Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 551 - A Deep Maze online for free - AllNovelFull
The entire Dark Bloom Caverns were a series of tunnels and caves that were joined by passageways. While it had many entrances, there were only a few paths that actually led to the depths of it.
There were hundreds of smaller entrances that were blind on the other end, and tens of major entrances that led deeper. Though only the main entrance was said to go to the very depths of it.
But beasts rarely ever entered it. The current reason for it was the Twin Lights Liger King, but before him, those that entered it all just died. There may have been some survived by those beasts were lost and never heard from again.
Lin Wu may have been one of the only beasts that had managed to come this far in hundreds of years.
"This is certainly made by a man." Lin Wu said upon observing the cave he was currently in.
There were carvings on the wall that looked decorative in nature, though some faded runes were remnants of various formations that once dressed this cave. The runes were in Dao Script and readable for Lin Wu, though he could not really make out the formations right away.
"These should be the older formations that linked on the surface. They have really degraded over time…" Lin Wu said upon seeing this.
After about a minute of investigation later, Lin Wu asked the system. "Is this the reason why the tomb's formation is unable to link to the Dark Bloom Caverns?"
~DING~
——
ANSWER: No, the formations here are auxiliary input and channeling formations. The main formation circuits that link to the Tomb's formation array are deep underground. According to the system's recent estimates, after the new data was obtained, the Dark Bloom Caverns might be over twenty kilometers deep.
——
"Damn, that's deep." Lin Wu said upon hearing this.
~DING~
——
NOTIFICATION: Would the host like to see the theoretical map- Y/N?
——
"Yes! Yes! Why's that even a question? Show me." Lin Wu ordered.
~DING~
In the next moment, the map window expanded in front of Lin Wu and he could see several new layers being added to it. On the right side, he could see that the lawyers went at least a hundred meters deep.
"Hmm… so the difference between each layer is about a hundred meters. This means there should be around 200 if not more layers." Lin Wu hypothesized.
On the map, Lin Wu could only see the current layer and the one below it. All the others were currently hidden as he had not explored it himself. The interference prevented them from being shown.
"Though… where the heck is the Twin Lights Liger king? I'm already quite deep, just how far deep does he live? Is he a liger or is he a mole?" Lin Wu wondered.
Lin Wu even wondered if he should drill straight down, but he decided against that. The reasons for that were several, the first being the fact that he didn't know what was below him.
The second was that going straight down might mean that he misses the Twin Lights Liger king. If he was in one of the layers and Lin Wu did not appear near him, he might just end up missing him.
Rather than that, it was better for him to follow the path that already existed. Finding the Twin Lights Liger King was one of the important tasks that he needed to do. Only that beast knew the secrets of the Dark Bloom Caverns and the millennium forest itself.
Lin Wu ended up traveling for about an entire day and kept on going deeper and deeper. It didn't take long for him to realize that the depths were no less than a maze and if he didn't check the map again and again, he would get lost.
"Fudge, wrong turn again!" Lin Wu cursed as he checked the map.
Currently, the map could only update passive with the use of his spirit sense. It was similar to the video games of his past life in which one needed to explore an area to reveal the parts that were hidden behind the 'fog of war'.
Often times what was happening was that Lin Wu would take a long route and eventually realize that he ended up circling to a part that he had already been too. A lot of the routes were looping, and some were simply dead ends.
There were dangers here too of course, but to Lin Wu, they were pretty much nothing. The dangers being, poisonous and acidic plants, mosses and small insect beasts that were weak but could probably kill Nascent soul realm beats just from their sheer numbers.
Lin Wu could also tell that the small beasts here had little to no intelligence and were mostly acting on instincts. If they found something that looked like prey they would swarm them and attack.
Their bites and stings would probably be deadly, but for Lin Wu's crystalline body they were nothing. In fact, most of the insect beats didn't even register him as a living beast. The ones that attacked were just those that attacked based on movement.
Then there were other dangerous areas such as falling stalactites. These were sharp and had condensed over thousand of years. Any movement that caused vibrations over a certain limit would trigger these to fall.
The Stalactites themselves were easy to dodge if they were limited in number, but the problem was they covered the entire ceiling, thus leaving barely any room for one to dodge.
Lin Wu tested out a couple of them and found them to be harder than iron.
"Damn, these can easily kill even Core Condensation realm cultivators and beasts. A Nascent soul realm beast that has weaker defenses might get injured as well." Lin Wu analyzed.
But it was these very stalactites that showed Lin Wu the path and where to go. Lin Wu noticed that there were some places where the stalactites were missing, and it looked like they had fallen already.
"This should probably be the path that the Twin Lights Liger King took.." Lin Wu stated.
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Following the path that was shown by the fallen stalactites, Lin Wu finally reached the deeper levels of the Dark Bloom Caverns. On the way, he had seen many branches and forks in the path, which would be dizzying for the average person.
There were simply too many routes and blind ends, turning the place into a labyrinth.
"Wonder how the Twin Lights Liger King even managed to find the path. Did he try for many years or something like that?" Lin Wu wondered.
He ended up traveling for another day before he finally reached what looked to be the deepest part of the Dark Bloom Caverns. Lin Wu didn't know just how deep he had come, but it was probably a few kilometers deep at this point.
"What the heck!" Lin Wu couldn't help but exclaim upon seeing what was inside the final cave.
Multiple layers of barriers were covering something that could not be seen. There were millions of runes floating around, their functions seemingly unknown for now. There were also carved formations on the floor which were actually uniformly flat.
It was obvious that it had been made like that manually and intentionally. The runes carved on the floor also looked to be well detailed, and it didn't look like they were that old. But from the faint aura that they exuded, Lin Wu could tell that they were ancient at this point.
"Just what is this place… is that the power source that the system was talking about?" Lin Wu questioned.
