Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 241 - Aftermath Of The Tribulation? online for free - AllNovelFull
Only after all the tribulation clouds disappeared did, the people dare to approach Shirong. The vortex of spirit Qi that was surrounding him also faded away and his breakthrough was now considered to be fully complete.
The people were a bit apprehensive and only when the elders took the lead did they follow. The one who was at the front was none other than Clan Head Lu.
"Congratulations young master!" He exclaimed.
Shirong who had been focused on himself finally opened his eyes. Upon opening them, he finally noticed the carnage that had been caused. When all the people were being killed, he had actually not noticed as he couldn't spare his attention.
It was a very risky situation for him and any lapse in judgment could have been fatal to him. But now that the people were closer to him, he noticed them being covered with blood and even an elder that was at the Nascent Soul realm seemed to be injured.
Among all the elders that had joined as his Dharma protectors, five of them were at the Nascent Soul realm, including clan head Lu. The other nascent Soul realm elders belonged to the other cities and were their respective heads.
"What happened?" Shirong asked in a low voice.
Clan Head Lu instantly understood that Shirong must not have been able to pay much attention to other things when he was undergoing his breakthrough.
'But how did he kill the targets, then?' Clan Head Lu wondered before explaining the matters in brief to him.
After listening to the entire explanation, Shirong understood that it was the Immortal Crystal armament that had killed the targets for him. Since he had them in his mind, the immortal weapon must have picked up on it and acted.
'You bring more and more surprises to me every day.' Shirong thought in his heart.
After Clan Head Lu, the other elders also congratulated him, but some of them were quite sad due to the loss of their clansmen. Still, what Shirong had done was nothing short of a miracle. In total, he had born ten bolts of tribulation lightning, of which six were even the Purple-white lightning bolts.
Just being able to bear three normal tribulation bolts was considered to be good, but for him, they could say that he was nothing less than a monster. The elders knew that the Divine armor had contributed to it as well, but it was still Shirong's talent that must have triggered the change in the tribulation.
The elders including Shirong himself were unaware that everything had changed because of the presence of Lin Wu. Had he not been here, Shirong would not have had the unknown energy in his core and it would not have absorbed the tribulation lightning.
Originally he would have broken through after three bolts of tribulation lightning like normal but the unknown energy consumed it and enraged the tribulation clouds. Then the appearance of Lin Wu only made it change further and it evolved into a dual layered heavenly tribulation.
Still, in the long term, Shirong had only benefited from it. His cultivation technique had progressed to the next level and the unknown energy effect had also made some unknown changes to his Nascent Soul. He could tell that his affinity with the lightning element had increased.
He took another look at the people from the audience and saw their expressions. Some of them were excited seeing him, some were sad from the loss of their companions, and some were simply scared.
Those that had run away at the first sight of danger were thanking the heavens that they did not dare stay in the audience or they may have died too. The Nascent Soul realm elder who had been hit by the tribulation lighting was still pale and blood was leaking out of his mouth.
'It's good that we got them all to sign the agreements before, or this would have been a mess.' Shirong thought.
Eventually, it was decided that they will all return to the city for now and those that were injured will be treated. Clan Head Lu volunteered to compensate the kin of those that had died, but the other elders rejected it. They knew the risks of what would happen and could not go back on their words now.
No one knew that Shirong would be so monstrously talented that dual layered tribulation would be formed. While they got to witness a rare phenomenon, they also ended up making some losses.
Currently, clan head Lu and Shirong were sitting in a private room and finally got to talk.
"How did you get rid of the targets, young master? I could tell that you were fully focused on the breakthrough." Clan Head Lu questioned.
"It was not actually fully under my control. When the lightning bolts were being restricted by the Armor, and split into smaller ones. I needed to dispose of them quickly. I just ended up deflecting them towards the direction of the targets.
Although I was lucky at the start as it only killed the main targets but the last bolt was quite strong and I could barely resist it. That's why when the lightning bolt was sent there, it ended up killing everyone in a radius." Shirong said, making up a believable excuse.
What he had said was in reality a truth as it was indeed Lin Wu who had killed them with the lightning, but Shirong did not know this fully. He just had a hunch and made up this lie.
Clan Head Lu didn't doubt this either, as according to him there weren't many methods by which one could do something like this. Like even he himself would be able to deflect a bolt of tribulation lightning if it came towards him, but to control where it lands would be extremely difficult.
But he just pushed all this on the divine armor which was given to him by his clan and attributed it to their greatness.
"Well… that was entertaining to watch…" Lin Wu chuckled.
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Shirong was currently standing in one of the training halls of the Lu clan. This training hall was rather special though as it was utilized by the clan head Lu himself. Shirong had asked to use this as he wanted to test out his skills now that he had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm.
He could have very well done this outside the city, but with the current populace that was looking at his every move, Clan head Lu suggested that he stay here instead. Shirong too thought that exposing his abilities right from the get-go would not be that beneficial to him and obliged.
The Immortal Crystal Armament was already stored in the spatial storage, and Shirong wanted to see his own skills for now. Testing out his skill with the immoral crystal armament was only problematic and was not something he wanted to do here.
It was fine if Clan Head Lu saw his own skills, but he could not let them know that the armor was more than just an armor. So instead of that, Shirong simply used a spirit sword for it.
"Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sky Parting Thunder!" He yelled.
~Rumble~
Sparks flew everywhere as a large amount of lightning attribute spirit Qi condensed onto his spirit sword. This spirit Qi was not sourced from his Dantian and was newly converted. Shirong wanted to know why a difference like this was created.
