Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 221 - The Avatar's Breakthrough online for free - AllNovelFull
Lin Wu wondered what he should ask of the beasts, but then thought that it would be better to wait and watch them. He still didn't know what these changes would affect them like and he needed to know that before making decisions.
He went back to his flying practice and was getting better with every try. Lin Wu also realized that his passive absorption of spirit Qi was much higher than before. But this passive absorption only applied to his own body and not the system's storage of spirit Qi.
If it could work like that he would have had a continuously growing source of spirit Qi. There were a few tasks he needed to do in addition to this, like expanding the range of his spirit sense. He put that next on the list after getting the hang of flying.
"Hmm… though I wonder if my digging speed is still faster than flying or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
While he could still fly, Lin Wu had a lot of difficulties due to his immense weight. Even in a cultivation world, he knew there wouldn't be that many beasts that could reach his weight unless they were very high in cultivation base.
At least most common beasts wouldn't be at that level.
While Lin Wu was busy with his tasks, the avatar was calmly lying near Shirong and cultivating on its own. With the speed at which he was able to cultivate, Lin Wu had estimated that he would have accumulated enough spirit Qi to upgrade to the next stage in about five more days.
~Ding~
——
AVATAR CULTIVATION: Mid Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [6250/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
——
Shirong too was cultivating calmly, but he was not increasing his spirit Qi. Rather, he was focused on his own body and was letting it reach the optimum level. Lin Wu could sense the faint increase in vital energy coming from his body as well.
Shirong had started using the cultivation technique he used previously to convert his spirit Qi into vital energy again. The system was still in the process of analyzing it and was nearly done. Lin Wu reckoned that once it was done, he may be able to freely switch between vital essence and Spirit Qi when needed.
The complete analysis of the technique would also mean that the analysis of other techniques would be sped up. The system would better its understanding and the compatibility of Lin Wu with human oriented techniques would increase as well.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye and Lin Wu's avatar had gained enough spirit Qi to break through to the late stage of the core condensation realm. He took a look at Shirong and found him to be in a much better condition than before.
His body was about halfway to his previous build, and even his hair had started growing back. Small black hair could be seen all over his head, but his eyebrows were still not here, and neither was his beard.
Previously Lin Wu had been apprehensive about having a breakthrough when he was near Shirong, but now that he had an avatar and was going through this for the second time, he knew he would able to handle it better.
Not to mention even the system had improved its masking methods and guarantee that there would be no problem with it.
"Alright system, start the cultivation base upgrade for the avatar." Lin Wu ordered.
~DING~
——
UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Mid Stage of the core condensation realm - Late stage of the core condensation realm
AVATAR CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)
——
Lin Wu's avatar showed no change after its breakthrough and it was as if nothing had happened at all. Lin Wu took a look at Shirong and found him to be completely oblivious to it.
"Looks like the new masking feature is working really good." Lin Wu praised.
He looked at the time and saw that there were nine days left till the day of Shirong's heavenly tribulation. Lin Wu wanted to be fully ready for it as he didn't know what kind of effect a tribulation would have if there was a second person or rather creature with the person undergoing it.
From the cultivation novels, he had read in his previous life, he knew that additional punishment could be given and the lightning would hit those who were trying to interfere with the tribulation as well.
But if he really was going to be hit with a tribulation, Lin Wu had some slightly different plans. He was planning to train his radiation manipulation skill to increase his proficiency. He now understood the true potential of the skill and knew it could be one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal.
He just needed to fully grasp its use. After the grade upgrades, its proficiency had fallen and it had become a bit difficult for him to use it, thus he knew it was something he needed to as soon as possible. Thankfully, the skills were shared between both the bodies and if the avatar increased his skill, the main body would subsequently do it too.
Lin Wu returned back to his main body and checked his progress with the flying. He had gotten better at it and could now control his body without crashing into anything, which was the best result he could hope to achieve for now.
What he wanted to do now was to go and see how fast could he really fly. Thus he lifted the barrier of the tomb and took flight straight from the top of the hill.
~Swoop~
He dived down at a diagonal angle and moved like a missile. He had already shrunk his body to the salesman form he could, otherwise the large form would have broken a lot of trees and rocks on the way down.
"WOO!HOO!" Lin Wu shouted in joy as he soared through the air.
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Lin Wu had been flying for about ten minutes now and had gotten a good idea about his speed. It was nearly the same as he had when he used his drill form to dig into the ground, which was quite fast.
He had gone past a lot of beasts who shivered and trembled upon sensing his presence. He was still not able to fully reel in his spirit Qi fluctuations and the system needed to do it for him. But when he was actively using spirit Qi that could not be done and as such, it would spread wherever he passed.
"Well, that's enough for now. Let's see if there was a change in my digging speed or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself before landing on the ground.
~thud~
Even though he landed gently, an imprint was still formed when he landed. He lowered his head and entered the ground before starting to dig. In just ten seconds, he realized that even in his normal form he was digging at a slightly slower speed than flying.
"Let's see how well the drill form does. If just the normal form is this fast, then the drill form must be something else." Lin Wu said before using his innate skills to morph his body.
His head became conical, while spiral grooves appeared all around his body.
~shing~
~Rumble~
Lin Wu shot forward like a fish in the water as the soil gave way to him. He parted the ground like it was butter and felt nearly no resistance. He slowly started to expand to his full size and found his speed to still be increasing.
"Damn, even in my full size the speed doesn't reduce and actually increases. This is something else…" Lin Wu said, feeling surprised.
