Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 381 - Barging In? online for free - AllNovelFull
Jiao Fan, Old Man Tiandi and the other two Nascent Soul realm cultivators were literally knocked awake. The doors of the inner hall shook like windows during a storm and the sound explosion couldn't help but get past them.
"Something has happened outside. Is it the formation array attacking the door?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi said.
"No, that can't be it. Whoever made this temple and made the formation array would not have let that happen. The formation array would have made the doors open automatically if the flames were going to attack us." Jiao Fan said.
His condition was sightly better than before and he was no longer bleeding. His face was still pale though and his meridians aching. He had barely managed to gain slight control of his spirit Qi back, but even that was painful.
As for spirit sense? None of them could use it. After all, it had only been two hours since they had managed to enter the inner hall. If the effects of the Mind Expanding Lardite were this easy to dispel or heal from, its use would have been much more rampant.
Because of this restriction on their spirit sense, they could not perceive what was happening outside and neither did they know that even if they tried to do that, they would not be able to see past the doors as they could block spirit sense as well.
All in all, this was the perfect disaster and the four were absolutely, definitely, and truly fucked.
~BOOM~
Suddenly, in the next moment, another explosion was heard as the entire hall shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and the pillars cracked.
"Again? What the hell is happening?" Old Man Tiandi got anxious.
~gulp~
"Should we check?" The Subordinate of Jiao Fan asked.
"We can't risk opening the door of the inner hall and let the flames in. We will be surely killed if that happens." Jiao Fan said as he wiped the cold sweat off his brow.
~shua~
The four men could feel a suppressive aura coming from the outer hall. Even though their spirit sense and spirit Qi were temporarily crippled, they could still feel it. This showed that the aura was far more powerful than anything they had experienced before.
"This aura… isn't it?" Old Man Tiandi stuttered.
"That bird beast we saw… with that crystal serpent." Jiao Fan muttered.
~DENG~
And just as Jiao Fan said this, the doors of the inner hall were forced open. The four men were startled and, seeing that the doors had been opened got into defensive positions. They took out their defensive treasure and trump cards before hiding behind the pillars.
This had taken them less than a second to do and the entire time they were looking at the doors. But the problem was that they could not see anything as a thick cloud of dust and smoke was blocking their view.
~Piiiii~
They finally heard the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and shuddered.
"It truly is that beast! Did it enter the temple?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on Old Man Tiandi's side questioned.
~whoosh~
A gust of wind blew through the door and dissipated the smoky dust cloud.
~cough~cough~cough~
The clouds came towards the four men and they accidentally inhaled it. They coughed in protest and felt very uncomfortable. Their meridians already felt like they were burning, and now their lungs were doing the same.
Jiao Fan who managed to calm down a bit, finally saw past the doors.
"No… it can't be…" Jiao Fan said in disbelief.
The four men all looked in the direction and saw an astonishing sight. The formation array of the Temple was fully active and the statues of the vermilion bird were all letting out a bright light. Tens of thousands of runes floated around as flames raged on.
But this was not the shocking part, the shocking part was that these flames were not attacking Jiao Fan and the others despite the doors being broken. Instead of that, the flames were moving towards the opposite direction.
"Why are they…?" Jiao Fan's subordinate muttered.
~piiiii~
The Cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle came once again and her figure was finally visible past the thick blanket of flames. She was standing among them as if taking a walk in the park and strutting towards the inner hall.
"Why are the flames not affecting it? This formation is strong enough to kill even Dao Shell realm cultivators. The beast should have been hurt too." Old Man Tiandi Said.
"Wait, didn't the beasts appear along with the appearance of the temple? What if they are the guardians of the temple and can't be affected by it?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi hypothesized.
"No, if that were so, the flames would not have been attacking that beast. Look! They are clearly attacking it, that too with full force." Jiao Fan replied. "And the power seemed to be even greater than what it used to attack us…" He added upon comprehending this point.
~PIIIII~
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a screech as she scoffed at the flames around her. Only Lin Wu who was some distance behind her, could understand what her screeches and cries meant.
"These puny flames think they can hurt me? Humph! I'm the descendant of the legendary Vermilion flames and these are just some fake imitation. How can they even dare stop me!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle pridefully proclamation.
Sadly, there wasn't really anyone who could understand her words or they would have definitely been impressed.
~Sigh~
'This beast… I could have just stopped the formation beforehand but now… better to just leave it to her.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"The bird beast! It's doing something," Old Man Tiandi pointed.
The four men saw the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle raising its wings wide and taking a deep breath. The breath was strong enough to suck the flames towards it.
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"Will it die?" Jiao Fan couldn't help but hope.
He knew that now that this beast had entered the temple, there was a great chance it was the end for them. The only thing he could place his hopes on was nothing but the very same formation array that had made him despair and killed hundreds of people before.
But then he saw an oppressive sight.
All the flames made by the formation array were sucked into the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, mouth as she swallowed them whole. To her, these flames were just nourishment and were restoring all the energy that she had lost fighting previously.
"If I knew this, I would have already done this at the start and not waited there." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.
'If you did this, I probably would not have had the opportunity to gather information.' Lin Wu thought to himself, but did not dare to utter it out loud.
If he did try that, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would probably be pissed. And after coming this far along, Lin Wu did not want that to happen. All he could do right now was to watch the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle devour the flames made by the formation array.
The formation array did not falter either and kept on producing more and more flames. Lin Wu could ideally turn it off if he wanted to, but he didn't.