Now that he was using his skill, he could tell that his speed of refinement had increase day quite a lot. It didn't even take him two seconds before his attribute less spirit Qi was refined into lightning element spirit Qi.
He swung his sword and a beam of lightning was shot out, and it was as if it would tear the sky apart. The sound of thunder could be heard as the attack progressed ahead and then stuck the target at the end.
~KABOOM~
A loud expansion rang, and the target which was a wooden dummy, was instantly vaporized. Clan head Lu was watching the entire thing and was shocked. His eyes were wide open and his hands were trembling.
The dummy that Shirong had just vaporized was no normal training dummy, rather it was made out of tough spirit wood, which was used to making weapons and armors. But not only that, it was also inscribed with formations that made it more durable and increased its defense.
Clan Head Lu could very well destroy the dummy too, but to do so would require all of his strength. While Shirong here had just used a casual attack of his. Clan head Lu could very well tell the difference between the two now.
Clan Head Lu was at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm and Shirong was one stage below at the infant stage. Yet even then, their strengths were greatly varied. Clan Head Lu knew he was no match for Shirong now. He reckoned that even if a few Nascent Soul realm cultivators banded together to fight Shirong, he would still win.
~Sigh~
"The younger generation is bound to shadow the old. Young master Shirong's strength is incredible." Clan Head Lu praised.
Shirong did not attack again after the first time as he had understood well. Nothing would be able to bear his attacks here.
"Thank you for the compliment, Clan Head Lu, but I still have a lot to learn." Shirong spoke.
Clan Head Lu gave a simple smile and thought about how he had successfully established a relationship with young master Shirong. He and the other clans had already witnessed Shirong's monstrous talent, and he was the only one who had the opportunity to capitalize on it.
'Hopefully, my granddaughters get lucky. Even if one of them is successful, my clan's future will be secured.' Clan Head Lu thought to himself.
He looked at Shirong, who was staring at the mountains for some reason.
"Something wrong, young master?" Clan Head Lu asked.
"…No… nothing. I thought I felt something…" Shirong replied as he shook his head.
He didn't know why, but he could sense a very faint feeling from far away. It was coming from the mountains to the north, but it faded away rather quickly.
"I see. What will you be doing now, young master? Will you be leaving?" Clan Head Lu questioned.
"Yes. It is time for me to head on ahead. I have to complete certain tasks that my clan has given me." Shirong replied.
"Hmm… it is understandable. I guess you're heading to the Capital City of the Ling Kingdom?" Clan Head Lu asked further.
"Yes, I need to do some things there before heading ahead," Shirong replied.
"You will need to stay wary of Minister Du Yang if you are going there, young master. The news about you breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm has no doubt reached the royal court by now." Clan Head Lu said.
"I know. Besides… I have a few questions I want to ask him myself, anyway." Shirong said, as an evil glint could be seen in his eyes for a moment.
"Hoho! Seems like our boy here is finally going to act… Hehe." Lin Wu chuckled, finding the entire thing entertaining.
While Shirong was testing his skills, Lin Wu was not sitting idle either. The system was actively observing and analyzing his condition and gathering more data. This was helping in its analysis of the Immortal Sky Shaker art.
~Ding~
——
NOTIFICATION: Cultivation technique analysis at 50%.
——
Lin Wu had asked the system to notify him when specific milestones were reached and this was one of them.
"Great, the speed has really increased by a lot more compared to the snail pace before." Lin Wu said feeling content.
Before it had barely progressed by ten percent in over two months, but now in less than fifteen days, it had reached fifty percent. All of this was due to the additional data that Lin Wu had gathered, which allowed the system to upgrade its data banks.
But this was still not the end for him.
"Haha, now that we're heading to the capital, there is no doubt I will have more opportunities to gather data."
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Shirong did not leave right away of course. There were still a few minor tasks he needed to finish up before leaving. But they were short enough that they could be finished in the rest of the day. He would be leaving in the morning first thing tomorrow.
After he was done with everything, the night had already arrived and he was at the Lu Clan Mansion. The clan head had organized a farewell banquet for him and had also asked the other clan's higher ups to join.
Shirong was fine with it and just went along. It was a good opportunity to expand his circle anyway and he was fine with adding a few more allies. Though there were a few people that chose not to attend the banquet.
These were the same people that had been targeted by clan Head Lu and killed By Lin Wu. They already had some unsavory relations with the Lu Clan and after the deaths, they were in no mood for a banquet.
In fact, they had left rather quickly after Shirong had finished his breakthrough, and they had returned to Deer Wood City. The ones that were remaining were all those that were very enthusiastic to further their connection with the young heir of the Ji clan.
They all had heard of the Ji clan and knew of its influence and knew very well to not waste this opportunity. They even brought congratulatory gifts for Shirong because of his breakthrough, and praised him to no end.
"Hehe, I'll go and enjoy some food on my own too…" Lin Wu said before leaving the ring in the middle of the banquet.
With the safety net of the teleportation formation, Lin Wu was free to do quite a few things. Besides, with the improvement in the backdrop function, Lin Wu could now leave the ring and Shirong would still feel like he was inside there.
Even if he checked with his spirit sense, he would see that the spear was still there. For this, all Lin Wu had to do was to leave a decoy, which was nothing but a small piece of his crystals. The system installed an illusory function which made it seem like Lin Wu was still in the ring.
And if Shirong ever tried to summon him, the teleportation formation would directly activate and put him in his hand, making it seem like he was being withdrawn from the spatial storage ring.
It was a rather convenient method and since his main body could supply the spirit Qi for it to function, he didn't mind the costs either. Though this safety net wouldn't last for long.