The multiple barriers made it hard to see what was actually behind them, thus Lin Wu could only guess.
"Is it a spirit Qi spring? A mine? Or something else entirely?" Lin Wu wondered.
These were the most common spirit Qi sources that came to Lin Wu's mind and were used by many people. But the protection used here seemed to be a little too much for things like that.
"Just what could be behind it?" Lin Wu wondered and got closer.
His spirit sense had already checked everything and he hadn't found anything dangerous to be here. Regardless, Lin Wu carefully approached the barriers and came to stand in front of them.
~WARNING~
~WARNING!~
~WARNING~
All of a sudden, the system sent out warnings and Lin Wu got into a defensive stance. The system didn't even get the opportunity to tell just what kind of a danger it was due to the interference field, but still managed to pick up something from the passive sensing.
~SHING~
Spikes sprouted from Lin Wu's body, looking extremely gruesome. This was one of the defensive abilities that Lin Wu had devised. Anything that attacked him was bound to get hurt as long as they did so physically.
The spikes also helped in blocking ranged energy attacks, as they would dampen the force of impact and would be the first to break off in case of excess damage. This would prevent the damage from traveling to Lin Wu's body.
Radiation swirled around Lin Wu's body and suppressed the spirit Qi in the area. This would also prevent spirit Qi based energy attacks from being used easily. It could even prevent the spirit sense of others from approaching Lin Wu.
Taking a two pronged approach, Lin Wu opened his mouth as energy started to gather inside it.
"I'll blast every MOFO that gets near me! Try me, bitch!" Lin Wu said as his eyes glowed.
But the danger that Lin Wu was looking for never approached.
"Huh? Why a warning then?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Finally…" It was then that a raspy voice was heard from behind him.
Lin Wu's eyes flipped to the back and saw the source of the voice.
In front of Lin Wu, he could see a pair of black eyes watching him from inside the barriers. They were large… larger than the entire body of Lin Wu and looked terrifying. The pupils of the eyes were acid green in color.
But the strangest thing was that there was nothing attached to the eyes. They were just a pair of eyes floating in the air. Though if one looked closer, they would see that there were faint wisps of something fluid emanating from their edges.
"Finally, someone else managed to reach this place…" The eyes spoke.
That was right… the eyes were speaking. The edges of the eyelids had small teeth, and the eye blinked like lips talking.
"W-what… W-who are you?" Lin Wu questioned and continued to charge energy in his mouth.
"Oh? A beast that can speak? That was unexpected… I never thought I'd see one speak in this world." The eyes spoke.
The eyes closed for a few seconds, as if thinking and then opened again.
"Hmm… doesn't matter. Even if it's a beast it is fine…" the eyes spoke and then started into Lin Wu's eyes.
"Tell me… Little snake… do you want power?" The eyes spoke.
"I'm a worm," Lin Wu interrupted and continued to charge the energy in his mouth.
The size of the energy ball in his mouth started from a pea size and was now about the size of a basket ball. Of course, in Lin Wu's mouth, it looked rather small even now.
"Okay… Little worm, do you want power? Do you want to be more than just a worm?" The eyes spoke.
Lin Wu didn't know what the eyes were getting at, thus decided to engage it for a bit. At least until his attack was ready to be launched.
"Umm… Sure?" Lin Wu said.
The eyes went still and started at Lin Wu for a bit before speaking again.
"You seem to not believe me?" The eyes spoke.
"No, I fully believe you, 100%. Trust me," Lin Wu said as the energy ball in his mouth reached half of its full size.
"You say you trust me. But your body seemed to be saying something else." The eyes said, looking at the energy gathering in Lin Wu's mind.
"Oh, this? I just have indigestion. Lemme puke and I'll be fine.." Lin Wu replied in a deadpan voice.
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The encounter with the black pair of eyes was certainly unexpected for Lin Wu. While he was expecting conflict, it was with the Twin Lights Liger King and not something like this.
Lin Wu couldn't even tell what kind of a being it was. It didn't seem like a beast, nor was it a human or a demon. All of the system's scans and searches were coming back empty, and it was at a loss as well.
It was clear that whatever this was; it was not in the system's data bank. Lin Wu carefully observed the being and tried to use his own past life experiences of games and novels to figure out what this being was.
'An evil eye? A floating eye beast? Eye demon? Too many options and they don't look the same. Is it even a cultivator or something else? A demon? No… demons in this world are different.
Then perhaps… it's a manifestation and not a real body?' Lin Wu analyzed in his mind.
The pair of eyes though seemed a bit stunned at Lin Wu's nonchalant answer before this.
"I'll ignore what you said… now tell me if you really want power?" The Pair of eyes asked again.
"I do, what do I have to do and who are you to be able to give me them?" Lin Wu questioned.
I am someone more powerful than you can ever imagine! I have existed for hundreds of thousands of years! I am—" But before the pair of eyes could say anymore, they freezed.
"NOOO! GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!" A voice that sounded like a roar was heard.
Lin Wu's eyes moved again, and he spotted a beast approaching at a fast speed. Its two eyes glowed in two different lights, one being pitch black and the other being bone white in color.
"The Twin Lights Liger King?" Lin Wu recognized.
Lin Wu raised his tail in a defensive gesture, just in case the Twin Lights Liger King was heading towards him, but the beast didn't do that. Instead, it moved to a particular place in the cave and stood in what looked like a formation circle.
~BANG~
It slammed its feet on the ground and shouted, "Suppress!"
~shua~
The formation arrays in the cave all lit up and pressure was exerted from them.
"DAMN YOU! FILTHY BEAST! ONE DAY I'LL KILL YOU!" The pair of eyes shouted from inside the barrier before they were pulled back.
