any minutes now." Clan Head Lu replied and then gestured for him to take a seat.
~Huu~
Shirong went and took a random seat and sat down, letting out a breath of fatigue. The other people noticed this but just attributed this to him being injured, which was exactly what Shirong wanted. He knew that a perfect mask was always maintained if one wanted to come out on top while scheming.
Soon the rest of the people that had been invited appeared and the door of the hall was closed shut.
"My fellow gentlemen, I believe all of you know and experienced what happened today." Clan head Lu stated.
"Yes, yes, of course, we did. It was so terrifying, I never experienced anything like this before today." One of the clan heads spoke.
All of the people started adding to the conversation and said their side of the story. But in the end, all of them reached one conclusion.
"So it is confirmed that all of us saw the same exact thing, regardless of cultivation base." Clan head Lu declared.
No one in the hall denied it and they simply nodded.
"Hmm, so does anyone have an idea of what it could be?" Clan Head Lu questioned. "There are no wrong answerers here and we're trying to figure out what happen, so feel free to speak."
"Clan head Lu, I believe it could be an evil cultivator trying out a new technique, perhaps. He or she probably did not know what to expect and thus did not take the chance to attack the city." One of the clan heads spoke.
Clan head Lu simply nodded and gestured for others to speak.
"I do not think an evil cultivator would let go of an opportunity like this. I think this is not an evil cultivator but rather the birth of a natural treasure. We already know what happened in the forbidden zone, so who's to say that it isn't something from there?" Clan Head Xiong added.
"Well, look at that. This guy is pretty accurate." Lin Wu muttered in the spatial storage ring.
"I agree with clan head Xiong, but would like to present another possibility that is linked to the forbidden zone." Clan head Meng Spoke.
Seeing that everyone was hearing intently clan head Meng continued, "as we know that there is a mysterious beast in the forbidden zone. What if those eyes we saw were none other than those beasts? After all, even Young master Shirong was only able to see the figure of the beast and not its true appearance.
Perhaps what we experienced was none other than a bloodline suppression event." Clan Head Meng hypothesized.
"And this man gets the prize! Looks like these oldies are quite smart at deducing things." Lin Wu praised.
~Cough~Cough~
Seeing that the conversation was getting dangerously close to the existence of the spear, Shirong coughed to interfere.
"Clan head Meng is wise, and that does seem likely. But perhaps we should let others speak their opinions too?" Shirong spoke.
"Of course, please. We can circle back later," Clan head Meng acknowledged.
Soon each of the men in the hall stated something and guessed what could have happened. But in the end, all of them realized that clan Head Meng's hypothesis seemed to be the most likely. There had been no signs of any evil cultivators in the region recently, and even the sensory talismans they had set up for the detection of treasures had not acted up.
They finally came to the conclusion that the beast was behind the entire thing.
"Gentlemen but if it truly was a beast that caused this then we need to be extremely careful. Even the people who have not assimilated any of the beast bloodlines were able to feel it, which means that the beast that did this is an overlord among beasts.
But since the commoners were fine, that means that only those with spirit qi in their bodies can feel it. This leads me to believe that it is a kind of a bloodline suppression that acts on the spirit qi of the cultivators suppressing it temporarily which made us all faint." Clan Head Mu spoke.
Everyone knew that clan Head Mu had some accomplishments in the medical field and were thus believing in him. Seeing that everyone wanted to listen more, Clan head Mu spoke again.
"When I woke up, I noticed the faint irregularities in the circulation of my spirit qi. I believe if all of you follow my instructions, you will be able to see it too…" Clan head Mu then started pointing out the things that they needed to do, and all of the people were soon convinced.
"Clan head Mu is simply outstanding. To be able to perceive the truth from something like this is truly marvelous." Shirong praised.
This conclusion was satisfactory for him, and he could go with it. Thus he decided to support clan head Mu.
"Good, good, I like this show." Lin Wu spoke, enjoying the setting.
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Shirong looked around the room and everyone seemed to be in agreement with Clan head Mu's words.
"Now that we are close to the conclusion that it was done by a beast, perhaps we should now try to find what kind of a beast it actually was." Clan head Lu spoke.
"Of course, that is obvious. But how are we to do that? We cannot enter the forbidden zone to do that." One of the smaller clan heads asked.
"Young Master Shirong, can we please borrow the fragment of the beast shell that you got? I believe you are not leaving the city for a few days, thus we can analyze it more and try to determine which beast it belongs to. If we cannot find it and you are going to leave, we will give it back to you." Clan head Lu said.
