Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 431 - A Cold Man? online for free - AllNovelFull
Lin Wu watched the memory with full interest as it finally revealed how it all happened.
"Damn… so the Skull god was behind the invasion of the Ming Dao world too?" Lin Wu was shocked to learn this.
"But how did he actually enter there, if they were restricted to do so?" Lin Wu wondered and continued watching the memory.
Thankfully, the memory was longer than this, otherwise Lin Wu would have pulled out his nonexistent hair in frustration.
The Skull God raised his hand to silence his subordinates that were cheering him on and mainly buttering him up with compliments.
"The important part comes here. Once the invasion of the Ming Dao world has started we will need to send in one of my avatars." The Skull God spoke.
"What method will we be using, Lord Skull?" the subordinates questioned.
"Sending one directly will be impossible thus I'll be sending a sealed wisp of my soul instead." The Skull god answered.
"That… will you be fine with it, my Lord? Plus, if we send a sealed wisp of your soul, we will have no guarantee that it would be able to awaken and form into an avatar after that." The subordinate asked with concern.
"Oh, it will definitely awaken. No one will be able to resist the temptation once they find the inheritance with it." The Skull god spoke.
"I see… the plans of my lord are profound and beyond our understanding. We shall do as you command us." The other subordinates chimed in.
The Skull god then extended his hand as wisps of black smoke started to come out of his body. The swirled around his hand before coalescing to form a black skull. This was the skull that Lin Wu had seen before.
"No wonder… so that's what it was for… NO, WAIT! If it really is as what this memory says, then… DAMMIT! This might be even more dangerous." Lin Wu realized.
"System, do you have any way to escape quick?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The system has already begun the withdrawal process from the Subject's body. Once the process is complete, the host's consciousness will return to the Avatar's body.
——
Seeing the system's answer, Lin Wu took a breath of relief.
"As long as I get a chance, I'll Yeet!" Lin Wu said while looking back at next the memory.
The scene started to change as the new memory arrived. This time Lin Wu had picked it due to it mentioning the Ming Dao world as well.
In front of him, a massive forest appeared. There were hundreds of hills and mountains dispersed within it and on them, buildings were built. Each of these buildings had a similar motif imprinted on them which looked like that of a bird.
Lin Wu though, felt like it was rather familiar.
"Isn't that… the vermilion bird?" Lin Wu skillfully recognized.
On one of the more taller mountains, a man who was dressed in a black robe stood. He had his hands hidden in his sleeves while he crossed them in front of him. His eyes were focused on the largest building built upon a mountain, that were a few tens of kilometer away from him.
"Elder Hei," A voice called from the back, prompting the man to turn back.
"Core Disciple Feng," The black robed man who was evidently named Elder Hei replied.
"Why do you always stand here, Elder?" The Core disciple named Feng spoke.
Elder Hei starred at the delicate looking girl that was wearing a red dress with a calm expression on his face.
"People often stare at things that they desire… often times they are things they cannot obtain…" Elder Hei spoke.
The core disciple had a complex expression on her face upon hearing the elder's words.
"I too… stare at things that I cannot obtain…" Core Disciple Feng spoke.
"Oh? And what is it that you desire?" Elder Hei questioned.
Upon hearing his question, Core disciple Feng blushed slightly before shaking her head.
"It's best not to dwell on things such as these, lest we hurt our Dao Hearts." She replied.
Elder Feng nodded his head and turned back to look at the large building in the distance.
"You are correct, Core Disciple Feng… our Dao hearts need far more protection than we think and desires only tear down those defenses." Elder Hei stated.
Core Disciple Feng was left staring at his back as a sad expression appeared on her face.
"Perhaps, I don't want those defenses…" She muttered to herself.
The scene suddenly changed and a completely opposite scenery presented itself to Lin Wu.
Instead of the calm and serene sect, it was now replaced by the fires of destruction and wails of the dying.
"What the hell happened?" Lin Wu couldn't help but say.
All the sect buildings had collapsed while the mountains had been broken. Some of them even appeared to have been cleaved in half somehow. Wails of people were heard echoing across the area as two people stood on top of the mountain where the sect's grand palace used to be.
A woman dressed in a red robe stood on one side while a man in a black robe stood on the other. Lin Wu recognized them to be the same two people from before, Elder Hei and Core Disciple Feng.
Blood leaked out from Core Disciple Feng's lips as she gritted her teeth.
"Why?" She questioned in a sorrowful tone.
The black robed man smiled in response to her question.
"Haahahah! Ahahaha! You ask me why? It's been decades since I was promised the position of the sect master, and what do I get? Nothing! I've served as the high elder of the Vermillion sect for a thousand years!
And now… a random disciple gets the approval of the inheritance temple and becomes the sect master? NEVER!" The black robed man answered, his voice distorting at the end.
Hearing this, the woman flinched, as if she had been hurt once more.
"Is that all I was for you? Some random disciple?!" She asked out loud.
Report chapter
Lin Wu was really intrigued at this point and felt as if he was at the edge of his seat.
"Damn! This is some good drama! Where're my snacks?" Lin Wu couldn't help but say.
"Hmph! You were just lucky enough to get the approval. Who else doesn't know that the bloodline crystal only responds to those that have the least of their own… humanity…" The man replied.
"If I wanted to, I could have gained it a long time ago, but I kept my integrity. I'm not like those three clans who decided to give up their humanity to take up beast bloodlines!" the black robed man replied, his voice changing once again.
"I did my best, served the sect. Won laurels for it in the tournaments, gained hundreds of cultivation techniques, refined pills… all to help the sect. And yet… THEY CHOSE YOU!!!" He yelled, this time his voice turning inhuman.
The woman watched on as the man showed his true self. His right hand and the right side of his face turned into a skeletal figure, while the left style maintained his flesh.
"And for all that… you destroyed our sect? Your sect?" The woman questioned.
"HAHAHA! If I knew this was going to happen, I would have done this way sooner. If I knew, I would have killed you the day you were born!" The man answered.