'Let's see how much she can really absorb and what happens to the formation array after that. Perhaps the exhaustion of energy might give the system the chance to analyze how the entire temple works.
Right now, it still can't tell where the main energy source of the temple is. I can see that it is being supplied by a spirit Qi gathering formation array that is separately presented in the depths of the temple, but the reservoir is still hidden.' Lin Wu thought.
Along with Lin Wu, Jiao Fan, old Man Tiandi and the other two also watched as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle ate the flames made by the formation array as if it was merely water.
"How… how can this beast do this?" Old Man Tiandi asked.
Till now the man had asked several questions, the answers of which no one knew. It was a pity that they did not know the very statues that they were seeing around them were attempts at replicating the majesty of a Vermillion bird. And the beast that they were witnessing right now was technically a descendant of that very beast.
"Even a beast that is innately talented in the fire element cannot do something like this. This eagle beast is not simple." Jiao Fan said as he wiped away more sweat from his forehead.
The temperature of the area had risen up by quite a lot due to the sea of flames and if there was any normal human here, they would have long since been scalded to death. The temperature was easily enough to evaporate water and blood.
Even if Jiao Fan and the other three were temporarily crippled, their bodies were still at the Nascent Soul realm despite not having any body cultivation. They could withstand the heat, but it still made them very unconformable. They wanted nothing more than to get away from here and soak in a cold spring of water.
Alas! Those thoughts were never coming true.
The four watched on as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle kept on sucking the flames into her body. The more she consumed, the stronger her aura got. Lin Wu could tell that her spirit Qi that had been depleted was rising at a rapid pace.
Previously, when the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle woke up, while she had not recovered all of his spirit Qi exhausted during the battle with the Aquadream Sea Lotus, she had still recovered about a quarter of her spirit Qi.
This was more than enough for her to fight and if she wanted to, she could very well erase the entire Jiao Dian city off the face of the world. It had taken her over six hours to recover that spirit qi but now she had reached fifty percent capacity in mere five minutes.
One could tell from this that the formation array had a great demand for spirit Qi and that the flames were very potent.
~shua~
The entire process lasted for about ten more minutes after which the formation array started to dim down. The runes scattered away and the flames died out.
~hwak~
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closed her beak and enjoyed the aftertaste of the flames. This was perhaps one of the best meals she has ever had in her life. She was pleased that she got to eat it today and even felt her opinion of Lin Wu increase, as he was the one who made it possible for her to find this place.
~shudder~
Lin Wu didn't know why, but he felt goosebumps on his body despite having no skin or hair. The feeling passed away quickly, but it was enough to snap him out of his observation mode. He looked at the four men who were left standing in awe and shock.
"I-it finished it all…" Old Man Tiandi muttered.
"I can't believe it… it broke the formation by exhausting all of its energy." Jiao Fan said.
The other two Nascent Soul realm men were far too shocked to say anything at this point and kept their silence.
~whoosh~
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle lightly shook her head and opened her eyes to gaze at four men standing in her path.
~thud~
~thud~
~thud~
With each step of hers, the temple shook. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, who still had control on themselves, immediately rushed to the sides, getting out of the beast's path. But the remaining two were not thinking fast enough for that.
~thwack~
With a slap of her wings, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle embedded the two men into the walls forever.
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"Oof! That gotta hurt," Lin Wu said upon seeing the two men who were now wall paintings.
Jing Luo and Old Man Tiandi had similar reactions, but they also felt an immense amount of fear due to seeing this. They swallowed their saliva and watched the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closely.
They did not want to miss even a moment, as that could be the moment that would end up deciding their life or death. The two of them saw that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not come towards them and continued towards the Inner hall instead.
They felt elated at first and turned to look at the only exit of the Temple. But their excitement was doused rather quickly as they saw something else blocking their path. This something was none other than Lin Wu, who was standing at the entrance of the temple.
While he was not intentionally blocking the exit of the two men, they still did not dare to move. To them, Lin Wu was the same as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and would end them in one hit.
They thought of the promise that Lin Wu had made and felt a bit wronged. Jiao Fan recalled the deaths of all of his people and couldn't control his rage.
"DIDN'T YOU PROMISE THAT YOU WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING AND LET US TAKE WHATEVER WE COULD?!" Jiao Fan yelled.
Old Man Tiandi was taken aback by hearing Jiao Fan and wondered if the man had eaten a dragon's liver to be this brave. He directly retreated to the wall and conditioned observing, not wanting to get involved in this.
Lin Wu, who had been focused on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, finally turned his head upon hearing the voice of a certain person. He looked at the source and saw that it had come from none other than Jiao Fan.
"Oh? You said something?" Lin Wu asked causally.
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE!" Jiao Fan roared.
~Whoosh~
Lin Wu tilted his head and bought it close to the man. Now that Lin Wu's massive head was right in front of Jiao Fan, he realized how big Lin Wu was truly was. Just one of the fangs in Lin Wu's mouth was bigger than his entire head.
Lin Wu's eyes were even bigger than that, spanning over two heads ins size. Jiao Fan realized what he had just done and felt his stomach churn.
"I never broke my promise though…" Lin Wu spoke in a soft voice, completely different from what he had been speaking in till now.
Jiao Fan felt chills go down his back and all of his instincts were currently shouting at him to run away. But his body simply did not want to respond and was frozen with fear. His brain also told him that running away would be futile, as there was no way he would be able to outrun another Dao Shell realm beast.