A second later, they had disappeared, and no signs of them could be seen. Lin Wu looked back at the Twin Lights Liger king and found him to be looking rather pale. It seemed as if he had exhausted a lot of energy in a short amount of time and was panting.
This was surprising since he was an Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm beast and should have been able to hold for days if not weeks on end.
"What the hell was that?" Lin Wu questioned, the energy ball in his mouth having reached the peak.
"Restrain your Qi! The formations here are unstable and get affected by external spirit Qi!" The Twin Lights liger said instead.
Lin Wu looked at the barrier and then back at the Twin Lights liger king before thinking for a bit and nodding.
~poof~
The energy ball in his mouth, reduced in size before fizzing away and the surrounding radiation calmed down as well, before retreating back into his body.
Lin Wu was not afraid of the Twin Lights liger king and thus was fine with reeling in his attack. If he wanted to, Lin Wu was confident in defeating the Twin Lights liger king on his own, with just his body.
After all, he was at the Dao Shell realm now and had little to fear from him.
"Alright, I've done what you said. Now can you tell me what was that and what's going on here exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Sigh~
The Twin Lights liger King looked at Lin Wu for a few seconds before sighing.
"So the day has finally come…" The Twin Lights Liger King said.
"What day?" Lin Wu asked curiously.
"You coming to confront me… and probably investigate this place." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.
Lin Wu was a little surprised at the accurate guess of the Twin Lights Liger King, but then understood that it was something a bit obvious. After all, the Twin Lights Liger King was no naive young beast and had been a ruler for hundreds of years now.
"Hmm, you got that right." Lin Wu stated.
"So, do you want to fight and kill me?" The Twin lights liger king questioned.
Lin Wu looked at the current weak state of the beast and shook his head.
"No… not necessarily. I did originally think that I would have to fight you, but it's certain that you have more to you than just an average beast's thinking." Lin Wu answered.
"I see… you are one of those… beasts that have minds like those of humans. Your thinking is certainly not normal for the beasts of this forest or even beyond it." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.
Lin Wu was surprised once again by this and was now sure that the Twin Lights Liger King was certainly more experienced than he had thought originally.
"You are pretty similar as well, if I say so myself." Lin Wu replied.
The Twin Lights Liger King simply nodded his head and looked back at the barrier.
"So you want to know about this place?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.
"I do indeed." Lin Wu answered.
"But are you prepared to bear the consequences of doing that? Let me tell you that once you know, you will either become shackled to this place or leave it if you are strong enough to resist it.
Do you still want me to tell you that?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned in a stern voice.
"I do… go on.." Lin Wu said with determination.
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It would be a lie if Lin Wu said that he was not worried about the Twin Lights Liger King's words, but he still went on with his decision. Even if there were some repercussions to it, Lin Wu was confident of finding a solution to them.
"Go on… tell me what this place is and what was that thing." Lin Wu stated.
The Twin Lights Liger King took a deep breath and looked towards the barrier before speaking.
"That thing… those eyes you saw… I do not know what it exactly is, but it is a dangerous creature. It tempts every beast or human that manages to come here and offers them power.
Little do they know that they are simply tricked and get their own life sucked out of them instead." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.
"Huh? They get killed?" Lin Wu asked.
"Indeed." The Twin Lights Liger King nodded his head. "Come, follow me." He added.
He then turned around and led Lin Wu to one of the parts of the cave to the very back. The location that he took him to was hidden behind a large boulder which the Twin Lights Liger King pushed aside.
This revealed another tunnel, and he entered it.
~hua~
The Twin Lights Liger King illuminated the path with his eyes and repelled all the small beasts and bugs that would trouble whoever entered the place. Lin Wu could see that they were the same bug swarms that could bite a Nascent soul realm beast to death.
'So that's how he navigates here…' Lin Wu thought upon seeing the light of the Twin Lights Liger King's eyes.
The light emitting from his eyes was like smoke scaring away the bees and preventing all the bugs from coming close. They scuttled away and let the two beasts pass. Though Lin Wu had no need for this, as these beasts never considered him to be a living beast due to his crystalline body.
Lin Wu wondered where the Twin Lights Liger King was taking him and if it would take long. But the wait was rather short, as in just ten minutes they were at the next location.
This was also a cave, but it was at least twice as big as the earlier one. In fact, Lin Wu could even see the multi-layered barriers here as well.
"There's… another cave like that one?" Lin Wu questioned.
"There are four to be accurate, though all of them are the same and are located in a circle." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.
Lin Wu checked the mini map on the side of his vision and saw that he was indeed at a 90 degree angle from the previous place. He then looked around at the cave and saw something more shocking.
"Bones? There's so many of them too… even more than the bone hills in front of the tomb." Lin Wu said.
"These are all the unfortunate creatures that fell prey to the temptation of power. That creature would suck out the life of whoever it managed to trap and leave them dead. Their bodies would be drained of all vitality and spirit Qi leaving only a sack of skin and bones behind." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.
"If all the caves are same, then why were there no bones in the previous one?" Lin Wu questioned after thinking for a bit.
"That's because I'm usually blocking that cave and preventing anyone from coming. These other caves though, I can only check when I suspect something has happened." The Twin Lights Liger King said.
"I see… but what are you doing here exactly? I understand you are blocking that creature, but why's that?" Lin Wu asked the main thing he wanted to.
"I am doing this because this is my duty… or is something forced upon me by this forest." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.
"Forced? Has the forest bound you to it somehow?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Yes… it has control over all the beasts that live within it. Though its control mostly extends over the Nascent soul realm beasts. The ones weaker than that are not worthy in its eyes and are mostly ignored.
The forest acts through the bloodline resonance and can put shackles on us that we don't even feel. They can subconsciously compel us to do things that we don't even know we are doing.
That is exactly how it exerts its rules and how they came to be." The Twin Lights Liger King explained.