The woman felt lost at this and didn't know anything other than despair and sorrow.
"Now you have lost everything, the very thing you set out to gain, you have destroyed it… by your own hands!" She said in anger.
Hearing this, the man grinned, his half skeletal face looking terrifying.
"Oh? Not at all… Rather, I have molded them just the way I want them to be!" The man said as he spread his hands wide apart.
~SHUA~
A dark wave of energy spread out from him as it started to take over everything. The red robed woman was not affected though as a Vermillion flame surrounded her, preventing the dark energy from touching her.
The Dark energy seeped into the ground, turning it foul, it seeped into the trees, warping them beyond recognition and decomposing the leaves, it seeped into the bodies of those that were alive and those that were dead, reducing them to skeletons.
Their wails could no longer be heard as an eerie silence spread across the area.
"WOO!!!"
"WOO!!!"
"WOO!!!"
A minute later, the dark energy completely infected the land and soon, specters started to arise from the dead skeletons. These looked the same as the people that had died and were evidently their ghosts.
"MO HEI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" The red robed woman yelled in absolute horror.
"HAHAHA! This shall be the face of the sect now… no more is it the Vermillion sect… it shall now be called… THE SKULL GOD SECT!" Mo Hei proclaimed.
The woman's eyes were bloodshot as flames of anger burned within them.
"You are no longer the same man you were… the man that cared for the sect… the man I loved…" The woman said as she then stared into the empty eye sockets of the man.
A determined expression appeared on her face as she waved her hands, spreading the flames around.
~shua~shua~shua~
The Vermillion flames dispersed the dark energy around her and kept on expanding till they reached the end of the sect.
Seeing this Mo Hei, who had nearly turned into a skeleton, scoffed.
"There's no use, my miasma cannot be destroyed by those flames of your bloodline. You gave you your human bloodline and took up a beasts' bloodline which is far inferior to mine." Mo Hei stated.
"What foolishness! And you think you are any more human than me? Look at yourself! You are a monster!" The red robed woman replied.
"If anyone else were to see us two? Who do you think they will call a human, huh?" She taunted.
This one sentence of hers irked the man to no end.
"HONG FENG YOU DARE!!!" Mo Hei shouted, his anger blazing just like the flames around him.
He raised his skeletal hand as the dark energy coalesced around it to form a black blade. The blade directly merged with his hand, turning into a single entity. Eerie black smoke rose from it, tainting the surroundings even more.
Mo Hei raised the sword up high and slashed towards Hong Feng, sending out thousands of smaller black blades.
~DENG~
~DENG~
~DENG~
Hong Feng withdrew a small mirror from her storage treasure and tried to defend against the attack. She managed to block most of them, but a few of them still hit her arms and legs, making her grunt in pain once again.
"You won't get away with this Mo Hei! I won't let you!" Hong Feng declared.
"Ahahah! I've never heard a better joke before. How do you think you will do that? Look around, you have no one left, no disciples, no elders, no master… NOTHING! YOU HEAR NOTHING!" Mo Hei replied in a humiliating tone.
Hong Feng pursed her lips and looked around her. The ghosts kept on being born and all of them had pained expression. They wailed and wailed, as if their existence was pure torture. Her flames that had been pushed away touched them and made them hurt even more.
"This is just agony for them… if I leave them like this, they will never enter the cycle of reincarnation and find peace…" Hong Feng muttered to herself.
She closed her eyes and thought of a solution before opening them back again. This time though, her eyes were calm. No longer was there any sorrow in them, nor was there any anger. All that was left was sheer, cold, determination.
"Perhaps this is a mistake on my end as well, and I ignored a lot of your actions over the years. I let you do things that were forbidden by the sect and turned a blind eye to the disciples you killed at a whim. Now… now I need to repent. Not only for myself… but also for you." Hong Feng said, her voice clear and crisp.
Report chapter
Lin Wu was almost on the edge of the seat as he watched the climax of the memory.
"Dang, this is way better than the dramas I've seen before. The real thing is way better than the CGI." Lin Wu said upon seeing the progression.
Hong Feng had tears in her eyes now that she looked at Mo Hei in front of her.
"I shall end this all… The Vermillion sect may not exist anymore, but I'll ensure what happened to you will never happen again. Whatever being… beast… thing that has taken over you, it shall never return!" Hong Feng declared, hear voice rumbling across the skies.
Lin Wu suddenly felt her aura rise by the sect. At first, she was only at the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm but it jumped to the Shell Expansion stage in less than five seconds and then directly broke through to the Dao Treading realm!
"Big words for someone that is going to die by my hands soon!" Mo Hei scoffed at the woman.
But just as he was about to act, he saw something that stirred his mind and made him shudder.
"That… how can it be?" Mo Hei said as he saw a dagger appear in the hands of Hong Feng.
Lin Wu also saw the dagger and found it to be rather unique. The dagger had a red crystalline blade on which several gemstones were embedded. It only had a single edge while on the other edge a serpent was carved.
The handle of the dagger was made out of some kind of polished bone and was carved with hundreds of complex runes, that even the system could not decipher.
"What is that system?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Ding~
——
ANSWER: The system is unable to analyze the runes and formations on the dagger due to limited input, but according to calculations it is likely to be an immortal tool.
——
Hearing the two worlds 'Immortal Tool' made Lin Wu's eyes go wide.
"An immortal tool… a true one at that…" Lin Wu muttered in surprise.
He knew how much Shirong was excited at gaining a Pseudo Immortal tool, which Lin Wu was disguising as or rather was still disguised at. Even at his current capabilities, Shirong considered him to be a sealed immortal tool.
Lin Wu didn't even know what a true immortal tool could do. Even the records and documents that he had seen till now didn't really do much justice to them as they merely describe some surface level abilities and such, in addition to the appearance of the immortal tools.
In this world, even a pseudo immortal tool was a powerful item that there were only a handful of. The appearance or creation of each pseudo immortal tool brought with it a great time of upheaval.