Ten minutes passed like this and unknowingly he had gone quite far from the area of the tomb. He was now close to the sixth ring of the millennium forest. He did not fear it as much anymore and could freely enter due to being a nascent soul realm beast.
Besides, the increased concentration of the spirit Qi was a pleasant feeling that he could not help but like. While the tomb also had a spirit Qi gathering formation, it could not compare to the large natural source of spirit Qi located in the center of the forest, right below the Dark Bloom Caverns.
"Hmm… I should be able to enter there now that I'm at the Nascent Soul realm. But… I still got a few more things to do before that. Can't go in rushing before preparation." Lin Wu said to himself.
He looked at the condition of his servants, who were still asleep after five days, and wondered if he should go check up on them. He discovered that the closest servant beast that was near his location was none other than the Beetle beast.
"Hmm… that cricket beast invited me to meet the Beetle king, right? I may as well complete both goals in one go and go there since I'm nearby." Lin Wu decided.
He tracked the position of the beetle beast on the map and soon reached the place. Unlike the other rulers of the forest, the area that the beetle king lived was mostly composed of dead trees. There were chips of barks everywhere and they had been packed into a tough cement like layer using mud.
"This is definitely the work of Split thorn horn beetles." Lin Wu said, recalling the description of the system.
The beetle beasts liked to carve up and break trees to make their nests which were what this basically was. This area was densely packed with trees around the boundary, while this part was relatively open. Lin Wu checked the map and found there to be thousands of insect beasts in the area.
He saw the location of the servant beast and found that there was a large marker near it.
"Hmm… that must be the beetle king. Did he perhaps… find out about me?" Lin Wu wondered.
He scanned the area for any suspicious activity and couldn't find any.
"At this point, I may as well go and meet the guy. If we fight, we fight." Lin Wu said with determination.
But he didn't enter straightway. Doing so would be a direct provocation as he would be intruding on the territory of a ruler of the forest. Instead, he knew just the right thing to do.
Lin Wu closed his eyes and let out a concentrated wave of spirit Qi that spread all the way to where the Beetle king was. Every beast that came under the range of the wave was able to sense who Lin Wu was.
"MY KING! IT'S ANOTHER NASCENT SOUL REALM BEAST!" The aide of the beetle king said.
The other beasts were scared, as usually, something like this meant that the Nascent soul realm beast was here to challenge the owner of the territory. Usually, the losing part would give the territory to the winner and leave the area. But now their condition was rather different.
There were five rulers in the forest already, and all of them had their shares of the territories. With another beast being added to the mix, there would be more conflict that may even result in fatalities.
In the five rulers, the beetle beast was relatively less active currently and his subordinates were avoiding all conflicts. All they wanted to do right now was to maintain the status quo and avoid them making losses.
The beetle king's eyes glinted, and it was now that another insect beast spoke up.
"My king, I know this aura. It's the beast I was talking to you about, the one that spared out egg clutches." The cricket beast informed.
"So it really is him… he broke through to the Nascent Soul realm and endured a heavenly tribulation the likes of which this forest has never seen." The beetle king muttered.
"What should we do now?" The aide of the king asked.
"Let's meet and talk. It's not like we have any other choice…"
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The beetle king had not expected that he would get to see the new Nascent Soul realm beast so quickly. He knew that he would be seeing him eventually in the future as there was no way a Nascent Soul realm beast could stay hidden for long.
And it was as he had expected. Just the aura that exuded from him was enough to make his heart tremble. He could tell that he had come in peace and did not have the contention to fight… at least for now.
He knew that it would not be appropriate to meet him directly in here in his territory and it would be better to talk to him some place neutral. The beetle king left his nest while being followed by his subordinates and went to meet up with Lin Wu, who was waiting at the edge of the territory.
The moment he saw him though, he was shocked.
"This… what beast is this…" The beetle king muttered to himself.
Standing in front of him was Lin Wu, who was nearly fifty meters long. Just from this, his size was bigger than the beetle king.
"Well, hello there!" Lin Wu greeted with a smile, that bordered on being eerie due to him being the worm he was.
"He-hello, I am the beetle king one of the five rulers of the millennium forest." He introduced himself.
"I am the… Crimson Eyed Emerald worm." Lin Wu revealed.
'That's a worm? There's no way that's a worm. That's clearly a snake.' The beetle king thought to himself.
"So what brings you here?" The beetle king finally asked.
"Oh, I am here since one of your subordinates invited me. It was a cricket beast I believe." Lin Wu replied.
"Ah yes. He did say that he invited someone, but I did not expect it to be another beast that was at the Nascent Soul realm." The beetle king replied awkwardly.
"Haha! Oh yes, that's true. I did reach the Nascent soul realm quite recently. I think you must have seen it… oh wait, I think we already met before during the bloodline resonance." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.
"That we did, indeed." The beetle beast replied, feeling uncomfortable.
He could tell that the beast in front of him was at the Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but even then the bloodline oppression he was feeling from him was enough to pressure him, who was at the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
A silence descended in the area as the two beasts stared at each other awkwardly. Lin Wu thought for a bit before finally deciding on what to say.
"You are the first ruler of the forest that I've met till now… well, formally. I did see the Silver beak sky soar eagle before he left the forest though." Lin Wu spoke.
"You saw her?" The Beetle king asked, feeling surprised.
From what he and the other kings knew, the Silver beak sky soar eagle had massacred all of her subordinates and left a trail of death as she went on her path. No beast that came in her path had survived, and perhaps only the minor beasts that were at the Qi refining realm had survived.
They had no idea why she had acted like this and the strange change in her. It was definitely something terrifying for the other beasts, as they feared that one of the renaming kings may also end up doing something similar.