Lin Wu knew that as soon as Shirong went a certain distance beyond the Deer Wood city, the reach of the teleportation formation would not be enough and it would be unavailable. If he wanted to overcome this, he would need to increase the power supply of the tomb.
'I'll think of that later, for now I'll just get some delicious food!' Lin Wu thought to himself and sneaked into the same dining hall where the other clansmen of the Lu clan ate.
He followed the same method of hiding and stealing food and only stopped when he felt content.
"Hmm… I should ask the servants for fruits and stuff, I guess. Wait! Maybe I can even get them to cook for me!" Lin Wu just realized.
He returned back to Shirong's and entered the spatial storage ring.
"Though, if I want them to cook for me, they'll need to have eaten good food, too. And they will need to learn how to cook. Maybe I can get some books on cooking and then transfer it to a jade slip for them to read from." Lin Wu pondered.
Lin Wu thought of all the resources that could be obtained from the forest and the good food that could be made from it. Just thinking about it made him drool. While Lin Wu was fine with eating raw meat and stuff, he still liked the taste of cooked food.
Till now he had been tasting food by partially changing the internal parts of his mouth into his organic form, as his crystal form didn't really have a sense of taste. It was now that he suddenly realized something.
"Hang On! I've never seen what my organic form looks like after I broke through to the Nascent Soul realm!" Lin Wu exclaimed to himself.
Feeling a burning curiosity, Lin Wu's mind returned to his main body and he immediately triggered the cellular crystallization innate skill, reverting his body to the organic form. After he was fully transformed, he took a look in the system data to see his form.
"GODDAMN! I'M EVEN WORSE NOW!" Lin Wu shouted, feeling a bit scared of himself.
There were sharp teeth coming out of his 'lips' and there were two additional appendages to the sides of his mouth. These had smaller teeth and were able to freely move to pick up things by gripping them.
His eyes had moved to the side of his head and were still the same, while the rest of his body was thick and bulky. The chitin like layer on his body had gotten more thick and the segments looked more linear now.
The inside of his mouth still had the sharp spine like teeth that were arranged in tens of rows. He opened his mouth wide and could swear if he lined up his body he would be able to see the other end of his digestive tract.
Another thing that he noticed was two red ears that had popped up at the top oh his head. Which now that he looked at them closely, seemed familiar to something from his past life.
"Wait, a minute! Why does it seem like I'm wearing those fake animal ear headbands that the cosplayers wore in my past life?" Lin Wu exclaimed.
He felt them and could control them, to move around and twitch.
"Am I a cosplayer worm now?"
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Lin Wu's new ears were of course there due to the effect of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King bloodline that he had assimilated. The normal ones had smaller ears, but the kings had ears that were oversized just like the ones that the cosplayers wore.
They looked a bit silly on his head, which was rather large, but he guessed that no one should mind it as he was literally a beast. He also doubted anyone would know what a cosplayer was in this world and if they did, it meant that they were also from another world like his.
This was another doubt that Lin Wu had. He wondered if he was the only human that was reincarnated into this world, or if there were more.
"If I go by the law of probability, there is bound to be more than just me that has been sent here. Though… speaking of worlds there are many worlds in this specific universe so maybe if they are not in the Ming Dao world they are in some other world." Lin Wu hypothesized.
Lin Wu wondered if he would ever get to meet someone else from his world or even a world like his in this universe.
"No, wait… I'm missing the most important thing… what if my world is also located in this universe?" Lin Wu questioned himself.
Lin Wu had no way of answering this question and just thought that it would be better if he shelved this matter for now, lest he ends up giving himself a headache or worse triggers some kind of a 'heavenly law' that punishes one for knowing too much.
Since this was a cultivation world and had something like heavenly tribulation, he couldn't be too careless.
Just like this, Lin Wu spent some time in his thoughts and the banquet ended. The people returned to their respective places while Shirong went some place else with the Clan Head. Lin Wu returned his mind to the avatar after sensing that Shirong had started moving.
"Oh, where are they going?" Lin Wu wondered.
After watching for a bit, he realized that they were going underground through a set of stairs.
"Could they be going to the underground vault?" Lin Wu questioned.
He received his answer in a couple of minutes as they really did end up reaching the vault.
"Let me open this, Young master. Just a few seconds," Clan Head Lu stated.
He created a few hand seals and then slammed his palm in the center of the door of the vault.
~WENG~
A humming sound could be heard, after which multiple runes appeared on the surface of the vault's door.
~clink~
The sounds of gears moving could be heard as the runes on the surface of the vault door faded away. Clan Head Lu pushed the heavy door and opened the entrance to the vault. This was the first item Lin Wu was getting to see the vault from a first person's perspective.
"Boy! They really have a lot of stuff, don't they?" Lin Wu muttered, seeing all the things.
Even though the system had already given him a report of all the items that were in the vault, it was still quite different seeing it with his own two eyes. He watched on as clan Head Lu took Shirong further in.
They passed a few shelves before reaching the center of the vault where a table was kept. On top of this table, a glass cabinet was kept in which contained the beast carapace fragment.
Clan head Lu made a few more hand seals and lifted the protective formation that was placed on the glass cabinet.
"You can take it now, young master Shirong." Clan head Lu stated.
"Hmm," Shirong hummed in response before picking it up.
He looked at the fragment carefully and had a few thoughts appear in his mind.
'What exactly is it that it can contain that unknown energy before?' Shirong wondered.
The unknown energy was able to consume the heavenly tribulation lightning which was no small feat, and as such Shirong was curious. There was no doubt if he found out more about it, it would only be beneficial to him in the future.