Alas! Only if Jiao Fan's spirit sense was not crippled, he would be able to sense Lin Wu's true cultivation base. Since he was not being masked by the barrier of the platforms and Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle's aura, Lin Wu's cultivation base was revealed to everyone.
But since Jiao Fan could not use his spirit sense for the time being, he could not figure this out. If he did, he would discover that Lin Wu's cultivation base was actually three stages below him!
In reality, Lin Wu was confident in fighting beasts and cultivators that were up to two stages above him, being at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but with Jiao Fan being temporarily crippled, he was basically a fish of the chopping block.
Not to mention Lin Wu, perhaps even a warrior in the Body tempering realm might be able to kill him with some luck. Jiao Fan could not even use his spirit stools and weapons except for his spatial storage treasure as of now.
As for the offensive and defensive talismans that he had, they would barely be able to function. While he would be able to activate them, he would not be able to control them due to a lack of Spirit sense.
Using them would be the same as pulling the pin of a grenade but throwing it straight at one's foot. Not only would the hard grenade hurt one's foot, but the subsequent explosion would also turn oneself into an abstract painting.
The only thing that Jiao Fan had going on for himself was his own body and its innate strength that was there due to him being an Adult Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator. But that was something that would not last long under continued attacks.
Lin Wu stared into Jiao Fan's eyes, enjoying them tremble. It was a rather strange feeling that Lin Wu was feeling right now. It gave him a certain kind of thrill, along with some excitement. Lin Wu felt like he could fly at this moment, which he truly could in reality, but this was metaphorical.
"Do you remember the exact words that I said?" Lin Wu said in his soft voice once again, making Jiao Fan shudder.
Lin Wu's speaking felt unnerving to Jiao Fan, even unnatural on a certain level. When he spoke, there was no air, no breath. With a beast this close to his face, Jiao Fan should have smelt the pungent and repulsive stench of a beast's mouth, but there was nothing of this sort.
Jiao Fan realized that Lin Wu was neither breathing nor was he speaking with his mouth. He got a very clear look into his mouth and he saw that Lin Wu had no normal anatomy that a serpent should have had, according to what Jiao Fan knew.
There were only sharp teeth in Lin Wu's mouth that were completely crystalline. He could see the depths of Lin Wu's mouth from between the gaps of his fangs and the emerald green glow illuminated the darkness.
Jiao Fan could very well see that there was nothing else in Lin Wu's mouth except for sharp spike like teeth, there wasn't even a tongue!
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Jiao Fan even started to wonder if Lin Wu was even a beast or not. To him, he was proving to be a completely different existence. Jiao Fan was then suddenly reminded of a certain thing that he had read a long time ago.
The thing that he had read about were mechanical puppets. These were different from the hypnosis controlled cultivators in that they were not living beings. Rather, they were made from different materials and resources like metals, crystals, precious treasurer, etc.
They could then be used for various things such as war, alchemy, testing out formation arrays, guarding areas, automating formation arrays and many more. Though there was one special use of them that was rather rare, but also very valuable.
A mechanical puppet such as that could be used as a second body for cultivators. The ones that had died or lost their original bodies could inhabit in these mechanical puppets and live on.
Plus, depending on the kind of materials that were used for the puppet, they could have better talent than the original cultivator's body. There were even said to be some rich and influential cultivators that kept several such puppets on them, just in case their real bodies were ever killed and destroyed.
Jiao Fan was now believing more and more that Lin Wu was actually not a beast at all and was rather a mechanical puppet. The only difference was that the person who had made it was rather eccentric and made it in the form of a serpent.
Jiao Fan could not understand the reasoning behind this, because if a cultivator made a mechanical puppet that was not human shaped or at least Humanoid, they would not be able to control it to the full extent.
Even if such a mechanical puppet was made out of the best material and had a great potential, the cultivator would be unable to exert his full power due to the incompatibility. But seeing Lin Wu Jiao Fan certainly did not think that he was weak or was having any issues.
This only left him with a few options in his mind. And either of those options was rather terrifying to him. The first option about compatibility was that the reason Lin Wu could exert his full strength was that he truly was a beast or used to be one, and then his Nascent Soul was transplanted into this mechanical puppet.
Now doing this would be quite difficult as no beast would be able to procure nor make a mechanical puppet like this. Which meant that another cultivator must have made this mechanical puppet and then transplanted Lin Wu's souls into it.
This could mean that Lin Wu had an even more powerful background that he thought as someone who was able to transplant the Nascent Soul of a beast that was at the Dao Shell realm must be many times stronger than them. While another Dao Shell realm cultivator might be able to kill a Dao Shell realm beast, they wouldn't necessarily be able to control the Nascent Soul well enough to transplant it.
There was a great chance that the beast's Nascent Soul would resist and struggle and once it found that it could not escape, it would choose the only option that it had left, which would be to self detonate.
This seemed to be rather far fetched as there were too many variables mixed in it for it to succeed. Thus Jiao Fan passed on this option and moved onto the second option, which was also quite shocking.
Since he knew that there could be an incompatibility between different forms and that the power of the original cultivator would be reduced depending on the level of compatibility, the only way Lin Wu would have his level of strength would be if the power of the original Nascent Soul was that much.
This meant that the power of the cultivator was still at the Dao Shell realm, despite being suppressed by many times. Jiao Fan was quite sure that even a Dao Treading Realm cultivator would not be able to maintain their cultivation at that level when put in an incompatible body.
This left him with the thought that the Nascent Soul that belonged to the cultivator was at a realm higher than that… being at the Immortal Ascension realm. As soon as this thought appeared in Jiao Fan's mind, everything clicked in place.