Lin Wu couldn't even imagine what kind of an uproar a true immortal tool would cause.
"Wait… but why can't the power be felt from the Dagger?" Lin Wu wondered.
But then he got his answer automatically as he saw what happened next.
Hong Feng held the dagger and looked at it with teary eyes. She then turned it around, holding the handle in a reverse grip as the blade of the dagger pointed towards her chest instead.
Mo Hei didn't know why but he was not feeling good. While he could not tell what the dagger in the hands of Hong Feng was, he felt strange seeing it. He himself was a formation master and should have been able to decipher the runes that were carved on it in less than a second.
But he found himself to be at a lost.
'It can't be an Immortal Tool, can it?" Mo Hei wondered.
The second thing that added to his shock was that Hong Feng had stabbed the dagger into her chest without hesitation. Mo Hei knew very well what self damaging actions like these meant… A sacrificial technique.
Sacrificial techniques were final gambits for cultivators which they only used in the moments of life and death. The stronger a cultivator was the more dangerous a technique could get. While Mo Hei was confident of being able to defend against many experts he did not dare to speculate about immortal tools.
He himself was at the Dao Treading realm and with the assistance, his new bloodline had provided him, he was confident of defeating even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. Even if they had pseudo immortal weapons or tools, he would not be afraid either as he had his own trump cards to use.
But the woman in front of him, unnerved him. The bloodline that she had was something that repulsed his own and made him feel disgusted. He knew that whatever that bloodline was, it could possibly be comparable to his own, despite the fact that he detested every bit of it.
Just as he was thinking all this, Hong Feng moved.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mo Hei shouted in fear.
"AWAKEN!" Hong Feng shouted as she stabbed the dagger into her heart.
As soon as the dagger was fully inserted into her heart, it started to glow. Rune upon rune lit up as a massive spirit Qi wave poured out from the dagger. Blood started to spill from her wound in the chest, but it did not drip down.
Rather, it was being steadily absorbed by the dagger. The gems that were embedded in it shone with a bright light and then suddenly fell dim.
"What have you done?" Mo Hei questioned, seeing the life draining from Hong Feng's body.
"Let… this… world… be… cleansed!" Hong Feng said with all her might.
As the final word spilled out of her lips, her entire body lit up with Vermillion flames.
~PIIIIIIIIII~
An earth shattering cry was heard coming from deep within Hong Feng's body as it started to float up. An illusory figure of a massive bird formed in front of her as it stared at her. Looking at the beast a smile appeared on her face.
"I'm sorry…" She muttered.
When Lin Wu saw the appearance of the illusory bird, he knew exactly what it was.
"THE VERMILLION BIRD! She managed to summon it?" Lin Wu said in shock.
The Vermillion bird's illusory figure stared at Hong Feng as she and Mo Hei stared at the illusory figure in turn.
"I'm Sorry… I won't be able to complete your wish… I'll set you free. I hope you find someone better… someone, who was intended to get this bloodline and not me…" Hong Feng said before her eyes closed forever.
The Vermillion bird's figure looked at the dead Hong Feng and then let out a piercing cry.
~PIIIIIIII~
Hong Feng's body started to combust and turned into a pure flame that flew up and merged into the Vermillion bird's illusory figure. The figure was now burning and let out a scorching heat.
The Immortal Weapon dagger that Hong Feng had used floated up from along with the flames as well and entered the illusory figure as well. The Vermillion bird spread its wings and flapped, spreading its flames like they were a summer rain.
The flames licked the ground and banished all the ghosts that had appeared. Along with that, it started to cleanse the sect grounds of the miasma. It flew around the area, letting the flames drop from its body like a cleansing rain, and did the mission it was given.
"No… no… NO… NO!!!!" Mo Hei shouted in anger.
All the work that he had done till now was being undone and he couldn't do anything to stop it.
"I need to do something… but what? Those flames are harmful to me as well…" Mo Hei muttered to himself as he struggled to defend himself.
There were flames surrounding him as well, threatening to kill him. Since they were tasked to cleanse this place of the miasma, Mo Hei who was the biggest source of miasma would be the biggest target.
Black smoke and shadow surrounded him, trying to prevent the flames from getting closer. But no matter how much Mo Hei tried, the flames kept on getting closer. Their might was also increasing with each passing second.
Once the vermilion bird finished clearing out the area of all the miasma it turned towards Mo Hei.
~PIIIIII~
It let out a loud cry before flying towards him with the intention to kill him. The Vermillion flames raged over its body scorching the air and the earth.
"I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" Mo Hei shouted in protest and threw his hands forward before making a gestured
A stream of dark miasma poured out of his hands and formed a shield in front of him.
~DENG~
The Vermillion bird crashed into the miasma shield and continued to force onward. It was evident that the flames were the bane of the miasma and it kept on getting burned due to it. Mo Hei did his best to repel the illusory figure and its flames but was unable to.
"This… cannot happen…" Mo Hei said with unwillingness. "I cannot lose to this!"
But just as he was about to pour more of the miasma into the shield he suddenly felt weak.
"Huh? What?" Mo Hei muttered as the miasma stopped coming out of his body.
~shua~
~suck~
All the remaining miasma started to leave his body and coalesced into a small black skull in front of him.
"No! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! YOU PROMISED ME!" Mo Hei said, his voice turning lighter and lighter.
~kakakak~
The black skull that had just formed trembled and its jaw shook.
~Sigh~
A sigh escaped it as it looked at Mo Hei and the illusory figure of the Vermillion bird.
"This plan failed as well… and after coming so far… at least I managed to destabilized the temple of the guardian beasts. As long as there is even one beast missing, they will never reach their full potential and I'll have the opportunity to act in the future.
All I need to do is make sure the vermilion bird is suppressed. It would be even better if I can completely eliminate its bloodline from this world." The black skull spoke.
Its voice was very low, almost a whisper, and even Mo Hei could not hear it. The only reason Lin Wu could was that this was composed of its memories as well.
