Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 171 - Bald Shirong? online for free - AllNovelFull
Lin Wu could see that Shirong's physique was starting to change. He started losing body mass at a rapid pace and became thinner and thinner. The more mass he lost, the better his condition was getting according to the system.
It also seemed like the amount of vital essence in his body was increasing with the loss in his body mass. Lin Wu couldn't make heads or tails about this situation and found it to be rather strange. About ten minutes later, Shirong had become thin as a stick, having his ribs and bones show prominently.
If anyone else saw him, they would think he had been starving for many days, but according to what Lin Wu could sense, his body was rich in vital essence and was packed with it.
~Ding~
——
SUBJECT VITALS STABILIZED: Parameters re-calibrated
DATA BANKS: Updated
——
"So it's finally complete, but what did he exactly do? He increased his body tempering realm cultivation and reached the peak. But what is this?" Lin Wu questioned as he looked at Shirong's body.
Lin Wu observed his internal condition with his spirit sense and found it to be better than before.
'Huh? Did his dantian just increase in size?' Lin Wu wondered as he thought he was mistaken.
But when he compared it with the previous record in the system, it was indeed bigger than before, about 30% bigger. It was now that Lin Wu understood another benefit of the technique that Shirong had used. Not only did it push his body tempering realm cultivation to the peak, but it also expanded his dantian.
The benefit of a bigger dantian was quite obvious as the bigger the dantian, the more the spirit qi a cultivator would be able to store. This would make a cultivator that was in the same realm stronger than another cultivator just by the virtue of spirit qi capacity.
'Wait, wouldn't it become a bit more difficult for him to reach the nascent soul realm now?' Lin Wu wondered.
What Shirong had just done was comparable to raising the basic stat cap on a game character, even when levels were limited. Lin Wu checked his spirit core's capacity and the dantian size and realized that it was indeed true.
"Hmm, now he will need to get more spirit qi. Though he isn't that far from it either, after all, I did give him a massive amount of spirit qi." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Estimating the amount that was needed for him to break through again, Lin Wu thought that a handful of core condensation realm beasts must be enough.
~twitch~
Shirong who had been still for the most part finally moved, as his eyelids moved. His body was completely hairless, and he was thin as a stick. He would look strange as an alien if he walked back into the town. No longer did he had the handsome and charming looks of a young master.
Sharon's eyes snapped open as a Strong aura was emanated from him.
"HAHAHA! I SUCCEEDED! After five hundred years, I am the first!" Shirong shouted in joy.
He looked at his hands and body, finding it to be incredibly bony. He then touched his face and head, finding himself to be bald.
"The side effects were much stronger than it was recorded… Hmm, it shouldn't matter though they are temporary. I just need to cultivate a bit more and I should be back to normal." Shirong muttered to himself.
He looked around him and saw the remnants of the impurities that had been expelled by his body. The skin that had been shed was still there and so was the black tar like glob that was half absorbed by the ground. A foul smell was coming from both of the items, and Shirong felt like he really needed to take a bath.
"Ugh, better get away from here first…" Shirong said to himself before standing up.
He extended his hand to the Immortal Crystal Armament that was pierced into the ground beside him and grasped it before pulling it out effortlessly.
"Oh? My physical strength increased by quite a bit…" Shirong said with surprise.
He had not used any spirit qi to strengthen his muscles, and yet he was able to pick up the spear rather easily. Even Lin Wu was surprised by this as he had not expected something like this to happen.
"Hmm… looks like in need to really get this technique that Shirong used, it seems quite powerful." Lin Wu decided.
"System, what's the progress on the new technique that Shirong used?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The system has recorded all the qi circuits and methods used in the technique and has estimated a compatibility of 60% with the host. Further analysis of the technique along with modifications to suit the Host's physique will make the technique 100% compatible with the host.
——
"Alright, continue the analysis and tell me when it is done." Lin Wu replied.
Shirong took out the spirit sword and jumped on it before flying towards a small pond that he had seen before. It was already close to evening and the sun would be setting any minute now. He wanted to be done before that and then find a place to rest as well.
"I wonder by how much my aptitude rose…" Shirong muttered to himself.
About five minutes of flying later, he reached a small pond, and drinking from it were a couple of spirit beasts. Shirong approached them and they noticed him too. Both of them were at the peak stage of the qi refining realm and were scared, ready to escape.
But before they could do so,
~Shing~
The spear extended like a whip and slashed the two beasts in half, like a knife through butter. He then stabbed the spear into the corpses before absorbing the spirit qi from them.
"Hmm… the absorption speed has indeed increased. By about… ten percent I guess." Shirong analyzed.
He then took a bath quickly before taking out a set of clothes from the spatial storage bracelet and leaving the area.
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Shirong was currently resting in one of the caves nearby and was cultivating calmly. He had gained a lot of benefits today and his physique had gone massive changes. He needed to learn more about it and thus was focused on it.
Formations had already been set up around the cave so as to prevent the beasts from coming near them. Though tonight the beasts were acting rather strangely. Unlike before no growls or roars of the beasts could be heard and it was as if they had all gone silent for some reason.
Lin Wu was intrigued by this too and decided to contact his two servant beasts. He activated the communication function from the beast servant section and the connection was made.
"Master? I was just about to contact you to report about my findings." The mole beast said.
"Oh? Okay, go ahead." Lin Wu replied wanting to know his side first.
"The Twin Light Liger King is angry because someone slaughtered a lot of his subordinates. They think that it was caused by another ruler of the forest but the area that they were killed in has become too dangerous to go.
As for the Olive viper king, he is still resting and recovering in his nest. Also around half of the territories of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle have already been occupied by the other rulers." The mole beast spoke.
"Ah, I see… I wanted to ask why is the forest so quiet tonight? Did the rulers do something?" Lin Wu questioned.