'That may be the reason why he did not attack us straight away upon appearing. There is no way another beast would have reacted like that.' Jiao Fan thought.
Lin Wu, who had been observing Jiao Fan closely for about three minutes, now found his expression varying greatly. First, the man was shocked, then he was terrified, then surprised, and now he had a face of realization.
'This guy is really taking too long to talk. I'll just continue what I was going to do…' Lin Wu thought.
"Since you can't remember the words that I had said to you, let me remind you." Lin Wu said, snapping Jiao Fan out of his thoughts.
Jiao Fan recalled what Lin Wu had asked him about originally.
'What had he promised me exactly…' Jiao Fan wondered with a confused expression which soon turned into a nervous expression.
"The exact words that I had said were… 'If you can, you guys can try to see what you can get from the temple. I will not interfere and you can take whatever.'" Lin Wu repeated.
To Lin Wu, who had the system continually recording everything, repeating something like this was a piece of cake. If he wanted to, he could even play all the memories from the past month like a video and browse through them.
But once Jiao Fan heard Lin Wu's words, he understood where he had gone wrong.
Lin Wu had only promised him that 'he' would not interfere. Lin Wu never promised that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would not do the same.
~gulp~
Jiao Fan finally understood. He had been mistaken from the very start.
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Tens of thoughts went through Jiao Fan's mind, but the one thought that went on repeating was that he was mistaken from the very start and that he had messed up.
'I was blinded by the potential gains from the temple and forgot to read between the lines. How could I do this?' Jiao Fan cursed himself.
Jiao Fan had been a mayor for decades now and had dealt with all kinds of people. There was no lack of unscrupulous merchants and catharsis that wanted to take advantage. He was always 200% alert when signing a contract.
And yet… he had made the biggest mistake that he could have done.
'Had I not chosen to enter the temple and had chosen to evacuate the city instead, perhaps all this would have been different.' Jiao Fan thought.
But Jiao Fan knew there was no medicine for regret now and he would have to bear the cost of his mistakes. He looked at Lin Wu and nodded his head.
"I understand… you were not wrong, I was the one who did not pay attention." Jiao Fan said and closed his eyes.
He was now ready to accept any fate. He did not care whether he was killed now or crippled. He only waited for it to happen any moment now.
'Huh?' But after a few more seconds passed, Jiao Fan could not feel anything happening.
He reluctantly opened his eyes and saw something he definitely did not expect. Lin Wu was no longer in front of him and had instep returned his head to the previous position. He was now looking towards the depths of the inner hall instead.
Old Man Tiandi Who had been observing everything without even blinking for a moment, was shocked to see this happened.
"H-he… he's alive?" Old Man Tiandi said to himself.
He rubbed his eyes, but the result was still the same. Jiao Fan had miraculously not been killed by Lin Wu. Old Man Tiandi was dead, sure that Jiao Fan would not survive this. No beast worth his salt would spare a human like that.
But Jiao Fan, on the other hand, had different thoughts.
'He… spared me?' Jiao Fan thought to himself.
But after a second shook his head.
"Even if he hasn't killed me now doesn't mean that he would not do the same later." Jiao Fan muttered to himself.
All he could do right now was hope that Lin Wu did not kill him. He looked at the beast and saw that he was still staring at the inside of the hall. Jiao Fan moved to the front to see what was actually happening in the inner hall.
~thud~
~thud~
~thud~
The steps of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were still audible as she walked into the inner hall. The inner hall was still a bit too short for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and thus she was walking slower.
The previous temples that they had been to were far smaller than this, and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could not enter them at all. But now she could finally enter and take a look around. She did feel a bit curious about how they were all set up and the things that were within them.
More specifically, she was interested in the items related to the Vermillion bird inside there. She had the bloodline memories, but they were still limited as of now. Until her cultivation base progressed or the right situation arrived, she would not be able to know more.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was wondering where the Vermillion bird was. There were no traces of it in this world despite her being a descendant. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wondered if she was the only descendant of the vermilion bird in this world or not.
From what she could remember, she had some siblings in the clutch she was born in. Most of them had been killed early on, but a couple should still be alive. She did not know if they had awakened the bloodline or not either.
At least for now, she could not sense anyone with the same bloodline in this world. And while thinking all this, she finally reached the end of the inner hall. There she could see the statue of the vermilion bird in all its glory.
"Is this what my ancestor looked like?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle muttered to herself.
She compared the looks of the Vermillion bird to herself and realized that there were many differences between them. The only thing they had in common as of now was the feathers that she was growing and the flames.
But even then the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle knew that her flames were not the true flames of the Vermillion bird. Only when she fully awakened her bloodline, would they awaken as well. That was why she wanted to speed up the process. She didn't know why, but there was this urgency that came from deep within her heart, forcing her to do this.
It made her feel like if she did not awaken the bloodline of the vermilion bird soon, something bad would happen. She did not know what it was, but the premonition was enough to change her thinking. This was also why she had decided to give Lin Wu a chance and was now benefiting from it.
She gazed at the statue and tried to sense the presence of the stone feather there. She found it right where it should have been in, the beak.
~Crack~
Ripping the stone feather out of the beak, she saw that itwas not all that was hidden there.
"A bloodline crystal?!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said out loud.
Lin Wu heard it too, and so did Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi. But only Lin Wu understood what her cry meant.
'How is there a bloodline crystal here? I was sure there was only the stone feather here when I checked before…' Lin Wu thought to himself, feeling confused.