He then stored it back in his spatial storage ring where Lin Wu had already begun his analysis on the beast carapace fragment. Unlike Shirong, he knew exactly where this fragment had come from, but he was wondering what exactly was this unknown energy that could be triggered to appear by it.
"We should return now, our work is done." Shirong said before he and clan head Lu left the vault.
While leaving clan Head Lu casually flicked his hand and the vault door automatically locked itself behind him.
The fragment was the last thing he needed before leaving the city and heading for the capital. Shirong went to his assigned courtyard, which had actually been transferred over to his name now.
This was done by clan Head Lu to show his assurance that he will always have a place to stay in the Deer Wood City.
Shirong sat down in his bedroom and cultivated until the morning. He also had a few matters to ponder on and thus deemed it to be a good time to do that.
While he was doing this, Lin Wu had decided to leave the ring once more. But this time his reason for it was rather different.
"I should find some cookbooks before I leave the city. At least my main body will get to enjoy some good food in the meantime." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He sneaked out of the ring and directly went to the book shops in the city. He reckoned that he may as well gather all the information from the common book shops as well, since he was going to leave anyway.
Lin Wu even sneaked into some of the restaurants to steal the chef's personal recipes. They were of course not written down, and Lin Wu had to record them manually into a jade slip that he made himself.
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Lin Wu spent the rest of the night gathering as much information as he could and also stole some more food from the restaurants he went to. He didn't eat it right then and there and instead chose to store it for the future.
"Hehe, now I have snacks to eat while watching drama…" Lin Wu chuckled to himself.
After everything was done, he returned to Shirong and entered the ring. He just decided to spend the rest of the time cultivating.
Lin Wu was also wondering if he should let his avatar breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. While it was good for his own strength, it would also make it so that he would not be able to be shrink.
If his size was as big as his main body was, there was no way Shirong would be able to wield him. Though he also reckoned that he may be able to make different forms that he may be able to use.
"Hmm… I'll have to think more over this…" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he let his avatar cultivate and returned to his main body.
Lin Wu had played around a little bit in his organic form and then chose to return to the Crystalline form. He already got the information that he wanted and it had already been added to the system's data banks.
Since he had decided to get his servants to cook for him, he now needed to check up on them.
"Have they still not woken up?" Lin Wu said, as he looked at their status.
But then another thought came to his mind.
'Will they even be able to cook with their forms, though? I think I'll need someone that is more humanoid.' Lin Wu thought.
And as soon as he thorough of humanoid beasts, his mind went to the monkey beasts or more particularly the Slim Arm ape king. Lin Wu already knew that all of the monkey beasts were under his control and if he wanted to recruit one, he may as well meet the Slim Arm ape king.
"Looks like it is time already…" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He remembered the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king wanted to come with him and thus contracted him with the help of the communication jade slip he had given him.
"Crimson eyed emerald Worm?" The beetle king spoke, still feeling the novelty of using something like this.
"I'm going to meet up with the Slim Arm ape king. Are you going to join?" Lin Wu questioned.
"You're going already? Hmm… alright, I'll come with you." The beetle king answered.
"Alright, I'm leaving right now and will meet you midway." Lin Wu said before stopping the connection.
He teleported to the top of the tomb and then flew from there. About half an hour later, he saw the huge body of the beetle king flying up ahead. Both the beasts sensed each other and Lin Wu came to fly at his side.
"Weren't you gonna pick out some of your subordinates for the mutations?" Lin Wu asked, remembering what he had promised.
"Well, yes… and I did tell them but it ended up turning into something different." The beetle king replied.
"Different? How?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.
"Well, after they heard that only the strong will be eligible to receive and survive the mutations, they decided to determine who among them is the strongest. So now they are having a string of battles like those humans have." The beetle king answered.
"You mean a tournament? They're having a tournament." Lin Wu said.
"Yes, yes, that thing. They have been battling since that day and I had to tell them to go away. They were creating too much disturbance while I wast cultivating." The beetle king replied.
"So… what about the mutations?" Lin Wu asked again.
"When they are done, they will return and then you can do them. Though do you need something for that?" The beetle King asked.
Lin Wu thought for a bit and realized that he shouldn't just do it for free like that since he would be spending quite a bit of his spirit Qi on it.
"Hmm… tell you what, when they come, tell them to bring in other beasts that I can eat. I will be using up spirit Qi so I'd like something to eat." Lin Wu answered.
"This is acceptable." The beetle king replied.
It was nothing for his subordinates and descendant to bring beasts as payment.
"Oh, I wanted to ask another thing." Lin Wu suddenly spoke.
"Ask then," The beetle king responded.
He was feeling a bit strange as the mannerism that Lin Wu used to talk were an awful lot similar to that of the humans and he didn't know why he did that.
'Did he spend time with humans too?' The beetle king wondered.
"Are there any fruits, vegetables, and spices that grow in the forest that the humans use?" Lin Wu questioned.
"I know of the fruits, but I don't know anything particular for the other two things you asked. There are many fruits in the forest which you probably should have seen too. But why are you asking this?" The beetle king replied.
"Oh, if your subordinates are going to come for the mutations, they can also bring those things as payment." Lin Wu answered.
"Finding spirit fruits will be a bit difficult but normal fruits should be easy." The beetle king said.
"Hmm… if they are able to bring a spirit fruit, they don't need to bring a beast and if they are bringing normal fruit, they either need to bring a large quantity of it or also bring beasts with it." Lin Wu explained.
"Really? You will be fine with normal fruit as compensation?" The beetle king said, feeling a bit apprehensive.
"It should be fine. You can tell them that." Lin Wu confirmed.