"It is not the rulers but rather the humans, master." The mole beast replied.
"Humans? There are humans this deep in the forest?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Yes, a group of human cultivators was found roaming around in the fifth ring. The rulers don't want them interfering in their battle for territory and thus issued orders to hunt and kill those humans. Some think that they were also the ones that killed the subordinates of the Twin Light Liger king." The mole beast answered.
Hearing that there were humans in the fifth ring made Lin Wu feel intrigued. He wondered which part they came from as according to what he knew; he was currently at the border of several kingdoms. They could have come from any of the five kingdoms.
"Alright, that will be all for now." Lin Wu said before dismissing the mole beast.
Next, he contacted the beetle beast wanting to hear what happened from here. Since she was the subordinate of one of the rulers of the forest, Lin Wu reckoned that she must know a bit more than the mole beast.
"Greetings master," The beetle beast said but her voice sounded rather tired.
"Hmm, you don't seem to be well?" Lin Wu asked.
"Yes master, we had to fight a group of humans that we discovered near the territory today. Oh? So they came to the split thorn horn beetle king's territory." Lin Wu said.
"You know about the humans master?" The beetle beast asked.
"Yes, the mole beast just told me a minute ago." Lin Wu replied.
"Ah, I see. The humans were apparently doing something to the weaker beasts, and we drove them away when we found that out." The beetle beast informed.
"Oh, what were they doing? And how many of them were there?" Lin Wu questioned.
"There were about five of them and they were spreading some kind of a powder among the herds of some beasts. We thought that it was poison, so we fought them, but the powder turned out to be a beast inciting powder." The beetle beast answered.
This was the first time Lin Wu had heard about something called Beast inciting powder and wondered what it was.
"System, do you have information on beast inciting powder?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The beast inciting powder is an alchemical product made from chiefly: fuming fungus, three petals fiery lily and mind numbing root. There are multiple variants of this substance, and different plants and herbs can be used to substitute it as well.
The beast inciting powder is an illegal alchemical powder in the entire Long Continent and is prohibited in any form of use. The powder acts on the beast's instincts and provokes them into fighting. The beasts lose all sense of reason and fear, only attacking and consuming the creatures they deem to be a prey.
Beast inciting powder can be used to enrage the beasts into causing a beast wave. There have been historical records about certain powers using the beast inciting powder to attack other powers. If anyone is found to have used beast inciting powder, their punishment is death.
——
Lin Wu instantly understood what must have happened before.
'The Hard eared Limber mice, they were acting under the effects of the beast inciting powder, huh? Looks like I need to check these humans and see what they are exactly doing here. If that army of Hard eared Limber mice left the forest, they would have definitely massacred a lot of people.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"What happened to the beasts on which the beast inciting powder was used?" Lin Wu questioned.
"We were lucky that we noticed it quickly. We killed the beasts that were affected by it and wanted to kill the humans too, but they were strong and thus escaped." The beetle beast answered.
"Alright, inform me when you see those humans again, or if any news about them is heard." Lin Wu ordered.
"As you command, master." The beetle beast said before Lin Wu closed the communication link.
'Hmm… seems like certain schemes are underway. Though the question is who is scheming against whom?' Lin Wu wondered to himself.
He looked at Shirong, who was fully engrossed in cultivation and thought that this would be the right time to leave. Lin Wu asked the system to create a virtual interface for the formations and also an alarm if Shirong woke up, before leaving the cave.
"Let's finish up what we started before…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
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Lin Wu was traveling to the area where they had killed all of the Hard Eared Limber Mice. Even if he had gotten the spirit qi from them, there was still around 30% vital energy that he could gain from eating them. He didn't want to miss out on such a large amount and thus rushed there, anxious that some other beasts may eat it before him.
"No, wait… if they come… I'll just eat them too, why the heck am I even bothered?" Lin Wu questioned his own thinking before speeding up.
About ten minutes later Lin Wu reached the area and as he had expected, there was a group of beasts taking advantage of the free buffet. Lin Wu could even hear what they were talking about.
"Why are all these beasts dried out like this?" One of the beasts that looked like a over sized sparrow spoke.
It was pecking into the dead Hard Eared Limber Mice and seemed to be finding it difficult to eat it.
"What kind of beasts are even these? Do you know?" Another beast that looked like a swan questioned.
"I think these are called the Hard Eared Limber Mice. But they don't come this far deep into the forest, and never in such a large group." Another beast that looked like a large robin answered.
'Huh? Bird beasts hunting at night time? That's unusual… or it's normal, logic doesn't apply the same way to the beasts in this world as it did to animals in my previous one…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Shirong had hunted and Lin Wu had consumed a few bird beasts before while coming here and knew that their territories were Rather different. As such that they usually stayed at the top of the forest canopy. Shirong only encountered them when he flew too high and they attacked him.
Lin Wu sensed their cultivation bases and found them to be at the early stage of the core condensation realm. These three were the strongest bird beasts he had seen till now, with the exception of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle.
"Could they be former subordinates of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.
"Say, should we report this to the Olive Viper King?" The sparrow beast asked while taking another bite.
"Are you stupid? Why should we tell him when we can enjoy all this on our own?" The swan beast scolded.
"Won't it be just even worse for us if he finds out we didn't tell him? I mean, with the number of corpses here, I doubt we can finish them all on our own before the other beasts discover this." The sparrow beast replied.
"Till the conflict is going on, the chances of other beasts coming in this direction is unlikely. Even we only detected them because of passing over here. We're lucky the olive viper king assigned up this territory." The Robin beast explained.
Hearing the three bird beasts' words, Lin Wu understood that they were perhaps the new subordinates of the Olive Viper King.
'Hmm… perhaps I can gain more information about the situation in the forest from them; something that the beetle beast and the mole beast didn't know.' Lin Wu thought.