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Lin Wu knew for sure that he had properly checked the statue before. The bloodline crystal was red and even Jiao Fan along with old man Tiandi should have been able to see it if it were there in the beak.
The stone feather was much harder to sense since it looked similar to the entire statue's texture. Even if it was there, the four men would not have necessarily sensed it.Plus,s with their spirit sense temporarily crippled, it was even more impossible.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle on the other hand, was happy upon finding this bloodline crystal. And not only that, this bloodline crystal was far bigger than the others she had consumed until now.
She looked at the bloodline crystal that was almost the size of a fist, with shimmering eyes. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, who had heard it were on the other hand confused.
"A bloodline crystal… A BLOODLINE CRYSTAL!" Old Man Tiandi exclaimed once words sank in.
"Of course! The treasure that was being hidden here must be that bloodline Crystal!" Jiao Fan also said.
Both the men knew about bloodline crystals very well and had seen their fair share of them till now. Except, the ones that they had seen till now could probably not be compared to the one that was here in this temple.
From the level of formation arrays and complexity, they were sure that it must belong to a beast that was extremely powerful. The strongest bloodline crystals that Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi had seen were those of the Dao Shell realm beasts.
They were extremely difficult to refine and even harder to buy. No alchemist would even sell them for spirit stones and if one wanted to get it, they would either need to trade it for something the alchemist wanted or they needed to belong to a power that had an alchemist like that working for them.
While beast bloodlines that were assimilated by cultivators were quite well known, they weren't really as often seen as one would think. Many cultivators avoided assimilating the bloodline of a weaker beast as that could potentially mess up their own cultivation talent.
Most of them who had weaker bloodlines were those cultivators who had no chance at progressing in their cultivation after a certain point. Thus, to increase their personal strength despite that, they would assimilate the bloodlines of beasts that were available to them.
Then came the question of compatibility. Even if a cultivator was able to find and kill a strong beast, they wouldn't necessarily be able to refine and assimilate it into their body unless it was compatible with their body.
And even if all those conditions were met, there was still a good chance of failing at it. Thus, many people ended up needing multiple bloodline crystals to successfully complete the assimilation of the beast bloodline.
There was an exception to this, of course.
Certain strong bloodlines had a hundred percent success rate of assimilation as long as it was compatible with that person. The best example of this was the three great guardian clans of the world; the Gui, the Hu and the Long clan.
They were considered to have the strongest bloodline in this world and each was strong on its own terms. The Gui clan was said to be the strongest in terms of defense, the Hu clan was said to be the fastest and finally, the Long clan was said to have the highest spirit Qi capacity.
But getting anything close to those three bloodlines was next to impossible. Even the Thousand Beasts's sect, which was the second strongest sect in the Long continent, was said to be inferior in terms of bloodline.
Their strongest bloodline was still a few notches below that of the three great guardian clans.
As these thoughts went by in Jiao Fan's mind, he wondered what kind of a bloodline was it that was contained within that bloodline crystal. But in the next moment, his gaze went to the statue of the vermilion bird at the end.
"No way… could it be really the beast in that statue?" Jiao Fan wondered, his voice spreading in the hall.
Lin Wu and old Man Tiandi both heard his voice. While Lin Wu was indifferent to it, Old Man Tiandi recalled the hellish experience that they had gone through earlier. They had seen how the hundreds of statues had made up a formation array and produced deathly flames.
'If the beast is the same as that of the statue, then is it related to fire too?' Old Man Tiandi wondered.
But while the two men were thinking this, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had thrown the bloodline crystal into the air.
"The bloodline crystal!" Old Man Tiandi And Jiao Fan said in shock as they saw the beast throwing it.
They were worried that the bloodline crystal that was incomparably valuable would be damaged or worse, destroyed. To them, the beasts like Lin Wu and the eagle beast probably did not need that bloodline. The two of them would not be able to use it anyway… or so they thought.
But then their eyes went wide as they saw the next scene.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle opened her beak wide and let the Bloodline crystal fall into her mouth. She immediately swallowed it down with an audible gulp and showed a rather pleased expression.
"T-the… the eagle beast ate it? THE BEAST ATE THE BLOODLINE CRYSTAL!" Old Man Tiandi yelled in shock before hurriedly shutting his mouth with his hand. He realized where he was and what the current situation was.
"The beast will not be able to handle another beast's bloodline. It will die now…" Jiao Fan muttered to himself.
"Hah!" Lin Wu couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing the man's words.
Jiao Fan looked at Lin Wu with an incredulous expression and wondered why Lin Wu reacted like that.
"Not even close… Look." Lin Wu said simply, dousing the man's hidden desire.
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Jiao Fan who had been made to snap out of his thoughts, looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who was now letting out strong spirit Qi waves. Her aura started to rise by the second and a red glow appeared around her body.
~PIIIIIII~
A sharp cry was let out by her that was a bit different from her original cry. This one seemed to be a bit more melodic, yet there was a hidden power contained within it. But this was merely the start.
Jiao Fan's eyes went wide as he saw new feathers growing on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle's body. The vermilion feathers that she had on her body started to increase in number and soon over half of her body was covered in them.
Now her body was half yellow and half Vermillion. Her silver beak had also taken on a slightly copper colored sheen on the tip while her eyes glimmered in a red hue. Her claws did the same and they also started to change in shape.
They became a bit more bigger and the scaly surface of them changed to become maroon rather than the brown before. If one looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle right now, they would see that the mid part of her body was vermilion in color while the head and bottom part was still yellow.