The beetle king couldn't say much after that and simply screeched in agreement. And just like this, the two Nascent Soul realm beasts reached their destination.
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The two beasts were hovering at the edge of the territory that belonged to the Slim Arm ape and also the Demon Spine ape.
Apparently, the father and son were now sharing territories as the Demon Spine ape had taken over the nearby territories that were left from the Sliver Beak Sky Soar eagle. Currently, the combined territories of the two Ape kings could be said to be as the second largest among all the beast kings.
The largest belonged to the Twin lights liger king of course while the third largest was that of the Olive Viper king. And in the last place was the Split Thorn horn beetle king. Though if one considered his case, the territory was not just restricted to the surface and extended quite deep.
A lot of the insect beasts lived underground and made their nests there. So if one considered just the surface area in which the beast kings and their subordinates lived, the Split Thorn horn beetle king's territory could be said to be the largest.
The two Nascent Soul realm beasts did not enter directly, as it would be seen as trespassing. Instead, Lin Wu decided to do the same thing he had done with the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king.
He gathered his aura and sent out a wave from his body that traveled deep into the territory. The beasts that sensed this aura all quietened down and waited patiently. They knew not to make too much noise or come in the way of the incoming beast, lest they lost their lives.
At the center of the territory, there was another hill. This hill was smaller than that of the Tomb of the Taiji celestial but it's overall area was larger. There was a cave located at the base of this hill, which was not natural.
If one looked at it, they would be able to tell that this was carved out manually by someone. There were various marks on it that were caused by tools, claws, and punches. It was in this cave that the slim arm ape and his son the Demon Spine Ape lived.
As soon as Lin Wu's aura reached them, they roused from their meditation. If one looked at them right now, they would see they were sitting cross legged just the same way humans cultivated. The only difference was their sizes. The slim arm ape had long arms and a lanky body while the Demon Spine Ape was like a small mountain.
"Seems like we have a visitor." The Slim arm ape spoke.
"Visitor? More like intruders." The Demon spine ape said as a flame of violence sparked in his eyes.
"Patience my son. Look before you leap, he is not alone." The slim arm ape spoke.
"He isn't?" The demon spine ape questioned.
"No… looks like the old beetle is with him too." The slim arm ape answered.
"The two of them together? What are they doing here?" The Demon arm ape wondered.
"Well… why don't we go and find out?" The Slim Arm ape king said before standing up.
Meanwhile, Lin Wu had experienced something else at the border of the territory. The moment when the Slim arm ape king had opened his eyes, his spirit sense had spread out from his body.
'The slim arm ape kings' spirit sense is incredibly long… looks like there is more to him that I was thinking.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"They are approaching us." The beetle king said.
"Indeed, I can smell them now too." Lin Wu replied.
Lin Wu thought didn't tell him that he had already heard them when they had left the cave due to his enhanced hearing. His ears had secretly extended, and he was now tracking the two ape kings as they traveled towards him.
Then, in less than two minutes, the two ape beasts appeared in front of them. Both of them were small in size compared to the split thorn horn beetle king and Lin Wu. They couldn't help but stare at the emerald green creature that was in front of them.
Previously they had only sensed his bloodline, but they were unable to see his true form in the bloodline battle. But now seeing him they were shocked, as only one name came to their mind.
"The Olive Viper king!!" They muttered together.
While the beetle king might not have heard them, Lin Wu clearly did and they were even speaking in the human tongue rather than the beast one, that too a dialect that was not common in this region. This meant that even if other beasts that were used to humans heard it, they would be unable to understand it.
'So they use the human tongue to prevent the other beasts from listening in. Hmm… this is definitely a human tactic.' Lin Wu said as he recognized what a lot of multi-lingual people did in his past life.
Lin Wu could have similarly responded to them, but decided to hide his advantage.
'Who knows what else I may end up finding…' Lin Wu reckoned.
"Greetings! Slim Arm Ape king, Demon Spine Ape King." Lin Wu said, wanting to take the initiative.
He remembered some of the books on negotiation and conversation he had read in his past life and knew that taking the initiative to speak first could place one in advantage. Though if it was done wrong they could also end up causing problems.
Still… in his case, he was talking to beasts and did not really know if it would work or not. He just decided to do it anyway and make some use of those shitty books that did not teach him well to talk with girls.
"And you are…?" The slim arm ape replied.
"Ah, I should have introduced myself first. I'm pretty sure you must have seen the heavenly tribulation a few days ago, I am that beast. I am called as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm." Lin Wu introduced.
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Upon hearing the words though, both the ape kings were shocked.
"Worm? That's a worm?" They questioned under their breaths.
They looked at each other and sensed that they had the same kinds of apprehensions.
"So he's not a subordinate of the Olive Viper King." The Slim Arm Ape spoke in a low voice to the Demon spine ape.
All of their conversations were done in human tongue and were quite low in volume. From the distance the four beasts were standing, they would not have been able to tell that the other party was talking.
"What are you here for?" The Demon Spine Ape asked in a rather loud voice.
"We are here to talk and discuss," The split thorn horn beetle king replied.
"Talk? Talk what?" The Demon Spine Ape asked again.
"Well, we would like to discuss if cooperation between us four could be possible." Lin Wu was the one who spoke this time.
The Slim arm ape king narrowed his eyes as a few thoughts appeared in his mind. He could tell that since this new Nascent Soul realm beast was with the beetle king, it meant that it was not violent… well, relatively speaking.
Though now that the Slim Arm ape king thought of it, perhaps it was bad that this beast was calm. It would mean that the beast was more intelligent and his schemes would not work the same as they could on others.
"Why would we need to cooperate with you?" The Slim arm ape questioned after careful thinking.