The Black Skull looked at Mo Hei and spoke, "you were a good vessel, but you didn't have the one thing that would have helped us… Luck."
After saying this and leaving Mo Hei dumbfounded, the black Skull turned into a stone and fell to the ground.
~SHUA~
The shield that had been defending Mo Hei faded away as well and he was finally burned by the Vermillion flames. He didn't even get to let out a cry before he was reduced to a pile of ashes that disappeared as well.
The black skull that had turned to stone, managed to bear being burned by the flames but many cracks had appeared on its surface and it was obvious that if it went past that it would break apart completely.
Perhaps it was the black skull's luck, but the illusory figure of the vermilion bird seemed to have run out of energy and started to dim down. First, all of its flames faded away and then its figure started to dissipate as well.
~piiii~
It looked around and saw that its duty was finished with no miasma left in the area.
~PIIIII~
Letting out another cry, the illusory figure of the Vermillion bird started to shrink. Another thing that happened along with this was that the immortal weapon dagger that had been absorbed into it became material again.
It was covered in cracks as well and looked to be greatly damaged. The illusory figure started to shrink in size and soon compressed to enter the dagger. The crack covered dagger faintly glowed in a Vermillion light before flying straight up into the sky and disappearing.
And with this, the memory stooped and Lin Wu was sent back to the river of memories.
Report chapter
Lin Wu felt a bit overwhelmed having seen all the memories. But he also felt a bit more satisfied as he finally understood all that had happened until now.
Even if there were several gaps in Lin Wu's understanding and doubts that he had, his current state was far better than before.
"Damn… so much happened and all of it started from that one Skull god. And if I take it even further, then it all started with the Taiji celestial himself. If it were not for one of the tombs being here, perhaps the Skull god would have never come here and there wouldn't be all these changes." Lin Wu said to himself.
He had also gotten to learn a bit more about the four guardian beasts by now. He learned that there were truly four of them but the Skull god had destroyed the sect which was supposed to be the backing for the Vermillion bird here.
And once that sect was gone, the rest of the area was still destroyed, eventually becoming a forbidden area that no one entered.
"No, wait… why is the area still like this if the Vermillion bird managed to cleanse everything?" Lin Wu was a bit lost.
He looked through more memories until eventually coming upon the memory that linked to the one before. Just like before, the scene in front of Lin Wu changed until he could see the same devastating scene as before.
~Rumble~
The ground below shook as a crack appeared underneath it and from that crack rose up a temple. The temple was similar to the vermilion bird temples Lin Wu had seen till now, but this one looked well maintained.
But the one thing that was strange about this temple was the fact that a black skull laid on top of it. This was the container that held the soul fragment of the Skull god. That container laid there till eventually, someone picked it up.
This man was a Nascent soul realm cultivator who had evidently wandered in to see what had happened in the area.
"Is this supposed to be the location where the Vermillion sect was located?" The man wondered as he looked at the black skull laying on the temple's roof.
"What's that?" The man said before approaching the skull.
The moment he picked up the skull, though, his eyes went dull, and he moved around like a puppet. It was evident that he was now being controlled. Black smoke started to come out of the skull before entering the man.
About five minutes later, the process was complete and the eyes of the man turned black like coal.
"DAMMIT! DAMN THAT VERMILLION BIRD!" Suddenly, the man cursed in a hoarse voice. "Six hundred years of work all wasted!" He continued.
He then looked at the temple below it and suddenly smiled.
"Don't think I don't know of your other temples. I'll ensure that you are never able to find a foothold in this world. Besides, you are not the only one who made backup plans…. AHAHAHA!" The man suddenly started laughing, and the memory faded away.
Lin Wu was taken aback by this sudden ending and was left wanting for more.
"That's all? This gives me little to no context… ~Sigh~ I guess I'll have to figure the rest out on my own." Lin Wu said to himself.
Still, he was able to make a timeline of events now. He could tell that even at this time, the temple of the three guardians had not been created, which meant that the guardian beasts had not been awakened.
"I also didn't see many signs of an invasion there. So either it didn't happened during this or it happened after it. At least I know that the guardian beasts were awakened when the invasion was at the peak." Lin Wu said to himself.
"And… Mo Hei also talked something about others having beast bloodlines… I don't know if he was referring to the three great clans or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself, but then he shook his head. "No, no, that's not right… the three clans only gained the bloodlines after the three beasts were awakened. This means whoever he was talking about was normal cultivators with beast bloodlines."
Lin Wu watched a few more memories and learned that his conjectures were true. Apparently, the Mo Hei was not the only vessel of the Skull god. There had been many after that. But the latter ones were hidden well and did all their tasks secretly.
They were also the reason why no information about the Vermillion sect could be found in the world now. The skull god though, was weakened greatly due to the attack of the vermilion bird back then.
Due to this, he was unable to keep control of a vessel for longer periods of time and also ended up killing them because of this. And to fix this very problem that he had, he needed the bloodline essence of the vermilion bird.
"Huh… so he's been using the Vermillion bird's bloodline essence to make an antidote for himself? No wonder he's been raiding all these temples." Lin Wu understood.
He also found out that the temples of the Vermillion bird were made by none other than Hong Feng secretly. She had become aware of Mo Hei's intentions a while ago and the only reason she had not done anything to prevent it was that she loved him.
"Ah~ love… makes us do thinks we don't want to and ignore massive flaws of people…" Lin Wu said in an exaggerated tone.
"At least she had the mind to make backup plans… or this world might have fallen a long time ago…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
These temples contained the rest of the bloodline crystals and essence of the Vermillion bird that Hong Feng had found. Apparently, she had barely managed to assimilate a smidgen of the bloodline herself and even that was only because the vermilion bird assisted her.
Report chapter
"Oh? So the Vermillion bird has a mission of its own as well." Lin Wu said as he watched the memories of a jade slip within the memories of the skull god.
"Didn't expect she would be foolish enough to store her own memories like this. And she thought they would stay hidden… Hahaha!" The current vessel of the skull god said.