While Shirong did not want to give them the fragment, he could come to terms with the current arrangement. First of all, Shirong was sure that they would not able to determine what kind of a beast it was, anyway. He himself had seen a lot of beast encyclopedias, and he could not recognize which kind of a beast it belonged to.
"That is fine with me," Shirong said before taking out the beast carapace fragment from his spatial storage ring.
Clan Head Lu took it and looked at it for a moment before speaking.
"This will be placed in the town hall, and every person that wants to investigate more can look at it there. But remember this that it is not to leave its confines and not to be taken. You all can use your own sources to find out what kind of beast this was." Clan head Lu stated.
"That is fine with me." Clan head Meng spoke.
Others also chimed in and agreed with the armament. Shirong nodded his head as well, confirming it. He knew that he was not going to head to the clan anytime soon and even when he was going to leave the Deer Wood city it would be after a few days.
Shirong checked his internal injuries and guessed that it could take up to a week for him to heal them all.
~Sigh~
He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.
Soon the meeting ended and everyone stood up to leave the hall. Shirong did the same and quickly returned to his courtyard to rest. He sat down in a meditative pose and popped a few healing pills in his mouth before starting to nurse his injuries.
Meanwhile, Lin Wu was thinking of what to do next and was gazing at the spirit stones with a storage look in his eyes.
"Let's try and see if he even remembers if a stone is missing…" Lin Wu muttered in a creepy tone.
He then floated over to one of the spirit stone bags and took out a single low grade spirit stone. He touched it and started absorbing the spirit qi from it. A minute later he had drained it empty and looked at how much he had obtained.
He felt that it was different absorbing it himself than letting the system absorb it.
~Ding~
——
HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [00010/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
But after looking at the data, he found it to be wrong.
"Huh? This is strange… system what happened here?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: Because the Host absorbed the spirit qi himself, the spirit qi was directly taken by the host's body. Because of this, it is not shown in the qi storage of the system. The spirit qi that was absorbed is now part of the host's cultivation and is thus shown in the upgrade requirements as well.
——
Lin Wu thought it over and understood it.
'So cultivating on my own is like this and will result in a direct upgrade to my cultivation base, and the spirit qi that I use for the skills is the one that is directly present in my core now.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu now had two storages of spirit qi. One belonged to the system, and its max capacity was currently unknown. The second one was Lin Wu's own meridians and beast core. It had a max capacity of 12000 units of liquid qi currently, and when he reached that limit, his cultivation base would automatically upgrade.
Seeing this, Lin Wu had an idea and he wanted to try something. He used the innate skill of cellular manipulation and cellular crystallization to change the shape of his body. He then took a look at the qi storage again.
~Ding~
——
HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [00007/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
"Just as I thought it reduced. So the qi that I cultivate can be depleted when I use skills. Seems like I need to keep a close eye on how much spirit qi I have in my core myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Lin Wu looked through the list again and started going through the items that were in the ring. He had not gotten the chance to check it fully and now that he had it, he was interested. Because he was also able to read now, he was having fun.
"Interesting…" Lin Wu muttered, looking at some of the information in the scrolls and books that were present in the ring.
The four that he had obtained as data node were the important ones which were analyzed and made it able for him to read it too. Lin Wu kept on reading and improving his understanding of this world and its contents.
Just like this, a couple of days passed and Shirong woke up from his session. He opened his eyes and a troubled expression appeared on his face.
~Cough~
~Cough~
~Splat~
"That was disgusting…" Lin Wu said as he looked at the black blob that Shirong had just spat out.
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After coughing out that black blob, Shirong's complexion improved and he seemed to be breathing well as well.
"Huh, so is that the so-called 'impurities' that a cultivator expels?" Lin Wu muttered to himself, seeing that.
Shirong stood up and stretched his body before checking it.
"Hmm, my injuries should be fully healed in two more days. This was much earlier than I thought." Shirong muttered, feeling a bit happy.
He then stood up and walked to the exit of the courtyard. There he found the servant that was standing.
"Clean up the courtyard," Shirong ordered.
"Yes, Young master," The servant replied with a bowed head and waited for him to leave before lifting his head.
He then walked to the courtyard and began to do the task he was ordered, meanwhile Shirong was walking towards the courtyard of his two companions, Ye Dai and Bei Wen. He used his spirit sense to alert the two men and entered the courtyard.