'The Silver beak sky soar eagle is a she? I thought it was a male too. System did you know this and why did you not tell me?' Lin Wu internally asked.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: Yes, the system knew it was a female. As for why it did not tell the host, it was because it was of no relevance at that time.
——
'Well… it does seem right, I guess.' Lin Wu thought.
"Yes, I did get to see her. But only see, not meet. She was flying past the third ring of the forest at that time and was heading to the west." Lin Wu replied.
"To the west, you say? Why would she go to the west, there aren't even good humans to eat there." The beetle beast said.
"I don't know either. I just wanted to get more information about the other rulers of the forest from you." Lin Wu finally revealed.
"Is that so… and what would your intentions be?" The Beetle king asked carefully.
"I know that the millennium forest has always had five rulers and the eligibility for that is for a beast to be at the Nascent Soul realm. The fifth seat was empty, but now it has been filled by the Demon Spine ape. Thus… I would like to make a seat empty… for myself." Lin Wu revealed.
~gulp~
The beetle king became alert, and his aura increased. He became ready for a fight and knew that perhaps he should not have come here right away.
"Oh, do not worry, I am not after your position. I have my eyes set on a different ruler." Lin Wu assured.
~phew~
The beetle king servilely let out a breath of relief but did not drop his guard. Who knew if the beast in front of him was only doing so to fool him and would then attack him when he lost focus.
"And which beast are you talking about?" The Beetle King questioned.
"The Olive Viper king." Lin Wu answered.
~Sigh~
"So it is him… I had a hunch that it would be him." The Beetle king said.
"You did? Why so?" Lin Wu asked, although he already knew the answer.
"Your appearance and your aura. They are both quite similar to that of the Olive Viper king. And seeing as you suddenly reached the Nascent Soul realm, similar to how the Olive Viper king did after he obtained the fortune from the falling stars two years ago, I knew that it was something related to that." The beetle king answered.
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Lin Wu already knew that if the two small beasts like the mole beast and the beetle beast could recognize that he was similar to The Olive Viper King, it was obviously one of the rulers of the forest was going to do that too.
The only difference was that the mole beast and the beetle beast had thought him to be the subordinate of the Olive Viper King but the Beetle king could very well tell the difference. He knew that the Olive Viper king ruled over his subordinates with an iron fist and would not let anyone get stronger than him.
"I see. Well, we are indeed related in a way. That is the reason why I'm aiming for him. He has what is rightfully mine." Lin Wu stated, exuding his aura.
The beetle beast could sense the bloodlust in Lin Wu's aura and knew that the beast in front of him was serious about this.
"As long as you are not going to come for my seat, I am fine with it. What you do with the other rulers is none of my business." The beetle beast replied.
"Now, now, don't be like that. You know that the change in the positions of rulers would influent the entire climate of the forest. Currently, the slim arm ape and the Demon spine ape are in advantage due to being related. They are obviously in an alliance." Lin Wu said.
"Hmm… well there's nothing we can do about that can we?" The Beetle beast replied.
"That's true but I do not have a problem with them. The one I have a problem with is the Olive Viper King. I believe when he became the ruler, he caused a lot of havoc and hurt your subordinates too?" Lin Wu questioned.
"That is right." The beetle beast agreed.
"Then, do you not want revenge for it?" Lin Wu asked.
"If I got the chance I would, but I cannot match his strength and his subordinates are stronger than mine too." The beetle king replied.
"Well then, my friend. You are in luck, as I can solve both of those problems." Lin Wu offered.
The beetle king's eyes went wide as he finally realized what the beast in front of him was suggesting.
"You mean to say… we make an alliance too?" The beetle king questioned.
"Yes, but not only that. I will also help your subordinates get stronger… well the ones that are deserving of it and have good potential. I think one of them has already seen the effects." Lin Wu answered.
"My descendant… that was your doing?" The beetle beast asked feeling bewildered.
He had never heard of any beast that could cause another beast to mutate like this. And here Lin Wu was, admitting that the process could be replicated. The beetle king had seen the changes that occurred in the beetle and knew that her potential was greatly increased.
He was even sure that if given enough time, that beetle beast was sure to reach the Nascent Soul realm. The beetle king was the first of his kind to reach the Nascent Soul realm and thus had been looking for someone who could replace him when the time came.
He knew that even if he had reached the Nascent Soul realm, his potential was already exhausted; he did not have much chance of breaking through to the Dao shell realm in his life span. He was over five hundred years old and at the adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm, this was already quite an achievement.
He knew that he barely may have a chance of reaching the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and then he would end up exhausting his lifespan there.
'Do we have a chance now? Will my kin have a chance at survival for the long term when I'm gone?' The beetle king thought to himself.
"Yes, I am the one who helped that little beetle progress since she helped me a while back." Lin Wu said.
"Are you sure you can do that again? And will there be any problems?" The beetle king asked.
"Hmm… I know I can do it again but for problems, I do not know. The one thing I know for sure is that the beast needs to be strong to be able to bear the mutation." Lin Wu answered.
"Say if I agree to this proposition… how will the rest of the plan go?" The beetle king questioned.
'Got him! Even Nascent Soul realm beasts are a bit easy to trick compared to humans, huh…' Lin Wu thought.
"Well for now, I just need some information on the whereabouts of the Olive Viper king and what are his strengths and weaknesses. I will formulate the proper plan after getting more details as we may need to involve the Slim arm ape and the Demon spine ape in this too." Lin Wu replied.
"Those two as well? Hmm… the slim arm ape king is a relatively calm beast but his son… he is a battle maniac and now that his bloodline has awakened he will only get worse." The beetle king stated.