"Well, as you know I'm a new Nascent Soul realm beast just like your son the demon spine ape. And as a Nascent Soul realm beast, we can claim a territory in the sixth ring of the millennium forest.
With that… one can also lay claim to the seat of a ruler. But as we know the seats are already occupied thus one of them would have to be emptied before another can take over it." Lin Wu answered.
~humph~
Visible steam came out from the demon spine ape kings' nose as the flames of battle intensified in his eyes.
"SO YOU ARE HERE TO TAKE MY SEAT? FINE! BUT NOT WITHOUT A BATTLE!" The Demon Spine Ape yelled and was just about to attack when he was interrupted.
"Hang on a minute! I'm not here to fight you. I don't even want your seat!" Lin Wu explained.
The Slime Arm ape also sent a glare to his son, which made him calm down. He knew that his son's bloodline was innately violent and there wasn't much he could do to control it. While he could still get him to calm down, since his cultivation base was less than him, it won't be long when he's stronger than him and the same things won't work.
"Whose seat do you want, then? Mine?" The slim arm ape king questioned.
"No… I don't want either of you two's seats. Rather, the reason why I want your cooperation is so that I can get the seat of another ruler of the forest… the Olive Viper king." Lin Wu revealed.
A flash of realization hit the Slim Arm ape as he connected the links. The old ape was smarter than the beetle king and could obviously link Lin Wu's appearance to that of the Olive Viper King.
After all, if he were not a subordinate or descendant, then it was obvious that he was an enemy. The slim arm ape king also reckoned that the similarities in their auras were due to the same kind of a fortunate encounter.
"So you are like him too… both of you are mutant beasts…" The Slim Arm ape king spoke.
"Indeed, you are as smart as they say. Let's just say the olive viper king and I cannot exist at the same time. One of us has to die!" Lin Wu said with determination.
The slim arm ape king looked over to the Beetle king and spoke, "and you are fine with this Split thorn horn beetle king?"
"He's helping me get revenge and also helping my descendants, I am fine if he does this." The beetle king simply said.
"I see…" The slim arm ape king responded.
"I know your subordinates were also killed by the Olive Viper King. Don't you want revenge too?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Hmm… while revenge is indeed something I once desired. I am not stupid to go through with it. The Olive Viper king is no common beast and his subordinates are not either." The Slim Arm ape king spoke.
"Besides… if we help you fight against the Olive Viper King, it would go against the traditions that our ancestors had established a long time ago. One must battle for the seat if it is occupied." The Slim Arm Ape king added.
"I never said that I want you all to fight him with me. All I want is for you guys to not interfere or perhaps just hold back his subordinates, I'll kill that snake myself!" Lin Wu declared.
A faint fluctuation in Lin Wu's aura could be sensed and the Demon Spine ape king only got excited due to the hint of fury in it.
"Fine, let's say I agree. But what will we benefit from it? You say revenge, but that is still not worth it for us." The Slim Arm Ape king replied.
"Well… I can offer you the same thing I offered the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King." Lin Wu spoke.
"And what was that?" The Slim Arm Ape king asked and sent a look to the beetle king.
"He offered to mutate my subordinates and descendants so that they can get stronger. One of my descendants has already experienced it and her bloodline has definitely unproved by a lot.
I'd say… it's even better than mine now." The beetle King honestly said.
The Slim arm ape king had not expected an answer like this and felt strange. As far as he knew, mutations were uncontrollable, and all mutant beasts were just lucky to even survive it.
He didn't know how Lin Wu would control that.
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While the Slim arm ape king was a little tempted by the offer, he didn't know if it would be good for his kin. For all he knew, it would just end up destroying them intend. And thus he thought of doing it later.
Lin Wu could see the confusion in the slim arms ape king's eyes and could guess what he was thinking.
"I guess you would like to see the proof for that don't you?" Lin Wu asked.
"Hmm… yes. Unless I see it with my own two eyes, I won't believe that your mutations will be beneficial to my kin." The slim arm ape king replied.
"No problem there. You can simply bring me one of your kin and I'll demonstrate. Though they need to be strong enough to bear the mutations, at least at the core condensation realm.
I haven't tried it on the beasts who are below it and thus don't know if it will work. Still, we can try out that option right now if you are willing." Lin Wu said.
The slim arm ape king thought over it and then nodded his head.
"Very well, if it is as you say then we can progress further." The slim arm ape said before letting out a cry the spread in the area.
~kikiki~
The sounds of monkeys and apes could be heard coming from everywhere and soon an army of them was gathered around them. The slim arm ape looked at the beasts and spoke to them.
"Bring me one core condensation realm and one Qi refining realm monkey from the jails." The slim arm ape ordered.
He had spoken in the human tongue again, but the monkeys were able to understand him. Lin Wu heard his words and was rather surprised.
'He's really trying to follow the way of humans huh…' Lin Wu thought.
Soon two monkeys were brought to the front and they had a lot of scars on their bodies. They had fierce looks in their eyes and were ready to fight at any moment.
"These are the criminal of my kind. You can test your mutations on them." The slim arm ape king said.
"Hmm… using criminal for testing… how 'human' of you…" Lin Wu said before looking at the two monkeys.
At first, the two monkeys had not seen the nascent soul realm beasts and thus were showing their fierce expressions. But when they finally looked up, they could see the four nascent soul realm beasts, two of which were none other than the leaders of the tribe.
Their faces fell and they couldn't help but feel terrified. Especially when Lin Wu's crimson red eyes stared at them. They felt as if they would be killed any moment and they shivered in their places.