"I see… so that's how it all started. But how did you get involved in this?" Lin Wu questioned.
~Sigh~
"All of this started a long time ago… longer than even the existence of this forest. Back then, this place was called as the Dark Celestial's tomb. It was said to contain a source of great power and was sealed because of the danger it posed to everyone.
A Peerless expert seemed to have descended upon this world and sealed the place. It was said that when the peerless expert descended, the sky turned bright and all the shadows were dispelled.
Having sealed the tomb, he left the world. But not before making sure the tomb would be taken care of. He made it so that the tomb would be self sufficient on its own for the most part.
The Seal itself was based on bloodlines and as long as a certain amount of strong beasts were linked to it, the seal would be intact." The Twin Lights Liger King explained.
"That's why the need for five Nascent soul realm rulers…" Lin Wu muttered.
"Indeed. It's not that they are five rulers, but rather they are the five chains that hold back the creature and keep the seal intact. Whatever the seal is, it depends on the bloodlines and not the cultivation of the beasts.
For it to function like this, I do not know what level of a formation master it would need, but it's certainly not an average one.." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.
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Having heard about the seal from the Twin Lights Liger King Lin Wu could guess who made it.
'The Sky Bright Daoist no doubt… so he made the tomb and the seal. But that doesn't fully make sense. The Tomb is that of the Taiji Celestial. Why was it called as the Dark Celestial's tomb?' Lin Wu wondered.
"This place binds to one of the 'rulers' and forces them to maintain it." The Twin Lights Liger King added.
"Maintain it? How's that exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Have you ever wondered why the beasts never go above Nascent soul realm in this forest?" The Twin Lights Liger King replied.
This made Lin Wu raise his brows and he finally understood it.
"So the forest drains their spirit Qi and prevents them from doing so." Lin Wu stated.
"It does do that, and the ruler that is bound to this place needs to directly contribute spirit Qi to control the seal. That is what I have been doing all these years…" The Twin Lights Liger King revealed.
"If it were not for this place then… you would have become a Dao Shell realm beast already." Lin Wu said.
"Perhaps if I never came to this place, I would have been able to. But now that I'm bound there is no other way other than to let another being take my place. The other rulers are at least free in this aspect and can leave the forest if the need arises and they want to.
But I can't do that. Back when the Silver Tusk Tapir King arrived, I even wondered if it was intentional on the forest's part as before this there has never been an invasion as big as that. It has always prevented it one way or the other." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.
"Hmm… this is indeed too complex." Lin Wu said before looking at the barrier.
"How did you even get involved in this? You said you came to this forest which means you were not a native?" Lin Wu asked.
"Yes, I am not a native of this place. While the Lamp Light Liger Pride that lives here is native, I myself am not. I was once a Lamp Light Liger too, but once I awakened my bloodline and became a Twin Lights Liger, I moved out from the pride I used to live in and set out for a new place of my own.
Eventually, I found the pride of Lamp Light Ligers living in the millennium forest and took over as their head. Shortly after that, I… like many other rulers stumbled into the Dark Bloom Caverns.
There have been many generations of rulers that were bound to this place. In my time it was another beast and she was the one who passed on the position of the 'keeper' to me. I was naive at that time and thought it would give me more power and authority.
But it was a trap masked by fortune instead. It gave me a quick boost in my power, but shackled me in the long term.
Now all I can do is do my duty here and prevent the creature from getting out. I have to supply my spirit Qi to do so every time it manages to slip through. It is hard to tell when it gains sufficient strength to do so because it doesn't come out until there is someone to tempt.
At all other times, it stays hidden. That's why I stop all beasts from approaching. But there is little I can do when there is not one but four such places. Thankfully they are harder to reach than the one I guard most times." The Twin Lights Liger King explained in detail.
Lin Wu now understood the strange behavior of the Twin Lights Liger King. He understood why he was so hard to see and why he was the ruler for so long. It also explained his disappearances at long time periods, since he was here guarding.
It was now that Lin Wu was reminded of something.
"Wait… I remember hearing that many rulers have entered the Dark Bloom Caverns from different entrances, what happened to them? I'm sure not all of them died." Lin Wu spoke.
"There have been many that entered this place. In my time alone there have been about twenty three rulers." The Twin Lights Liger King said.
"Twenty three?! That's way more than what the Slim arm ape king and the beetle king told me." Lin Wu said feeling doubtful.
"That's understandable. They are one of the more recent rulers and are more stable than the ones that came before them. You must understand, most rulers that actually became rulers weren't one for long.
Of the twenty three that came here, fifteen died before they could even reach the seal. Five couldn't resist the temptation and were killed. From the remaining three, two managed to resist it and turned back, the Olive Viper King being one of them and the other being the ruler that the Olive Viper King killed to take his place." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.
"And what about the final one?" Lin Wu asked, seeing that the numbers didn't add up.
"Number twenty three is you, of course. The only question that stands is what you want to do? Will you turn back and pretend like this place does not exist like the Olive Viper King, or will you take over for me?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned in a calm tone.
Lin Wu was sent into deep thought after hearing this question. He was fully informed of the danger of this place and who it would bind him, but he also knew the place was important for him overall if he wanted full control over the Tomb of the Taiji Celestial.
'But the Dark Celestial tomb… two tombs in one place… one functions as the power source for the other… my choice is obvious.' Lin Wu thought to himself before deciding on an answer.
"I choose… NEITHER!"
Lin Wu's choice was certainly not something the Twin Lights Liger King had expected. In fact, it was a choice that was not even presented to him. From all that he had learned and observed about Lin Wu till now, the Twin Lights Liger King was sure that he would take over his place.
He did think that there was a small chance that Lin Wu might just turn away, but Lin Wu's personality was not like that. The Twin Lights Liger King knew that Lin Wu also desired power and would like to try his own attempt at this tomb.