He was now deliberating on whether he should take in one of them as a servant. He had plenty of spirit qi to spare and thought that perhaps a flying beast would have an easier time spying. Having made up his mind, Lin Wu decided to make his presence known.
~Rumble~
"Huh? What's that!?" The sparrow beast questioned with surprise.
~Boom~
"KRREEEEEEEE!!!!!"
The ground split open as Lin Wu appeared from within in his full glory. His crimson eyes shining upon the three beasts and his massive Crystal body gleaming under the moonlight. His aura was on full display and the three bird beasts shuddered.
The robin beast directly collapsed to the ground because of the bloodline suppression, while the swan beast was able to bear it for a little while more before collapsing as well. Only the sparrow beast lasted longer than them but even it had to kneel down.
"Se-Se-Senior! Pele-please spare us! We didn't intend to hide it from the olive viper king! Please don't report to him." The sparrow beast hurriedly said.
'Oh, so they think I'm part of his subordinates too… looks like they are rather low level members and thus don't know who the others are…' Lin Wu understood.
~Shing~
~Slick~
A sharp spike protruded on Lin Wu's tail and he stabbed that into the Robin beast, killing it instantly. He then brought it to his mouth and opened it wide, displaying the hundreds of sharp grinder like teeth to the two remaining beasts.
~Crunch~
~Crush~
His mouth ate the entire robin beast at once, as the spike like teeth turned around like a grinder, turning the robin beast into minced meat. A few seconds later, Lin Wu swallowed it and gazed deeply at the two remaining bird beast.
"Now then… who wants to be next?" He questioned, his voice terrifying the two beasts to their very soul.
"Mercy! Mercy Senior!" both the beasts pleaded.
"Oh? You ask for mercy? But can you afford it?" Lin Wu questioned in a malevolent tone.
The brains of the two beasts ran at a quick speed, trying to think of reasons to convince the monster in front of them. Lin Wu generously gave them two minutes to think, while he started to eat the corpses of the Hard eared limber mice.
And just as he had expected, plenty of vital energy was still left in the corpses even now. Though he could tell that the amount had reduced by a few percent more, probably due to the time they had been left out like this.
In two minutes, he had consumed about ten percent of all the corpses while the two bird beasts simply watched on with terror, unable to move a single muscle.
"Now then… have you decided?"
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The two beasts were trembling with fear and couldn't come to a valid decision. They didn't know what they could give the beast in front of them so that they may have mercy on them and leave them alive.
"Tic-tok, the time is running out…" Lin Wu said and raised his tail up in the air, ready to attack them.
"I-I can give you the location of a spirit herb!" The Swan beast shouted.
"And what about you?" Lin Wu questioned.
"I… the tomb! I know the location of a tomb that exists on the border of the fifth and sixth ring!" The Sparrow beast suddenly spoke.
Lin Wu hadn't expected such an answer from the sparrow beast. He would have never guessed that an answer like that of the swan beast was possible, as that was one of the few things that a beast could offer to him. Beasts did not keep material assets like money and at most had some resources hidden away.
They did not desire gold or gems like humans… at least not all of them, and thus if one wanted to bargain with them, resources such as spirit herbs and spirit stones would be a viable option. Lin Wu didn't know what kind of spirit herb the swan beast was intending to give him, but he reckoned that it would be fine to check out.
'If it's something mediocre, I can just eat the swan beast too… I only need one beast to act as a spy for me, anyway.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He then thought of the tomb that the sparrow beast was talking about.
"What tomb are you talking about?" Lin Wu questioned the sparrow beast.
"There is a tomb that has existed for a few hundred years at the border of the sixth ring." The sparrow beast answered.
"Oh? It has existed for so long? Then other beasts must know about it as well, shouldn't they? Why do I need to spare you for what is likely to be common knowledge?" Lin Wu said before looking towards the swan beast. "Tell me, do you know what tomb he is talking about?" He questioned.
The sparrow beast looked at the swan beast with pleading eyes, as if asking him to deny it.
"I-I… I know about it… most of the beasts know about the tomb but they don't go near it due to it being dangerous." The swan beast answered honestly.
~shing~
"See, he knows it too. Then there's no value left in your words…" Lin Wu said and was about to stab the sparrow beast with the spike when it shouted again.
"I KNOW THE SAFE PATH TO ENTER IT!" The sparrow beast said hurriedly just as the spike was an inch away from its body.
~Shing~
Lin Wu withdrew the spike on his tail and looked deep into the sparrow beast's eyes.
"Explain…" He ordered.
"The tomb has a restrictive area around it and if any beast gets near it, they die. A lot of beasts have tried to enter it before but all of them failed, even the past rulers of the forest tried to enter it but they suffered grave injuries. The tomb is the second forbidden area of the forest beside the Dark Bloom caverns." The sparrow beast explained.
Lin Wu raised his eyes as if doubting the authenticity of the beast's words, but then decided to give him a chance. If it really was something useful, he reckoned that he would not be losing out on it.
"Who does the tomb belong to?" Lin Wu questioned.
"I do not know… no one knows, it has existed there since before I was born. Maybe… the rulers know. The Twin Light Liger king must know as he's been alive the longest." The sparrow beast answered while trembling.
Lin Wu deliberated on his words and found it worthy to give it a try.
'I should probably have a talk with one of the rulers… the twin light Liger king is likely to attack me, and so will the olive viper king. That leaves the split thorn horn beetle King and the Slim Arm Ape. Hmm… if I go with Shirong perhaps it may be possible to have a conversation with the Slim Arm Ape king.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu then checked the time and saw that it had been about thirty minutes since he had left the cave where Shirong was. He also checked the condition of Shirong and found him to be the same and was focused on his own cultivation.
From the system's observation, Shirong's body was slowly gaining back its muscle mass.