This courtyard was smaller than the one that he was assigned which was obvious considering his status, but it was still quite high quality compared to most courtyards. There were servants here as well, and they guided Shirong to the place where Ye Dai and Bei Wen were resting.
"Good morning, Young Master!" Ye Dai and Bei Wen greeted.
Both of them were sitting in the main hall and were talking about something before Shirong walked in.
"Hmm," Shirong hummed in response before taking a seat.
"Seems like the young master is better than before." Bei Wen spoke.
"Yes, though it'll take me a couple of days more to recover," Shirong replied.
"How about you two?" He asked.
"We should be recovered till the end of this week, most likely." Ye Dai answered.
"That's good," Shirong nodded.
"Though young master, have you gone out in these past few days? We heard they had some success in finding more about the incident." Bei Wen spoke.
"What?" Shirong asked, feeling shocked.
He had truly not expected that they would have any progress, and now that he heard they did, he was surprised.
"Yes, while they were not able to find out what the beast exactly is, they were able to determine its origin." Bei Wen replied.
"And what did they find?" Shirong questioned with urgency.
"The fragment of the beast shell had some characteristic that matched a different world. The clans have determined that whatever the beast was, it possibly came here along with the meteor that fell. It is an… otherworldly beast." Bei Wen answered in a serious tone.
Shirong was left speechless after hearing this. While the others may not have known the problem behind it being an otherworld beast, Shirong knew the danger. He knew that there were many worlds beyond theirs and that they were planets.
Shirong had learned from his clan's records that any beast that could travel from one plant to another and survive the journey was incredibly strong. A beast like that would have to have a cultivation base that was beyond the immortal Ascension stage.
"An immortal beast…" Shirong muttered.
Bei Wen and Ye Dai were able to hear what he had said and were shocked too now.
"Wha-what… what do you mean, Young master?" Ye Dai asked, feeling apprehensive.
"You people do not know, but beasts or any cultivators for that matter cannot leave the world they were born in easily," Shirong spoke. "Even if they do leave the world, surviving in the void beyond the planet's barrier is incredibly difficult, not to mention surviving a journey to another world."
The two were now getting closer to understanding the seriousness of the situation.
"Then that means young master…" Bei Wen muttered.
"Yes, the beast is likely to be the strongest being in this world right now. I… I do not know why the other great experts of this world have not found out about this yet, but there is something missing." Shirong replied.
The three men went silent for a bit and thought over it.
"Then that spear, young master? Could it be linked to the beast?" Ye Dai questioned.
"Perhaps yes. Perhaps that was the reason why the spear took us to that fragment… it wants us to find it." Shirong hypothesized.
"But why would it do that, young master?" Bei Wen questioned.
"That I do not know. But all we can do right now is wait." Shirong replied.
~Gulp~
The two followers gulped and thought of the implications behind this. They knew that they could not let this information out or there may be great trouble. Besides, the information that the Young master Shirong had revealed seemed to be secret as well, as they had never heard of something like this before.
"Keep track of what they find and report to me every day. I want to know everything." Shirong said before standing up.
He then left the courtyard and returned to his, leaving two dumbfounded men behind.
Lin Wu had listened to all of their conversations and was getting confused by it as well. He had read the documents and books that Shirong had in the ring and knew about the truth of the world.
"Wait, a minute… if what Shirong said is true, then doesn't it mean that my mission is to hunt down a beast that is stronger than the immortal ascension realm?" Lin Wu said with shock.
He didn't know what to think of the mission now and was even wondering if he should attempt it or not.
~Sigh~
"No use overthinking, all I need to do now is get stronger." Lin Wu said to himself with determination.
And just as he did, the sound of a notification appeared.
~Ding~
——
TASK COMPLETED: System has successfully devised a method to refine spirit sense. Please take a look at the information window for detailed information.
——
Lin Wu was excited after seeing the system's notification and could not wait to check it. He opened the information window and started reading it with extreme concentration. He did not want to miss even a single bit and wanted to be fully sure of the method. After all, this was going to be one of his most basic tools in cultivation.
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"Alright! Let's see what's so special about refining the spirit sense…" Lin Wu said before engrossing himself into reading the newly devised technique.
At first, Lin Wu was quite upbeat, but as he read more and more his vibe turned serious. He didn't even realize it, and a day had passed just like that. He didn't know what it was, but the technique had created a strange attraction of some kind which he didn't expect.
It was the same as when one started reading a good mystery book, one would forget the time and keep on reading it till it was finished or if they were interrupted. But in the case of Lin Wu, there was no one to interrupt him here.