"Well, to convince a battle maniac is even easier. All I need to do is to battle and defeat him then." Lin Wu stated, as his eyes glowed with a fierce light.
~gulp~
"I understand. I guess we can proceed for now." The beetle king said.
"That's great! Now then… tell me all you know about the Olive Viper King." Lin Wu replied.
"The olive Viper king lives to the northeastern part of the Sixth ring, at the millennium lake. As for his strengths, he is strong overall. His defenses are quite tough and the last time we fought I was barely able to inflict any injuries on him, as that crystal layer on his back is very strong.
Even his scales are tough to break, but his belly is a bit on the softer side. His fangs are his most powerful weapon, and the venom they spew can melt our hides. As far as I know, even the injuries he got recently were caused by his venom." The beetle king explained.
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Upon hearing that his venom was the most corrosive, such that even the Olive viper king was harmed by it, Lin Wu wondered if it would work on his body. His bloodline allowed him a higher resistance to heat, cold and corrosive substances.
But he still didn't know if it would work on something that was likely influenced by the same bloodline as him.
'Hmm… he should have probably mutated like the other beasts. I don't know if he had the unknown bloodline too though… that thing is still an enigma.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He thought for a bit before an idea came to him.
"Is there any way you can get some of the venom of the Olive Viper King?" Lin Wu questioned.
"That's impossible! No one will want to come near it, not to mention it even destroys the earth if it spills on it. There is no way we can collect it." The Beetle king denied.
Lin Wu wanted a sample of the venom so that the system would be able to analyze it and check for an anti-venom. Though Lin Wu had a hunch that the venom really may not be as effective against him.
'Perhaps the reason why that venom is so corrosive is due to radiation as well. If it is, then it would make sense. Looks like I need to take a look around the millennium lake then.' Lin Wu thought.
"What do you think are the weaknesses of the Olive Viper king?" Lin Wu questioned.
"That is a tough thing to answer. Overall, he is quite tough and while he can be hurt by others, the power needed is quite a lot. Though… the Olive Viper king does need to rest and eat a lot.
Without regular feeding and rest, he becomes sluggish. In fact, the reason why we were able to end our previous fight with him was that he had become tired and decided to retreat." The beetle king answered.
Upon hearing this, Lin Wu's mind instantly went to when he had first acquired the bloodline. The consumption of his innate skills was quite high and if he did not have the support of the system and the extra storage of spirit Qi it provided, he may not have been able to keep up.
'Hmm… so he suffers from the same problem. Or… since he has progressed three stages of the Nascent Soul realm in just two years, it is likely that he has been using a majority of his spirit Qi to progress his cultivation, that may be the reason why he tires out easily.' Lin Wu hypothesized.
"Alright, this should be enough for now. I'll tell you more later." Lin Wu said before extending his tail forward and creating another one of the flat plates he had made for Wang Xiong.
"What's this?" The beetle king asked.
"You must know how the human cultivators communicate using jade slips right? This is similar to that, you can talk to me with this. Just use your spirit sense and it will connect to me." Lin Wu answered.
The beetle beast was rather fascinated by this. He had seen a lot of human cultivators use those jade slips and he even had some of them lying around in his nest somewhere among remains of humans.
Most of the beasts were unable to use the spirit tools of humans and thus only kept them with them, as trophies and trinkets. But now the beetle king was getting the chance to use one himself.
"How did you make this?" the beetle king asked after picking up the emerald green slip with his spirit sense since it had no hands and the jade skip was too small for him.
"Just think of it as one of my innate abilities." Lin Wu replied.
"This is marvelous… I've never seen any beast that could replicate the things of humans." The beetle beast said after using the communication slip.
His voice was heard in the head of Lin Wu and he could hear Lin Wu in his head too.
"Now you don't need to send messengers to talk to me and this will be much quicker." Lin Wu said.
"Ooo!" The beetle king let out a strange sound that could only be compared to a child's wonder.
Lin Wu was just about to leave when he was stopped by the beetle king.
"Wait! When will you be going to talk with the Slim arm ape king?" The beetle king questioned.
"Hmm… soon enough. Why? Do you want to come too?" Lin Wu replied.
"Yes. It would be better if both of us go. While that beast is relatively calm, he is not without danger. He is clever like those humans and even has some dealing with them." The beetle king spoke.
"Oh? He does? That's interesting… looks like I need to meet him soon." Lin Mu said and took a pause. "I'll inform you when I go there then, through the communication slip." Lin Wu replied.
"Alright, I'll wait for it. In the meantime, I'll pick out the subordinates who are strong and have good potential for you to make them stronger." The beetle king reminded.
Lin Wu nodded his head, before digging into the ground and disappearing. The beetle king watched as Lin Wu soon went away, judging from the vibrations in the ground.
"He really is a worm, huh… he looks quite a lot like a snake though." The beetle king said before turning back to his nest.
The subordinates of the beetle king had all be standing far from them, not daring to come close. If even the beetle king was wary of Lin Wu's bloodline aura, then the other beasts that were weaker than him, were straight-up trembling in their places.
"What do we do now, my king?" The aide of the beetle king questioned.
"Call all of your kin and our subordinates. Tell them they will have a great opportunity to get stronger and perhaps even increase the potential of their bloodlines." The beetle king said in an imposing voice.
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Lin Wu was currently heading towards the direction of the Millennium lake as the beetle king had informed him. It took him a mere ten minutes to reach with his speed but he did not get too close as he didn't know if the Olive Viper king may be able to sense him or not.