The Twin Lights Liger King knew this because he himself was the same as Lin Wu back then. Despite hearing the dangers, he was willing to take the duty into his own hands, because he had the coincidence and hope that he would be able to do it.
But that was a mistake. A mistake that cost him several hundreds of years of his life and his cultivation as a cost. Even now, he only cultivated so that he could supply the spirit Qi to the sealing formation when needed.
Other than that, he could never break through to the Dao Shell realm, no matter how much he wanted to. In fact, if he was never bound to this tomb, he would have broken through to the Dao Shell realm over two or three hundred years ago.
His innate potential was really high, and it was just the tomb holding him back. There were many problems hovering over him, the main one being that he was running out of lifespan.
He only had about a hundred years or fewer of lifespan left and he needed to find someone else willing to take over him. Otherwise, he would never be able to breakthrough.
There was actually something he had not told Lin Wu, and it was a secret that was only held by the keeper of the tomb. It was that even if a beast's lifespan ran out, they would still not die.
The tomb would keep their souls bound to the world and forcefully keep their bodies alive. They would become living puppets that would only have the task of providing spirit Qi to the formation.
It was a cruel existence and no one would like to live trapped like that. The Twin Lights Liger King knew this because the one who was the keeper before him was in that stage. The beast had already run out of his longevity and was only alive because of the seal.
The beast passed on his position to the Twin Lights Liger King and turned to dust in the next second. The Twin Lights Liger King did not want that to happen to him as well. He was desperate to escape but couldn't give away the duty to anyone carelessly, either.
This was not because he was forced to, but he knew just how heavy his duty was. He had felt the horrors of the thing that was bound by the seal and knew that if he passed the duty to someone incompetent and they let the seal be broken, this world as he knew would end.
Either way, he would die. Thus, it would be better for him to suffer a bit more and find someone that could bear the duty for him.
But now, here was Lin Wu, who had neither accepted, nor denied his offer. Rather, he was going on a separate path that the Twin Lights Liger King did not know where it would lead to.
All he could do now was to let Lin Wu show him.
"And what's that? If you choose neither, then what are you going to do?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.
"Just watch… even if you can't do anything to this place and are helpless, doesn't mean I am too." Lin Wu answered.
"Oh? Confident I see… overconfident perhaps too…" The Twin Lights Liger King added.
"Nope, just a bit more tech savvy." Lin Wu replied.
"Tech savvy? What's that?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked feeling confused, having never heard those two words.
"Ah, you won't get it." Lin Wu shook his head.
"Let me just show you…" Lin Wu said and approached the barrier.
While the Twin Lights Liger King had been explaining things to Lin Wu, he had been talking with the system and coming up with other plans. He knew that even if the seal was strong and had trapped many beasts till now, it would still be nothing in front of the system.
All he needed was a little time and preparation.
'The system managed to overcome the formation of the Taiji Celestial's tomb, which is far more complex than this one. The formation sealing this place should be far easier…' Lin Wu thought as he observed the barrier from up close.
"If I directly touch the barrier, you'll be able to access the formation despite the interference field, right system?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Affirmative." The System answered.
~huu~
"Alright, here goes nothing… can't embarrass myself here after talking hot shit now," Lin Wu said and extended his tail before lightly touching the barrier with it.
The Twin Lights Liger King was watching him as well and was wondering what he would be up to and was a little worried when he touched the barrier. Even though he knew that the barrier did not cause any harm to anyone that touched it from the outside, there were still unexpected things that could happen.
He was secretly anticipating something to happen, but that something never happened. Instead, Lin Wu simply stood there with his tail touching the barrier for about two minutes.
The Twin Lights Liger King kept on watching, feeling astounded for five more minutes and finally decided to speak again.
"Just what are Yo—" But before he could complete his sentence, he saw something that shocked him to his core.
~HONG!!!!~
The formations all started to hum with a loud noise, and it looked like the entire cave was shaking.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" The Twin Lights Liger King shouted.
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The Twin Lights Liger King couldn't help but think the worst upon seeing the change.
He didn't know what Lin Wu had just done and wondered if the seal was broken or something. The Twin Lights Liger King thought that he was foolish that he even let Lin Wu try something like this.
Now he could only regret this and hope that things weren't as he had just thought they were.
"Relax, the seal is fine. I can guess what you're thinking." Lin Wu casually said, upon hearing the Twin Lights Liger King.
"Huh?" The Twin Lights Liger King looked at the barriers and saw that they were indeed the same as before.
"Then… what happened?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.
"Something good… something helpful…" Lin Wu said as he looked at the woodwind in front of him.
~DING~
——
MODIFICATION COMPETED: Interference field disabled
FORMATION LINK: Initiated
LINKING COMPLETED: Sealing formation key acquired
——
Seeing the few notifications in front of him, Lin Wu felt pleased. He knew that there was just a little thing standing in between him and this place and now even that was gone. He was restrained by the interference field and it just took a little touch and work from the system to take care of it.
"Alright, system… time for a total scan of this place." Lin Wu ordered.
~DING~
——
ACTIVATING SCANNER: Deep scan initiated
SCANNING: Please wait a moment…
SCAN: Completed.
MAP: Updated
NOTIFICATION: Data Nodes obtained
NOTIFICATION: Data banks updated
——
~SHUA~
In just a minute, the entire view of the Dark Bloom Caverns changed for Lin Wu and he could see everything that was hidden within this place. He could see all the formation links and networks that spread in the caverns.
He could even see the spots where it was damaged and its link with the Taiji Celestial's tomb's formation array was broken.
'That's a lot of damage… doesn't seem like it can be fixed directly or quickly for that matter…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He then looked at the other places on the map and could see all the routes and caves there were in the Dark Bloom Cavern. He now had the right path that he could follow and leave from the other caves if the need so arose.