This vessel was a woman and was holding a jade slip that contained the memories of Hong Feng. She had found this jade slip hidden in one of the temples around the area of the sect.
All these temples were made by the sect's expert formation masters and were enchanted such that they would appear at random times. This was to give them the chance to allow a lucky person to find them.
The temple didn't differentiate between beasts and humans either, and everyone was allowed in it. That was also how the skull god's vessel had managed to find one. The problem was though that the number of temples was unknown.
This became a headache to the skull god, as he not only needed to find the bloodline essence to heal himself, but also find more vessels for himself. He had wanted to go out and find better vessels but was restricted to the area of the sect, which later became the dread coil marsh.
This was actually due to his own fault. Because of the miasma, he had spread back then, the flames of Vermillion bird had cursed the area. The curse was so strong that it was still maintained.
The skull god had spent a long time wearing out that curse, which was also why the dread coil marsh only got worse and worse with time. Back when the vermilion bird cleansed it, the area just looked like it had been scorched by a powerful flame and that it was destroyed.
The skull god continued corrupting the area over the years so that he could finally leave the cursed boundary that had been set by the vermilion bird. Even his vessels could not leave the area once he took over them and he needed to use other people that were often under the command of the vessels to do his work.
That was also how he set up his own temple and became known as a skull god here, too. He gained more followers and let them do his work. But of course, more obstacles arrived in his path, eventually.
The biggest being nothing but the awakening of the three guardian beasts.
"How can this be? The guardian temple needs all of them to awaken at the same time for it to work." The skull god said in bewilderment.
The skull god didn't even know it was possible for just three of the beasts to awaken. In fact, the reason why he was confident in his plans was because he had essentially taken care of the Vermillion bird.
As long as even one of the guardian beasts was suppressed, the others should not have managed to awaken. But now that they had, his problems only increased more.
"Curse them… whoever did this will pay for it one day! I swear to the heavens!" The skull god's vessels said.
The awakening of the guardian beasts served to stopper his progress for many years to come, as he needed to hide most of the time. For over four thousand years, the skull god chose to seal himself and a vessel that he had chosen.
He decided to wait and see what the future would be like. He didn't know if the other guardian beasts would send their followers to figure out about the disappearance of the Vermillion bird, but it never happened.
The skull god spent the four thousand years hiding away and when he finally appeared, he was surprised to find that the world had changed by a lot. No longer were sects at the top, but rather three guardian clans had taken that position.
"Ahahah! Perfect, this works perfectly for me! This is the first time I've seen the sects fall from grace and an independent power taking over the control of the guardian temple." The skull god laughed out loud.
"Seems like I can continue my plan steadily… only thing is I'll still need to stay wary of the people that wander into the area and ensure that my existence is not found out and neither is the Vermillion birds." The skull god decided and gave his vessels the rest of the orders.
Lin Wu then watched on how the organization that the Skull god made rose up. Their main goal was to find the temples of the vermilion bird for now and make sure that no one entered the area of the former Vermillion sect.
They also managed to finally change the environment of the area into what dread coil marsh looked like now over the years. But this came at a cost, of course. Due to being injured, the Skull god couldn't fully control the powers that he gave others.
As a way to entice more followers, he would give them the cultivation methods and skills. So that they could cultivate the shadow Qi that he used. But this was the very thing that limited them as well.
While it allowed the cultivators to gain power rather quickly, it also sent them to their deaths early on as some parts of the cultivation technique came at the cost of their life force.
This was also the reason why he didn't have many followers that had reached a high cultivation base. Over the past two thousand years, he had only managed to gain one follower who had reached the Dao shell realm, and that was the child who Lin Wu and Shirong fought.
Even that cultivator only survived this long because of the many sacrifices that the skull god did, using the vitality of others to replenish this one follower's. But it was also this follower that became his main pawn to control.
"Dayum…. This guy's been playing the long game huh…"
Report chapter
Having learned of all this, Lin Wu wondered what the Skull god's next plan was. He did know of the end goal, which was nothing but to gain access to the Taiji Celestial's tomb, but Lin Wu was sure the man didn't know if its location.
In fact, there was literally no one in this world that even knew the tomb existed. Otherwise, there would have been many sects that would have occupied the Millennium forest.
"I bet the tomb of the Taiji Celestial has even more records than what the skull god knows. Maybe I'll know how the guardian beasts work as well…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He was just about to look for another memory, when the system sent out a notification.
~DING~
——
WARNING: Strong spirit Qi fluctuation detected!
SPIRIT QI SIGNATURE: Identified- Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle
——
As soon as Lin Wu saw it he knew that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle might have finally awakened.
"System, store the memories for later and eject me from this place. Quick!" Lin Wu ordered.
~shua~
With Lin Wu's order, the river of memories faded away, and he was able to see the real world again. He first saw the state of Shirong and saw that half of his body had been invaded by the Skull God.
'He's still hanging on…' Lin Wu realized.
It was now that he heard the followers of the Skull god shouting.
"WE HAVE DONE IT! THE BARRIERS ARE FINALLY GONE!" One of the Nascent soul realm followers that was dispelling the barriers shouted.
The prophet of the Skull god looked in the direction and saw that all thirteen barriers were now gone and the main building of the ruins was now visible to them.
"Finally! After thousands of years! THE GREAT SKULL GOD SHALL HAVE HIS REVENGE!" The prophet shouted.
His hoarse voice looked eerie when compared to the child like figure of the man.
"No bitch, you just courted death!" Lin Wu stated.
~PIIIII~
And just in the next moment, an ear piercing cry of a bird was heard. The cry came from the main building and forced all the followers of the skull god to cover their ears. But this was not all as the Skull god's avatar that was trying to take over Shirong also halted in its progress.
"Huh… I guess it scared you, too. Now to get ready for the main part," Lin Wu said as he prepared for his escape.
He had already prepared a plan and was now executing it. He first used cellular manipulation and cellular crystallization to create a replica of the Immortal crystal armament. He then imprinted some information onto it and stored it into Shirong's spatial storage ring.