"Alright, system do a detailed scan of the area and find the Olive Viper king. Once he is found do a scan on him too and show me the data." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER ACTIVATED: Area selected
SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated
MULTIPLE ENTITIES DETECTED: Marking on map.
RADIATION SIGNATURES DETECTED: Similarity to Host's own radiation.
SPECIFIED TARGET IDENTIFIED: Olive Viper King
CULTIVATION BASE: Adolescent Stage of the Nascent Soul realm
BLOODLINE: Mutated Olive Viper Bloodline
(1.40% Similarity to Crimson eyed emerald worm. 2. 5% similarity to the unknown bloodline.)
INNATE SKILLS: Unable to detect [Closer proximity needed]
NOTIFICATION: Other beasts in the area also have mutated bloodlines similar to that of the host but at fractions of a percentage.
——
Looking at the data the system gave, Lin Wu knew for sure that the Olive Viper king had probably consumed a fragment of the same crystal that he had back at the forbidden area. Not only that, but like he had caused mutations in his subordinates, the same way Lin Wu had.
This showed Lin Wu that this was not an exclusive ability of his and those other beasts that had this could do the same. But this only increased the desire Lin Wu was feeling to kill and eat the Olive Viper King.
When the quest was given, he only felt an obligation to complete it due to the reward. But now he wanted to do it because his own body was telling him to do so. It was a rather strange feeling that he had not felt before and thus he was a bit confused.
"Looks like killing him is the only option now… hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled.
He took a look at the map and marked the routes that seemed to be good for entry. There were a lot of beasts spread around in the area, patrolling it. Any beast that came near it would be found by them and killed, only to be taken to a pile beside a large burrow that was made at the side of a small hill.
The hill was located in the middle of the lake and was like an island. Lin Wu looked at the map and switched to a lower layer on it, and saw the many paths that had been created underground.
"He has a lot of paths to escape and move around too. This is probably how he has been travailing around the area most of the time, hidden from the eyes of the others." Lin Wu realized.
It was not that the Olive Viper king appeared less for the others, rather it was just that he stayed hidden most of the time and only appeared to create a large uproar from attacking other beasts.
Having learned enough for now, Lin Wu went back to the tomb. He thought that he needed to be a bit more strong than just his cultivation base if he wanted to fight against the Olive Viper king.
Even if he had the advantage in the case of his bloodline, there was no guarantee that he would be able to come out on top against him. So he decided to err on the side of caution and do more preparation.
"Being at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm should be enough to fight against the Olive viper king, as then he would only be one stage above me. And after I defeat him and kill him, my bloodline should progress and increase as well." Lin Wu said to himself.
Lin Wu could have directly teleported himself to the Tomb using the teleportation formation but did not do so, since he wanted to save up as much spirit Qi as he could for the upgrade to the next stage.
He currently had a little over one million units of liquid spirit Qi units stored and needed 5,000,000 more to upgrade to the next stage. For this, he would need to cultivate and gather more spirit Qi so that he could reach it at the earliest.
Soon he reached the base of the tomb and teleported himself to the inside. He looked around at the empty hall and a thought came to him.
"I should decorate this place a bit… it is too empty. Maybe a few cushions or mattresses to sit on?" Lin Wu thought.
But then he considered his large body and estimated the sheer number of pillows that he would need to do that. While he could shrink his body and use fewer pillows, that would defeat the purpose of relaxation.
While Lin Wu's main body was thinking of this stuff, his avatar was still cultivating. The main body also started cultivating, but was a little bored at the speed. He even asked the beetle king if it would be fine if he started eating the beasts in the forest.
The beetle king said, while it would be fine if he did it up to a certain extent, he shouldn't go too far. The five rulers ensured that a stable number of beasts were maintained in the forest and the number could not go below a certain level or everyone's interests will be harmed.
Lin Wu asked why did they have to follow something like this, like what was forcing them to follow this rule and the beetle king replied that it was the mandate that was embedded deep within their bloodlines and if they did not follow it, the forest itself may curse them.
Other beast rulers in the past had indeed done massacres and eaten a lot of beasts, but their end was not good. That was also perhaps one of the reasons why the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle left the forest after committing the massacre of his subordinates. She knew she would not be able to live long here after that.
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Lin Wu was now wondering what it could have been that pushed the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle to kill all its subordinates and the other beasts in the millennium forest. There were a few reasons he could think of but they didn't make complete sense.
At first, he thought the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle wanted to eat the beasts for the same reason as his which was to gain more spirit Qi. This was likely to have been an idea that came to her due to the appearance of the Olive Viper King who had rapidly increased in strength by eating beasts.
But then this was counterproductive, if what the beetle beast had said was true, the beast rulers could not just keep on eating the beasts of the forest without any restraint. If they did so, they would have been cursed in some way and die.
If the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle still did it despite this, then it would have had to leave the forest, which could have been done even before killing them. If she was going to leave the forest, then competing with the other rulers didn't make sense.
Another reason that Lin Wu could think of, which was rather straightforward, was that the Sliver Beak Sky Soar eagle was just pissed and, like a pissed employee of a company, wanted to cause havoc before leaving the job.
This kind of made sense, since her killing all the beasts would give her a lot of spirit Qi and also cause trouble for the other rulers in the form of a territory battle that would kill more of their subordinates.
But by the time they would come to find her and stop her, she would have already left the forest.
'Hmm… is that it, then? Did she really get frustrated from the competition among the rulers and decided to leave and start over?' Lin Wu wondered.
"Everyone wants to get strong as this is the cultivation world, but to what extent can they go before they think it is enough and give up?" Lin Wu questioned himself.