Her wings were also vermilion about three fourths of the way and the tips were the only part that were yellow now. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle overall size also started to increase and it kept on increasing for about five minutes.
By the end of it, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had increased in height by thirty more centimeters. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was now a massive beast and could be considered to be twice as big as the statue of the Vermilion bird.
"This… how can this be?" Jiao Fan muttered upon seeing the entire transformation.
"How can a beast withstand a powerful bloodline that is foreign to it?" Jiao Fan couldn't help but question.
"Hah," Lin Wu chuckled and felt like blowing the man's mind a bit more.
"What if that's not a foreign bloodline at all?" Lin Wu hinted lightly.
Jiao Fan could hear his words clearly and so did Old Man Tiandi. They thought over his words and looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Their eyes inadvertently went to the statue of the vermilion bird at the end and they saw a few similarities.
The more they thought, the more they were able to match.
~gasp~
About a minute later, Jiao Fan Gasped with shock.
"It…it… it's that beast's bloodline? The bloodline crystal… this beast already had that bloodline?!" Jiao Fan spoke, his voice getting louder at the end.
To him, this was the most shocking revelation till now. Jiao Fan was not as shocked even when he guessed that Lin Wu might be a mechanical puppet, but now he had reached a new level.
His mouth was turned into an 'O' shape as he kept on staring at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Her body was still going to transformations, except they were not external now, they were internal.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle's eyes were closed as she assimilated the bloodline crystal that she had consumed. Her spirit Qi rippled as more of it was absorbed by her body from the environment.
She was able to forcefully suck the spirit Qi out of the formation arrays of the temple and thus it was a relatively simple task for her. She didn't even need to focus on it as much, and it automatically happened.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was currently feeling a mix of emotions. On one side she was elated due to the entire process of improving her bloodline and on the other hand, she was anxious about the future.
Before, she had a gut feeling that there was something bad that would happen in the future and that was what drove her to get stronger and stronger. And now that she had improved her strength once again, with her bloodline progressing, that feeling or premonition only got stronger.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wondered if it was her insecurity about her strength that made her feel like that, but since getting stronger did not solve it, she understood there was more to it than just that.
'What is this danger that I feel? And why can't I tell when it will come?' The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thought.
Old Man Tiandi and Jiao Fan did not dare to move at all during the entire process as they were scared their movement might attract the attention of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle or even her ire.
While Jiao Fan was a bit assured that Lin Wu would not hurt them right away, he could not say the same about the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. They had already seen an example of her strength and demeanor and knew that doing anything that came in her way would only be fatal.
Thus, like two good students in a class, they kept their mouths shut and did not dare to move either. Lin Wu saw both of their reactions and found it to be very funny.
'This was definitely worth it! HAHA!' Lin Wu internally laughed.
~Huala~
A strong spirit Qi wave that was stronger than any other wave the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had let out till now came and shook Lin Wu and the others.
"She… Broke through?" Lin Wu said in an incredulous voice.
Jiao Fan heard his voice but could not tell what Lin Wu meant due to it sounding like that of a beast. The system would sonly translated his voice to sound understandable when Lin Wu consciously did it. Otherwise, what others would hear is just his beastly cries.
"System, do a new scan of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle right now!" Lin Wu ordered.
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Upon hearing Lin Wu's command, the system started its scan right away.
~Ding~
——
SCANNER: Activated
TARGET SELECTED: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle
SCAN: Competed
TARGET: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle
Cultivation base: Shell Completion Stage of the Dao Shell realm
Bloodline: Vermillion Bird (Partial awakening)
Note: The beast is close to a full evolution and will change its species upon its completion.
——
Seeing the system's info, Lin Wu finally confirmed that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had truly broken through to the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm. And now that she was at this point, she only needed to stabilize her cultivation base, and if she wanted she could break through to the Dao Treading realm.
All the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would need to do is to comprehend a suitable Dao and nurture the Dao embryo. Once that was done, she would directly break through to the Dao Treading realm.
"She's only getting stronger and stronger…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
When he had met her, she was freshly reached the Shell genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm, but in less than three months, she had managed to reach the next stage. The speed of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was almost comparable to that of Lin Wu himself, who had the support of the system.
Seeing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle's speed and breakthrough, Lin Wu couldn't help but take a look at his own cultivation base.
~Sigh~
"Show me the Avatar host data, system." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
~Ding~
——
AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [3,298,811/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture
2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)
3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (15% Meridians converted)
BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)
QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)
INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Manipulation (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)
2. Cellular Manipulation (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)
3. Cellular Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)
NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)
WEIGHT: 1,05,847.1 Kilograms Height 51.31 meters long.
——
Lin Wu had long since gained enough spirit Qi to break through to the next stage, but he had held back since he had not needed to do so right now. And he also had been getting multiple sources of spirit Qi the entire time.
"Guess I should also do it now, can't lag behind can I?" Lin Wu muttered to himself but then remembered something.
"No wait, I need my main body to breakthrough first… let's go back for a bit." Lin Wu remembered and left some commands for the avatar in the meantime.
While he would still be observing everything at the same time, it was still faster to leave some emergency commands just for unexpected circumstances. Though Lin Wu was sure the avatar was strong enough to handle most things.
He closed his eyes for a moment and his consciousness moved to the Main body.
~huu~
Lin Wu took a breath and opened his eyes and looked around at the changing scenery. There were white walls around him and multiple screens were floating around the large hall. On the screens, many things such as the beasts moving around and carrying things could be seen.