"Who should we start with… let's see." Lin Wu muttered before making his choice. "You, come forward." Lin Wu ordered.
The one he had picked was the monkey that was at the first stage of the core condensation realm. Lin Mu reckoned that to make a better impression it was to use the tested method, rather than something new.
That was why he picked the core condensation realm monkey, as he knew they had a higher chance at survival. The beast in question wanted to resist, but the gazes of the two ape kings were terrifying and froze them in his place.
"Ah, you're not going to move, are you? Let me get to you instead then…" Lin Wu said, but before he could do anything else the monkey flew towards him.
Or rather he was sent flying towards him. The other core condensation realm monkeys that were beside the monkey kicked him ahead, not wanting to piss off whatever beast that was in front of them. They could all feel the power from him and knew better than to test anything.
Who knew if he would end up picking them instead of the monkey that was chosen before. Even with their leader here, they couldn't help but feel scared for some reason. It was as if there was a hidden pressure that exuded from Lin Wu that was incomprehensible to them.
"Oh, this works too…" Lin Wu said before extending his tail towards the monkey.
The monkey shivered in his place, while the others watched with apprehension. They didn't know what was going to happen and thus they were keeping silent. Seeing that their king was also doing the same, they didn't even dare to breathe.
Lin Wu's tail extended a small spike that touched the monkey's forehead and the process.
'System, take over. Try to see if you can replicate the mutations faster than before that.' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.
The system had already analyzed the mutation that had occurred in his servants and could now replicate the process. It had informed Lin Wu that due to their connections, the bloodlines would resonate and this would induce a mutation.
This also opened up a lot of opportunities for Lin Wu as well. One of the theories that he had was, the more his cultivation base increases, the more strong the mutations will get. There was even a chance that those that had already mutated before may experience it again.
Though one question had stumped him. He didn't know if this could be repeated endlessly as long as he had spirit Qi or if he had a limit that he did not know of currently. Even the system was unable to give an explanation to him and he could only figure it out along the way.
Both the ape kings as well as the beetle king were using their spirit sense to observe the monkey, though they did not dare to directly probe its body as they didn't know if this would affect the process or not.
All of them had either seen or heard of mutant beasts and the mutations and thus knew better than to interfere in such a risky process. Just like this, a minute passed before Lin Wu removed his tail from the monkey's forehead.
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The beasts looked on and saw that there was now a small green gem stuck to the forehead of the monkey. Its eyes were closed and it was standing still. Then suddenly…
~thud~
Its body fell to the ground and it looked like it was unconscious.
"Just wait a bit, it takes time for it to start. But once it does, the process may take a few days to complete." Lin Wu spoke.
The slim arm ape looked at the beetle king for answers and the large beetle nodded his head in approval. Though that little nod moved its large horn which stirred up strong winds.
After getting the answer, the slim arm ape returned his focus to the monkey and watched on. Meanwhile, Lin Wu started on the second monkey that was at the late stage of the Qi refining realm.
This one was a lot more timid than the previous one and fainted the moment Lin Wu got close to it. Though Lin Wu didn't mind it and just went to do what he was supposed to. He placed his tails and extended a spike that pricked into the forehead of the monkey.
After he was done, another small gem was left on the forehead of the smaller monkey. And just as Lin Wu finished this, the mutation in the core condensation realm monkey finally started.
~kii~
It let out a cry from its mouth even though it was unconscious and started trembling on the ground. Soon the trembling turned to spasm and then into what looked like seizures.
The two ape kings felt like something was going wrong and were unsure of this entire thing now. While the two monkeys had done crimes and were going to be killed after their punishment was over, they did not feel good seeing them suffer like this.
After five minutes of struggling the core condensation realm monkey went still and stopped breathing.
"You killed him!" The demon spine ape yelled.
"Oh, just wait a bit more." Lin Wu said, knowing what was actually happening inside the beast's body.
Just when they thought Lin Wu had deceived them, the core condensation realm monkey started breathing again.
~huu~
A deep breath was taken by the monkey before a small vortex of spirit Qi started forming around him. Everyone watched in shock as the monkey's cultivation base started to increase rapidly and even its body was changing.
The green gem that was embedded into his head was absorbed into the body and the skin of his arms started tearing. But no blood spilled out from them, rather a green layer of crystals was now growing out of them.
These crystals were arranged like a layer of short spikes, like one would see on a meat tenderizer, and formed into something that looked like bracers on the monkey's arms. The same thing happened to its legs and now it was as if it was wearing emerald green shin plates.
After this entire process was completed, the monkey broke into the next stage, reaching the mid stage of the core condensation realm. All of the beasts were astounded at this, and they all knew how long it took for them to cultivate.
Most of the core condensation realm beasts here were over a hundred years old and it took them decades before they were able to progress in a single stage. But here was a specimen who had broken through in less than an hour right from the early stage of the core condensation realm.
The slim arm ape approached the monkey and checked its body with his spirit sense. It closed its eyes for about two minutes after which he opened them, this time the look in them had changed.
"It's true… he truly can improve their bloodlines by mutations…" The Slim arm ape spoke.
"Let me check!" The Demon spine ape said before doing the same thing his father had done. But unlike him, he didn't even take ten seconds before stopping. No words were spoken by him though, which already showed his answer.
"How strong do you think their bloodline will get, father?" The demon spine ape questioned in human tongue.
"Hmm… it is hard to tell, but right now they are already better than their normal brethren. Seeing as their aura and cultivation is still increasing, they may reach an even higher level. Although they will not be at the same level as your bloodline, they will definitely exceed mine." The slim arm ape answered.