He then shook his head and muttered, "no matter. I've just started and got a long time to go. I'll think of it when the time comes, for now I'll just focus on getting stronger."
He looked through this Host Data and his eyes came to settle on one thing: Bloodlines.
Lin Wu had the bloodline of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King that he had upgraded before and increased the compatibility to the highest he could take it. It had been on his list for a while but he had not actually assimilated it for a while since he was waiting for the right moment.
And what better moment than right now, since he was alone and free to do anything he wanted. But then this gave rise to another question on Lin Wu's mind when he was thinking of bloodline assimilation.
"System, what will happen to the avatar when I assimilate a new bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The avatar is not affected by the newly assimilated bloodline and will not gain the bloodline either. The bloodlines that are assimilated by the main body of the host will belong to the main body, while those obtained and assimilated by the avatar will be kept by it.
The bloodlines are intrinsic to the bodies and thus cannot be synchronized the same way as to how the innate skills and Qi skills are synchronized.
——
"Ah, I see. That does make sense." Lin Wu agreed.
He looked through the host data one more time just to make sure everything was alright before proceeding.
"System, start the assimilation of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King bloodline." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
CHECKING HOST VITALS: Vitals Stable
BLOODLINE ASSIMILATION: Initiated
BLOODLINE SELECTED: Hard Eared Limber Mice King
——
As soon as the process started, Lin Wu felt his body shaking and shivering. Then came the heat as his body started to heat up. If one were to think of it, it was as if Lin Wu was sick and had a fever.
But strangely, Lin Wu actually did not feel any pain even if he did feel a bit of discomfort from the heat. But that much heat was nothing to him, who was quite resistant to heat and cold.
Then, within his Dantian, he could see the illusory figure of a Hard Eared Limber Mice King appear. It was running around restlessly, as if it wanted to escape this place and was colliding against the walls of his Dantian.
But Lin Wu's Dantian was incredibly tough and no netter how much the illusory figure of the Hard eared Limber Mice King tried, it could even create a dent in it. Then suddenly, a wave of suppressive aura was emanated from one of the infants that was sitting at the center of the Dantian.
This infant had an emerald green skin and was the nascent Soul that belonged to The Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline of Lin Wu.
The Hard Eared Limber Mice King paused upon sensing the suppressive aura, but then began thrashing around restlessly. It was then that the Emerald Skinned Infant opened its eye.
Its eyes were crimson red and started into the illusory figure of the Hard Earned Limber Mice, which let out a meek cry before dissipating into a cloud of smoke. This cloud of smoke spread all throughout the Dantian of Lin Wu and merged into it.
Then Lin Wu felt his body throbbing before finally calming down. He felt as if he had gained something and his hearing capabilities had increased by a lot. At the upper side of his head, a short distance from the spikes, two protrusions appeared.
If one looked at them, they would think that they kind of looked like ears. These ears had a slight red tint to them which matched with Lin Wu's crimson red eyes. Since these were also made of the same crystals as the rest of his body, they were freely modifiable and could be moved around.
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Soon the assimilation process was complete and Lin Wu heard the sound of a notification from the system.
~Ding~
——
BLOODLINE ASSIMILATION: Completed
INNATE SKILLS OBTAINED: 1. Sound Command 2. Kin Command
HOST DATA: Updated
——
The first thing that Lin Wu could feel after successfully assimilating the bloodline was the increase in his sound sensitivity. Usually, the halls inside the tomb were rather silent and nothing could be heard from the outside.
But now, Lin Wu could sense the faint vibrations in the ground as well as in the air. They were indistinct but were still there.
'This is really something else…' Lin Wu thought before teleporting to the top of the tomb.
But as soon as he appeared there he felt as if his head had been hit with a sledgehammer.
"ARGH! Dammit, this is too loud!" Lin Wu cried out.
Lin Wu was feeling as if two loud speakers had been strapped to his head and were creating noise at full volume, giving him a headache. Lin Wu instantly knew that this was due to his new bloodline and needed to control it.
He carefully lowered the two 'ears' at the top of his head before they disappeared into his body. After they merged fully into his body, the noise had stopped.
~phew~
"Damn, that was loud! I need to better control this thing…" Lin Wu cursed before focusing on the two ears.
He slowly raised them back up and discovered that the more they were out, the higher the sensitivity was.
"Huh, it's kind of like an antenna." Lin Wu realized.
Once he got the hang of it and knew what level was the best for him, Lin Wu set the level of the ears to that point. Right now, if one looked at him, they would see that there were no ears at the top of his head and instead of that, there were two small bumps.
Lin Wu had set the level of the two ears at the bare minimum so that while he could have an enhanced hearing, it wouldn't give him a splitting headache.
After getting the hang of this, Lin Wu wanted to see what the two new innate skills that he obtained could do.
"System, show me the details of the two new innate skills I got from the Hard Reread Limber Mice King." Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
INNATE SKILL: Sound Command
GRADE: Minor
PROFICIENCY: Basic
INFO: The innate skill sound command allows the host to communicate with other beasts that have the same skill through a set of sounds and vibrations. These commands can be broadcasted over a long distance using the earth and the vibrations may be created by the host's body.
The range of the skill will increase with the increase in its proficiency. The current range of the innate skill is at a radius of 100 meters.
The complexity of the communication can be increased with an increase in its grade. The host may even be able to modify the vibrations such that the creatures who do not have the same innate skill can sense the sounds.
INNATE SKILL: Kin Command
GRADE: Minor
PROFICIENCY: Basic
INFO: The Innate Skill Kin Command allows the host to efficiently communicate with a large number of subordinates at once and give them commands. These commands will be innately understood by the subordinates but need to be simple.