'So it really was the side effect of the cultivation technique that he used… as strange effect but at least it is not permanent.' Lin Wu analyzed.
He then looked at the two bird beasts who shuddered again. Lin Wu withdrew the oppressive aura his body was exuding and let the two beasts relax a bit.
"Th-thank you, Senior!" The swan beast said with gratitude.
"Senior is benevolent, this junior thanks you," The sparrow beast said with an extremely respectful tone.
It was obvious the latter was terrified the most of Lin Wu.
"Between the spirit herb and the Tomb, which one is closer?" Lin Wu questioned.
The sparrow beast looked at his companion with a questioning gaze as well. He had not expected that the swan beast would have something like this hidden away without anyone knowing. Usually, a spirit beast was quite difficult to hide, as their scent would attract the other beasts and if it had a Strong enough spirit qi, even stronger spirit beasts like Nascent soul realm beasts may be attracted.
"The location of the spirit herb is closer, Senior. It will take us thirty minutes to fly there but… I don't know how long it will take you." The swan beast answered.
"Don't worry about that, I'll follow you from below. Also, what kind of spirit herb is that?" Lin Wu questioned.
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The swan beast looked at Lin Wu before speaking.
"It's a spirit herb called as the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum." The swan beast revealed.
~Gulp~
The sparrow beast seemed shocked by this and shuddered.
"You… you know the location of an eight sigils chrysanthemum? How? How did you even find one? There hasn't been one seen for hundreds of years." The sparrow beast said.
Lin Wu could now tell that the spirit herb in question was something that was perhaps very rare.
"System, do you have information on this spirit herb?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
TARGET: Eight Sigils chrysanthemum
INFO: Extremely rare spirit herb with potent powers. One of the ingredients for the Twilight Ascension pill.
——
Seeing the limited amount of information that the system, had Lin Wu knew that the herb was gonna be useful. But seeing that it was used for making an alchemical pill, Lin Wu also wondered what it did.
"System, what is the Twilight Ascension pill?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
TARGET: Twilight Ascension pill
INFO: Unknown.
——
"Huh, so it only has information on the Eight Sigils chrysanthemum and nothing on the pill itself. Looks like the pill was only mentioned in the description of the herb but was not actually recorded in the data banks." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He looked at the swan beast and spoke, "before we leave, I need to do something."
Lin Wu placed the tip of his tail on the head of the Swan beast, which made it shudder in fear.
"Senior! What are you…" The Swan beast said with shock.
"I'm not killing you, just taking precaution. Now… don't resist." Lin Wu ordered.
"System, scan the beast and begin the process for servant imprint." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: One target selected
SCAN COMPLETE: Target identified.
TARGET: Hook Winged Swan
CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the Core condensation realm
SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 15 meters
INFO: The Hook Winged Swan is a native beast of the millennium forest and is one of the beasts that live on the forest canopy. They can be found commonly in the fourth to fifth ring. They mainly consume insect beasts that live in the trees and other beasts that fly by. The strongest recorded Hook Winged Swan was at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm.
INITIATING SERVANT IMPRINT: Please wait patiently
——
Lin Wu's spirit sense penetrated the body of the Hook winged swan and reached its brain, creating the first imprint and then its core which was located in its chest near its heart. He placed the final imprint on it too and then inserted the rhombus gem into its head.
The rhombus gem was hidden by its feathers and thus could not be seen easily. Lin Wu added all the same features that he had done for the beetle and mole beast, but this time the process was much faster as he already knew how to do it.
~ding~
——
SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 7000 Units (liquid spirit qi)
SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,148,805 units [liquid spirit qi]
——
With the large amount of spirit qi that Lin Wu had, he didn't mind using it for this. At first, he had only thought of making one of the bird beasts as his servant but he reckoned that he may as well get both of them. The two of them were the subordinates of the Olive viper king and the former subordinates of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle, so he thought that he must be able to obtain some benefits from them at least.
The sparrow beast sensed the change in the aura of the Swan beast and knew what had happened.
"Senior, you… made him your subordinate?" The Sparrow beast questioned feeling extremely shocked.
"Yeah, you have a problem?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Bu-but how? We already have the imprints of the Olive Viper King on us?" The sparrow beast questioned.
"Huh?" Lin Wu said feeling a bit confused.
When he had made the imprints there was nothing that he had sensed on their core or anywhere in their bodies.
"System, was there another imprint on them?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The foreign Imprint was weak and thus removed by the system.
——
Lin Wu had not expected that the imprint of another beast would be removed so easily. But then he focused on the word 'weak'.
'Of course! The Olive viper king has too many subordinates, and he can't make a strong imprint for everyone. With the system's capabilities, it shouldn't be that hard to remove them. Plus the ones that I am making are highly encrypted and any wrong step will pretty much cause the beasts to explode.' Lin Wu realized.
He looked at the Sparrow beast and answered, "I just removed the imprint of the Olive Viper King."
"What! That easily? The sparrow beast said with shock.
'What kind of a beast is he to remove the imprint of one of the five rulers of the forest like that. Not to mention his cultivation base is much lower than the Olive Viper king too…' The sparrow beast thought.
"Now then… it's your turn." Lin Wu stated and extended his tail to touch the head of the sparrow beast.
The sparrow beast knew better than to protest and thus just stood and let Lin Wu do it.
"System, scan and make the imprint for this beast too." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: One target selected
SCAN COMPLETE: Target identified.
TARGET: High Wind Gale Sparrow
CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the Core condensation realm
SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 30 meters
INFO: The High Wind Gale Sparrow is a beast that is found in many places in the continent including the millennium forest and is one of the beasts that live on the forest canopy. They can be found commonly in the fourth to fifth ring. The strongest recorded High Wind Gale Sparrow was at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
INITIATING SERVANT IMPRINT: Please wait patiently
——
Lin Wu's eyes went wide as he read the part about the High Wind Gale Sparrow's potential.