"Now to just wait for the right moment…" Lin Wu said as he watched on for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.
~PIIII~
~HUA~
Another cry came from the building and a jet of flames also shot out from the entrance of the building.
"AAAHHHHHH!"
"NOO!!!!!"
"SAVE US!!!"
The cry of the followers of the skull god could be heard as they were burned to death by the vermilion flames. Those that were lucky were killed quickly, but those that were the edges of the attack zone were only burned in a few parts of their body.
"ARGH! THE PAIN!"
"END THIS!!! NOO!!"
But the Vermillion flames did not stop there and continued to burn their body, spreading from the place where they had been burned. This only resulted in them in feeling more pain as they despaired.
Those who were at the Nascent soul realm were in an even worse situation as they had to feel this severe pain not once but twice. The first time they felt it with their bodies and the second time with their Nascent soul which was burned by the Vermillion flames as well.
~squeeeee~
A strange squealing sound came out of the bodies of all the followers that were being burnt, and a mass of black smoke could be seen coming out of them. Lin Wu quickly checked it with his spirit sense and realized this was the miasma of the skull god, which was nothing but a secondary substance born from the use of shadow element.
It was slightly different from normal spirit Qi and had corroding qualities. It would even corrode the cultivators that used it, as could be seen from the memories of the skull god and was bad overall.
"Perhaps only the skull god who has inherited the 'Hei' side of the Taiji Celestial might be able to use this without any damage to himself." Lin Wu muttered.
~shua~
The flames spread from the jet and killed more of the followers of the skull god.
~PIIIII~
Another cry came from the main building as the sound of loud steps was heard.
~thud~thud~thud~
Each step was like a rock pressing upon the heart of a person. As they got closer, the more the followers of the skull god got nervous, if the death of their companions was not enough for them already.
~PIIIII~
Two large wings came out from the entrance of the main building as they flapped with a colossal push.
~whoosh~
The winds created from this pushed away the broken ruins and debris that was nearby and the pillars that supported the main building's entrant were directly broken.
~CRUMBLE~
~BOOM~
~THUD~
The frontal part of the main building directly collapsed due to this, but not before the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally appeared on the platform, her body on full display.
"Whoa!" Lin Wu was awed at the current appearance of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.
"No wait… is that name even valid now. There's no way she can still be considered to be a Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle." Lin Wu added after seeing the large bird beast.
~PIIIII~
Her cry was like a clarion, signaling the death for the follower of the skull god. But in addition to her cry another cry was heard.
"HOW CAN THIS BE!!!"
The second cry came from the body of Shirong, but not actually from his mouth itself.
Lin Wu could even see an illusory skull figure forming above his body that looked similar to the actual head of the skull god. It looked in the direction of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and had visible anger as could be seen from the two black fumes coming from its eyes.
"HOW DO YOU STILL EXIST!?" The Skull god's avatar shouted.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to which this question was addressed to, didn't answer it, however. Rather than that, she let out another cry and flapped her Vermillion wings, spreading Vermillion flames from it.
Lin Wu was awed by her appearance now. She was another size bigger than she was before, reaching a height of almost sixty meters. Her wingspan though was over a hundred meters wide, making it even larger than Lin Wu's real body.
Her entire body was covered with Vermillion feathers that varied in shades of orange and red. At her back, she had one long tail feather on which flames continued to burn and glistened like a liquid.
Her beak had changed from silver to a golden red now and on her head, two crown feathers could be seen. They swayed in the air while letting out small embers from them. The eyes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were the most fierce thought.
Her irises were a deep yellow in color while her pupils were Vermillion in color. Currently, anger could be seen within her eyes and she was clearly agitated by the followers of the skull god.
~PIIII~
But that was merely the start as she raised her head and let out a cry.
~shua~
A red orb suddenly rose up from her body that shimmered like a ruby. If one looked within it, they could see a small flame burning. As soon as Lin Mu saw it, he recognized what it was.
"DAO SHELL! DAO EMBRYO!" Lin Wu said out loud.
It was confirmed from this that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had now successfully broken through to the Dao Treading realm. It was evident that she was only at the first stage of the Dao Treading realm right now.
There were three stages in the Dao Treading realm, the Embryo birth stage, the Embryo growth stage and the Embryo Comprehension stage. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was at the Emery Birth stage and her Dao embryo had just been born.
This was the stage one would arrive after they successfully birthed their embryo in the Dao shell in the Dao shell realm. The size of the Dao shell would determine the progression of the Dao embryo and how far they could go.
This was also the reason why it was often emphasized for one to expand their Dao Shell as much as possible in the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm. There were many requirements for different kinds of Dao Embryos and some needed a bigger Dao shell than others.
In the case of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, her Dao shell was even bigger than that of the Aquadream Sea Lotus. That creature was also at the Dao treading realm and Lin Wu was sure that it had progressed quite a bit in that too.
"Damn! The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle's Dao Embryo at the Embryo birth stage is already comparable to that of the Aquadream Sea Lotus's Embryo growth stage Dao Embryo." Lin Wu exclaimed.
He could see that the Dao Embryo, which was in the form of a tiny flame, was merely the size of a fingernail, while the entire Dao shell was over a meter in diameter. It was evident that there was a lot of room for the embryo to grow there.
Compared to the Aquadream Sea Lotus's Dao Shell that was the size of a football, this looked far more massive. Just from this, Lin Wu was sure that if the Aquadream Sea Lotus met the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle again, she would probably be able to fight it on equal terms if not completely defeat it.
In addition to that, her Vermillion flames were different from normal Fire Elemental flames. They not only contained the Fire Attribute spirit Qi, but they also contained the traces of the vermilion bird's Dao!
With every flap of her wings, the flames only spread more and more, purging the followers of the skull god. They were now fast approaching the location where Lin Wu, Shirong, and the prophet of the skull god were, which made Lin Wu wary.
"Dammit! She'll burn Shirong and me too, if she keeps this up. I need to warn her!" Lin Wu realized.