The number of subordinates that can be ordered using the innate skill will increase with the increase in its grade. The current number that can be ordered is 10 beasts.
The complexity of the commands can be increased with an increase in their proficiency.
——
Lin Wu read the two innate skills and indeed found them to be useful, but not currently.
"These would be helpful when I'm together with multiple servants or subordinates and need to battle. Though I will need to practice using these skills as their current proficiency and grade restricts me quite a bit." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Thinking of practicing the skills, Lin Wu wondered about his servants. He checked their conditions in the system and found them to still be asleep.
"Hmm… how long will they take to wake up, it's already been nearly six days now? Though looks like their cultivation bases are still increasing little by little." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Lin Wu looked at the bloodlines and next on his list was the bloodline of the Twin Lights Liger. Unlike the Hard Reread Limber mice King bloodline, this one was much stronger and its compatibility was also low for him.
'I'll need to kill and consume the Twin Lights Liger King to increase the compatibility, can't take the risk of assimilating it and then harming myself. While the bloodline is not Asa strong as the Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline, it is still quite resilient.' Lin Wu thought.
Lin Wu reckoned that he should only assimilate the bloodline after he had killed and consumed the Olive Viper king and increased the strength of his main bloodline first. This way he would not have as great of a risk and the situation would be similar to that of the Hard Eared Limber mice king, where the bloodline was suppressed quickly by his own bloodline.
"Hmm… the next step in my plan will take a while before I can initiate it. Right now I'll need to focus on the side plans I guess." Lin Wu thought out loud.
He checked the condition of his subordinate, Wang Xiong and asked about his situation.
Wang Xiong told him that while they had entered the territory of their sect, they were still some distance from the main part of the sect itself. It would take them a couple of days more to reach it and he would contact Lin Wu after that.
Having learned of this, Lin Wu decided to focus on cultivation for now. His avatar needed to reach the next stage too, before Shirong had his Nascent Soul realm tribulation, or there was a chance that some problems could arise from it.
"Well… back to cultivation."
~Ding~
——
SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 8000 Units [liquid spirit Qi]
AVATAR CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)
——
~huu~
Lin Wu's avatar had just finished cultivating up to the current limit and paused to take a sense of the situation. Lin Mu transferred his focus back to the avatar and looked around with his spirit sense.
"How much time has it been now?" Lin Wu muttered to himself before seeing that it had been nine days.
He then saw Shirong and found him to have returned to a better condition than before. His body had more flesh on it and looked normal. Even the hair on his head had started to return and a fine layer of it could be seen.
His eyebrows though, were still not here and there was no beard on his face either. It was apparent that it would take much longer for those two to grow back. Eyebrows naturally took longer to grow, while the beard was just a trait of Shirong.
His body simply did grow it well enough. And even without shaving, he stayed hairless for the most bit.
~knock~ knock~
Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door, and a voice called out.
"Young master, it's me." The voice spoke.
Shirong opened his eyes and looked at the door, "come in clan head Lu."
In walked in the old man, who seemed to be looking much more tired than before. There were eye bags on his faces and his hair was tousled. Even his clothes seemed to be rather ragged and the glow from his face had gone.
"Damn, is this old man gonna die or something? What happed in the past few days?" Lin Wu wondered.
"Clan head Lu? What's up with your appearance? Are you okay?" Shirong asked, feeling strange too.
~Sigh~
"It's just been hard coordinating and managing all the people. There are now six nearby cities who are participating in the entire event and they've sent a few thousand people to watch your tribulation." Clan head Lu replied.
"Ah, I see. Have they been giving you trouble?" Shirong asked.
"Well… it is trouble but I don't think it is intentional. Rather it's just something that comes when there are too many people working on a single thing. As they say, too many cooks spoil the broth, but when the broth is meant to be fed to a hundred thousand people, I don't think we can do the same." Clan Head Lu said in a tired voice.
"You've been doing good clan head, I thank you for arranging the Tribulation platform," Shirong stated.
"The honor is ours, young master you need not worry. You don't know how many of the aristocrats are willing to pay ten times the price to get a closer look at the tribulation." Clan Head Lu said.
"Oh? Do they not know getting closer to a tribulation platform isn't necessarily good? A tribulation platform is not a hundred percent safe and casualties can still happen." Shirong warned.
"They know it very well. I made sure of it and even got them to sign contracts that no one will be responsible if their people were to get hurt or die." Clan Head Lu replied.
"That's good. And… if they still protest after that… I'll take care of it." Shirong said in a serious tone.
~gulp~
"If you say so, young master." Clan head Lu replied, understanding the hidden meaning in his voice.
"Speaking of that… do you perhaps have some… unsavory people attending the event. I may be able to take care of them at the same time." Shirong offered.
Shirong did not mind doing something like this as he knew that building an alliance needed effort from both ends. If the clan head Lu was willing to do so much, he didn't mind putting in some extra effort either.
Shirong was a selfish man, but he was not a fool. He knew to aim for long term gains rather than short term profits.
"Won't that be problematic, young master?" Clan Head Lu asked with concern.
"Hmm… I'll see how it works out then. For now, you can just give me a list of them." Shirong spoke.
"Ooo now this is interesting… taking out the competition, huh? Should I add to it a bit… Hehe." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Clan head Lu gave Shirong a jade slip in which he put the name, appearance, and background of the people attending the event. Shirong took a look at it, while Lin Wu also spied on it rather easily.
Since Shirong had gotten the high grade spatial storage ring, he didn't need to carry Lin Wu around on his body anymore. He would simply keep him in the ring for now, which also made it more convenient for Lin Wu to act.