After getting the confirmation from his father, the Demon spine ape could of nothing but accept the outcome. He knew that while they were strong together, it wouldn't be long before an even strong contender would arise, not to mention that humans could also appear and start killing his kin for resources.
He didn't want either of things to happen and thus he kept his silence.
~kiyaaa!~
Suddenly the Qi refining realm monkey that had been silent all this while woke up and let out a loud cry. Its eyes turned red as veins appeared on its skin. Strong waves of spirit Qi were emitted from his body, and it looked like its power had suddenly doubled.
It looked at the other monkey beasts that were standing near him, looking at him curiously and then pounced at them, like a mad beast. But before he could take another step its body froze in place.
~Boom~
~splatter~
Then suddenly, its body exploded into a gory mess and the blood splattered over the other monkeys that were near him. Lin Wu thought had gotten successfully away from the splash zone and thus was able to save his immaculate and pristine body from getting dirty.
"Ah, looks like this one was a failure. Well now, we know that it only works on the beasts that are at the Core condensation realm at the very least." Lin Wu spoke after seeing the result.
~gulp~
The other monkeys alas gulped after seeing the messy scene and wondered if they would have to go through that now.
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The slim arm ape king looked at the remains of his kin and went into deep thought. He weighed his options and felt like this could work.
"Alright, we will do as you suggested." The slim karma ape replied after ten minutes of wait.
Lin Wu didn't disturb him during that time either and knew that he would agree, eventually. He felt like he had grasped the mentality of the beast and could predict how he would respond.
"WAIT! YOU DON'T HAVE MY PERMISSION YET!" The Demon spine ape interrupted.
"Oh? You don't want to cooperate?" Lin Wu questioned.
The slim arm ape looked at his son, but did not speak. He knew that he could not interfere in this now that his son was a ruler, too. Doing so would not only undermine his authority, but would also invite trouble for himself.
"If you can defeat me in a battle, I will agree with this cooperation and that plan of yours." The Demon spine ape spoke.
All of the beasts looked at Lin Wu and waited for his answer. Any battle between Nascent Soul realm beasts was dangerous, and its results could affect a lot of things.
"Hmm, I'm fine with it. We can battle if you want." Lin Wu said in a straightforward manner.
He had honestly expected that the Demon spine ape would respond like this and was looking forward to it too. Lin Wu wanted to test out his strength against an equal and who else would be better than the Demon spine ape who was at the same cultivation base as his.
"If you two are going to fight, you cannot do it here. Go to the outer rings." The Slim arm ape spoke.
"Yes, father." The Demon Spine ape replied.
"I don't mind." Lin Wu responded as well.
With both of them in agreement, the four Nascent Soul realm beasts went towards the third ring of the millennium forest. Fighting in the sixth ring and fifth ring would bring attention OT the other two rulers of the forest, the Olive Viper King and the Twin Lights Liger king, which was not something they wanted.
While if they did fight in the fourth ring, there was a still a chance some random subordinate of the other two kings may report the fight while they were battling. Thus the third ring was the best choice for them currently.
They could have directly gone out of the forest too, but that would have come with its own set of challenges. Bringing the attention of humans towards them would only be worse than getting the attention of the other two rulers of the forest.
Since all of them were able to fly, it took them just a couple of hours to reach the third ring. They didn't go there together either, as that would be very eye catching. They instead split up and went there, this way it would be less apparent.
Lin Mu didn't even fly there, he just went a sufficient distance from there before digging into the ground and drilling his way there. With his increased drilling speed, he was there before them and waited for them on the surface, while hiding his aura.
His new ears were extended fully and were picking up all the sounds of the forest. He could sense the three nascent Soul realm beasts approaching from far and knew they would reach him in a couple of hours.
Till they got here though, Lin Wu went over a plan on how he was going to fight the Demon Spine ape. He knew there were a few things he would need to hide, but he didn't mind exposing a few things.
He didn't have to worry about these beasts scheming against him like the humans would. Even though they had the same level of intelligence as that of a human, their experience was still different and their culture was also different.
They would fight to determine things and thus, schemes weren't really part of their lives. Perhaps only beasts like the Slim arm ape who had previously stayed in the human world and The Twin Lights liger King who had lived for a long time would understand how to scheme.
But even then, they couldn't compare to Lin Wu who had seen all the dramas, novels and comics of his previous life which expanded his experience of scheming greatly. The three rulers eventually arrived at the agreed location and saw that Lin Wu was already there.
'How did he get here before us? He doesn't even fly as fast as us?' was the thought all of them had.
They had seen Lin Wu's flying speed, which was definitely slower than the three of them. The beetle king could fly even before it was a nascent Soul realm due to having wings so he had the advantage from the start, but the two ape kings were also experienced.
But this thought didn't last for long, in their minds, and they got ready for the battle. All the nearby beasts were scared away with a little hint of their aura and they didn't dare to approach tens of kilometers in their location.
The beetle king and the Slim arm ape went a sufficient distance away and watched on carefully. This would be an important battle that would determine the situation of the millennium forest.
"Let's start now. Do you want to set the rules?" Lin Wu offered.
"I don't care for that, let's just fight!" The demon spine ape said, feeling eager.
"Alright!" Lin Wu said before spirit Qi waves appeared from his body.
The same happened for the Demon spine ape, and he initiated his attack.
"HAAA! TAKE THIS! APE HAMMER!" The demon spine ape shouted as he jumped high and rained down with his fists.
~boom~
Lin Wu blocked the attack with his tail, which was deflected as well due to the impact, but he soon gained his control back.
"Nice! This is going to be fun!" Lin Wu said as he flicked his tail toward the Demon spine ape.
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