Well, there was Shirong of course, but that man was engrossed in his own cultivation and was currently healing himself. For cultivators who had been cultivating for a few years, this was nothing unusual, after all, a lot of them would spend years at a time, trying to comprehend the 'profundities of heaven and earth.'
This was Lin Wu's first time being pulled in like this. In the end, when he woke up from the trance, he couldn't tell how much time had passed.
"Huh? Wha-what?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion as he tried to make sense of his situation.
After shaking his head a few times, he was able to fully orient himself.
"What the hell was that!" Lin Wu exclaimed with shock.
He looked at how much time was passed in the host data and was shocked.
~Ding~
——
AGE: 2 years, 4 months, 5 days
LIFESPAN: 300 years
——
"How the hell did ten days pass by?" Lin Wu wondered.
Lin Wu took a look at the technique again and realized that while it was a few tens of pages long, it had a dangerous charm that entranced his mindfully. But then he went over it in his mind and felt that he now understood the technique fully.
Every small aspect and nuance that had been mentioned in the technique had been fully assimilated by him. He now knew the technique like the back of his non existent hand.
"Wait, what's up with Shirong? He didn't check on me either?" Lin Wu wondered.
He then used his connection to see the current situation outside and saw that he was still in the courtyard.
~Phew~
Lin Wu took a breath of relief seeing that Shirong was still in the same place, although it was still unknown if he had moved during this period or not.
"His clothes are different, so he should have moved at least once during this time…" Lin Wu stated.
'Thankfully, I didn't change my form during the entire time.' Lin Wu thought.
Shirong was currently sitting on his knees and had his hands in a unique position. His left hand fingers were wrapped around right hand's ring finger while the rest of them formed a seal of some kind. Lin Wu observed it for a bit and then saw him change the seal to a different one.
Just like this, he would change it every minute to a different one and along with it, his breathing pattern would change as well. It seemed incredibly complex, yet simple at the same time.
"Wait… aren't these from the Sky Shaking Immortal Art?" Lin Wu recognized.
While Lin Wu had the information about the Sky Shaking Immortal Art in the system, he didn't actually remember it completely after these few days, thus it took him a while to recognize. Besides, Lin Wu had only seen Shirong meditate all these past days and had thought that was just him cultivating and healing.
Only now did he realize that he was merely healing himself why the spirit qi he was getting was the passive spirit qi that his body automatically absorbed.
"Damn, I guess the cultivation technique really is quite powerful. Just its passive recovery is quite a lot." Lin Wu spoke feeling impressed.
Thirty minutes passed like this and Lin Wu then felt a large amount of spirit qi entering Shirong's body. The concentration was dense enough that a cloud of it could be seen covering his body. The spirit qi swirled around his body and then entered his body along with his breath and the fine pores on his skin.
Every breath would send faint tremors across his skin, which would stimulate his pores to open and close, creating a suction that pulled in the spirit qi. This was the first time Lin Wu was witnessing the working of a cultivation technique.
"System, will this help in the analysis of the cultivation techniques?" Lin Wu asked.
Feeling very interested, Lin Wu wondered if benefit can be gained from this.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The system can do a visual analysis of the cultivation techniques effect, but there is a better method to gain a deeper understanding as well.
The system can send in its own spirit qi and use it to trace the movement of the spirit qi across the meridians. While the spirit qi would be lost this way, the system would still be able to detect and recored a large amount of data.
——
Reading about the system's method made Lin Wu remember several topics from his past. He remembered how in biochemistry certain tracer elements were injected into the molecule of a compound and how the radiation from those was observed to analyze the creation and metabolization of enzymes.
In this manner complex biological systems could be studied and their secrets could be found out.
"Alright system, do it!" Lin Wu approved.
A few wisps of spirit qi were released from the system's spirit qi storage and flowed along with the connection that was formed between Shirong and Lin Wu. The spirit qi wisps were blocked for a moment in the ring but then were able to move across it reaching the real world.
Shirong also felt it, and his eyes trembled for a moment. But he didn't lose focus and continued cultivating, letting the spirit qi enter his body.
'What was that?' Shirong thought.
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Just like this the system would continue to send out spirit qi wisps at regular intervals and would record the data. This lasted for a couple of hours until Shirong continued his cultivation session.
~Huu~
Shirong let out a breath of foul qi as his body relaxed. The cloud of spirit qi dissipated, and he opened his eyes.