"Oh my! Seems like I found an interesting beast…"
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Lin Wu had not expected that a random beast he chose would have the potential to become an Adult Stage Nascent soul realm beast. But from their common occurrence, Lin Wu reckoned that reaching the Nascent Soul realm would be quite difficult for the beast.
After all, it only showed its potential, reaching that level was up to the efforts of the beast itself.
Lin Wu continued on and finished setting up the imprints on the High Wind Gale Sparrow. Finally, the rhombus gem was inserted into its head as well, completing the process.
~Ding~
——
SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 7000 Units (liquid spirit qi)
SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,141,805 units [liquid spirit qi]
SERVANT BEAST SECTION: Updated
——
Lin Wu nodded his head upon seeing that it was complete and checked the Servant beast section in the host data, just to ensure that everything was working fine.
"Wait for a bit. I'll finish up my meal…" Lin Wu said before retraining to eat the rest of the Hard Eared Limber Mice Corpses.
Lin Wu moved and opened his mouth wider than before, quickly consuming the corpses. His spike like teeth moved in a spiral and instantly minced the corpses before being swallowed. Within ten minutes, Lin Wu had finished eating them all and now the area looked much cleaner.
Though the traces of the battle could still be seen and anyone would be able to tell that a great massacre had happened here. The scent of blood was still in the air as well and would take quite a while to dissipate completely.
~Ding~
——
VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 12,106,934 units- 1,210,693 units Vital Essence
VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 4,960,187 Units
——
'That was definitely worth it…' Lin Wu thought after seeing the vital essence.
The two newly acquired servant beasts were simply watched as their master consumed ungodly amounts of food all at once. They were beasts and could eat a lot, but this was simply on a different level. The two beasts knew that even the strongest beast in the forest, the Twin Light Liger King could not eat so much food at once.
It would take him at least a week to finish all this food, and even then it would have to be constantly eating and digesting it. They now understood that their new master was no normal beast and could not be gaged by their understanding.
"Alright, now that this is done, take me to the eight sigils chrysanthemum." Lin Wu ordered.
"Yes, master. Please follow me." The swan beast replied in a respectful manner.
The effect of the servant imprint was instantaneous, and it didn't take it long for the beast to address Lin Mu as such either.
~flap~
~shua~
The Swan beast flew up and so did the sparrow beast behind it. Lin Wu dug back into the ground and entered his Drill mode to move as fast as possible. He activated the navigation and set the target as the swan beast. Now all he had to do was to follow the directions of the navigation HUD and he'll be able to reach the target location.
Even with his increased speed, Lin Wu was slightly slower than the Swan and sparrow beast. In fact, the sparrow beast was even faster than the swan beast, but because it was following the swan beast, it had kept its pace slow.
Just like the swan beast had said, it had taken them around thirty minutes to reach the location of the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum.
Upon reaching it, Lin Wu realized why any other beasts had not found it yet. The eight sigils chrysanthemum was growing inside the hollow of a dead tree. The dead tree was thick and the space in its hollow was about three meters wide.
Entering it was also impossible for other beasts as the only opening was from the very top, which was also quite narrow being less than 30 centimeters wide.
"Here it is master, the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum grows inside this dead Iron Bark Wood tree." The Swan beast said.
~Clink~
Lin Wu tapped the Iron bark wood tree and heard the metallic sound from it. The bark of the tree did seem like iron, just like its name said.
"System, scan this Iron Bark Wood Tree." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
TAGGER: Iron Bark Wood Tree
INFO: The Iron Bark Wood Tree is valued for its tough iron like bark and is used for the production of spirit tools. The wood is highly resistant to breaking, burning, and cutting. The tree is also valued due to the convenience it offers because of its life cycle.
When the Iron Bark Wood Tree reaches maturity, it spreads its seeds which look like iron needles. These needles latch onto the fur and feathers of beasts who then spread them to different locations. After it has successfully spread its seeds, the tree starts dying.
Its dying process is also rather unique, such that it dies from the inside first and leaves behind a hollow trunk. This hollow is often used by various types of beasts as a nest or shelter. Cultivators chop down these hollow tress to use in production of weapons and armor.
——
'Looks like something that can come in handy…' Lin Wu thought.
"Master, how will you take the Eight sigils chrysanthemum now? The Iron Bark Wood Tree is hard to break and only a Nascent soul realm beast is usually able to break it." The Sparrow beast asked.
"Oh, it's easy…" Lin Wu said and touched the bark with his tail.
"Store the Iron Bark Wood Tree in the storage system." Lin Wu ordered.
~Shua~
Suddenly in the Iron Bark Wood Tree disappeared into thin air and the two servant beasts were left wide eyed.
As soon as the Iron Bark Wood Tree disappeared though, the Eight sigils Chrysanthemum was revealed. The Spirit herb was actually a flower that had eight orange petals, on each of which a sigil was printed.
"Whoa!"
The two bird beasts could only wonder what miracle Lin Wu had done to make the tree disappear like that. They knew about spatial storage treasures but did not think that a beast may have one. Looking at Lin Wu, they were sure that he did not have any spatial storage treasure on his body.
Plus, most of the spatial storage treasures were made for humans and not beasts. Just their forms would make it difficult for most beasts to carry them around. Though there were a few beasts that obtained spatial storage treasures and used them as trophies.
But their surprise was increased to utter shock when they finally saw the Eight sigils chrysanthemum. Even Lin Wu couldn't take his eyes off it and felt attracted to the flower.
~WARNING~
——
Alarm!: Mental interference detected
DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS: Activated
——
A calming feeling spread throughout Lin Wu's body and he felt normal.
"What the hell was that!" Lin Wu said, after the feeling of calmness faded away.
A tinge of anxiousness appeared in his eyes as he got apprehensive of the flower in front of him.