"Oh? Looks like they finished up a lot of tasks that I assigned." Lin Wu said as he looked around at what looked like a small ruin.
The ruin was part of the Taiji celestial tomb as well, but it was located at a distance from the hill. There were many such small ruins, but they were broken over time and this was currently the only one that was left standing.
Lin Wu had gotten some of the insect beasts and his servants to clear up the area around it along with cleaning the weeds and such.
"I'll take a closer look later. First I need to upgrade the cultivation base…" Lin Wu said as he brought up the host data.
~DING~
——
HOST NAME: Lin Wu
AGE: 3 years, 1 months, 7 days
LIFESPAN: 1,000 years
HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm
HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [5,681,522/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)
SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,368,911 units [liquid spirit qi]
VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 3,749,741 Units
BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)
2. Unknown (3)
CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture
2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)
3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (23% Meridians converted)
QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)
2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)
INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Manipulation (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)
2. Cellular Manipulation (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)
3. Cellular Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)
4. Sound Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)
5. Kin Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)
INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal plate, Pink Women's underwear, Dagger, Iron Bark Wood Tree, Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum, Spirit Qi spring Source Crystal
NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)
2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)
VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units
SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7,100,279 units
CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 677 units/hour
WEIGHT: 211,694.20 Kilograms Height 102.62 meters long.
RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:
1. Human
2. Unknown (3)
3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King
[Extend 65]
—
"Damn!!! Did the speed of the cultivation increase?" Lin Wu was surprised by seeing a number that was far higher than expected.
But that wasn't the only thing he saw, in addition to that, there were several changes in the data. Along with cultivating normally, his Undaunted Sapphire Body Art had also progressed from before.
It used to be at 15% but it was now at 23%. From what he remembered, while Lin Wu had left some instructions to the Main body, he did not expect it to do so well.
"Wait, a minute… is the reason why the main body progressed so fast because… it was only focused on cultivating without me doing it?"
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After Lin Wu reeled from the shock that an autopilot was better at cultivating than him, he quickly got to upgrading it.
"Welp, time to upgrade. System, you know what to do." Lin Wu said.
~Ding~
——
CHECKING HOST VITALS: Stable
UPGRADING: Host's cultivation base
CULTIVATION BASE: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm - Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm
SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 1,500,000 units (liquid spirit qi)
.
.
.
UPGRADE: Completed
HOST CULTIVATION: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [4,181,522/3,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)
——
Lin Wu's body let out strong waves of spirit Qi at first, but it soon stabilized. His current breakthrough was very fast and didn't take as much time as before.
~huu~
Lin Wu let out a breath and assessed his current strength.
"Hmm… it doesn't feel that different than before. Though I guess I'll need to fully test the power out later. Buuuut… I got enough for another upgrade. So why wait?" Lin Wu said before smiling.
He had originally expected there to only be enough spirit Qi for one upgrade, but there was more than that, luckily. And now that he had it, he thought it would be a shame to not use it.
"System… Do it again!" Lin Wu ordered.
~Ding~
——
UPGRADING: Host's cultivation base
CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm - Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm
SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 3,000,000 units (liquid spirit qi)
.
.
.
UPGRADE: Completed
HOST CULTIVATION: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,181,522/6,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)
——
~HONGLONG~
Unlike the last upgrade though, Lin Wu's body reacted rather violently. Along with its usual light, his body was letting out scorching radiation that was damaging the formations around him.
Lin Wu himself could feel a bit of pain, but he did not mind it as much as it was way below the usual kind of pain he was used to. If anything, it was more like the pain one got when one had too much energy. For example, during a caffeine rush.
"Ah, I need to let this out… too much power…" Lin Wu muttered to himself before teleporting to the top of the Tomb.
~shua~
Reappearing on the top of the tomb, Lin Mu's body looked like a beacon. The two nests made by Lin Wu's two bird subordinates, the Hook Winged Swan and Gale Wind Sparrow, could also be seen. They had gotten quite big than before and even looked a bit decorated.
The two beasts had evidently added some trinkets, such as spirit tools and shiny jewelry, to their nests. The nests were pretty much the same as normal bird nests, except they were a couple of thousand times bigger and made from spirit wood.
~Huala~
Lin Wu's body automatically started to suck in the atmospheric spirit Qi into it and a small vortex formed above his head. It was not as big as during a spirit Qi infusion when he broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, but it was still faster than his normal cultivation speed.
"Hang on… the spirit Qi… it's not going to my Nascent Soul?" Lin Wu suddenly realized.
He looked within his Dantian and saw the bloodline that represented the Unknown bloodline was reacting and absorbing the spirit Qi that was currently being taken in by Lin Wu's body. Lin Wu looked at the other Nascent Soul and realized that it was this Nascent Soul which had originally absorbed all the spirit Qi for the break through.
"Huh? If only one Nascent Soul is enough to breakthrough then what's the function of the other Nascent Soul?" Lin Wu wondered.
He had thought that the spirit Qi was split between the two Nascent Soul's equally, but here it turned out to be different. Only his Nascent soul, which represented the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline, had actually broken through to the Adolescent Soul stage.
The unknown Bloodlines' Nascent soul still had the same level of spirit Qi as that of an Infant Soul stage. Plus, looking at their sizes, it was quite obvious. The green human Nascent Soul was looking like a teenager right now, while the Black human one was still that of a baby.
~woong~Woong~woong~
A strange sound came from Lin Wu's body as it continued to absorb the spirit Qi from the environment.