"Hmm… I can probably dig a new tunnel that takes me directly to the Taiji celestial's tomb if the need so arises. A straight path will be the fastest one…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
He checked the map for other markers and discovered that there wasn't really much in the Dark Bloom caverns other than the big seal and a few plants and insects. There were no treasures in here either like the rumors said.
The seal was another thing that was shocking to Lin Wu. Even after the system got access to it completely, the seal still turned up like a blind spot on the map.
"Why's this part still hidden system?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The encryption on the seal is additionally strengthened and the system cannot decrypt it right away.
——
"And what about the power source? Can we use the main power source now?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: According to what the system had been able to decrypt till now, the being in the seal is the power source itself. But due to the original link being broken, the sealing formation's security features were activated and it heavily encrypted the access.
Now, if the main power source is to be used, the system will need to fully decrypt it and then make a new access point for the power source.
——
~Sigh~
Hearing the answer of the system, Lin Wu couldn't help but sigh. In fact, the moment he had seen the being, the pair of black eyes, he knew that he would be running into some sort of a problem.
The being was beyond his understanding and was likely to pose a problem. And after he heard from the Twin Lights Liger King that the Sky Bright Daoist was the one who sealed it, Lin Wu knew that the being was more than something he can handle at his level.
'If it has been able to last this long, it should be very strong. But this was a tomb, wasn't it supposed to be dead all along?' Lin Wu wondered.
~DING~
——
NOTIFICATION: The system has found some data nodes related to this. Would the host like to view them? Y/N
——
"Right one time, show me." Lin Wu ordered.
Lin Wu felt a surge of information in his mind and several windows also appeared in front of him.
'If it was directly injected into my mind, that means it was already prepared in that format. Hmm… interesting…' Lin Wu thought and started to go through the information.
In it, he saw how the entire situation with the Dark Bloom Caverns had originally started.
A long time ago the Millennium forest did not exist and this was just barren land. But what did exist here was an ancient tomb that had existed for an unknown amount of time. There was a being buried here that was waiting to be revived.
There was no mention of whether it was a human, a beast, a demon or some other creature. The only thing that was told was that it was a very strong being that could end the world in mere minutes of being given the opportunity to do so.
The tomb was desolate for a long time and the being inside it stayed dead all that time. But after a certain time passed, it was gaining life again and the being inside it was going to be revived.
It was at that time that the Sky Bright Daoist arrived and sealed the entire tomb. Raising the great earth, he fully hid the tomb deep underground. He then put more seals on top of it, before making the Taiji Celestial's tomb on top.
Then, to make the seal stronger and weaken the being inside, the Sky Bright Daoist turned it into a power source and kept on draining its spirit Qi.
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Lin Wu continued going through the memories and saw that the Sky Bright Daoist did not stop at just placing the seal and turning the Dark Celestial's tomb into a power source of the Taiji Celestial's tomb, but he also added the bloodline seal to it.
It was now that Lin Wu learned of the seal's name.
"The Bloodline Unity Seal… Gather the will of the bloodlines and suppress for generations to come…" Lin Wu recited its mnemonic.
The Bloodline Unity seal was actually more complex than the other seals that the Sky Bright Daoist had made and thus ended up spending a lot of time in making it. This also leads to a lot more information about it being recorded.
Lin Mu learned that the Bloodline Unity Seal was one of the many Bloodline seals and was a variation of the Bloodline Trinity seal which was made with the bloodline Trinity formation.
The bloodline trinity formation was considered to be one of the strongest key formations in the world. But its strength is varied depending on the bloodline that is entered into the formation.
It used the differences between different bloodlines to seal something. It was usually combined with a self destructive or explosive formation that would destroy whatever it was protecting.
Unlike the bloodline trinity formation though, the Bloodline unity formation or seal did not vary the strength of the seal depending on the difference between bloodlines. But rather it would stockpile the bloodlines on top of each other and let them act as the locks.
Letting five Nascent soul realm beasts act as the Bloodline Unity Seal's chains would have been useless if the being that was confined in the tomb was at its full strength, but that was not the aim here.
Rather, the aim was to keep the being sealed and dead. Even now, what Lin Wu had seen was not the being alive, but rather just a wisp of its consciousness that was separate from its body.
It was trying to unseal it but it did not have full access to its true power. That's why it needed some other beast to act as a conduit so that it could gather power for itself and then break the seal on its own.
It was a long and complex procedure and the being had not succeeded till now. Even if it managed to entice and trap a few beasts, draining them of their spirit Qi, it could only watch as the Twin Lights Liger King sacrificed its own spirit Qi to restrain it again, making it lose the advantage it had gained.
'This is basically a game of tug of war and the players are the Twin Lights Liger King and that being. But what hangs in the balance is very big as well… it's the very fate of this world.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Having thought of all this, Lin Wu knew that the situation was way more dangerous than he had thought and he would have to deal with this being very serious.
"System, what is the chance that the seal will break if we directly try to link it with the main tomb?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: Chances of seal collapse are 97.89%
——
"Just as I thought… there is no way we can attempt something like that. We will need to do it some other way…" Lin Wu muttered to himself.
~DING~
——
SUGGESTION: The system cannot break the seal directly but the seal can be integrated into the system's network and thus made to work directly with the Taiji Tomb's formation.
——
Reading this Lin Wu felt a bit better, but wondered what would be the conditions for it.
"What are the requirements that we would need to satisfy?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The system would recommend that the seal's integrity be increased further first. Currently, only five beasts bloodline is being used as the chains for the seal, this number can be increased with the system's modification.
Once the number reaches a sufficiently high level, the system will be able to create a back door that can link the power source with the Taiji Celestial's tomb.