"System, scan this thing…" Lin Wu ordered, his voice a bit stern.
In the days that he had spent here, Lin Wu had kind of forgotten that this was a cultivator world and danger lurked in every corner. He had been leaning towards carelessness but this had given him a wake-up call again.
The Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum had eight petals Nada each petal had a sigil on it. From these petals, streams of spirit qi were being released. They would leave one petal and enter the next after spreading a bit. This way they bounced eight times before returning to the first petal.
A unique pattern was thus formed that had a mesmerizing property.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected
TARGET IDENTIFIED: Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum
INFO: The Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum contains potent spirit qi equivalent to that of, 2,000,000 units of liquid spirit qi. But this is not pure spirit qi and is rather in the form of medicinal property. The patterns on it can create a mental interference field that can stun and attract creatures.
SUGGESTION: Store it in the inventory and the system can perform a more detailed analysis on it, while decoding its properties.
——
Lin Wu had not expected that such a small thing would contain such a large amount of spirit qi. It was almost the same amount that he had with him, but that was obtained from eating a lot of spirit beasts. Still, Lin Wu did not feel greedy for the flower and did not want to eat it.
He knew that there must be more to it and if it was used for an alchemical pill, then using it straightaway like this would be a waste.
Lin Wu thus extended his tail to the flower and gently touched it. A chill spread through his body and he heard a scream in his mind. It was as if multiple ghosts were screaming in agony. A moment later, it changed and now he heard the voice of beasts crying. It then changed again, but this time it was men and women crying. This repeated for about eight times, each time the being that was making the noise changed.
The sound stopped quickly and not even a second had passed but Lin Wu felt as if it had been an hour.
'Truly terrifying…' Lin Wu thought.
"Store it in the inventory, system." Lin Wu ordered.
~shua~
Then in the blink of an eye, the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum disappeared into thin air just like the tree before. The two servant beasts saw it with wonder again, but this time they did not seem as surprised, already getting used to the abilities of their new master.
~Phew~
"Alright! Now that this is done, take me to the tomb that you were talking about." Lin Wu spoke.
"As you wish, master. But this is going to be a bit dangerous. We are going to pass through the territory of three of the rulers of the forest. The tomb lies at the intersection of these territories." The sparrow beast said.
"How far is it from here? And why is it at such a location?" Lin Wu curiously asked.
"It will take us about an hour to reach there, if we take the more safer path. As for its location, it is because of the danger that it has. The rulers don't dare get close to it and thus the tomb is the only area that is free of the influence of any ruler." The sparrow beast explained.
"Oh, I see. Well then, let's go further." Lin Wu replied.
The sparrow beast nodded and flew up in the air with the swan beast following it. The speed of the sparrow beast was actually much faster than the swan beast, and it had lagged behind a bit. But Lin Wu was even farther compared to both of them.
'Hmm… flying really is the faster way to travel… Cultivators can fly in the Nascent soul realm, right? I should be able to as well…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
The path that the sparrow beast was taking seemed to be rather winded and twisted. They went in many curves and circles which didn't make much sense to Lin Wu. But that was until he checked the map and saw the beasts in the surroundings.
"Oh, so it is avoiding all the areas that have a higher amount of beasts…" Lin Wu realized.
Their journey didn't go smooth though, as after twenty minutes they were discovered by a group of beasts.
"Where do you think you two are going? Passing through the territory of the Split Thorn Horn beetle king without permission? Humph, impudent." The cricket like insect beast that had stopped them spoke.
There were many more insect beasts accompanying it, and they ranged from core condensation realm to the peak stage of the qi refining realm.
"Oh? So they belong to the Split Thorn Horn beetle king… looks like I need to have a talk…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
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"Don't you dare stop us here little cricket! Do you not remember what happened the last time you tried this?" The sparrow beast threatened.
"Oh? You haven't lost your arrogance it seems, even though your king has abandoned you all. Hahaha!" The cricket beast ridiculed.
The other beasts laughed in accompaniment and seemed to enjoy it a lot too.
"Trust me, you do not want to mess with our master." The swan beast warned in a stern voice.
"And what can he do? What master do you even have, huh? The Olive viper king? He hasn't even left his territory after he injured himself, and why would he bother with you two lowly beasts?" The cricket beast replied.
While this conversation was happening, Lin Wu was having a different one with someone else.
He had used his communication link with the Beetle beast and was talking to her.
"So… I've met an obstacle here. Some insect beasts are blocking my path and say that they are the Beetle king's subordinates." Lin Wu spoke.
"Umm… I don't know them, you can deal with them as you see fit. Ancestor wouldn't pay attention to it either, there are far too many beasts dying these days due to the conflict over the new territories and thus they will just be more numbers to that." The beetle beast said, straightforwardly.
"Alright…" Lin Wu said before cutting the link.
The insect beasts and the two bird beasts were still having a verbal exchange which seemed rather strange to Lin Wu. He had expected for them to have broken into a battle right from the start. After all, they had numbers on their side.
But it had not happened yet.
'Hmm… perhaps they have some reason for it…' Lin Wu thought but did not act right away.
He looked at the map to check if there was anything around and discovered something.
"Bingo! So that's why they are not fighting…" Lin Wu muttered to himself after seeing a few different kinds of markers on the map.
These markers were much smaller than that of the beasts and Lin Wu had a small guess what they were.
"System, scan and tell me what these exactly are…" Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Multiple targets detected
TARGETS IDENTIFIED: Insect beast eggs found (multiple types)
——
'So they want to avoid fighting or it may turn bad and the eggs may get damaged.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He observed the insect beasts in front of him and decided to use the same carrot and stick method he had used before. Except the stick will come first…
~Rumble~
~Thwa~
The ground ripped open and Lin Wu appeared out of it.
"KREEEEE!!!" he let out a loud screech.