In the eastern part of the Millennium forest, two ape beasts came out of their caves and looked in the direction of the Taiji Celestial's cave.
"What is happening, father?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned.
~sigh~
"Seems like we underestimated that even more than I had thought we did… this spirit Qi fluctuation… he's definitely having a breakthrough." The Slim Arm Ape said.
"A breakthrough? How can he have a breakthrough this fast? It hasn't even been six months since he reached the Nascent Soul realm?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned, feeling shocked.
The slim arm ape simply shook his head and looked at the distance.
"There are many opportunities hidden in this forest, my son. While they are hidden to most, they will show up for those who are fated or who strive to find it." The Slim Arm ape said in a melancholic tone.
The Demon Spine Ape heard his father's words and felt a bit confused, but then he thought for a minute before realizing something. And when he did so, his eyes went wide.
"Is that why… why mother came here?" The Demon spine ape questioned.
"I don't know for sure either, but now it does seem likely. When I was still a tamed beast under my master, I had seen the human world. I have seen and heard about their legends and myths… most of the human world thinks of Millennium forest as just any other forest filled with beasts.
In fact, the strongest powers of this world don't even put this place into their eyes." The Slim arm ape replied.
"The strongest powers?" The demon spine ape asked with apprehension in his voice.
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"The strongest powers of this world are the cultivation sects. But… there are other individual human clans that can be considered to be strong as well. My master was from one such clan…" The Slim arm ape said.
"What!?" The demon spine ape said with absolute shock.
The demon spine ape had known that his father was once a tamed beast of a human and disliked that fact. This was also amplified by the fact that his father seldom talked about it and thus he thought he hated that time of his life.
But now that he heard it, the demon spine ape realized that might not be the reason why he didn't talk about his past. It sent the ape into a memory, trailed as he started linking up the times that he had talked to his father about it.
After a minute of silence, the Demon spine ape composed himself into a calm demeanor. This was quite unlike him and was frankly against his innate instincts due to having the bloodline of the Demon Spine Ape.
Yet even then, the calmness and composure of the Slim Arm Ape he inherited from his father were currently shining through the cracks. He took a calm breath before looking at his father, who continued to gaze upon the forbidden hill.
"Where… where did you human master come from?" The Demon Spine ape questioned.
"He was from a human clan by the name of Tian. It is a rather small clan overall and appears weak to the rest of the human world, but in reality, they might not be any less than the top cultivation sects.
It is simply that they do not wish to compete and stay hidden away. But their power is nothing to scoff at. My master was not that strong in the clan yet even then he was powerful than most cultivators of the world.
He was at the… Dao Shell Realm." The Slim Arm ape said as his eyes glazed over with nostalgia.
The Demon Spine ape knew about the Dao Shell realm very well and knew that it was the next realm after the Nascent Soul realm. The five rulers of the millennium forest all strive to reach it, yet even after several thousand years, no one had reached it.
Many beasts even wondered if this was a curse of some sort. Their progress would get very fast when they entered the sixth ring of the Millennium forest, but once they reached the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, it could come to a screeching hall.
The Twin Lights Liger King was was the best example of this. It had been over two centuries since he had reached the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and even then he had been unable to progress further.
"Then why did he come to this place, father? You said that he died in this forest… if he was so strong, how could he die here?" The Demon spine ape questioned.
"As I said, there are fortunate encounters hidden here. The only question is if one is fated with it. My master he… he was dying. He had been sick his entire life and despite cultivating and reaching the Dao Shell realm, he was unable to resolve the sickness.
His disease would drain his lifespan continually. No one knew what disease it was and even in a clan as old as the Tian clan, they had no records of it. Thus, my master set out on a journey to find a cure.
In his travels, he went to a lot of places, whether they be ruins, ancient temples, forests, mountains, and even the great ocean. This all happened when I wasn't even born. Then one day my master found me in one of the forests and tamed out of sheer boredom.
At that time, I didn't even have the same level of intelligence that I have right now and thus didn't comprehend what he was doing. But as my cultivation base grew, so did my intelligence and my memories of that time finally started to make sense to me.
Eventually, my master realized he did not have much time to live. Thus, he decided to go out on one last journey, but since he did not have that long to live, he ended up picking the location closest to him that he had read about in some ancient records.
This place was none other than the Millennium forest. But that record did not call this place the millennium forest… rather it had a different name." The Slim Arm ape explained.
The Demon spine ape was both nervous and thrilled upon hearing all this. He did not expect his father to know so much.
"So what was the name of this forest in it?" The Demon Spine ape asked carefully.
"The records called this place as… the Dark Celestial's Tomb!" The Slim Arm ape revealed, his eyes flashing.
"The Dark Celestial's Tomb?!" The Demon Spine Ape repeated with shock. "Just what would make someone name a place with an imposing name like that?" he asked.
~Sigh~
The Slim Arm Ape shook his head.
"I don't know. All I know is that my master came in search of hope here. But all he found was despair… before he died, he seemed to be relieved. He felt that all the stress he had felt in his entire life was finally gone and he felt peace.
Yet even then, he had a slight regret in his heart. And thus he freed me, before giving me his final wish. He asked me to find the secret of this place and if it was possible, let it be revealed to the world… to his clan.
You see, he was shamed by his clan for being useless and weak. They thought that he was a disgrace, roaming around the world looking for forgotten myths and legends. Yet he wanted to prove to them that something existed." The Slim Arm ape explained.
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