He quickly used his spirit sense to signal the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but it was impossible to get close to her right now. Not only were the vermilion flames able to burn physical matter, but they were also even able to block, if not damage Lin Wu's spirit sense.
Lin Wu knew that if he forced his way, his spirit senses would only get burned and it will hurt him.
"What other solutions do I have?… come on, think!" Suddenly an idea was presented to Lin Wu, and he hoped it would work.
A while back, when Lin Wu had gotten the third stone feather, he had given the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle a jade slip that he had made. This was for communication for when they were separated.
"Hopefully that jade slip is still intact…" Lin Wu muttered and tried to contact her.
But after a few seconds of effort, he received no response, and he realized that her message never reached the other jade slip.
"FUCK! That jade slip must have been destroyed in her breakthrough or in her flames as well." Lin Wu cursed.
With each passing second, the Vermillion flames were approaching, and the temperature was increasing more and more.
With no other option left, Lin Wu decided to do the one thing he could still do.
"STOP!"
A distorted, monstrous voice spread in the area, shocking everyone that was present. The thing was, this voice didn't come from the prophet, the skull god's avatar or even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.
Rather, it had come from the armor that Shirong was wearing.
"Huh? Did the armor just… Shout?" The prophet was stunned.
But in response to that shouting, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle controlled her attack. Instead of the flames coming straight at them, they split around Lin Wu, devouring the final remnants of the followers of the skull god.
Now only the skull god's avatar itself and the prophet were left alive. Even the prophet was only alive because he was close to Lin Wu. Had it not been for the Lin Wu's shout, all of them would have been wiped out together.
"What are you doing there?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned from there.
"I'm back in the armor form and was fighting these followers, keeping them from disturbing you while you assimilated the bloodline. But then more of them came, and they started to break the barriers with ease.
I didn't know if you would wake up anytime soon, so I did all I could to stall. I also got a lot of news for you that you might like later. First, you need to get rid of them." Lin Wu answered, twisting the facts a little.
"Get rid of them? With you there, how do I do that?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.
"Just follow my instructions. I'll actually need you to use your flames on me so that I am able to use them to purge this skull god from instead, while you roast him from the outside." Lin Wu replied.
"Are you sure? Even I don't know what the might of these Vermillion flames is now." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked again.
"Yeah, I got a solution for that. And that solution was brought by these very imbeciles." Lin Mu spoke.
"And what is it that can protect you from the effects of my flames?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt curious.
Currently, the flames of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were surrounding the skull god's avatar and the prophet in all directions, preventing them from escaping and giving Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to talk.
The prophet's jaw was left open as he saw an armor and a great beast such as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle talking to each other. While the voice of Lin Wu was rather monstrous. He could tell that they were actually having rather meaningful conversations.
The Skull god's avatar was the same and felt shocked at this.
"ENOUGH!" The Skull god yelled. "Retreat for now!" he ordered.
There were only a few stragglers that were left outside of the ruins and thus when they heard this, their own great Skull god telling to retread, all the honor and awe about the skull god was currently nowhere to be seen.
"AHA! I got you where I want you. How dare you escape!" Lin Wu said, forcibly controlling the body of Shirong.
Even if he no longer had the nervous control of Shirong, Lin Wu could still use his body's shape to force the man into moving. And that was all needed as no matter how much the skull god tried, he could not move the body.
But soon he felt an even more intense force pushing in from the inside. This was the force exerted by Lin Wu.
"You asked me what I had to be able to resist this, now behold," Lin Wu spoke as a red crystal appeared over his body.
As soon as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle saw the crystals, her eyes went wide and she recognized it.
"A bloodline essence crystal? Where did you get one, I thought I ate all that we found? The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.
"I got this from these people. They apparently had some stores of them left, but most of them were used by the Skull god to fix his curse. It was a curse that could have said be put on by another strong beast that is none other than the vermilion bird." Lin Wu explained while making up facts.
"With this crystal, I should be able to increase my resistance to flames even those at the level of the vermilion bird." Lin Wu stated before consuming the last bit of the bloodline essence crystal.
The movement, he did several different changes happened in his body. Not only did the spirit Qi started to increase, but other parts of his body did too. Lin Wu continued on, letting the system send its notifications.
~Ding~
——
BLOODLINE ESSENCE CRYSTAL CONSUMED: Essence stored.
ADDING BLOODLINES: Please wait a moment.
.
.
.
Bloodline Addition: Completed.
NEW BLOODLINE ADDED: Vermillion bird ( fragmented)
INNATE SKILLS OBTAINED: Fire resistance, Flame Manipulation.
——
Seeing the innate skills Lin Wu realized he was on the right track.
"DO IT NOW!" Lin Wu shouted again.
While the two cultivators might not be able to do anything to others.
~shua~
"NOOO!" The prophet was the first to be burned.
But that was just the start as the Vermillion flames drowned out Shirong directly. The flames of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle merged with that of the Lin Wu's own he made right at the moment.
~Huala~
Together, the two of them killed the Skull god's avatar. Freeing Lin Wu and Shirong from the absolute control had not been easy but they finally become free from the clutches of the Skull god.
"ARGH! MY body!" the Skull god shouted in dismay as the Vermillion flames penetrated the body easily. Lin Wu was now using the synchronization method he had used to join up with Shirong and using that to flush his body of the Skull God's powers.
The entire time the avatar of the Skull god kept on screaming but sadly for him, he was trapped by the only beast it could have been.
~Whoosh~
Finally, the skull god's avatar was fully wiped out from Shirong's body, leaving him unconscious.
"That's enough stop it! Now I'm burning too!" Lin Wu yelled again.
~shua~
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally stopped her flames and Lin Wu's appearance was finally revealed. Her body was covered in a layer of black soot, making him look really bad. All the elegance and beauty he had due to his crystalline body were nowhere to be seen now.
~cough~
Lin Wu coughed out a mouthful of smoke.