Lin Wu's aura spread in the area, his bloodline suppressions in full force.
"Wh-who… who are you?" The cricket beast said with difficulty.
The other insect beasts had already collapsed on the ground, unable to move. Lin Wu himself could be considered an insect type of a beast and thus his bloodline suppression was very effective on the other insect beasts.
They instinctively felt obliged to prostrate to him in submission.
"He is our master…" The sparrow beast said smugly.
"Your… master?" The cricket beast muttered.
'When did an insect beast of this caliber appear in the forest? This bloodline… it is even stronger than the kings…' The cricket beast thought with shock.
"So… will you let us pass now?" the Swan beast questioned while Lin Wu glared at the insect beasts.
"Su-sure… please go ahead senior. Oh, and… the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King would be happy to meet with you, if you so please senior." The cricket beast replied.
"Hmm… I'll think of it." Lin Wu replied.
The sparrow beast took to the skies again, and the swan beast did as well. Lin Wu gave the insect beasts one last look before speaking in a low voice.
"You need to work on better conduct. If you are going to protect eggs, don't provoke the fights in the first place…"
"Yes, Senior. Thanks for your guidance." The cricket beast said hurriedly.
~Kraw~
~Rumble~
Lin Wu entered the ground again and followed behind the sparrow beast. He didn't know why he had chosen to spare the insect beasts, but he just attributed it to the innate humanity he had left with him. Except this time because of him becoming a worm, it was directed against other insects instead of humans.
If it had just been the beasts provoking them out of nothing, Lin Wu would have eaten them without a blink. They were no challenge to him, anyway.
The rest of the journey went relatively smoothly, but they still had some bumps. A few beasts attacked them, and the two bird beasts were able to take care of them. But about thirty minutes later, when they were very close to the tomb, they were stopped by a Peak stage core condensation realm beast.
Lin Wu was annoyed at this point and did not even give the two beasts a chance to flap, before he devoured the beast whole.
The scene of Lin Wu eating the beast had stuck newfound fear in the hearts of the two bird beasts, but it was also accompanied by respect. Beasts innately respected and feared power, this was what Lin Wu had displayed from the start.
After that, they soon reached the area where the tomb was located. Lin Wu noticed the demarcation of the area as the vegetation here was very scarce. It seemed as if any plants that grew here either died or mutated to become extremely hardy.
Lin Wu also saw the skeletons of a lot of beasts lying around the borders of the tomb and a strange scent was also spread in the air. The spirit qi in the area was also in a disarray, and it made it uncomfortable for one to stay there for longer periods of time.
The sparrow beast landed a short distance from the border and spoke, "here we are…"
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Lin Wu could feel the area seemed inhospitable to most and looked around. Even on the map, the area had a very clear demarcation.
"System scan this area again? Why is it missing the inner area?" Lin Wu ordered.
~DING~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Scanning…
ERROR!: Interference detected
SCAN FAILED: Higher level interference field detected
——
"Huh? What?" Lin Wu said to himself in a stunned voice.
He had not expected that something like this would really happen. The system had been successful in every scan that it had done and was able to scan even nascent soul realm cultivators. It was able to go past the limits of formation arrays and even manipulate them by making virtual interfaces.
"System, is there a solution to it?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling lost.
He didn't know if he should proceed further or not now. If this tomb could block the Scan of the system and it was well known for killing creatures, then it was a clear warning sign.
~ding~
——
ANSWER: The system can perform a scan if the border of the area is crossed. Only the border is blocking the system's scan, it is still permissible for the living creatures to cross it.
——
'Ah, I see. So the sparrow beast's method to go in should help here…' Lin Wu thought.
He looked at the sparrow beast and saw the fear in its eyes.
"Well, what is the method to get in there?" Lin Wu questioned.
The sparrow beast seemed a bit hesitant in answering but under the persistent gaze of Lin Wu, it had no choice but to.
"Umm… you have to fly over it and then there is an opening there. It is small though, I got in there by accident when I was younger and smaller." The sparrow beast answered.
Lin Wu felt like slamming his head on the wall upon hearing its words. The system told him that they could cross the border, but looking at the dead beasts' skeletons it was obvious to be a choice. Flying over it would be impossible for Lin Wu right now, and there did not seem to be another way.
The tomb itself was like a hill and was grey in color. It was quite tall and the trees only reached a quarter of its height even after being nearly a hundred meters tall. Lin Wu knew that getting up would not be possible, even if he climbed the trees.
"Wait Nascent soul realm! Should I… just upgrade to it?" Lin Wu wondered.
But he quickly decided against it. He did not know what kind of effects it would have, not to mention the heavenly tribulation that would descend as well. Even with the system, Lin Wu was doubtful if he was ready to withstand it.
He then looked back to the two beasts and then at their sizes.
'Hmm… if Shirong can lift me then…' Lin Wu planned.
"You two, pick me up and carry me to the opening." Lin Wu ordered.
"Us? But master… you are too big…" The sparrow beast said.
"I'll take care of that…" Lin Wu said before starting to shrink.
The two bird beasts watched as his size started reducing at a rapid pace and he became only two meters long.
"You should be able to carry me now," Lin Wu said, as he watched their shocked gazes.
"Okay, we can do it now, I guess." The swan beast said and went towards Lin Wu.
The sparrow beast did the same and clasped its claws around Lin Wu's body. The two of them started to flap their wings and only then did they realize how heavy Lin Wu really was.
"Huu~ this is too heavy!" The swan beast said, but was then shut down by the gaze of the sparrow beast.
They strengthened their wings with spirit qi and flapped even harder before being able to finally lift him up by a little.
~sigh~
"This will be difficult…" Lin Wu muttered.
He then channeled some spirit qi into the bodies of the two bird beasts and they instantly felt rejuvenated.