Especially since he was now close to a breakthrough and could do that here without having much trouble or Shirong noticing. He had also checked in with the system who had told him what he could do and what not to do in the spatial storage ring, so as to not have a repeat of the last time.
"So is the tribulation platform ready, clan head Lu?" Shirong asked.
"Yes, young master. We finished the last part just a few hours ago and we are doing the final checks now to see if everything is working properly." Clan Head Lu answered.
"So tomorrow is the day," Shirong stated.
"Indeed, just as we scheduled. We still start it whenever you are ready, young master." Clan Head Lu replied.
"That's good. I can already sense the tribulation and I can trigger it whenever needed. So I guess we will start early in the morning." Shirong replied.
"Alright, I'll inform everyone. Do you need anything else before that young master?" Clan Head Lu questioned.
"No… nothing for now," Shirong replied.
Clan head Lu was just about to leave when he remembered something.
"Oh, I almost forgot! I got these for you, young master." Clan Head Lu said, and took out something from his spatial storage tool.
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Shirong looked at what clan Head Lu had brought him and Lin Wu did the same.
"Huh? A pill bottle?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
"What are these pills for clan head Lu?" Shirong questioned.
"These are hair growth pills, young master. I thought since you will be demonstrating in front of so many people, it would do you no justice if you looked like this." Clan Head Lu answered.
Shirong had honestly forgotten about his hair by now and was not thinking of it. But now that clan head Lu reminded him, he thought that it would indeed be good if he grew his hair back.
"Thank you for being thoughtful, clan head Lu." Shirong replied.
"It's not a problem young master. Though I do not know if these will be effective on you. Certain pills don't work if the hair loss is caused by a technique." Clan head Lu stated.
"I'll try and see it anyway I guess," Shirong said before opening the pill bottle.
The pill bottle was rather small and only contained a single pill in it. Shirong ate the pill and waited for its effects. But his hair did not grow out directly.
"Hmm… seems like it's not working." Clan Head Lu furrowed his brows.
"My hair loss was caused by a cultivation technique, so it may take longer. Even if it has not grown any hair yet, I can feel the tingling sensation on my head and face." Shirong replied.
"Alright then young master. Hopefully, it is done by tomorrow. I'll take my leave for now, if you need anything you can ask the servants." Clan head Lu said before leaving the courtyard.
"So these are the people who will be a thorn in our path later on…" Shirong muttered to himself as he read through the jade slip that clan head Lu had given him and rubbed his head.
His head and face were now a bit itchy due to the pills and now that Lin Wu took a closer look, the area where his eyebrows were supposed to be was getting darker.
"Oh? It seems like the hair growth pills are taking effect, his eyebrows are already growing below his skin." Lin Wu muttered.
'Though I wonder by how much does this pill accelerate the growth of hair? Hmm… normal eyebrows when shaved offs completely take about four to six months to grow back and if I estimate using that, the growth rate is a few hundred times that normal.' Lin Wu calculated.
Shirong had finished looking through the jade slip and had now decided to take some good night's sleep. He had been busy cultivating and making sure his body was in the optimum condition for his breakthrough in these past few days and thus had not slept at all.
Even though cultivators did not need to sleep as much as common humans did, it did not mean that they could give it up completely. While cultivating could replace sleep up to a certain extend, actual sleep was still needed for them to restore their mental condition and fatigue.
Thus Shirong laid down on the bed and slipped into a deep slumber. Lin Wu checked his condition and body to see how everything was working.
The system had increased its understanding of the unknown energy that coursed through Shirong's core and had reached the preliminary conclusion that it was a much higher version of the spirit Qi.
It was destructive to most cultivators and Lin Wu could only guess that the ones that were above the currently known cultivation realms could handle a strong energy like that. But the system was still able to handle it somehow and even Shirong's core seemed to have adapted to it in a way.
When Shirong increased his body tempering realm cultivation, his Dantian had expanded as well. This lead to an increase in his spirit Qi capacity and in turn his core could expand once more.
If one considered his original talent, Shirong was nearly thrice as better than then. Lin Wu had not expected that furthering the body tempering realm cultivation would have an effect like this and wanted to do it as well.
But then the system told him that his situation was rather unique. The aim of the body tempering realm was to make one's body more adapted to the spirit Qi and cultivation. But in Lin Mu's case, his body had been completely recreated by the system, which meant that it was inherently suitable for cultivation.
In other words, what Shirong had done, he had already achieved that due to the system. Still, the system's analysis had not ended and it would only go on further helping it further the analysis of the other cultivation techniques.
'Hmm… since Shirong is asleep and the rest of the people are busy working for the tribulation platform, I should take advantage of this.' Lin Wu thought.
"System, re-scan the city and the area around it. Check for the people's position and see if it's a viable option to visit the underground area under the Lu Clan mansion." Lin Wu ordered.
Lin Wu had this on his list for a while and had wanted to check it out but was unable to do so, because of having to go to the Millennium forest with Shirong.
Another benefit that he had was he now didn't have to worry about distance as much. If it really was an emergency, he could teleport the Avatar from the city back to the tomb and then next to Shirong.
While this would take up about 2000 units of spirit Qi, it was still an affordable cost to Lin Wu that he didn't mind paying for an emergency.
"Well then, let's head out." Lin Wu said after checking the map. He shrank his body and appeared in the real world.
He crawled out of the bedroom and dug into the ground before traveling to the underground area under the Lu clan mansion. The outer formations were not a problem for him, since the system already had the visual interface for them.
Though when he reached the outer area of the underground hall, he came across a problem.
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