"That was one heck of a sauna bath…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He looked at Shirong and started to morph his body back into its full form. He had already left the fake copy in Shirong's ring, along with some information that will keep in from thinking too much about him.
Rather, if Lin Wu played his cards right, he might even get to take more benefit from this.
~phew~
Lin Wu used the wind attribute spirit Qi to wipe his body and soon became shiny and crystalline like before.
"There we go… much better." Lin Wu said.
~flap~ flap~
~Thud~
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle also came to land beside Lin Wu by that time. Her height now matched with him, when his body was sprawled around the ground a little bit.
"Now then… how did this all happen?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.
~huu~
"It's a long story. Once you were assimilating the bloodline essence of the Vermillion bird, I went around looking for treasures in the ruins. It was there that I ended up meeting these followers of the skull god. I took care of the earlier ones, but later on stronger ones started to turn up.
Thus, to get a little help, I decided to get this human back with me so that we could fight them with our combined power. But then the Dao Shell realm cultivator arrived. He was the one that looked like a child and was the prophet of the skull god, leading all his work till now.
He released the avatar of the Skull god which tried to take over this human's body and since I was connected with him, I as well. I knew that I could only stall for time till you were done, so I let it happen and dragged on as long as I could.
But in there is saw several memories… memories of the Skull god." Lin Wu answered.
The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was surprised upon hearing that all this had happened while she was busy assimilating the bloodline.
"But what was it that you said will interest me?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.
"Well… the skull god has existed in this world for over ten thousand years and has come from a different world. He was also the one who suppressed the Vermillion bird all these years and prevented it from appearing!"
Report chapter
Hearing Lin Wu's words, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was stunned to say the least. She had a hunch that the reason for the Vermillion bird not appearing was something mysterious, but now hearing this confirmed it for her.
"How… how did the skull god suppress the Vermillion bird?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.
"Well, I don't know how it was exactly back then, but apparently the Vermillion bird had chosen a human to do something for it. The human had the bloodline of the Vermillion bird too, but her bloodline was far weaker than you, from what I can see.
Even weaker than when I first met you. At the end, to stop the skull god from destroying her sect, the woman sacrificed herself and temporarily awakened the Vermillion bird using her bloodline as the source.
While the vermilion bird did manage to appear for a while, it was merely an energy construct rather than the actual being. It destroyed the skull god and the entire area, but the skull god was shrewd and had multiple backup plans which prevented him from dying entirely.
Running out of energy, the Vermillion bird's construct faded away and what little was left of it was absorbed by a dagger which was also an immortal weapon. I don't know why that happened, but I reckon it was a way for it to preserve itself.
The immortal weapon dagger though, flew away at the end of the battle and I don't know where it went.
As for the skull god, he managed to survive and spent the coming years recovering his power. He also managed to discover the plans of the woman Hong Feng who was the woman with the bloodline and found the temples.
He stole the bloodline essence from within the temples so that he could resolve the curse he had placed on him by the Vermillion bird and also to prevent another successor with a vermilion bird's bloodline from appearing." Lin Wu explained.
Hearing all this, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt infuriated.
~fwoosh~
Flames erupted from her nostrils as she breathed out harshly in anger. Her eyes lit up with fury as well, and a heavy atmosphere fell around the area.
"That Skull God! I'll eradicate all its kin and descendants!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle declared.
Hearing this, Lin Wu was suddenly reminded of something.
"Oh no, what if the skull god has more backup plans to survive? He managed to do it back then and perhaps he can do it again!" Lin Wu said with concern.
"I'll kill him and eradicate all his traces!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said, flames flickering on her body.
Lin Wu thought over it and looked around the area.
"This entire marsh is made by the Skull god by corrupting it with his miasma. I think completely purging it with your flames might be a better option. But I don't know if it will work fully, since the last time the Vermillion bird did this the skull god managed to survive." Lin Wu spoke.
"Humph! A measly human can't compare to me anywhere. I have awakened over forty percent of the Vermillion bird's bloodline. I still have some parts left to assimilate and once I do that, my power will increase once more." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.
"My flames will be far stronger than that of that woman Hong Feng!" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle declared in a staunch voice.
Hearing all this, Lin Wu knew that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt challenged. She did not want to feel inferior to a human and even felt it insulting that a human had the same bloodline as her.
"Well then, I think you should begin the purge. I'll get away from here first though, even if I have a fragment of the vermilion bird's bloodline as well. I doubt I can withstand your flames." Lin Wu replied.
"Okay, I'll start once you get away." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.
"Mm…" Lin Wu nodded his head and went to the platform which they had used to arrive here along with the unconscious Shirong.
"System, take the platform to the sky." Lin Wu ordered.
~shua~
A humming sound was heard as the platform suddenly sparked to life. A wave of spirit Qi rose from it as the platform detached from the pillars it was resting on.
~whoosh~
It started to rise up into the air and soon sped up into the sky. Once it was at least a couple hundred meters away from the ground, it stopped.
"Huh? That's all?" Lin Wu said, finding the height to be far less than before.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The platform's functions are limited due to the power supply being limited and the formations being damaged.
——
The system informed Lin Wu, who furrowed his brows upon seeing this. He checked the formations of the platform with his own spirit sense and indeed, found several of them to be damaged.
There were even some parts that had darkened for some reason and Lin Wu could feel a familiar vibe from those parts.
"Dammit! That skull god damaged this with his miasma too." Lin Wu cursed.
~Foo~
Lin Wu breathed out flames from his mouth that spread across the darkened parts of the platform. The dark parts were like fuel meeting flames as they were quickly ignited by the flames.
This was the new ability Lin Wu had obtained from the assimilation of the Vermillion bird's bloodline crystals. Even if it was relatively weak, it had still been strong enough to give him a qualitative change.
Lin Wu's flames currently were far from the level of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but they were still enough to destroy the traces of the Skull god's corruption. The flames evenly spread around in a controlled manner and erased all the traces.
"Ugh, even with the traces gone, the damage can't just be reversed…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Report chapter