"THIS! WHOA!" The sparrow beast exclaimed as it felt a power it had never sensed in himself. The swan beast felt similar and their cores started thrumming with power.
For Lin Wu who had put his imprint on them, it was easy for him to accomplish something like this. Not to mention the rhombus gem was technically a part of his own body that had been modified and thus could channel the spirit qi without much problem.
It was the rhombus gem that had made the spirit qi of Lin Wu compatible with the two bird beasts. He wasn't even using the spirit qi in the storage but was simply using his own spirit qi for it.
The two bird beasts flapped their wings faster and faster, until they rose to the height of the trees. At this point they were having a hard time again and thus Lin Wu gave them more spirit qi which empowered them again.
Just like this, a cycle was created and Lin Wu kept on giving them spirit qi, until they reached the top of the tomb's hill. From there, Lin Wu soon spotted the opening that the sparrow beast was talking about. It was rather apparent, as that was the only part that looked differently colored than the rest of the area.
Lin Wu could finally tell that the grey color of the hill wasn't actually natural and was due to the border that surrounded it. From the opening, Lin Wu could tell that the hill was actually normal and had brown colored soil like the rest of the forest.
The only difference was that the plants on the hill were either dead or they had mutated to become grey colored as well.
~phew~
'Well… this looks a bit better. But I'll only know more once I enter there.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
The opening was rather small, only about thirty centimeters wide, and Lin Wu had to perfectly fit through that.
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Lin Wu aimed at the opening and shrunk his body a little bit more. He was actually going beyond his limit and would not be able to maintain a size this small for long and needed to be quick.
"Alright, line up properly and release me then." Lin Wu said.
"Umm… master I just realized another thing…" The sparrow beast said.
"What?" Lin Wu asked.
"You will be able to enter freely but… how will you exit it?" The sparrow beast replied.
"I will…" Lin Wu then realized that he had completely forgotten about this point.
He started to think of solutions to this problem, and an idea popped up in his mind.
"System, can your sensing abilities enter through the opening?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: A limited area scan is possible but the system's reach will be restricted.
——
"That's fine. try to see what's the depth from the opening." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Scanning please wait.
SCAN COMPLETED: Depth found to be 75.32 meters.
——
"Bingo! This will be easy then." Lin Wu exclaimed internally.
He then looked at the sparrow beast and said, "you can drop me now, I can come back up myself as the height is less."
"If you say so master…" The swan beast said and got ready. The sparrow beast nodded and both of them looked at each other.
"NOW!"
~thiu~
Lin Wu's body started dropping, and he moved his weight around to orient himself in the air. His head became heavier even though it was narrow. His enter ire body was streamlined and shaped like a missile now. He fell vertically straight and soon passed through the opening.
~shua~
His speed increased more and a tearing sound was heard in the wind.
~DENG~
Lin Wu collided with the rocky ground and directly pierced it. His entire body was inserted into the ground, leaving only the tip of his tail outside. He didn't really feel any pain, except for the physical impact that his body had to endure.
"Well… that was something…" Lin Wu muttered as a new idea appeared in his mind for future use.
~Wiggle~
Lin Wu started moving and expanded his body to the size that was tolerable to him.
~crack~
The expansion of his body cracked the rock ground, and the broken pieces were lifted up due to it. Lin Wu was released and he easily pulled himself out of the ground. He then looked around and saw that he was on a rather plain area on the hill and there was barely anything here.
"Hmm… the main entrance of the tomb should be elsewhere. The one I saw at the base of the hill is definitely a trap." Lin Wu said.
"Now then, scan the area system." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Please wait a moment.
SCAN COMPLETED: Map has been updated.
——
Lin Wu opened the map window and took a look.
"Dang! How many layers does it even have?" Lin Wu said with shock.
The map could show the different layers in the ground, and there were markers for it on the map. Lin Wu counted their number and saw that there were more than twenty.
"This definitely goes deep into the ground." Lin Wu stated.
Lin Wu looked for the closest entrance and found it a short distance away from him. He crawled to entrance and found a set of stairs going into the ground. Stairs were directly carved out of the rock the hill was made out of and went quite deep.
Lin Wu started crawling and looked around with his spirit sense. There was a damp smell in the area and moss was also growing on the walls.
"Hmm… rainwater should probably come here all the time and that's why it is so damp here…" Lin Wu concluded.
He eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of a set of doors. The doors were family made out of stone and there were some strange carvings on them, that were mottled. It was evident that they had been weathered due to the elements and had been greatly damaged.
The cravings could barely be made out, and Lin Wu saw that there were a few humans on it. They were flying in the air and what looked like clouds were below them, so Lin Wu guessed that they must be the depiction of cultivators.
He looked at the map and saw that the next area was a rather wide hall, but the doors were blocking him. He tried to push them but found it to be quite difficult.
Lin Wu had to activate qi amplification in order to muster enough strength and push the doors open.
~Rumble~
It was as if him opening the doors had triggered something and the turning of gears and cogs could be heard coming.
"What the hell was that?" Lin Wu said with surprise and quickly took a look at the map.
Seeing that there was no change to it, he took a breath of relief.
~phew~
"There definitely was some change, but it seems like I'll have to find it out myself…" Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking a look around the new area.
According to the map, he was in some sort of a hall, but similar to the stairs before, this area was quite dark. Even his spirit sense couldn't reach the borders of the hall, which made him realize that he would have to physically see it now.
Light was no obstacle to Lin Wu, and he raised his tail up high, before making it glow with light. This was one of the basic methods of manipulating radiation, and Lin Wu had nearly mastered this part. Before he was only able to create light when he used all of his power, but now he could particularly control how much light he made.
~Zing~
The bright light from his tail spread all around the hall, and Lin Wu finally saw its entirety. There were multiple pillars in the hall that propped up the roof, and there were more carvings on its walls.
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