——
"Hmm… that does seem like a valid option. The Bloodline Unity seal becomes stronger the more bloodlines there are in it. Though with each additional bloodline, it also becomes progressively harder to stack." Lin Wu said.
He thought for a bit more and asked another question, "say if we go ahead with this… how exactly will the bloodlines be added?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The system will be using the host's own bloodline and the Pentagem crystals, along with the external bloodline links to add the new bloodlines to the seal. Since the process will be done externally, it will be slightly inferior to the five ruler bloodline chains, but it will have no direct limit.
And once the system has gained a sufficient understanding of the formation, it will be able to analyze it further and be able to directly add the bloodline chains.
The host merely needs to add more beasts to his bloodline, and they will be subsequently linked by the system.
——
"Damn! That's such a novel way of doing it… if we really do it, I can utilize my servants in dual methods." Lin Wu couldn't help but exclaim in his mind.
"Can we make use of the current servants I have, system?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: Only beasts at and above the Nascent soul realm can be added, thus all of the host's servants that are at that level will be added to the link.
——
"Alright! Do it, why waste time!" Lin Wu ordered.
~DING~
——
ANALYZING NEW PARAMETER: External bloodline chain formation
ANALYSIS COMPLETED: External bloodline chain formation created
External bloodline chain formation: Adding first link- Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole
First Link Addition: Successfully completed!
External bloodline chain formation: Adding second link-Emeraldine Horn Beetle
Second Link Addition: Successfully completed!
.
.
.
.
External bloodline chain formation: Adding sixth link-Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape
Sixth Link Addition: Successfully completed!
——
Lin Wu watched on as the links started to form one by one.
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While Lin Wu was doing something he had never done with the help of the system, other things were happening over the millennium forest.
In the territory of the two Ape kings, the pair of father and son were sitting in the cave.
The Demon Spine Ape king was lying on a stone bed on which several pelts of different beasts were layered to make it softer and more comfortable. The Slim Arm Ape King was sitting on the side while griding some herbs in what looked like a mortar.
~clack~clack~clack~
With each hit of the pestle, the herbs were getting more and more ground.
~Sigh~
The Slim Arm Ape King suddenly sighed and spoke. "You should have stopped when he gave you the option to do so. Now, look what situation you are in."
"I know, father. But I also needed to see it with my own two eyes if he was worthy of following." The Demon Spine ape king replied.
"What worthy? He's already many times stronger than you, me, and every beast in this forest combined! Even the Twin Lights liger King shouldn't be much in front of him." The Slim Arm Ape King said, his volume a little loud.
The Demon Spine ape seemed like he wanted to say something, but gave up after a few seconds of thinking.
"Just how did he get that strong? Was there really something that precious in the meteor that fell?" The Demon Spine ape king questioned.
"None of the beasts know what was it that the Olive Viper King and Lin Wu obtained. All those that went close to it died, only those two were able to obtain it. Which means it was something attenuated to them, or they were just lucky and in the right place.
But even then, the difference in superiority is obvious. The Olive Viper King became a nascent soul realm beast before King Lin Wu and yet he was the one to die in the end." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.
"That's it? All of it falls to luck?" The Demon Spine ape king asked, feeling a bit frustrated.
"That's just how things are in the world. Fate is a mysterious mistress and plays games that are beyond the imagination of humans, beasts, and even immortals." The Slim Arm Ape king explained.
Hearing all this, the Demon Spine ape king seemed tired and laid back down on the bed. The Slim Arm Ape King knew his son was a bit lost and had his self esteem fall, but knew there was little to do here.
"Come on now, drink this. The faster you heal, the faster you will be able to get stronger." The Slim Arm Ape King ordered.
"Alright." The Demon Spine Ape king said and drank the herb juice that the Slim Arm ape had made by grinding all the herbs.
Once the Demon Spine Ape King finished drinking it all, he closed his eyes and circulated his spirit Qi to help heal his injuries. The Slim Arm Ape King kept an eye on his son for a bit but then noticed that he seemed to be in some discomfort all of a sudden.
"Are you okay? What's the problem?" The Slim Arm Ape King asked.
The Demon Spine Ape king opened his eyes, that were glowing red.
~shua~
Suddenly flames started burning on him and pressure exuded from his body.
~thud~
The Slim Arm Ape King was forcefully pushed back and dug his long arms into the ground to stop himself.
"WHAT!?" he questioned in confusion.
He wondered if the herbs had caused something, but was sure that there were no such herbs in the concoction.
~humm~
It was only after he felt the bloodline aura did he get a hint of what was happening.
"The bloodline resonance? Why is it happening now? There is no new ruler…" The Slim Arm Ape King said.
A few seconds later, a similar pressure exuded from his body, and his eyes started to glow as well. Unlike the demon spine ape king though, they were glowing in a Grey light.
Similar events were happening all over the millennium forest and all the beasts that were at the Nascent soul realm experienced this.
In the territory of the Split Thorn Horn beetle king, the king's body was emanating a crushing aura that scared all of its followers and subordinates around him. Somewhere in the south of the nest, a scorpion beast was also undergoing the same process.
Inside the Taiji Celestial's tomb, the Emeraldine monkey suddenly teleported and appeared in an empty and rugged hall.
"Ugh! Can't damage the furniture…" he said as he slammed his hands down on the ground, cracking it.
~Shua~shua~shua~
More teleportation formations activated and the mole beast, along with Lin Wu's other servants that were in the tomb, appeared.
"You all felt it too?" The Emeraldine Monkey questioned.
"Of course. The aura is of master, I feared it is another change and came to the furthest hall from the main tomb." The Mole beast said, as it gritted its teeth and dug its claws into the ground.
All of the beasts looked like they were in some kind of pain, but they were forcefully trying to bear it.