"Hmm, what was that? There was… something different before." Shirong said as he tried to remember the feeling.
He checked his dantian and sensed for any abnormalities. But even after a few checks, he was unsuccessful.
"Was that my imagination?" Shirong wondered.
Just as he said this, the door of the courtyard was opened. Five people walked in and Shirong instantly recognized them.
"Young master, we are ready. Everything has been set up." Ye Dai spoke.
Shirong nodded to him and looked at Bei Wen.
"My task is underway to completion as well, young master. The men are on it as we speak." Bei Wen replied.
"Good!" Shirong said with satisfaction. "And these three will be assisting us, I believe?"
"Yes, Young master. I followed the requirements that you set and these three will be the perfect candidates." Ye Dai answered.
Lin Wu was confused about what they were talking about and felt like he had missed a lot of things during these few day's perhaps. He looked at the three men and tried to remember if he had seen them anywhere, but he couldn't recognize them.
"Young master, the progress of the clans has also reached near the end. Do you believe they will interfere?" Bei Wen asked in a concerned tone.
"Hmm, that is a possibility of around fifty percent, I believe. But even if they do, we still have our scapegoats set up." Shirong assured.
Bei Wen nodded in response before speaking, "Then shall we head off?"
"Let's go," Shirong said before waving his hand over his face and creating a tiger face mask.
"What is this?" Lin Wu uttered with surprise, seeing a new technique.
Then the two followers Bei Wen and Ye Dai did the same thing, producing similar looking tiger masks on their faces. Only the three additional people that they had brought stayed the same. In fact, they seemed to be rather still.
"Are they fine?" Lin Wu questioned.
He then realized that while their expression was calm and seemed relatively normal, their aura was not. He couldn't really perceive a spirit qi fluctuation from them. At first, Lin Wu thought they were not cultivators, but then when everyone started running he saw their speed.
"They're definitely cultivators or they would have not been able to keep up with them like this." Lin Wu said with intrigue.
Young Master Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were running at great speed through the city passing from roof to roof, hidden in plain sight. It was still day time, yet it was as if no person was able to see them. Eventually, they reached a building that looked like an old temple.
Lin Wu could see the faded markings on the walls of the temple and even the guardian gods that had been painted onto the doors. But all of these things were of the past, and now only a fragment of their beauty was left.
The temple was not that big, perhaps of about a hundred square meters. Lin Wu remembered he had seen a much bigger temple back when Shirong and the two men had first come to the Deer Wood city. But that one was still functional unlike this, which seemed to be abandoned.
Shirong on the rest of the group stopped on the roof of a house that was a few tens of meters away from the temple.
"We wait here now," Shirong ordered.
The two followers nodded while the other three men simply kept on looking. Their expression had not changed one bit ever since they had started running behind them.
"Are they puppets or something?" Lin Wu wondered.
He then felt like he remembered something and went through the list of items that were present in the ring.
"Not this… not this either… Umm, here it is!" Lin Wu spoke.
Lin Wu had found a name on the list which belonged to a certain type of pills.
"Three palaces puppet pill." Lin Wu read the name of the pills.
~Ding~
——
DESCRIPTION: Three palaces puppet pills are said to control the three innate palaces of a cultivator- the mind place, the soul palace and the qi palace. Each of the palace refers to an aspect of the cultivator and once they are controlled, the consciousness of the cultivator can be fully controlled by the person who uses the complementary technique on them.
——
Looking at the condition of the three men and the effects of the pills, Lin Wu was sure as hell that they were under their effects. He then tried to find the bottle which contained the pills and could not find them.
"Hmm, there were about eight pills in them, weren't there? Then that means… there are five more of them somewhere." Lin Wu said.
'The ones that Bei Wen was referring to must have been the other five men. Seems like Shirong put them to a certain task, but what?' Lin Wu thought.
The group waited there for about an hour, during which no moment seemed to have occurred between the three controlled men. Lin Wu was focused on them, but then he heard the voice of Ye Dai calling out to Shirong.
"Young master, they are ready on the other side." Ye Dai spoke while holding a jade slip in his hand.
"Perfect, now to just wait for the priest." Shirong stated.
It didn't take them long as within five minutes Bei Wen also took out a jade slip and said the same thing to Shirong.
This time Shirong did not react and simply kept his eyes on the temple.
"This is strange, the priest should have left by now." Ye Dai said with concern.
Shirong furrowed his brows and clenched his fist.
"Let's proceed, anyway. The man has to die today."
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