"What do you think is happening?" The Swan beast questioned.
"Whatever it is… it's not restricted to us. I can feel ancestor going through something similar." The Beetle beast answered.
"Him too?" The Sparrow beast narrowed his eyes.
"You don't think… this is happening to all beasts?" The mole beast asked.
~shua~
Just as he asked this, another teleportation formation appeared, and another beast appeared. This was none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape and he looked OT be in a better condition than them.
His hands were hidden in his sleeves, but the slight trembling could still be observed.
"No, it's not all beasts. From what I checked, it is the beasts in the Nascent Soul realm!" The 'Monk'ey beast stated.. "It's not just us servants, every Nascent soul realm beast in the forest is going through the same thing."
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Lin Wu was not fully aware of the changes that were happening in the Millennium forest while he was in the Dark Bloom Caverns. His actions had caused a mass reaction in the forest and every beast that was related to him was now getting affected.
The system also kept on sending out notifications that Lin Wu saw and noted.
"The other beasts are also getting added… huh." Lin Wu muttered.
The entire process lasted for about thirty minutes, during which the Twin Lights Liger King could only watch on in shock. He had been the keeper for hundreds of years now and knew what Lin Wu was doing.
'He… he managed to take the position without me even passing it on? How? The formation too… I directly broke off my link and let him take over.' The Twin Lights Liger King thought.
"Just what is this…" he muttered in disbelief.
Soon, the process was complete, and a final notification came to Lin Wu.
~DING~
——
BLOODLINE CHAIN LINKING: Completed
NOTIFICATION: New section added, please check it in its separate window.
——
Lin Wu was certainly intrigued and opened the new window on the side.
~DING~
——
BLOODLINE UNITY CHAINS: Current Number of chains = 19
Direct Chains: 1. Twin Lights Liger King
2. Split Thorn Horn Beetle King
3. Slim Arm Ape King
4. Demon Spine Ape King
5. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm King (Lin Wu- Host)
Subordinate Chains: 1. Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole
2. Emeraldine Horn Beetle
3. Emeraldine Wing Swan
4. High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow
5. Emeraldine Monkey
6. Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape
7. Emeraldine Dual Stinger Scorpion
8. Emeraldine Claw Mantis
9. Emeraldine Pike Stick Bug
10. Emeraldine Dew Aphid
11. Emeraldine Jaw Ants (4)
——
Seeing the new window, Lin Wu was a bit confused. He understood the Direct chains that were the original ruler chains, but the subordinate chains were what made him confused. He did not recognize a few of the beasts in there.
"Huh, where did the last few beasts come from, system?" Lin Wu questioned.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The beasts after the Sky Light Monk Ape are the ones that the Host mutated earlier. All of them have grown and broken through to the Nascent Soul realm. Some of them, such as the Dual Stinger Scorpion and the Pike stick Bug, have awakened their bloodlines and changed their forms.
Also, all of the beasts have also undergone the Emeraldine mutation and are part of the Emeraldine legion.
——
"Huh… so those are the ones I mutated back then. They certainly became a lot stronger. Wasn't the Dual Stinger Scorpion a Barb Pincered Scorpion? And the Pike Stick Bug the Millennium Wood Stick Bug?" Lin Wu recalled having met the beasts.
The Barb Pincered Scorpion was among one of the earlier ones that were mutated and were the first to undergo the process. Then came the Long Claw Mantis and the Millennium Wood Stick Bug.
The Dew Aphid and the Iron Jaw ants were among the last ones that Lin Wu had mutated. The Iron jaw ants were rather resilient from what Lin Wu remembered, and out of the twenty that had come to him, four of them had managed to mutate and reach the Nascent Soul realm.
'Now that the beasts have more function than just being my subordinates and servants, I guess I should change the way I mutate them… Hmm… time for a little competition among them…' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Nobody knew that Lin Wu's current decision would change the face of the Millennium forest in the future.
~shua~
While Lin Wu was thinking all this, the system completed its process and the formation array faded away.
~phew~
"Finally done." Lin Wu took a breath of relief.
"What did you do?!" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.
"I just solved your problem. Since you didn't have the option I wanted, I made it myself." Lin Wu answered.
"What do you mean? What happened to the formation array and why can't I feel the link to it?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned, now feeling doubtful.
"As I said… you are no longer the said 'keeper' of this place. I took over it, and it won't be a restraint on you either. Or on other beasts, for that matter…" Lin Wu explained.
Hearing this, the Twin Lights Liger King was shocked. He wanted to believe it, believe that he was finally free, but his years of despair had made him very doubled. He checked multiple times if the restraint was still on him and every check came out negative.
"Y-you… you really did it? YOU DID IT!" The Twin Lights Liger King exclaimed.
"Mmhmm… of course there are some conditions that I have for letting you be free." Lin Wu stated.
Hearing this, the Twin Lights Liger King became serious. He knew that Lin Wu was currently many times stronger than him and even if he had the potential to reach the Dao Shell realm, he could not match the beast in front of him.
He had already sensed Lin Wu's cultivation and knew that he was at the Dao Shell realm. He couldn't tell which stage he was in, which only made him think that Lin Wu had already taken a few steps ahead.
"What do you want?" the Twin Lights Liger King asked directly.
"You must have already known that the other rulers have agreed to come under me and become my subordinates. I want the same for you." Lin Wu replied.
The Twin Lights Liger King furrowed his brows and went silent for a few seconds before speaking again.
"And what if I refuse?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.
"That is not an option. You either become my subordinate or stop existing." Lin Wu said in a cold tone.
At that moment, the Twin Lights Liger King could feel a sharp aura rising from Lin Wu. He couldn't tell what it was at first, but soon he recognized it. He then realized how foolish he was.
'How did I forget what fear was like?' he wondered to himself.
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